LF suggestions - San Francisco down the coast to Huntington Beach

[wakica]

Hi This will be our first trip to California and we are VERY excited about it!
We'll be doing 6 Flags, Yosemite, Bodie, visiting family in Lodi, Napa Valley Wine train, San Francisco, down the coast to Huntington Beach and ending with a few days in DL.

The planning is going pretty good so far but we are a bit stumped on our San Francisco down the coast to Huntington Beach portion.

Here are the places that we have had reccomended to us to visit on this stretch...

Santa Cruz Boardwalk
Monterey
Carmel
Big Sur
San Simeon and Hearst Castle
Santa Barbara
Santa Monica Pier

We just don't know how much time we will want to spend in each location and if some of those spots will need to be cut out, nor do we know what to do in each location.

We will leave San Fran early on a Tuesday morning
We will need a mid way point to spend the night
We will plan to arrive at Huntington Beach by dinner on Wednesday.

This will take place August 19th and 20th and we are also open to suggestions on where to stay by Huntington Beach or if there is a better beach close by we are flexible. We want what's best and our daughter wants to learn to surf while we are there.


If anyone is familiar with this area and has some suggestions we would be every so grateful to hear what your thoughts are

THANKS!

 

[VandVsmama]

Hi This will be our first trip to California and we are VERY excited about it!
We'll be doing 6 Flags, Yosemite, Bodie, visiting family in Lodi, Napa Valley Wine train, San Francisco, down the coast to Huntington Beach and ending with a few days in DL.

The planning is going pretty good so far but we are a bit stumped on our San Francisco down the coast to Huntington Beach portion.

Here are the places that we have had reccomended to us to visit on this stretch...

Santa Cruz Boardwalk
Monterey
Carmel
Big Sur
San Simeon and Hearst Castle
Santa Barbara
Santa Monica Pier

We just don't know how much time we will want to spend in each location and if some of those spots will need to be cut out, nor do we know what to do in each location.

We will leave San Fran early on a Tuesday morning
We will need a mid way point to spend the night
We will plan to arrive at Huntington Beach by dinner on Wednesday.

This will take place August 19th and 20th and we are also open to suggestions on where to stay by Huntington Beach or if there is a better beach close by we are flexible. We want what's best and our daughter wants to learn to surf while we are there.

THANKS!

I used to live in the Bay Area and when I'd drive from the South Bay (San Jose) to Santa Barbara on Hwy 101, it would take me 4-4.5 hours to drive it straight through. Here are my thoughts:

• Santa Cruz Boardwalk - this is about an hour's drive south of SF. The boardwalk rides are fun for an evening, but I wouldn't call it an absolute "must do" for your trip. Do the Santa Cruz Boardwalk OR the Santa Monica Pier. You don't need to do both. If you go to Santa Cruz, ride the Giant Dipper wooden roller coaster. It's been around forever.
• Monterey - the Monterey Bay Aquarium is really fantastic. There is an enormous deep sea fish tank there that is really amazing. the jellyfish exhibit is also incredible.
• Carmel - cute town very close to Monterey, full of cute expensive boutiques. Mobbed on weekends. Good for a morning or afternoon, I think.
• Big Sur - Given your limited time, skip this.
• San Simeon & Hearst Castle - Given your limited time, skip this. Save it for another trip and give it 2 days just for Hearst Castle. Cambria is the town nearby and it is a cool Central Coast beach town with boutiquey kind of shops.
• Santa Barbara - I went to college in SB, so I love this town. It's worth a 3-day weekend all on its own. Definitely see Santa Barbara over the Santa Monica Pier. If you do go, Petrini's is a locally-owned & run Italian restaurant that doesn't look much from the outside, but the food is really good. Fancy grocery stores here in AZ sell their salad dressing and it's a nice taste from back home! Cool places to shop on lower State Street. Drive through the UCSB campus...it's beautiful. If you want to eat on/near the water, you could go to downtown SB and eat at an expensive restaurant on the pier, or you can go to Goleta Beach (right next to UCSB). There's a restaurant there that serves lunch; can't remember if they serve dinner there. Goleta Beach is quiet & frequented by locals.

