San Fran To LA Trip Itinerary - Is timing doable?

nerakmai

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 15, 2011
Hi -

We are planning a trip to California this summer where we will drive down the coast from San Francisco to LA ending at Disneyland before flying home. Below is our planned itinerary. Does everything planned look doable each day? I’m unsure about driving times, especially on days 5 and 6, so please let me know if I am being overly ambitious.

Also, please let me know if there is something spectacular that i’d miss on the drive down, and if you have any hotel recommendations.

Thanks for any help that you can provide. I appreciate it!

Here’s the plan...

Day 1: Travel Day
  • Flight from East Coast to San Francisco
  • Hotel near airport
Day 2: San Francisco
  • San Fran hop on hop off city bus tour
  • Ride cable car
  • Hotel near Fisherman’s Wharf
Day 3: San Francisco
  • Disney Family Museum
  • Golden Gate Park
  • Alcatraz tour at night
  • Hotel near Fisherman’s Wharf
Day 4: Santa Cruz to Monterey
  • Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz
  • Monterey Bay Aquarium
  • 17-Mile Drive or Fisherman’s Wharf and Cannery Row
  • Hotel in Monterey
Day 5: Big Sur
  • Bixby Creek Bridge (photo op)
  • McWay Falls within Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (Overlook trail to falls)
  • Hearst Castle (late afternoon tour)
  • Morro Bay (photo op of Morro Rock)
  • Hotel in San Luis Obispo (Madonna Inn)
Day 6: San Luis Obispo to Santa Monica
  • Pismo Beach (quick stop at pier)
  • Solvang (stop for an hour)
  • Santa Barbara (visit Courthouse and Mission)
  • Malibu (dinner?)
  • Hotel in Santa Monica
Day 7:
  • Santa Monica Beach & Pier (morning)
  • Griffith Observatory & 0.2 mile hike to see Hollywood sign (afternoon)
  • Walk of Fame & Grauman’s Theater (evening)
  • Hotel in Hollywood
Day 8: Universal Studios
  • Universal Studios
  • Hotel in Anaheim
Days 9 & 10: Anaheim
  • Disneyland
  • California Adventure
  • Hotel in Anaheim
Day 11: Newport Beach and Flight Home
  • Morning trip to Ocean County Beach (Sunset, Huntington or Newport)
  • Fly to east coast from Long Beach Airport
 
Your day 4 looks a little ambitious. That’s a lot to squeeze in for one day. The 17-mile drive seems to go on forever. I like your choice of the Madonna Inn. Definitely get a rock room! If you like sweets, definitely try the champagne cake. (It’s pink!)

For day 6, I’d skip Solvang, unless you really like butter cookies, lol. Mission Santa Barbara and the courthouse are definitely worth seeing, though.

For hotels in Hollywood, we’ve stayed at the Loews and the Magic Castle, and I’d recommend both. The Roosevelt is classic, of course, but I’ve only been in the lobby bar and restaurants, so I don’t know what the rooms are like. If you enjoy French cuisine, I suggest getting an uber to Papilles. It’s on Franklin in a kind of rundown strip mall, but it’s wonderful!

If you’re looking for a restaurant suggestion in Malibu, Kevin from tbe DIS Unplugged podcast recommends Moonshadows. (My daughter had her birthday dinner there last month, and she loved it.)
 
Thanks Miss SD! I eliminated 17-mile drive from Day 4. I actually went when I was a child and thought it might be fun for my kids to see the lone cypress tree, but I agree that it will be too much to squeeze in, and we'll be seeing plenty of the coast.

I am looking forward to the Madonna Inn and will definitely try the cake.

We've stayed at the Magic Castle Hotel before and loved it, so that was one I was considering again. When you stayed there, did you visit the Magic Castle as a guest?
 
Hi -

We are planning a trip to California this summer where we will drive down the coast from San Francisco to LA ending at Disneyland before flying home. Below is our planned itinerary. Does everything planned look doable each day? I’m unsure about driving times, especially on days 5 and 6, so please let me know if I am being overly ambitious.

