California

insular

Hey

Finally booked my trip of a lifetime yesterday for next august to the west coast of america

The place i am most looking forward to is California - where i have 2 weeks with a car...but i want to make the most of it!!

Any thoughts/ideas as to where i canNOT miss??

THanks!

cruiserweight

I was in California last week, I had a day in LA, 5 in San Jose and the weekend in San Francisco.Although I am sure it is not on your list of places to go avoid San Jose, if I had not been there for work I would have left. San Fransisco was great, lots to see and do and very friendly. I would definitely advise taking a cruise on the bay, I did this to visit Alcatraz and Angel Island and the scenery is beautiful.

January

If possible visit the Rose Bowl in Pasadena... oh and Disneyland California is good too!!

Max_Damage

You should head to Tijuana in Mexico (it's just across the border). Everything's cheap over there.

carrotcake

cheap and nasty

Zaph

Do a search on the Travel & Holidays forum and you should come up with plenty. There have been a few threads there recently about California.

Jam400

santa monica in LA is really nice! people are proper friendly! have your whits about you in LA its very very very big

Lirange

Try the national parks to get away from the urban sprawl.

Yosemite and Lake Tahoe especially recommended. Check out accommodations well in advance as summer is busy. There are some casinos in Tahoe too. The eastern part of the lake is in Nevada. Yosemite is spectacular when you enter from the East.

SF is the best of the cities to visit.

LA is mad. It's confusing and the sites are never near each other. LAX is also the worst of the airports that I have shuttled through in America.

jmayo

insular, get a sat nav with the hire car, it will cost you a bit and you will be responsible for it if lost, but trust me it will make your life a lot easier on freeways.

delboy2

Vegas is a must see! San Fran to do - Alcatraz, hire bikes Fishermans Wharf & cycle across the Golden Gate bridge to Sausalito, cable cars! Joe Di Maggios is a great restaurant in Little Italy if your in to your food. Give Monterey a wide berth. Yosemite is worthwhile if you have the time

mickmac

Take that car of yours and get onto the pacific coast highway. Route 101 (i think) goes from San Fran down to San Diego through some of the most spectacular scenery you've ever seen.

Myself and two friends took the trip about two years ago. We drove from San Francisco to San Diego via LA and a bunch of other places. Took us 10-11 days going down and one hard day's driving (11 hours) to get all the way back up.

Highlights include:
1. A fantastic drive - the road is just painted onto the side of the world and very dramatic. Think the opening credits of heart to heart.
2. Santa Cruz, San Luis Opisbo, Monteray, Santa Barbara (expensive-ish but really cool), LA (See Hollywood, be underwhelmed by everything else, leave)San Diego (go to Pacific beach to party. See young, attractive people doing young attractive things by a beach).
3. The Mystery Spot just outside Santa Cruz.
4. William Randolf Hearst's mansion (palace more like) - like a museum but interesting. The guy Charles Foster Kane was based on and owner of a gold swimming pool and ancient Greek temple in his back garden.
5. Everything in San Francisco - try to get out to Berkeley if you can.
6. Muir Woods.

tampopo

used to live in San Francisco in the early '90's and went back in 2004 with mrs. in tow.

we made a list, here is an abridged version.Muir woods would be good too.
Any more questions about SF just ask. For August, bring a jumper, it's cold in the evenings,it's not typically Californian weather, the fog rolls in in the afternoon and rolls out again in the morning.

· Exploratorium at the Palace of fine arts (most of one day)
· Kabuki Bath-.
· A show called Beach Blanket Babylon
· Alcatraz
· Fisherman’s Wharf / Pier 39 Fish restaurants + submarine
· Sam Wo’s late night Chinese rest in Chinatown (till 3 am)
· Tommy’s Joynt restaurant - serves buffalo Van Ness Avenue
· Ghirardelli square
· Yerba Buena bar (Irish Coffee, opening scene when a man love a woman Andy Garcia + Meg Ryan) Hyde Street Cable Car turnaround.
· Golden Gate Park, Planetarium, Statue of Robert Emmet (same as Stephen’s Green)
· Japanese Tea Garden (red bridge)
· Rose Garden
· Polo fields
· Row a boat on a lake
· Rent roller blades (Sundays only possibility)
· Arboretum
· Twin Peaks need a car or coordinate bus times
· Golden Gate Bridge
· Yerba Buena Island (need a car) [Night view]
· Hyatt revolving hotel restaurant)
· Club DV8 cocktails in a real plane
· Cable Car + Cable Car Museum
· Fairmont Hotel city view (tower) TransAmerica Pyramid www.tapyramid.com
· Westin St.Francis city view
· Bank of America Building city view
· Lombard St (Crookedest Street in the world)
· COIT TOWER + mural
· Marilyn Monroe Wedding Church Washinton Square St. Peter + Paul – in the films: The Bachelor
: Sister Act I + II

· Grace Cathedral + AIDS Flags near Fairmont Hotel
· Good vibrations in Mission District ‘Lesbian’ sex shop was on TV once 2nd store on Polk St.
· Octagonal House Haas Lillenthal House
· St.Mary’s Cathedral (resembles inside of U.S. style washing machine)
· Haight/Ashbury hippie zone
· Red Vic cinema Haight St.
· Mission Dolores church Very old S.F. building
· Polk St : Vien Tiane Kimchee Vietnamese restaurant
· Baseball game in New stadium downtown
· Napa Valley
www.winetrain.com
www.fairmont.com

· New Sun Hong Kong restaurant

East Bay
· Boating on Lake Merrit (Oakland) ‘Made in America’ Whoopi Goldberg + Ted Danson
· U C Berkeley – Telegraph Ave

colm_c

Here's a few of the lesser known things to do:

Glyde memorial church in San Fran for a service. Full band play all the songs and the whole congregation get into it, very entertaining. It's in the tenderloin district.

There's also a very cool hat shop in Berkley that sells any hat you can think of.

Also check out UC Berkley if you're in that area, cool place

The mission district has some fantastic food and dirt cheap too.

Geary street is literally full of good restaurants - spanning 30 blocks or more.

If you want to avoid the Irish bars - they're mostly in the sunset/richmond district.

*tOpLaSs

Ok.. Maybe check out:
Board Walk in Santa Cruz
Alcatraz Island
Sausalito for saltwater taffy:D
Go to a Giants game in SF
I actually didn't love LA, but you should go.. Disney is cool, and check out Rodeo Drive.. You can take a bus tour thingy around celebrity neighbourhoods..
Ghirardelli square
There's a cool sushi bar in Fremont if you're into that
Monteray Bay Aquarium
Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield
Berkley is cool..
Fisherman's wharf
The earthquake/history mueseum in Oakland
Cable Car mueseum and you have to ride a cable car
Winchester Mystery House in San Jose..
Shopping, great malls and the stuff is way cheaper.. Target and Walmart

I'd recommend the Bay Area, it's great..
I LOVE CALIFORNIA! Enjoy it, you'll want to go back, believe me..

Go to Las Vegas.. It's great It's totally surrounded by desert.. But you have to stay in one of the big hotels!
Hoover Dam is pretty close to that..
San Diego, or further down in Baha is cool..