 

[VandVsmama]

I forgot to add that given that you essentially only have a day and a half, unfortunately I think that you should skip:

• Santa Cruz
• Monterey
• Carmel
• Big Sur
• San Simeon & Hearst Castle

...and just drive straight through down to Santa Barbara. Since you're leaving from SF instead of the south bay, then tack on an extra 1.5 hours to that 4-4.5 hr driving time. Just seeing the above 5 areas would probably need 4 days at least if you wanted to do them justice. And driving all the way down from SF to Santa Barbara on Hwy 1 takes a REALLY REALLY long time! Many areas are just a narrow 2-lane road where it's 25 mph in many spots.

So if you left SF at 9am and didn't stop at all, you'd probably get to SB by around 3pm going on 101 (which is the most direct route, btw). This will allow you a few hours of strolling around & sightseeing late that afternoon, time to check into your hotel, sit on the beach and watch the sunset (or watch the fog roll in).

 

[tiffjoy]

I used to live in the Bay Area and when I'd drive from the South Bay (San Jose) to Santa Barbara on Hwy 101, it would take me 4-4.5 hours to drive it straight through. Here are my thoughts: [*]Santa Cruz Boardwalk - this is about an hour's drive south of SF. The boardwalk rides are fun for an evening, but I wouldn't call it an absolute "must do" for your trip. Do the Santa Cruz Boardwalk OR the Santa Monica Pier. You don't need to do both. If you go to Santa Cruz, ride the Giant Dipper wooden roller coaster. It's been around forever. [*]Monterey - the Monterey Bay Aquarium is really fantastic. There is an enormous deep sea fish tank there that is really amazing. the jellyfish exhibit is also incredible. [*]Carmel - cute town very close to Monterey, full of cute expensive boutiques. Mobbed on weekends. Good for a morning or afternoon, I think. [*]Big Sur - Given your limited time, skip this. [*]San Simeon & Hearst Castle - Given your limited time, skip this. Save it for another trip and give it 2 days just for Hearst Castle. Cambria is the town nearby and it is a cool Central Coast beach town with boutiquey kind of shops. [*]Santa Barbara - I went to college in SB, so I love this town. It's worth a 3-day weekend all on its own. Definitely see Santa Barbara over the Santa Monica Pier. If you do go, Petrini's is a locally-owned & run Italian restaurant that doesn't look much from the outside, but the food is really good. Fancy grocery stores here in AZ sell their salad dressing and it's a nice taste from back home! Cool places to shop on lower State Street. Drive through the UCSB campus...it's beautiful. If you want to eat on/near the water, you could go to downtown SB and eat at an expensive restaurant on the pier, or you can go to Goleta Beach (right next to UCSB). There's a restaurant there that serves lunch; can't remember if they serve dinner there. Goleta Beach is quiet & frequented by locals.

I have to disagree on skipping Big Sur. As an East Coast native and now California transplant, this was one of the most impressive and beautiful sites driving down Hwy 1. I love Santa Barbara, but it isn't the rugged coastline of Nothern California. Big Sur and the area between it and Monterrey are just not to be missed, IMO. We stood and just watched and admired. But then, I'm a Northern Cali girl at heart, so maybe I'm biased. My DH loves San Diego, but my heart is in San Francisco and the beaches where you can't wear your swimsuit. They are so compelling and peaceful.

I personally love the difference between NoCal and SoCal and think it's worth using the day trip to highlight this difference. Spend some time along the coast driving down to SB, then appreciate the differences between the two.

JMO.

 

[wakica]

Thanks for the suggestions so far. It's all very helpful.

I should have stated that my daughter is 16. the aquarium sounds amazing but I don't think it's a priority to us.

Also, we have 3 days at Huntington Beach so we don't really need beach time on the way down either.


Keep em coming

 

[ncc1701]

Both Hilton and Hyatt have hotels that sit on the Pacific Coast Highway overlooking the ocean in Huntington Beach. The Hyatt has a bridge that crosses over the PCH and there is a traffic light at the Hilton. Not need to dodge traffic to get to the beach.
We have stayed at the Hyatt 4 times and it is one of our favorite places to stay. Both are about a 20 minute walk to Main St. and the pier.
Both are expensive and do have $30.00 plus nightly parking fees and Hyatt has a resort fee (included Wi-Fi & I would be surprised if the Hilton didn't have one too). The rooms with no ocean view are cheaper.
The website for visitors www.surfcityusa.com can give you more hotel info along with other stuff. It was about a 30 min drive to DL the one time we decided to go to Downtown Disney to shop in the morning and have lunch.