Also, please let me know if there is something spectacular that i’d miss on the drive down, and if you have any hotel recommendations.

Thanks for any help that you can provide. I appreciate it!

Here’s the plan...

Day 1: Travel Day
  • Flight from East Coast to San Francisco
  • Hotel near airport
Day 2: San Francisco
  • San Fran hop on hop off city bus tour
  • Ride cable car
  • Hotel near Fisherman’s Wharf
Day 3: San Francisco
  • Disney Family Museum
  • Golden Gate Park
  • Alcatraz tour at night
  • Hotel near Fisherman’s Wharf
Day 4: Santa Cruz to Monterey
  • Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz
  • Monterey Bay Aquarium
  • 17-Mile Drive or Fisherman’s Wharf and Cannery Row
  • Hotel in Monterey
Day 5: Big Sur
  • Bixby Creek Bridge (photo op)
  • McWay Falls within Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (Overlook trail to falls)
  • Hearst Castle (late afternoon tour)
  • Morro Bay (photo op of Morro Rock)
  • Hotel in San Luis Obispo (Madonna Inn)
Day 6: San Luis Obispo to Santa Monica
  • Pismo Beach (quick stop at pier)
  • Solvang (stop for an hour)
  • Santa Barbara (visit Courthouse and Mission)
  • Malibu (dinner?)
  • Hotel in Santa Monica
Day 7:
  • Santa Monica Beach & Pier (morning)
  • Griffith Observatory & 0.2 mile hike to see Hollywood sign (afternoon)
  • Walk of Fame & Grauman’s Theater (evening)
  • Hotel in Hollywood
Day 8: Universal Studios
  • Universal Studios
  • Hotel in Anaheim
Days 9 & 10: Anaheim
  • Disneyland
  • California Adventure
  • Hotel in Anaheim
Day 11: Newport Beach and Flight Home
  • Morning trip to Ocean County Beach (Sunset, Huntington or Newport)
  • Fly to east coast from Long Beach Airport

Hi, I just wanted to say that we also plan a trip to CA this summer, flying from the East coast, and a very similar rough itinerary as you!! Such a coincidence. So I'll be following your thread and chiming in some of our ideas as well. One big difference I'm seeing off the bat is we're using Anaheim/DL as our last stop and flying home after that (not sure which airport). Also, we are adding in a Dodgers/Yankees baseball game while in LA.
 


One thing you have to factor in is traffic on weekdays in the Bay Area and any day in SoCal. It'll take you a good 2 hours to get from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. It could also take 2 hours to get from Hollywood to Anaheim. Whatever your navigation tells you, double it just to be safe. Some days it takes me over an hour to drive 13 miles between work and home. :(
 
Hi, I just wanted to say that we also plan a trip to CA this summer, flying from the East coast, and a very similar rough itinerary as you!! Such a coincidence. So I'll be following your thread and chiming in some of our ideas as well. One big difference I'm seeing off the bat is we're using Anaheim/DL as our last stop and flying home after that (not sure which airport). Also, we are adding in a Dodgers/Yankees baseball game while in LA.

After reading your response, we are thinking about changing our last day and adding another 1/2 day in Disneyland and then fly home on the red eye from Anaheim. We went to LA 5 years ago and went to a Dodgers game on cap night. We are Yankees fans too, so your plan sounds great!

Where are you thinking of staying in Anaheim? We have stayed in the Howard Johnson's with the small built-in waterpark, down the street from the entrance but my kids are older, so we were looking at hotels closer to the entrance crosswalk.
 
Thanks Miss SD! I eliminated 17-mile drive from Day 4. I actually went when I was a child and thought it might be fun for my kids to see the lone cypress tree, but I agree that it will be too much to squeeze in, and we'll be seeing plenty of the coast.

I am looking forward to the Madonna Inn and will definitely try the cake.

We've stayed at the Magic Castle Hotel before and loved it, so that was one I was considering again. When you stayed there, did you visit the Magic Castle as a guest?
Sorry for the late reply. We didn’t visit the Magic Castle because our daughter was too young at the time. I think our only option was the Sunday brunch, and we weren’t there on a Sunday.

