Critique my California Road Trip itinerary please.

[SanFranAndCali]

We are looking to book a three week trip to California in May or June.
Having made a list of ALL the potential places we'd like to go, it's a lot. Chat GPT tells me it's doable and some travel websites do show all of these places in this order as a 21 day itinerary, but I am wary of coming home exhausted, feeling like we've just rushed through everwhere and ticked it off a list, rather than really enjoyed it.

That said, it's a road trip and the scenery en-route is the main purpose of the holiday so perhaps there's little point in spending too many days in one place if the journey is more exciting than the stop off places, if that makes sense?

At the moment the itinerary is looking like this:

Day 1: San Francisco. Arrive in the middle of the day, spend that afternoon and evening, plus the whole of the following day, then collect a car and leave around lunchtime on day 3, for Carmel.

Carmel by the Sea and Monterey, do whale watching. Would probably stay in Carmel rather than Monterey.

Drive to Big Sur - is this a place to hang around or is it just the drive through that's lovely?

Drive to Santa Barbara with an overnight stop in either San Luis Obispo or Cambria

Santa Barbara - how many nights?

Malibu

Santa Monica (just outside LA)

Palm Springs and Joshua Tree NP - how many nights?

Grand Canyon (into Arizona)

Bryce Canyon (into Utah)

Las Vegas (into Nevada) as a convenient overnight stop only, I'm not that fussed about spending time in Vegas, but DH thinks if we are passing though it we may as well stay for a day or two and see it properly. I'm not so sure.

Death Valley

Drive up the Eastern Sierra via Mammoth Lakes to arrive at the eastern side of Yosemite National Park.

Yosemite (2 nights or 3? We aren't intrepid hikers so would probably just do a guided tour of the main highlights and some light walks, rather than going it alone like proper serious types. If we are in a nice lodge or hotel with a spa it might be a good place to get some down time and be out of the car for a bit.)

Napa Valley / Sonoma.

We think this will be civilised and beautifully scenic, with lots of nice place to eat and a relaxing end to a hectic holiday. But we aren't wine buffs and can't take crates of wine home on the plane anyway, so is it an unnecessary stop?

Back to San Francisco to fly home.

This is a lot. It doesn't include Lake Tahoe, or San Diego. I'm getting FOMO about those but don't want to overload us. Should I be omitting somewhere on the list in order to do Lake Tahoe or San Diego instead?
How long would you recommend staying in each place? Which are the places to just drive to, see for a day, or even just grab dinner, sleep then move on?

I really don't care about any of the tourist attractions in LA and the whole place sounds like a dump. Is it even worth stopping in Santa Monica if we aren't going into LA at all? What's Santa Monica like?

We are middle aged and have no children with us. We like beautiful gardens and desertscapes, iconic architecture, stunning scenery, artsy communities, charming towns full of character, great food. More food. Casual and laid back rather than flashy.

We like to see the coast but we don't care about having beach time per se. We hate anywhere brash and loud and full of party animals.

Any advice appreciated.

Was also going to point out that you can’t guarantee that the road into Yosemite from the east will be open from the winter snow by then, which will mean a massive detour. There is a website somewhere that shows you the opening dates for the last few decades.

@ImPamDoovethanks for your reply re why get Trailfinders to plan a trip.

For me, the planning is almost as enjoyable as the holiday itself - although my other half is the complete opposite 😅 so I do get your point.

And yes, Yosemite accommodation books up way in advance. Campsites do provide camping packages for you though (because international tourists won’t have all the gear with them).

Re: snow in Yosemite; it will depend on what this year’s snowpack is like out at Mammoth and beyond so check out the ski websites around now.

Google Tioga Pass opening dates.

You say the OP is planning too muxh driving, but then recommend day trips from SF to Yosemite and Carmel, which respectively are a 4 hour and 2.5 hour drive away from SF.

Definitely not a good idea

I went to both Carmel and the Pebble beach 17 mile drive from SF as part of a tour from SF hence me suggesting it. Also I did not have to drive around there trying to find somewhere to park.

