California in a motorhome - where?

[TiggyR]

We had a holiday in Canada in a huge RV and we loved it! Such an adventure. Now we are thinking of doing this for two, maybe three weeks probably mid-July next year, in California.

We'd like to do all the obvious must-see sights, like Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, I don't know if I'm that fussed about LA - is it worth it? Also no need to do DisneyLand, Seaworld (as we've flogged Florida to death .)

I've heard Santa Barbara is lovely and I suppose we should aim to go to San Fransisco though I'm not sure it's somewhere you'd stay for long, is it? I've no idea how much ground we could cover without spending the entire time driving, which would be no fun.

Any tips for good areas to concentrate on? We we be with three boys, 18, 16, and 11.

The Pacific Coast Highway is spectacular, all the towns along it are lovely (Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Carmel, Morro Bay, Hearst Castle). Death Valley is amazing. Mono Lake is interesting. Bodie State Park is a preserved gold rush town which is eerily fascinating. Sonoma is beautiful, and close to some lovely wineries, also the Napa Valley (think picnics, outdoor concerts, etc). San Francisco you could spend a week exploring!! LA is nice, especially around Long Beach (the Queen Mary is worth a visit), but will be hot and busy in July.

You could consider hiring bikes and sight-seeing that way? I know that bike hire in San Francisco is easy, inexpensive and plentiful.

If you're going as far as the Grand Canyon, might want to throw in the Hoover Dam too. Also, Palm Springs is on the way.

We are considering a similar RV holiday with our sons when they are a bit older (only 6 and 8 at the moment). Good luck!

Thanks, thats all very useful. We took ours in an RV to Canada when they were 8,5 and 10 months, and it was absolutely fantastic! They thought it was so exciting, and I didn't find it impractical with the baby at all.

Northern Cali and Southern Oregon are fantastic. We live in Vancouver, British Columbia, and drove down to Cali in '07 and last year. Our favourite areas were the very south end of OR around Ashland (where we found a campground called Howard Lake Resort - in the middle of a forested area by a lake), and the area around Mount Shasta in Cali. Gorgeous.

The one thing I wanted to ask - are you planning on renting a small car and towing it behind? Because a lot of RV campgrounds are a ways away from cities and sights, and in some cities you can't park an RV, so getting to things you want to see can be a challenge. The U.S. is such a "car culture" that public transit can be disappointing, and such a large area that walking can be impractical. Just a thought based on our experience.

Last time we had a HUGE RV with the slidey-out bit, and we didn't get a car. So every time we needed to go off-site we had to take the whole thing . Luckily it was never too busy/crowded (unless you count picking it up the morning after flying in, and having to drive through Toronto rush hour on a Friday night . That was a baptism of fire for my DH!) We did say this time we'd probably get a little car, but with five of us I'm not sure we'd all fit in one small enough to tow!

The other option is to just do straightforward fly-drive but I really don't fancy all that constant packing and unpacking, plus you need a more fixed itinerary whereas with RVs you can change plan if you fancy.

The Nissan Versa would seat 5 and is quite small.

But is it small enough to tow? I'm scared! Not that I'll be driving, but I'm still scared!

The Versa is quite tiny. Seriously, you look at it from the outside and think "sardine can". But my DH, who is 6'2", sat in the back and his friend had the driver's seat pushed all the way back and DH still had leg room. So it would seat all 5 of you comfortably. But you'd do better to contact the RV rental place you're planning on using and asking what they recommend - don't take my word for it.

Thanks!

Just marking interest, we're moving (in three weeks) to Santa Barbara for two years so want to know what to check out while we're there.

I agree with pinkcheesy and would add a trip to the Monterey Aquarium as a highlight and whale watching from Monterey too. This is about 2hours south of San Francsisco. I could easily spend a week in the sf Bay area, would agree with Madamdeathstare re Point Reyes and other places. Mono Lake, drive through Yosemite, redwoods there and at other national parks. All excellent. Definitely plan not to drive long distances every day.

Here's what I'd do (native Californian). Rent at the top and work your way down or do the trip in reverse if that suits you. Start in NorCal at Lake Tahoe. Very easy camping in an RV (Sugar Pine Point is a lovely campground). Spend a couple days as it's a nice jumping off point--easy bike rides in to Tahoe City for breakfast, the lake is very swimmable (but COLD as it's a mountain lake) with beaches walking distance from the campground. Rafting the Truckee River is nice if the water's high enough, fishing and hiking. Perhaps 2-3 days.

