Would you have an overnight stop between Monterey and Marina del Rey?

[fatblokeflorida]

I'm having some doubts about our intended plan to leave Monterey and travel in a single day to our next stop Marina del Rey? Travel time I think its about 6 hours which is fine but we want to stop in many places in between such as Bixby Bridge, Big Sur, McWay Falls, Hearst Castle (possibly), elephant seals at San Simeone (and anything else recommended or we've not yet thought of) and enjoy the drive without feeling as though we are having to rush all the time.
We also want to spend some time in Santa Barbara and Malibu on the way through to MDR so I'm now thinking we should add an overnight stop somewhere like Pismo to break the journey up and then do Santa Barbara, Malibu and Santa Monica the following day and then ending up in MDR?

[jdouds]

Hi would definitely stop some where, for us Santa Barbara and spend a full day there.

[landandword17]

Definitely. The 6 hour travel time isn’t accurate anyway because it’s not taking account of traffic. You can add 20-30% onto google map times. If you make stops along the way you’re looking at 12 hours, more of you include Hearst and end up in LA evening commute traffic. Pismo is fine but nothing spectacular, I suppose it gets so much attention because of you look at a map it’s slap bang in the middle but there are so many more picturesque parts of California. Pismo is like an English seaside town. I would go to Santa Barbara/Cambria/Avila beach or for something pure Americana the Madonna Inn.

[tonymc]

Another vote to split the journey. It is 300 miles plus, and given what you want to do en-route and travelling down the PCH, it would make sense.

We stayed in Pismo Beach overnight having driven there from SFO, and the onward journey to Marina del Rey was more than enough for our second day, as it took us some 4-1/2 hours via the 154 and 101.

[TinkerBabe]

We broke up the journey with an overnight stay at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. We loved it and had a fabulous time, coincidently our stay fell on a Thursday which is when they have a fabulous farmers market in the evening when the main st was filled with bbq stands and people were wandering up and down trying street foods and enjoying a beer, it was great!

[motherofthree]

We are stopping for one night in San Luis Obispo and two nights in Santa Barbara before arriving in Hollywood. Then we are having two nights in Hollywood and two nights in Anaheim before driving on to San Diego.

[fatblokeflorida]

Thanks for replies. Looks like we need to fit a one night stop in somewhere but not quite sure where we are going to take that extra night from😝😝 so a bit more planning needed I think

[landandword17]

How long we you in Marina del Ray for? I’d take the night off there. We stopped on the way back to the airport and spent the day there. Nice spot but no need for multiple days imo.

[fatblokeflorida]

3 nights and the plan was to use it as a base for Santa Monica and LA to see the usual touristy sights. Stopping there on the way back to LAX doesn't work for us as its our eldest son who really wants to see the LA bits and he is flying home direct from San Diego so not coming back to LA with us

[landandword17]

Originally Posted by fatblokeflorida

3 nights and the plan was to use it as a base for Santa Monica and LA to see the usual touristy sights. Stopping there on the way back to LAX doesn't work for us as its our eldest son who really wants to see the LA bits and he is flying home direct from San Diego so not coming back to LA with us

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Okay, don’t go up to LA until after the morning commute! I can’t find your full itinerary now to see where else you could shave a night off but you can’t do your original plan of stopping along Highway 1, Hearst Castle etc in a day anyway. So something will have to give. It’s hard to plan a WC itinerary because there’s so much to do and never enough time.