Visit the TripAdvisor forums - you’ll get invaluable feedback there.

We did the following:

4 nights Las Vegas
2 nights Anaheim
2 nights Santa Monica
2 nights Big Sur (could have been one)
1 night Monterey
2 nights Yosemite
3 nights San Francisco

And DH almost cried with relief when we got to San Francisco and were in the same place for 3 whole nights.

We then went back and did:
5 nights Vegas
1 night Death Valley
1 night Mammoth Lakes
1 night Yosemite
3 nights San Francisco
2 nights San Diego
2 nights Anaheim
2 nights Santa Monica

Because we felt we hadn’t even scratched the surface of California on the first trip, and the second trip was when Highway One was closed and you couldn’t access Big Sur, so we flew from SF to SD.

We didn’t expect to like Vegas but absolutely loved it and have been back again since.

There’s no way I would’ve enjoyed doing the Big Sur drive on our second trip as well as everything else, even with 4 more nights - although you would be swapping out SD and Anaheim I suppose.

I’d definitely recommend Santa Monica, we didn’t go into LA on our first trip but wouldn’t really recommend it after going on the second trip.

I think your itinerary is doable, but you’ll feel rushed and like you didn’t get to properly experience a lot of places. I think Yosemite warrants 3 nights minimum, as does the Big Sur drive, and San Francisco - which doesn’t leave a lot of time for the rest of your itinerary.

Also as others have said, if you haven’t already booked your Yosemite accommodation you’ll struggle now for June, and by far the best part of Death Valley was being their at dusk/night time so you’re doing a disservice not to stay there overnight - but again accommodation is limited.

I think the new itinerary is much better and the length of the trip is fab! With your Yosemite/Death Valley dilemma, I would drop Death Valley as it’s still a big loop out of your way and as you get later into June the heat is going to be really really tough- I struggled in October and I’m generally pretty happy in hot weather. Then you could take an extra night in Palm Springs, which will still be hot but you could take some pool/chill time to offset this.

Agree with PP it’s a lot of time in Santa Monica/Cambria/ Santa Barbara but if you’re looking for more relaxed, that might suit you.

I would actually recommend an extra night in Yosemite, it really is special and can take lots of time to drive between the best spots in the park. It will take you a while to get up into the mountains from San Fran, so you won’t get much sightseeing that day and the same the day you leave, so only 2 full days is quite tight.

The only other tweak I’d make is arriving in LA one night before the flight. The traffic in LA is completely insane and I wouldn’t be chancing it- I’d be in an airport hotel the night before and doing something local to the hotel the day of the presumably evening flight home!

9 nights in LV? You must be joking. I cannot imagine anything worse

It’s so personal isn’t it?

For me, you’re not spending nearly enough time in SF which I adored, but clearly if it’s not for you then that liberates a lot of time. I loved Alcatraz, Coit Tower, a Chinatown food tour, the art galleries and lots of walking and shopping). Again for me two nights in Carmel sounds much too long (we were going to stay there but ended up leaving after going past a shop selling dog fancy dress - Monterey was much more fun imo). Santa Barbara is very attractive but nothing like as much to do there as SF.

Agree, Yosemite is not a day trip from SF unless you just plan to drive around the valley floor and out again.

We did the trip and did the majority of that in ten days as we went to a wedding and we couldn't get longer off work and we were doing it on a shoestring. So it's doable. You just do a lot of driving. Which isnt for everyone but works for some. We tend to cram a shed load in on holidays anyway.

First off, if you want to do Vegas - look at going Las Vegas to Las Vegas. Certainly when we did it, the flights and car hire were significantly cheaper than flying into SF. I can't see that having changed given Nevada is low tax compared to California. We weren't going to do Vegas but the cost difference was so much we did (I think it was over £500 for the pair of us).

Honestly flying into Vegas is a much better idea than SF because you don't want to miss out on it being jetlagged whereas tbh it doesn't matter so much in Vegas as it gives you time just to adjust.