Your trip sounds fabulous!
 


Day #1 to Day #2, I would advise against checking into an airport hotel, and then checking out the next morning and having to schlep into the city...that's potential time wasted. When you fly into SFO, see if you can get to your hotel INSIDE city proper first (unless it was cost prohibitive or unavailable?)

Otherwise looks good (day #4 addressed), when do you fly out on day #11? My advice would be Huntington Beach if flying out of LGB, as that'll be relatively the closest beach.

I would personally be prepared to skip Solvang if you had a late start that day, face traffic (don't forget to use Waze on your phone!), and just want to get to SB quickly.

Also... don't forget to get clam chowder at Splash Cafe right off the Pismo Beach pier.

Cheers!
 
...
Day 4: Santa Cruz to Monterey
  • Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz
  • Monterey Bay Aquarium
  • 17-Mile Drive or Fisherman’s Wharf and Cannery Row
  • Hotel in Monterey
Day 5: Big Sur
  • Bixby Creek Bridge (photo op)
  • McWay Falls within Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (Overlook trail to falls)
  • Hearst Castle (late afternoon tour)
  • Morro Bay (photo op of Morro Rock)
  • Hotel in San Luis Obispo (Madonna Inn)...
I’m a native Northern Californian, worked for 4 yr.s in downtown SF, fly often in/out of SFO, have been a volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the last 12 years, and camp every year at Pfeiffer Big Sur state park - so I have biases.
That said, Day 4 SF to Santa Cruz via Hwy 17 will most likely have traffic issues especially if you are heading west on a Sat. morning. By the time you make that drive, then spend time in Big Basin, then join the traffic heading down Hwy. 1 from Santa Cruz to Monterey (it’s only 1 lane each way for part of the drive) you’ll not have much time left to see the Aquarium. Monterey does have lots of fabulous restaurants. On Cannery Row just down from the Aquarium I like Fish Hopper as it has fabulous views. https://www.fishhopper.com/monterey/ Likewise the Beach House at Lovers Point in Pacific Grove has great views, but is a small restaurant. https://beachhousepg.com/ Rosines in downtown Monterey is a local favorite. https://www.rosinesmonterey.com/#ATHS A personal favorite of mine is the Mission Ranch restaurant in Carmel, however since they don’t take reservations you can face a long wait to eat. https://www.missionranchcarmel.com/restaurant.htm
Day 5 seems a bit ambitious to me as well, but I love relaxing in the Big Sur area, hiking, visiting a beach or two, shopping at the quirky little shops along the way, etc.. The River Inn in Big Sur is a nice spot to eat - the food has been hit or miss through the years, but the view of the river is nice. https://www.bigsurriverinn.com/ The Big Sur bakery just south of Pfeiffer state park is a small coffee shop w/ great pastries. https://www.bigsurbakery.com/ My favorite place to eat brunch/lunch along the Big Sur coast is at Cafe Kevah on the outdoor patio. Cafe Kevah is part of Nepenthe which also has a great gift shop. https://www.nepenthe.com/
 
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Also... don't forget to get clam chowder at Splash Cafe right off the Pismo Beach pier.

We went to the Cool Cat Cafe at Pismo Beach and they also had fantastic Clam Chowder.
 
We did a big road trip over christmas, and part of that includes driving up the coast, and stopping at some of the places on your list. You may be interested in reading my trip report.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/c...-it-to-have-a-great-time-trip-report.3728523/

Solvang was one of my favorite stops along the drive up the coast.
Interesting route - that ‘huge cattle ranch’ near Coalinga during the Interstate 5 portion of your drive is Harris Ranch, whether you smell the feed lots depends on which way the wind is blowing - they have a great steak restaurant, btw.
 
Solvang and Santa Barbara are each worth seeing. Personally, I would want to spend a decent amount of time in both because they are unique from other places here in California. I can't imagine only spending 1-2 hours there, but it just depends on your preference. Santa Barbara is beautiful and has great history, but I'm partial because I've spent lots of time there.
 
