California trip planning 2013

[kcmom25]

We are just beginning to plan our trip from TX to CA, we will be driving and looking at all of your suggestions is great! Keep them coming!!!

 

[WiganTony]

How's the planning going?

We're halfway there having managed to book our outbound flights using Avios. We had a slight change of plan so we are visiting NY for four nights, then flying on to San Francisco - just waiting for three seats to become available for our return!!

Revised planned itinerary now:

Travel UK to JFK - 4 nights in NY
Fly JFK to SFO - 3 full days in San Francisco
Drive down to Anaheim, possibly an overnight stop halfway.
Anaheim area (4 or 5 nights) - 3 days DLR, plan to visit Universal at weekend when traffic is hopefully quieter
Move to a beach location to chill out for 4 or 5 nights - fit in a trip to Seaworld
Return to UK from San Diego or LAX.

 

[NLD]

Anyone still reading? Planning? We're doing a week in CA in June. Plan right now is:

Day 1: Fly into Las Vegas, drive to Death Valley, one night Death Valley
Day 2: Drive up eastern Sierras, one night Mammoth Lakes
Day 3: See Mono Lake, enter Yosemite via Tioga Pass, spend the day exploring along Tioga Rd as we make our way to the southern end of the park to check in at Wawona Hotel (sleeping there four nights)
Day 4: Yosemite
Day 5: Yosemite
Day 6: Yosemite
Day 7: check out of Wawona, drive to Monterey, explore, sleep in Monterey
Day 8: Monterey Aquarium, Point Lobos, sleep in Monterey
Day 9: Drive to airport (hoping for SJC but maybe SFO) and fly home

 

[WiganTony]

Change of plan yet again!!! Now looking at:

Travel UK to NY (4 nights) - no doubt shopping will be on the agenda for the two ladies!
Travel NY to LAX (Business) then drive down to San Diego for 4 nights. Hoping to stay by the coast and fit in a visit to Seaworld and the city.
Drive back to Anaheim for 7 nights with a bit of Disney thrown in
Travel back to NY - Business for the two ladies, economy for myself but hoping to get an upgrade .
Following day NY to UK on the daytime BA flight

 

[Maleficent59]

Have you considered visiting the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park while in San Diego? You can easily spend a couple of days there.

We have many friends from the UK and shopping is always on the agenda! You can plan visits to several outlet malls (i.e., Ontario Mills, Cabazon, Carlsbad Premium Outlets) just from Anaheim to San Diego. I don't know which part of NY you're visiting, but my favorite outlet there is Woodbury Commons which is about an hour or so north of Manhattan.

Have fun visiting and planning!

 

[Maleficent59]

Hi
Great thread, heaps of info here!

We are coming from Australia and have four weeks planned in the West.
We have two small children aged 3 and 5 so we like to travel slower and explore a bit rather than just cross main attractions off a list...

Fly to LA
have 7 nights in Anaheim see Disney and visit LA shopping outlets one day.

pick up hire car and drive to Santa Barbara (2 nights)
drive to Cambria (2 nights); see Hearst castle and have some beach time
drive to Monterey (2 nights) aquarium, pebble beach and surrounds

drive to San Francisco (8 nights); explore the city

fly to Las Vegas (5 nights); DH has a conference

LA (1 night) not sure here whether to stay in LA and see grove, farmers markets etc or stay in Santa Monica.

C

Some places to consider for your visit to LA: visit the beaches in Orange County (Newport and Huntington), the Hollywood Area, walk up/down Rodeo Drive, drive around Beverly Hills, and of course, enjoy Disneyland. If you're driving from SoCal to NorCal, Gilroy Premium Outlet is on your way up (Monterey to SF). There are several outlets in NorCal - Gilroy, Napa, Petaluma, and Vacaville and Las Vegas is home to several outlet malls. Pick a couple of the larger malls - they have similar stores.

My daughter was not all that impressed with Hearst Castle when she was younger. However, she did enjoy Point Lobos, Pebble Beach, Carmel, and Monterey. The Aquarium is not to be missed! Also, we did a whale watching excursion this past summer in Monterey and LOVED it! It was spectacular! Consider stopping in Santa Cruz on the way up as the Boardwalk is really fun!

 

[WiganTony]

Have you considered visiting the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park while in San Diego? You can easily spend a couple of days there.

We have many friends from the UK and shopping is always on the agenda! You can plan visits to several outlet malls (i.e., Ontario Mills, Cabazon, Carlsbad Premium Outlets) just from Anaheim to San Diego. I don't know which part of NY you're visiting, but my favorite outlet there is Woodbury Commons which is about an hour or so north of Manhattan.

Have fun visiting and planning!

Think I'll keep this post away from the Ladies eyes - shopping

We are looking at visiting Seaworld and hopefully the Zoo when we arrive, but also hoping for a day ot two just chilling out around the pool or on the beach.

 

[WiganTony]

Time marches on. We've booked our accommodation in San Diego (Best Western Plus Island Palms Hotel & Marina) and in Anaheim (Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel near to Disneyland). Just waiting for some (hopefully!!) resaonable hotel prices for our four nights in New York now.

The only downside is that as we are travelling from San Diego to Anaheim on a Friday, it looks as if to avoid the traffic we will need to leave mid-morning so a stop at Carlsbad Premium Outlets could well be on the cards..........

 

[budafam]

Love this thread! My sister just contacted me last night about booking a trip for her and her husband in May to see California. She had a tour picked out on Yahoo but it was only going to allow 1 day to see all of San Francisco and I thought it was horribly rushed so now I'm trying to do some research and plan the trip myself.

They do not want to rent a car which is making it kind of difficult to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B. I was thinking of having them fly into San Francisco and getting a hotel there. I found simple tours that you can pick and choose what you want to do and they'll pick you right up from your hotel. I thought 2 nights in San Fran and then go back to the airport to fly to LA and get the shuttle to a Disneyland resort then they could take advantage of the tours offered through DLR with transportation included.

How would this sound? Simple enough? Is there an easier way or am I overthinking it? I'm completely unfamiliar with California.. never been.

 

[taaren]

Love this thread! My sister just contacted me last night about booking a trip for her and her husband in May to see California. She had a tour picked out on Yahoo but it was only going to allow 1 day to see all of San Francisco and I thought it was horribly rushed so now I'm trying to do some research and plan the trip myself.

They do not want to rent a car which is making it kind of difficult to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B. I was thinking of having them fly into San Francisco and getting a hotel there. I found simple tours that you can pick and choose what you want to do and they'll pick you right up from your hotel. I thought 2 nights in San Fran and then go back to the airport to fly to LA and get the shuttle to a Disneyland resort then they could take advantage of the tours offered through DLR with transportation included.

How would this sound? Simple enough? Is there an easier way or am I overthinking it? I'm completely unfamiliar with California.. never been.

It does sound simple, flying into SFO is great and in SF you don't want a car anyways ... I live here in East Bay and refuse to drive into SF, always use public transportation. The Bay Area Rapid Transit system connects to the SF airport terminal, so getting to their hotel in SF should be easy.
The only thing I would change is see if they could fly to Orange County or maybe even Long Beach instead of LAX (SNA is my favorite). Then the shuttle to DLR is shorter, less trafffic, etc.

 

[TheDisneyPrep]

Thank you, all, for this great information! My husband and I weren't able to do our honeymoon right away - and have a wedding in Sonoma in July 2015. We will be making that trip into our Honeymoon.

I would love to start in Anaheim/LA Area and then drive UP the coast to end our stay in Sonoma.

I love the suggestions here - especially Yosemite.

Looking forward to planning our trip!