Road trip 2020 Advice needed

[Stan1805]

Originally Posted by smithlane

I wouldn’t stop between Solvang and Monterey and add a night onto Monterey instead.
We did it the other way round this summer. It’s a long but stunning drive up the PCH, take your time and stop at various look outs. I can highly recommend Pfeiffer Beach as one of them, $12 to park but hands down the most beautiful of all the beaches we visited this year.
Take a look at my trip report in my signature for photos

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I read your trip report and really enjoyed it and Pfeiffer beach is on our to do list. One of the reasons for an overnight stay between Solvang and Monterey was the time it would take due to all the stops along the way.

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by Stan1805

I read your trip report and really enjoyed it and Pfeiffer beach is on our to do list. One of the reasons for an overnight stay between Solvang and Monterey was the time it would take due to all the stops along the way.

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Thank you.
It does take all day especially when you take into account of all the stops but it could easily be done in the daylight if you leave early enough in the morning.
The problem with driving from South to North is there isn’t really anywhere that would be worth stopping after Solvang that’s closer to Monterey, there’s Carmel but then you might as well drive on as it’s only about 30 minutes away.
Actually having said that there is the Big Sur River Inn that we passed. I would consider driving it all in a day though as it means one less 1 night stop. All the packing and unpacking will drive you mad after a while 😂

[jdouds]

Smithlane there is loads to see north of solvang, Hearst castle,condor view point. Elephant seal beach at San Simeon, morrow bay and more.

[tinytots]

I would miss point 6.- 1 night stopover. Solvang to Monterey is easily doable in a good few hours and then add it on to San Fran or San Diego. I would also ditch the car for San Fran( not needed) It is not a city you want or need to drive around.
We drove from San Diego to Vegas and although it was straight forward and an experience in itself I wouldn’t do it again. Especially driving through Death Valley.

[jdouds]

Tinytots I think you have got mixed up , you don't drive through Death Valley on way to san Diego from vegas.

[buryboy]

Originally Posted by tinytots

I would miss point 6.- 1 night stopover. Solvang to Monterey is easily doable in a good few hours and then add it on to San Fran or San Diego. I would also ditch the car for San Fran( not needed) It is not a city you want or need to drive around.
We drove from San Diego to Vegas and although it was straight forward and an experience in itself I wouldn’t do it again. Especially driving through Death Valley.

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Not sure if you meant Death Valley there ? Thought that was north of Vegas on the way to Yosemite ?

OP - while your trip is doable not sure Yosemite in a day from San Fran is doing it justice at all . But it’s tough to know what to drop , Not sure I would do 2/3 nights in LA

A coach trip in a day to Grand Canyon south rim sounds like one hell of s long day . From memory a 5 hour drive in a car each way , longer probably on a coach
We drove from Vegas to Grand Canyon via hoover dam and Route 66 , arriving early afternoon, spent a few hours driving along the stops at the rim ending with sunset . Stopped overnight then got to see sunrise, stayed to noon then drove to Palm Springs for a night , ( great time up the aerial tramway the next morning then drove on to San Diego ( would recommend the old town trolley there to see the city in a day )

Just an alternative idea

I didn’t do a full trip report but my photobbok / storybook may give you a few ideas ( link below )

bonusprint/view-on...dd80be2d953cd9

[smithlane]

Originally Posted by jdouds

Smithlane there is loads to see north of solvang, Hearst castle,condor view point. Elephant seal beach at San Simeon, morrow bay and more.

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I wasn’t talking about things to see I meant places to stay.
We did the route this summer and spent the entire day travelling between Monterey and Solvang so am aware of what is there

[grant_w]

Depends what you want to do in San Diego, but we used our car a lot there.
We also used Uber to take us into and out of town a couple of days, but we drove to Sea World, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Safari Park and to the airport for our biplane flight.

Same in San Francisco, we only used our car once, to drive to the zoo.

[Stan1805]

Originally Posted by buryboy

Not sure if you meant Death Valley there ? Thought that was north of Vegas on the way to Yosemite ?

OP - while your trip is doable not sure Yosemite in a day from San Fran is doing it justice at all . But it’s tough to know what to drop , Not sure I would do 2/3 nights in LA

A coach trip in a day to Grand Canyon south rim sounds like one hell of s long day . From memory a 5 hour drive in a car each way , longer probably on a coach
We drove from Vegas to Grand Canyon via hoover dam and Route 66 , arriving early afternoon, spent a few hours driving along the stops at the rim ending with sunset . Stopped overnight then got to see sunrise, stayed to noon then drove to Palm Springs for a night , ( great time up the aerial tramway the next morning then drove on to San Diego ( would recommend the old town trolley there to see the city in a day )

Just an alternative idea

I didn’t do a full trip report but my photobbok / storybook may give you a few ideas ( link below )

bonusprint/view-on...dd80be2d953cd9

See more...

I know what you mean both trips if we do them will be long days.13/14 hours. To be honest we really just want to visit and I know a few hours won’t do them justice but really couldn’t face the drive there and back which is why we are looking into going by coach. We could as some have suggested shave off some days elsewhere and have overnight stops but again that’s more hassle doing lots of one night stops. It has certainly made us think about our plans though. Thank you

[Stan1805]

Thank you dibbers for all your help so far. We are certainly going to look at some of your suggestions before finalising our plans.