Since I planned my itinerary, I've found out that Big Basin Redwoods State Park was heavily damaged by winter storms, so I've now switched to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park instead as I found an audio tour available on their website.

Also Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is apparently closed until further notice due to storm damage to entrance station and restrooms. I've read that you can still see the McWay waterfall from a pullout on Highway 1 near mile marker 36.2. Does anyone know if this is true?
 
B957F8FC-CDEC-4D78-AE36-92DCECCA16A1.jpeg Yosemite is a can’t miss this Spring time. I was there just last week. A lot of water coming down the falls. It is one of the most beautiful places on earth.
 
Solvang was always one of my favorite stops when we would make a drive down along the coast to Disneyland when I was a child. I recommend keeping it in.

As others have said, Day#4 is ambitious, even having cut out the 17 mile drive. Monterey Bay Aquarium could easily be a whole day in itself. I would say you want an absolute minimum of 3 hours there, probably more. Taking hours into account (I think they usually close around 4-5pm) this means you have to get there by lunch time. So if the drive from SF in the morning takes a couple of hours, assuming you left at 8 am, that gives you only a couple of hours to explore the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and then drive to the aquarium, find parking, eat lunch, etc.

It can be done, but sounds like a very busy day! But, I don't know what you should change. Both the redwoods and aquarium are definitely worth seeing!
 
How does Muir Woods compare to Henry Cowell? Much of a muchness, or is there a big difference between them?
 
The OP did a fantastic job asking this question and we have a very similar trip. I would like to hear some feedback on ours as well:

Day 1: Travel Day
Flight from East Coast to San Francisco
Hotel Downtown SF

Day 2: San Francisco
Race at Crissy Field
Golden Gate
Hotel Downtown SF

Day 3: San Francisco
Alcatraz tour (earliest)
Fisherman’s Wharf
Hotel Downtown SF

Day 4: San Francisco
Other visits
Potentially Sausalito and Muir Wood if not done
Hotel Downtown SF

Day 5: Drive to Yosemite
Mariposa Grove
Hotel in Oakhurst

Day 6: Yosemite
Valley or others
Hotel in Oakhurst

Day 7: Yosemite
Some hiking
Hotel in Oakhurst

Day 8: Drive to Monterey
Monterey Bay Aquarium or Cannery
Hotel in Monterey

Day 9: Drive to Cambria
Big Sur and the coast
Hotel in Cambria

Day 10: Drive to Venice Beach
Hearst Castle (early)
Hotel in Venice Beach

Day 11: Venice Beach and around
Santa Monica Beach & Pier
Hotel in Venice Beach

Day 12: Los Angeles
Hollywood Boulevard
Griffith Observatory
Hotel in Anaheim

Day 13-14-15: Disneyland
Hotel in Anaheim

Day 16: Flight back home from LAX

My main concern is whether Yosemite is worth all the extra driving and the rushing down the coast.
 
My main concern is whether Yosemite is worth all the extra driving and the rushing down the coast.

Yosemite is great, it just depends on your personal preference.

An alternative would be to spend more time in the Big Sur area if you want more hiking/nature that's more convenient because it's on the way. I love Big Sur even more than Yosemite, but mainly because I like the views of the water and the cliffs, but of course they are both great.

Also, just the drive down the California coast is amazing, it's worth saving lots of time for that.

I think I would consider taking out Yosemite, adding a day at Big Sur, and allowing for more time driving down the coast so you can just stop frequently and check out the views. You could also add more time at Monterey/Carmel (it's close enough to Big Sur where you can do day trips there from Monterey).
 
My main concern is whether Yosemite is worth all the extra driving and the rushing down the coast.
This is a valid concern. The drive to/from Yosemite is not easy. I suggest sticking to PCH or sticking to the mountains - not both. Based on the rest of your itinerary I would recommend the coast. Mix in a day in Santa Cruz - the boardwalk is actually really historic/cool and hotel rooms overlooking the beach are not hard to find. The drive down PCH through Big Sur is a full day. Venice is...not good. I'd recommend staying in San Luis Obispo, Avila Beach, Pismo, Santa Barbara - all much better choices.
 

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