Family Trip Los Angeles to San Francisco

[bcla]

If you had more time in San Francisco, I would have recommended the Museum of Ice Cream. I brought my kid there once and we had a blast. It's not really about ice cream, although there will be some. It's more about having an experience where ice cream is a metaphor for enjoying oneself.

https://www.museumoficecream.com

 

[Fred M]

Too bad you already have your room squared away because in L.A. The Magic Castle is a great venue and if you don’t know a member or have another way to get in, you can always get in if you book a room at the Magic Castle Hotel.

I agree with everyone else that there isn’t a lot to stop and see on I-5. I prefer going up the 101, but it is longer.

For beaches, if you didn’t want to go into L.A. one day and want to stay in Orange County, Huntington Beach will be the easiest to get to if you’re not familiar with the area and has the best parking options.

 

[Madison2018]

We just did a trip where we started in San Francisco down the coast to LA, then ended with a few nights in Disney Land. We got sidetracked visiting a family member on our last day in LA and hit the traffic at a terrible time - it ended up taking over 2 hours to get to Disneyland. So, I'd say if you are driving back and forth to make sure to get your timing right! In LA we did a full day tour with We love LA tours - this was wonderful - we got to go places the buses don't go to and got to see and explore all the sights on our list. We also did the WB Studio Tour and loved it. In San Francisco, we did an e-tuk tour with Dylan's tours, again very personalized and got to go places the buses can't - like down Lombard street. We also did a fun scavenger hunt tour of Chinatown and North Beach in San Francisco which the kids loved. And yes, book Alcatraz in advance, this was the highlight of San Francisco for us!

 

[Lumpy1106]

If you had more time in San Francisco, I would have recommended the Museum of Ice Cream. I brought my kid there once and we had a blast. It's not really about ice cream, although there will be some. It's more about having an experience where ice cream is a metaphor for enjoying oneself.

https://www.museumoficecream.com

Same goes for the Jelly Belly factory tour in Vallejo. The tour is free and you can taste any of the flavors you want after the tour.

 

[bcla]

Same goes for the Jelly Belly factory tour in Vallejo. The tour is free and you can taste any of the flavors you want after the tour.

It's a little further than Vallejo. But it's in Fairfield where I've done a double-tour of Jelly Belly and Anheuser -Busch. The latter is $5 for adults and $2 for kids. And my kid was asking why kids weren't allowed to taste their hard cream soda.

As far as tasting goes, they allow that at all of their stores, although there are fewer than there used to be. There's the outlet store in Vacaville, the store at the Nut Tree mall in Vacaville, their main visitor center in Fairfield, and their outlet store in Gilroy. There used to be one at the outlets in Folsom.

 

[RedVines2001]

I agree with others that you would be wasting a lot of time stuck in traffic bouncing between Anaheim and LA. You should consider shuffling your LA days after Anaheim and stay somewhere near Burbank/Glendale. It would be a lot easier to drive to SF from there instead of Anaheim. Even better option if you don’t mind moving hotels is staying in Santa Clarita the night before you drive to SF. That’s the northern most town in LA before you go over the mountains. You can reasonably drive to SF from Santa Clarita in 5-ish hours.

Another spot to consider stopping on the 5 is In N Out in Kettleman City. I consider that a must do for ppl visiting California.

 

[MausFan]

Please consider that you'll be traveling over Labor Day weekend from SoCal to NoCal, so add a cushion to whatever time you think the travel will take. It's a big driving weekend here. It can sometimes take an hour to go 10 miles or less in SoCal depending upon what time you're leaving. Use Waze or whatever your favorite driving app is. I'm not sure if you're staying in SF or nearby on that side of the Bay, but that's added time if you're coming up on I-5 and you have to cross one of the bridges to the Peninsula or SF.