From there I would go south rather than north just because you are better doing Yosemite to Death Valley rather than the other way round.

We didn't do the Grand Canyon as we just didn't have time. But we'd have loved to.

From there to Joshua Tree is a days drive stopping at the Hoover Sam enroute. We wanted to do JT but didn't due to it being closed for floods which was a bit gutting. It's probably worth a stop about this point anyway though. I have done Palm Springs on a different trip which is great but I'm not convinced it's worth doing as part of this trip. It's still a fair way from LA.

Then to LA. LA isn't great unless you really really want to do it. I had a friend who lived there and is done it a couple of times so we didn't bother on this trip. Instead we stopped north of the city around Santa Monica. It's nice enough - we needed to stop somewhere. If you want do LA it's horrendous to drive and that was a lot of our reading to avoid too. Hollywood is an anticlimax and the walk of fame rubbish. The best things I've done are go to the baseball (which I do recommend) and going to the beaches. Beverley Hills was an eye opening experience! I did enjoy the Getty a lot though - it is worth a visit. But honestly going straight through and stopping just north of the city really isn't the worst idea.

We did the road from there to SF in a day. There's lots of places to stop on the way. I think it would have been ideal to stop half way to allow time to chill and see a bit more but that's have been enough for us. But it depends on what you like really. I get bored at beaches very quickly.

SF is worth at least 2 or 3 nights. Alcatraz is definitely for the list. There's lots to do there.

Re wine valleys. I'd personally stay in SF and extra night and do a paid for wine tour as that way you get to do a few options without worrying about driving. It's dead easy. And then you get an evening in SF to go out. We did this as part of the wedding and it was brilliant even if you aren't a big wine drinker.

Then from SF I'd go to the area around Sonora - it's old California - gold mining country - there's a museum and there's an old railway station that was used as the location for Back to the Future III nearby. We stayed in an old building which was fab. It's well worth seeing as it's got a wild west feel. It was one of our favourite things on the trip. It's also right outside Yosemite so you can get up early the next day and be one of the first into the park. That means less queues.

Yes to a couple of days in Yosemite. We literally just drove through which was such a shame but it was just the way it was. We saw it. We stopped. We will go back.

Then we stayed at Mammoth Lakes.

Re Death Valley. I'd actually just have a long day driving and only stop briefly on the way. It's bleak and hot. We didn't want to stay out of the air conditioned car for long periods. That was a long long day, but honestly I don't think we'd do it differently. There weren't many places to stop anyway.

We then went back to Vegas for our last night (we could have done Vegas if we wanted but DH didn't).

Increasing the trip to 21 days would have covered all the things on that route that we'd have liked to have done properly. We'd have had a few days in Yosemite, done the GC and spent time at JT as well as another night up the coast.

I wouldn't recommend a ten day trip doing all that. But 21 days. Yeah easily doable without it being insane. Insane is what we did!

Sonora to Mammoth Lakes is a full days drive by the time you have stopped very briefly in the car. The idea you can do a day trip to Yosemite is ridiculous. You can drive through it and stop for pictures. That's it. It's pretty but it's not something I'd remotely recommend on a 21 day trip. You have to stop there overnight at least and realistically it's a minimum of two nights.

Just be aware that in the San Diego area June is known as “gloomy June”. It’s very often cloudy.

I’d say one night in Death Valley is more than enough unless you love a desert. There’s not a lot to see or do. But honestly while it’s quite interesting if you happen to be in the area I’d spend more time where there is actual stuff to do rather than just ‘ooh look how hot it is’

And a 1000 times Yosemite over Death Valley. Also 2 nights Palm Springs is a good shout.

San Diego 3 nights, go over to coromandel island and cycle round it,the big aircraft carrier museum was surprisingly interesting too.the old centre of San Diego is quite tacky but our American friends loved it. Centre of LA,the traffic is a nightmare, it takes forever to get anywhere.

If you have a day in SF either book Alcatraz or cycle over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and get the ferry back.

