California Road Trip - Summer 2019 ideas

[Dazarooni]

Hi

I'm planning a 28 night road trip to California for next Summer, initially I've gone with the following route:

3 nights San Francisco
3 nights Tahoe City (Lake Tahoe)
1 night Murphys
3 nights Yosemite
3 nights Monterey
1 night San Simeon
4 nights Hollywood
6 nights San Diego
4 nights Anaheim

I'm trying to balance the trip between seeing lots of nature as well as plenty of theme parks. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Also, does anyone have any go to websites for accommodation? I tend to lean towards Airbnb but a read that some if not all of Cali has restrictions or pending laws prohibiting these kind of stays.

Thanks

Dazarooni

[400ixl]

What do you plan to do for your 4 nights in Hollywood as many would say that is too much. Personally not a problem filling them, but just making sure there is enough there for your interests. Maybe take a night and stop in Santa Barbara on the way down from San Simeon and then do the coastal towns of Malibu, Santa Monica, Venice Beach etc on the way down and across to Hollywood. Or do Six Flags Magic Mountain as a theme park on the way down.

Again for Monterey,2 nights is often enough, but if you are coming from Murphy's and not having an early start that first day is just really an evening so makes sense to have 2 full days there. If you are planning to leave early and ve there for lunch, you could save a day there.

Overall though looks like a nice relaxed pace.

[jdouds]

Hi looks a great trip we have done 2 west coast trips in the last 3 years. San Fran and yosemite fantastic , how many in your party, if just adults have a look at the blue butterfly bb. 3 n Monterey great and make sure you go whale watching. Aquarium, 17 mile Carmel all great.We would maybe suggest going a bit further down than San Simeon . We really enjoyed Santa Barbara and would suggest a couple of nights here, and would also agree with others would cut down on holywood and maybe shave a day of San Diego and then include a couple of days at Palm springs

[Dazarooni]

The things we're considering doing at each stop are:

3 nights San Francisco (Alcatraz, bike the Golden Gate, ride a tram)
3 nights Tahoe City (relax at the lake)
1 night Murphys (gold mining era stuff)
3 nights Yosemite (see the natural wonders)
3 nights Monterey (Aquarium, Whale watching)
1 night San Simeon (Hearst Castle, Elephant seals)
4 nights Hollywood (Universal, Warner Bros, Walk of Fame)
6 nights San Diego (Zoo, Safari, beach)
4 nights Anaheim (Disney, Knotts)

This trip is for 2 adults and 2 kids (15 and 11).

[Frankie & gang]

OP could you add an extra night at the start to SF? We had 4 SF, 3 Yosemite at start of our Cali road trip last year. It helped with jetlag, gave us 3 full days (wouldn’t have wanted less) there’s so much to do in SF!
I’d have liked another night in Yosemite but 3 was ok.
Happy planning

[Frankie & gang]

Take a look at Dylan’s tour for SF. We did the 6 hour “famous tour” on our first day, really helped us get a feel of the place, we saw far more than if had done on own & learned so much from the guide.

[Dazarooni]

We stayed in Oakland Hills just across the bay several years ago and did daytrips into SF, hence only three days allocated on my current plan. My overriding reason is to visit Alcatraz as we didn't have the foresight to pre-book last time we visited, not realizing how popular it was.