Thoughts on the start of my itinerary?

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by smithlane

One idea in fitting everything in to your first day could be driving into the city early, setting the Sat Nav to take you down Lombard St.
Park the car in Fisherman’s Wharf for the day, grab a pastry for breakfast at Boudins then walk to a bike hire shop (Blazing Saddles) to get some bikes for the day. You can then cycle and tick off Ghiradelli Square, Palace of the fine Arts, Lucas Film Studios and the GG bridge. You could also go down to Sausalito (beautiful) and have lunch there. Ferry back to San Fran then take bikes back.
Queue for cable car at Beach/Hyde, take it up to Union Square for a look around and either walk or take another car back to FW. Walk along the Embarcadero to Pier 39 to see the seals and end the day having dinner with a well deserved glass of wine!
I don’t know about Rincon Park so can’t help you there though.
Another option is doing the cable car first thing as the queues do really build up throughout the day but we went in July so probably a lot busier than May.

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I really like this advice. Your plan is imho, good, but ambitious.

A) I would cut Cambria and do a second day in SFO in order to...
1. Visit Alcatraz (the audio tour is astonishingly good).
2. Go on the 2 hour love tour in a MK1 VW Camper, hand painted, with shag pile carpets and atmospheric 1960s music. It takes in Haight Ashbury , The Golden gate etc with photo stops. It leaves from pier 39.
3. Consider the SFO ghost tour in the evening. It gets really good reviews and covers history, particularly around Nob Hill.

B) If you do A, then it ticks a lot of your boxes whilst freeing up time for this one that does the rest.. and more..
Dylan’s ultimate cycle hire. Pick up the bike on Columbus after walking to and seeing the very nearby Lombard St Zigzags, Cycle along the front, up and over the GG bridge and then down to Sausalito where you give back the bikes. Lunch in Sausalito before being picked up in a mini bus and taken on a trip through Marin to Muir Woods and it’s giant redwoods. Bus then takes you back over the GG and drops you either at Fishermen’s or Chinatown.

C) Instead of, but because you are within very few miles, I would stay at the wonderfully refrained and classy Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. You can still visit Pismo from there within minutes. It is for sure that you will never, ever forget it and it’s wonderful, tasteful decor.

D) consider the Reagan Library at the Simi Valley on your way (possibly to Anaheim). A real gem of a place.

You can see more detail of most of the above on my attached trip report.

[PumpkinCupcake]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

I really like this advice. Your plan is imho, good, but ambitious.

A) I would cut Cambria and do a second day in SFO in order to...
1. Visit Alcatraz (the audio tour is astonishingly good).
2. Go on the 2 hour love tour in a MK1 VW Camper, hand painted, with shag pile carpets and atmospheric 1960s music. It takes in Haight Ashbury , The Golden gate etc with photo stops. It leaves from pier 39.
3. Consider the SFO ghost tour in the evening. It gets really good reviews and covers history, particularly around Nob Hill.

B) If you do A, then it ticks a lot of your boxes whilst freeing up time for this one that does the rest.. and more..
Dylan’s ultimate cycle hire. Pick up the bike in Columbus after walking to and seeing the very nearby Lombard St Zigzags, Cycle along the front, up and over the GG bridge and then down to Sausalito where you give back the bikes. Lunch in Sausalito before being picked up in a mini bus and taken on a trip through Marin to Muir Woods and it’s giant redwoods. Bus then takes you back over the GG and drops you either at Fishermen’s or Chinatown.

C) Instead of, but because you are within very few miles, I would stay at the wonderfully refrained and classy Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. You can still visit Pismo from there within minutes. It is for sure that you will never, ever forget it and it’s wonderful, tasteful decor.

D) consider the Reagan Library at the Simi Valley on your way (possibly to Anaheim). A real gem of a place.

You can see more detail of most of the above on my attached trip report.

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I visited Alcatraz on my last visit so we’re okay to miss that out probably should have mentioned that since it’s such a big attraction to skip! I’ve seen a good few mentions of Dylan’s tour so I’m going to look into that, as I also really want to see the redwoods.

Yes! I have the Madonna inn on my list as I saw it in a YouTube video and it looks amazing. Would you suggest changing pismo to that; and keeping the rest of the coastal tour the same? (Minus the cambria part)

Will take a look at your trip report 😁

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by PumpkinCupcake

I visited Alcatraz on my last visit so we’re okay to miss that out probably should have mentioned that since it’s such a big attraction to skip! I’ve seen a good few mentions of Dylan’s tour so I’m going to look into that, as I also really want to see the redwoods.

Yes! I have the Madonna inn on my list as I saw it in a YouTube video and it looks amazing. Would you suggest changing pismo to that; and keeping the rest of the coastal tour the same? (Minus the cambria part)

Will take a look at your trip report 😁

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Everyone is different. I must admit that I was surprised to be suggesting Alcatraz.

We are returning this Easter because the PCH was closed on our last visit (we have a pretrippy in the appropriate section). 3 days in SFO wetted our appetite for 3 more this Easter. We will be doing love and ghost tours, Alcatraz again and free cycling this time to GG park, the coastal track, Sutra Bath ruins, over the bridge and out to Bonita point lighthouse.

As regards Pismo. It is a smallish town with standard hotels, a nice long pier and Nov-March, a brilliant Monarch butterfly grove. It’s chief attraction is it’s brilliant placement, halfway down between Monterey and LA. Whilst you will probably forget Pismo in to a blur within a few years, particularly after the really vibrant Monterey, for us the Madonna Inn was an absolute highlight of the whole vacation, to the extent that whilst we stayed one night last time, it is 3 nights this time. We are propositioning there do go back up the PCH and see Hearst Castle after driving past it on the way south from Monterey. (We are seeing Pebble Beach, Big Sur cliffs, Pfeiffer Park etc on the way S and thus have too little time that day to do Hearst Castle justice).
If you go on the Madonna Inn’s own site, besides getting a good price, you can select the theming of your room. Last time we did not and were allocated on arrival (Chinese paper room). This time, we have selected the San Francisco room.
The rooms are very large, very cluttered and have a modicum of privacy with 2 bed chambers joined by an arch. You can allocate 2 queens or a queen and two singles on their site.
Their cakes are absolutely awesome and I purchased a Black Forest gateau one for my wife’s birthday. It was in the room on arrival. $39 sounds extortionate. Even with ravenous boys x 2, we couldn’t eat it all. It was the most delicious cake I have ever eaten.

Hope it helps.