Advice for first timer

[Miasmum]

Hi, we have decided to do the west coast next year having done Florida a few times, ready to try something new! We are a family of 6 (kids will be 16.13.10.6) we are debating between flying into San Francisco, spending a few days there and then travelling down and doing Universal and Disney, then possibly San Diego?
The other option is maybe just sticking to LA area and San Diego.
To anyone who has done this- is the first option too much with so many kids!?
Lots of question but thought I’d start with that
Thanks,
Jo

[ShenzyT]

Hiya Jo,
So sorry I don't have any advice for you... we're West Coast 1st timers too. We're looking at July 2022. We've 2 kids and have done Florida many times, it's time to venture out

I think whatever you decide to do, it'll be amazing xxx

[jdouds]

Hi we’ve done most of the west coast and probably our least favourite place would be LA area, other think it’s the best.
So first ? How long is your planned trip.
Have you thought about accommodation, much more expensive on west coast. Keep in mind air bnb, or private rentals.
San Fran easily 3/4 days lots to do.
Monterey/Carmel lovely place and would highly recommend whale watching. The aquarium is superb.
From Monterey a possible 1 n stop on route to LA area.
San Diego is nice place with lots to see, the zoo and wildlife park are very good

[CADisneymum]

I am from San Diego. I don’t think that is too much but would fly to San Diego. Personally p, I don’t like LA. There is nothing special al about it San Diego has so much more for kids and families. For flights, check out Southwest

[Miasmum]

Thanks for the responses, thinking 3 weeks and not overly fussed about LA but kids really want to do universal. Love the idea of starting at San Francisco but what stops do people recommend, bearing in mind we have 4 kids so accommodations can be tricky

[berneslai]

With three weeks, I'd fly into SFO and take your time travelling South on the PCH. I'm sure you know the tip about taking a car when leaving SF rather than saddling yourself with extortionate parking charges while you are there.

Most on here have quite a low opinion of LA but there are some great places in the surrounding areas to explore (Huntington Gardens, Getty Center, Griffith Park etc.) It's worthwhile going through the dozens of road trip threads just to get an idea of what is out there.

[Daisychick]

Regarding LA - as others have said, some really like it and some not so much. Personally I would go. I'm always conscious when I say to someone that somewhere isn't worth going etc that I am doing so from the position of having been.

In any case, I like LA - I don't think of it as a place as such. More a sprawl of individual areas with the things you might like to do all spread out around that area.

We had I think 16 days and had a few nights in SF and then drove down to San Diego, stopping at various points along the way. So 3 weeks sounds great.

We did the planning mainly using google maps and trip reports. We looked at each area to see what were must dos for us and then planned how much time we needed in each area. When that was done, we did it again to get the trip down to the time we had off work!

Even with 3 weeks, you won't get to see everything so it's more a case of whether you want to see a bit of something from each area or really focus on doing certain areas more in depth. We enjoyed the variety of things in doing the whole route and now have an idea of where we would spend more time if we went back (San Diego, if anyone was wondering!)

[cornishfrogboy]

We did exactly this in 2018 and you will see the trip report in my signature.

SFO is brilliant, and worth 3-4 days.

The best part of the PCH must be between Monterey and Vandenburg AFB, thus a fair bit North of LA.

I really do not like LA, but it is unfortunately very large and in the way as you head to San Diego (which we loved). I have not yet done Universal. (August).

3 weeks is more than enough to do the lot and I think you should very much go with your original thoughts. It is a brilliant vacation.

It may help you also to read the Pre trip in my signature as this takes you from SFO to Hollywood (before we fly out into the desert) and has plenty more hotel selections that may appeal to you (or not) and that are very current.

A key to the West Coast is research with reference flights, car hire and hotels as the prices can vary widely between search engines and even direct contact through websites in the case of the Hotels. I like research!

Hoping that helps and any questions, please feel free!

[Dagzie]

We've done similar but we flew to Vegas for 3 days then flew to Long Beach (mainly to see an LA Galaxy game) then went to Huntington Beach before staying in Venice Beach before flying home from LA.

Boys were 12 and 14 at the time and they loved Huntington Beach - did a whale watching trip from Newport which they still talk about. Long Beach was a bit meh but we only really went for the football.

We're booked to fly to Orlando for 6 nights in August, then flying to San Diego, staying in La Jolla, travelling up to Huntington/Newport and then on to Marina Del Rey as we quite fancy trying there and flying back from LA again. This was meant to be last August's holiday but, well COVID!

I've done a bit of research on San Diego and we're having 3 nights there so looking forward to that. I quite like the LA areas - not LA itself, spent a weekend at the Loews Hollywood and wouldn't go back in a hurry to that area unless it was just on a tour. We like Santa Monica and Venice, although a lot of people don't like Venice. There are some lovely parts like Abbot Kinney which are good for shopping and restaurants.

Huntington Beach is by far one of my favourite places. Love the atmosphere, the beach is fantastic and plenty of places to eat, drink and shop. Same with Newport, although we only spent one day there.

We've used AirBnB for accommodation and have always had good ones, some of them even have bikes/boogie boards/beach chairs and towels for you to use. Cycling up and down Santa Monica front is a must x

[Miasmum]

Thanks for all the very helpful responses! Definitely lots to think about, I’m sure I will be back with lots more questions!