san diego to san fran roadtrip advice please!

[farmfresh]

We are heading to California in march. We fly into LAx (from overseas) and will be at DLR sat- wed, (8-12 I think)the week before Easter week. We fly out to Hawaii from San fran ON March 18.

So the big question is....how shall we spend the rest of our time? We have considered driving down to San Diego then heading up to San Fran from there. Advice on driving times, places to stop, even alternative destinations would be great. We will have two kids, 10 and 8, with us, and they won't enjoy being in the car all day.

We travel to LA reasonably regularly so won't need to stop there or spend more time in DLR.

Look forward to your suggestions .

 

[ducklite]

With only five days, I wouldn't plan on going all the way to San Francisco, that is a full day of driving in each direction. I'm visiting San Francisco in a few weeks, and planning on four full days there, and still won't see everything I want to see. I'd save it for when you can really devote ample time to it.

I'd concentrate on all that southern California can offer.

Plan to be in San Juan Capistrano on March 19th to see the swallows return. It's amazing!

In San Diego take a whale watching tour, the whales migrate north around mid-March, so it's a great time to see them.

The San Diego Zoo is a full day event, and one of the premiere zoos in the US.

I'm not sure, but I think there is a big Lego themed park or museum or something along those lines in San Diego as well.

In Santa Barabara you can visit the National Park (maybe it's a National Wildlife Refuge) and see all sorts of widlife. You'll also see sea lions and more from the beaches and recreationa reas along Santa Barbara harbor.

Maybe drive up to the Hearst Castle and take the tour there.

I'm sure others can give you more ideas of family friendly fun in that area.

 

[Aurora1959]

We are heading to California in march. We fly into LAx (from overseas) and will be at DLR sat- wed, (8-12 I think)the week before Easter week. We fly out to Hawaii from San fran ON March 18.

So the big question is....how shall we spend the rest of our time? We have considered driving down to San Diego then heading up to San Fran from there. Advice on driving times, places to stop, even alternative destinations would be great. We will have two kids, 10 and 8, with us, and they won't enjoy being in the car all day.

We travel to LA reasonably regularly so won't need to stop there or spend more time in DLR.

Look forward to your suggestions .

So essentially you are going to have about 6 days to kill.

I'd like to say the weather would be nice to drive up the coast, but sometimes in March the coast is cloudy and stormy. You never know if parts of some of the roads will be there or not.

I would consider though taking an easy trip up the coast, staying along the way. That way you aren't in the car the whole time. Some great things to see along the way are Solvang, Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Santa Cruz Boardwalk and Monterey Bay Aquarium. Once in San Francisco there are tons of things to see. And you don't have to stay in SF. You could get a hotel room farther south, or near a place where you can drop the rental car. Depending on when your flight leaves, you can stay close to Bart and then take that into the airport. If your hotel and/or rental car co doesn't offer shuttle service.

If you decide to hang around down south more though and then just want to get to SF as quickly as possible, just take I-5. It won't be pretty, and has nearly nothing great to stop for. But it will get you north quick.