We did a three week road trip in California. We started in San Francisco then made our way down the coast to San Diego stopping at a variety of places. We then headed inland sand stayed a few places other way the the Grand Canton and onto Vegas. Flew home from Vegas. I can't imagine how we could have added on more travel from there in the time we had.

I’m not sure why you quoted me, but agree, I drove from Groveland to Mammoth via the Sonora pass one June and it took about 6 hours including a detour to Mono lake with some sandwiches (do not recommend - lots of flies!) and a few stops to marvel at the snow either side of the pass.

We flew into San Francisco and out of Vegas on a similar trip. I wouldn’t drive all the way back.

Ok we've now definitely dropped Death Valley, it's going to be stinking hot and it's a long way out of our way now that we are not looping back up towards Yosemite at the end of the trip.

We've extended SF by one night, so it's now 3 nights.

We've extended Yosemite from 3 nights to 4.

3 nights around Monterey/Carmel

1 night on the way through the Morro Bay area somewhere.

3 nights Santa Barbara

1 day and an overnight going inland to Sequoia NP, either before or after Santa Barbara

Maybe 1 night in Santa Monica but maybe we will just stop and see it on the way through to San Diego. Definitely want to see the Getty Center.

3 or possibly 4 nights in San Diego.

Up to Joshua Tree for 1 night. I know we can do it as a daytrip from Palm Springs but I'd quite like to stay overnight if we can get accommodation.

Last 3 nights in Palm Springs. I know it will be really hot but I'm okay with that. We will get somewhere with a pool there. But I really want time to just drive the residential streets and see the gorgeous mid century architecture.

So that's a nice mix of scenic coastal driving, several stops of a decent duration, plenty of city culture, beaches, deserts, forests, mountains and three national parks. This also gives us some leeway to extend or drop a night anywhere as necessary when it comes to booking accommodation. I have seen a few places that are still free at Yosemite. This also allows us to get back to LAX the night before we fly if we really want to, although from Palm Springs it's only 2 hours and we don't fly until 11pm anyway, so even if the traffic is horrendous we should have masses of time. We will probably use that last day to go to a couple of outlet malls or something. There is one in Palm Springs and another near the airport. Got business class luggage allowance and I intend to make the most of it.

I think we are finally done, just the accommodation to firm up now. Thank you SO much everyone, this has been so very helpful. Yesterday I was feeling completely overwhelmed by decisions and all the limitations around routes and weather constraints. Snow blocking the east side of Yosemite at the exact same time it will be 40-45 degrees in Death Valley which would have been the stop just before Yosemite on the original itinerary. Go figure! I was starting to wish we'd just gone to Japan instead.

This morning I woke up with a fresh head, got stuck back into it and it's all fallen into place. I'M EXCITED NOW.

Death Valley is great, but I think you’re right to drop it this time. you sound like you have a good itinerary now.

The first time I went we woke up to snow at 10,000ft above sea level in Mammoth and ended the day at Furnace Creek, which is I think below sea level. Madness, but fun.

The last time I drove from PS to LAX it took 5 hours, so give yourselves plenty of time! I really, really hate LAX but sometimes needs must.

Is it this year you’re going?

Yes. All very short notice but life's been extremely busy recently and we just haven't been in a position to plan ahead a year in advance.

Exciting! Yosemite itself might be tricky for accommodation, but Groveland or El Portal should still be possible.

When you’re in Palm Springs, do consider the aerial tramway. It will be much cooler up there!

We did a similar itinerary to this and it was great. We spilt having a few days in a row where we were driving 5 hours with a few stops to spending 2-3 nights in a few places. Zion and Yosemite are probably my favourites.
I would reiterate what someone mentioned earlier about the route into Yosemite via Tioga pass having variable opening dates so would aim for end of June if that is your plan. If going in May you would probably need to go in the San Francisco side of the park. May/ June time is a great time to see Yosemite as the waterfalls will be at their peak (many are almost dry in August/September time).
If the park lodges are full it is worth looking on VRBO as there are a couple of areas of housing in the park, although I think some of those have had substantial damage from fires.