West Coast Road Trip Suggested Itineraries

[yorkshireman]

Hi all, we are looking to do a road trip down the west coast which is kid friendly (ages 6 and 7). Is there a thread on here that has some suggested itineraries as we are new to this side of the USA.

[red cuillen]

Hi there, best look at some trip reports, there are so many ways of doing a west coast trip, all depends on what your interests are.
For a shameless plug as it could do with a bump, my report of San F to LA via Joshua Tree is a pretty basic, simple north to south coastal trip, with something for everyone in there!

San F to LA via Joshua Tree/ Tramway

[yorkshireman]

We are open to suggestions as we only know the main tourist attractions. I'll take a look for the trip reports as I didn't see that section.

Your link is broken but I'll see if I can search for it and take a look.

Thanks!

[Lell]

I would also recommend checking out peoples trip reports.
In 2017 we did 3 weeks, doing a loop - Las Vegas - Laughlin - Grand Canyon - Joshua Tree - Redondo Beach - Pismo Beach - Monterey - San Francisco - Yosemite - Lone Pine - Death Valley - Las Vegas.
This year we are flying into San Francisco - Lake Tahoe - Kings Canyon / Sequoia - Palm Springs - San Diego over 2 weeks.

[TGT]

We did a bus tour from San Diego to Seattle - you can read about it here - no kids but the bear had fun!

tourguideted/index.html?42

[smithlane]

We haven’t been yet but this summer we are flying in and out of SFO.
3 nights - San Francisco
3 nights - Monterey
1 night - Solvang or Pismo
2 nights - LA
3 nights - Anaheim
5 nights - Oceanside
1 night - Bakersfield
3 nights - Yosemite
We did really want to fly into SFO but back out of LAX but the prices were too high. If we did I would have put Yosemite after San Francisco and then onto Monterey from there, drop the Bakersfield stop and add a night onto Oceanside for some more chill time. My pre trip report is in my signature if you want to see what accommodations I’ve booked. I would recommend reading all the trip reports you can on here. They are invaluable for advice and to give you a guide of what you might want to do and see

[yorkshireman]

Thanks all. Ive read a few already and I will keep looking.

We are planning on driving and I've read that Oakland Airport is not far either to start at San Francisco. I don't know if this works out cheaper than SFO.

[jdouds]

Hi have a look at flying into and out of LA or San Fran. What a lot of people do is a circular route.
First things first how many nights will the trip be as this will dictate a lot of the advice given.
What research have you done and what things so far would you like to see.
With kids I would try and keep the longest drives down to about 3 1/2 to 4 hours.
For the kids Monterey bay aquarium fantastic, elephant seal beach, whale watching, San Diego zoo and wildlife park a highlight for our kids several years ago as they where able to see a cheetah up close.

[cornishfrogboy]

Our California last Easter was most certainly our best US vacation to date (and our first on the West Coast).
Planning is no more difficult than a Florida diy and great fun. I agree with the others that reading the reviews of others is a good starting point and indeed how we commenced planning. (Mine is California N to South at Easter and everything is on the first 4 pages of the thread).

My main tips would be.
1. Never underestimate the driving issues in the LA area. Traffic is truly horrendous, inconsiderate and at times, painfully slow.
2. Avoid having a car in San Francisco if at all possible. You do not need it as it is easy to get around. The BART also solves getting to/from SFO at the start/end of the vacation. Parking at our 3star hotel was $75 per night.
3. Try and get some San Diego. It is an amazingly nice city (and I do not generally like cities).
4. With the age of your children, I would suggest that you find accommodation close to Fishermens Wharf in order to minimise walking.

My concern would be how your children will deal with long drives. As others have said, try to limit any leg to 3 hours or less. San Francisco to San Diego on the coast route is just under 600 miles. If you cut in to take Annaheim (Disney), then it is a lot more. We did 1200 miles in the 10 days that we had a car!

[Wismgari]

Originally Posted by yorkshireman

Thanks all. Ive read a few already and I will keep looking.

We are planning on driving and I've read that Oakland Airport is not far either to start at San Francisco. I don't know if this works out cheaper than SFO.

See more...

I did a road trip from SF to LA in 2017 and we flew into Oakland (and then out from LAX). Oakland is right by SF and was easy to get into the city from - we used an uber and it didn't cost that much or take long (can't remember specifics sorry!)

We did:
SF
Yosemite
Pacific Coast Highway (including overnights in Monterey for 2 nights and Morro Bay for 1 night - just a convenient stop off point)
LA
Joshua Tree (just a day trip)
Disneyland

The West Coast is amazing and there are loads of kid friendly things to do, have a great trip!