Then, drive down towards the valley (stop at Ikeda's on HWY 80 for lunch) and hit Napa/Sonoma County and San Francisco on your way to Yosemite. Avoid Napa on the weekend if at all possible as it's horrific traffic and crowds. There's not much to do there for young folk as it's a wine tasting mecca. That said, if you're going to splurge and eat out fancy--this would be the place. I suggest Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen in St. Helena or Ad Hoc in Yountville (where Thomas Keller often eats after work at the French Laundry).

In San Francisco there's two way to do it ($$$ and $). See if you can book the campground in the middle of the Presidio (opened last week, not sure about RVs). $$$ includes the California Academy of Sciences and a major museum (SFMOMA, DeYoung). $ includes renting bikes (Blazing Saddles) and riding along Chrissy Field over the Golden Gate Bridge then taking the Ferry back from Sausolito, walk or bike through Golden Gate Park hitting smaller/free museums (Japanese tea garden, arboretum, etc). Finish that with lunch at the Park Chalet and walk at Ocean Beach, or head to Baker Beach and look for dolphins (a rare but lovely sighting). Pier 39 is worth it for the sea lions, but is otherwise a tourist trap, so hit it early in the morning with your coffee and then high tail it to somewhere more real. Generally good theater shows. Within 30 minutes of SF dbm has the list: Point Reyes, Stinson Beach, Sausolito/Tiburon.

From there Yosemite (RV or tent cabins). Do some research and get beyond the first layer of trails, some valleys are quite deserted even in high season as they require a bit more hiking than fat Americans [shocked] will subject themselves to.

That's probably enough nature (I've not been to the Grand Canyon, but you should fit that in at some point) and you'll be screaming for some city fun. Monterey, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara are all along the coast and merit a day's stop or break from driving if you need it. Santa Barbara has the best evening/night life, the Monterey Aquarium is gorgeous, but may feel repetitious if you hit the CalAcademy in SF).

SoCal: Hearst Castle is worth a stop. I would stay towards the coast as I-5 is boring and blergh. Cambria by the Sea is a nice town (not to pricey) as is Big Sur. Then further south you'll want to find a beach town, rent rollerblades (good 80s fun), or boogie boards. I would bet you can take surfing lessons in Santa Cruz.

In LA I'm less versed, but the Getty is lovely. Heck, go for a sporting event if you want the real feel of it.

We're just back from a holiday in California, where we did a huge road trip (but by car not RV) along the West Coast, from Oregon to Los Angeles, with ds's 11 and 8.

We loved it all.

Many people don't go North of San Francisco but it is worth it if you can - spectacular drive along 101 to Oregon through mountains and redwood forests, and through some funny little one-horse towns. Calistoga is a delightful town and as is that whole area around Napa and Sonoma - all with a very affluent feel to it. Didn't get to Mendocino but hear its lovely and would definitely go next time.

In San Francisco there is loads for kids to do and loads to see. Academy of Sciences was great - kids fascinated by albino alligator - Golden Gate park - hippy life on the Haight - Alcatraz (v interesting) - bike hire (but expensive for family of 4) - cable car rides, touristy but fun. And it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Really liked Santa Cruz, loads of cool surfers and a mellow vibe when you get away from the Boardwalk - but the Boardwalk is a must-do with kids, even though you'll need to grit your teeth at the abundance of corn dogs and candy floss. Monterey Aquarium worth doing too.

The coastal drive along Highway 1 through Monterey, Big Sur etc is unmissable, spectacular scenery. But if you are in an RV please be considerate to other drivers and pull over occasionally so they can pass - we got stuck for miles at one point, very frustrating!

Cambria is great place to stay for Hearst Castle, stay near Moonstone Beach which is gorgeous. You can give Morro Bay a miss. Santa Barbara is a gorgeous town and I wish we had spent more time there, the shopping looked great.

In LA we were theme-park focused - if you can bear a theme park, Universal Studios is very well done and not nearly as full-on as Disney. Kids also enjoyed Hollywood and all the movie-related stuff there. Wish we'd visited Getty Museum, we drove past and the buidling looked stunning. And there are plenty more beaches in LA - we went to Santa Monica which wasn't too crowded.