California in July

[berneslai]

After both 2020 and 2021 trips were cancelled, I've now got an itchy trigger finger for 2022. I've been to California nearly a dozen times now but only ever at Easter or, taking advantage of my kids weird school holidays, the very end of August/September.

If I go to LA/SF in mid-July next year (half way through the US school holidays) just how much worse is it? I'm not talking theme parks here particularly, just other tourist attractions (e.g. Monterey Aquarium, LA museums etc.)

I'm trying to work out if I should just go for it or wait for our usual August slot.

[jdouds]

Hi we’ve done July twice west coast, yes it’s busy but not that bad. Monterey aquarium can get busy as the day goes on and would recommend an early visit. It’s very very good.

[Aims]

Most non-theme park attractions will be noticeably busier in July, but not as busy as the theme parks are. I would say that zoos, museums etc will be a manageable kind of busy. My rule of thumb in going anywhere in July, or other parts of summer, is to go first thing in the day- this is especially true for the beaches. Beaches will be very busy in July and there is never enough parking spaces at any of them for the crowds.

[porridge]

I went at the end of July and it wasn’t as bad as expected. Beach (we went to Laguna) was fine. Disney we got max passes - well worth it, and we also used single rider lines. Used single rider lines also at universal. No trouble getting tickets for el capita in theatre. I guess it might be different with covid though, as there will be less tickets for sale each day I imagine.

[berneslai]

Thanks for your input all. I'm leaning towards a compromise of booking at the end of July so that some of my holiday spills into mid-August. If crowds are busy, at least I'll have some of the holiday in the off-peak time!

[Bella Girl]

Been in both July and October. SF was noticeably quieter in October.
However overall, July was manageable.