California

IDvocals

Does anyone have any ideas of places to see/things to do when I go to California at the end of April (for 1.5 weeks) will do Universal Studios and hire a car, would have loved to fly to San Fran and drive down to LA but the flight to SF is too expensive. All ideas welcome!

InTheTrees

SO you're flying to LA?

The drive up the coast to SF is a major attraction and you have plenty of time to do it.

Uncle_moe

Yeah you could def drive up the coast and then fly back to LA. Take the Pacific coast highway and stop off along the way. I'd highly recommend spending a night in Santa Barbara and maybe another in Santa Cruz but by the time you're in Santa Cruz you'll be quite close to San Fran. I'd certainly spend a few days in LA, its a great place with a car. Take in a dodgers game, go to Griffith Park, take in the beach towns like Santa monica and Venice, drive up mulholland drive, and basically explore. It's a vast city (more a cluster of cities) with plenty to see. Make sure you visit In-N-Out Burger, a necessity of any trip to California.

IDvocals

Yea, thats a great idea to fly back down from sf, lots of great tips there for me to get my head round... Exactly what I was looking for!

Thanks a mil!!

InTheTrees

I wouldnt bother with the hassle of flying back to LA from SF, why not drive the circuit of LA to SF to Vegas (via yosemite) and back to LA?

You can also drive LA to Las Vegas in about a day.

InTheTrees

The best way to drive highway One up the coast is from the south to the north. That way you are driving on the inside lane on those crazy cliff roads. Much less stressful. When you drive it Southwards you're on the outside lane and with a 1000 foot drop a few feet from your right wheel it makes it a white knuckle drive.

IDvocals

InTheTrees wrote: »

I wouldnt bother with the hassle of flying back to LA from SF, why not drive the circuit of LA to SF to Vegas (via yosemite) and back to LA?

You can also drive LA to Las Vegas in about a day.

Thanks a mil, I'll sit down with a map and have a look, more great ideas! Not sure about driving on a cliff edge southwards tho!! 😊

IDvocals

InTheTrees wrote: »

The best way to drive highway One up the coast is from the south to the north. That way you are driving on the inside lane on those crazy cliff roads. Much less stressful. When you drive it Southwards you're on the outside lane and with a 1000 foot drop a few feet from your right wheel it makes it a white knuckle drive.

That's def something to consider! Thanks again!

markfla

Go to Yosemite, Kerry on steroids...and if you can drive the 120 out of it down the eastern side of the sierra Nevada mountains via Tuolumne meadows driving at 11,000 feet your mind will be f*cking blown away. Mono lake is on that route too, you'll also get a good view of mount Whitney when you're driving south along the 395 & if you were interested, death valley is parallel to the east again. Lived in the states for a few years & it was definitely my highlight. I also loved San Diego, lovely place...don't go to sea world if you're there, dump. If you've small kids I thought universal was a nightmare, myself and the missus were very limited in what we could do in there with kids under 3 with height restrictions etc. Anyway, hope this helps..

markfla

And meant to say in Yosemite you also have the sequoia trees, absolutely amazing.

bn8719

Can anyone recommend whats good to do in California? I'm staying in Long beach for 1 week in November. Would love to do universal studios but not sure what else is good? Staying with my uncle and aunt (they are in their 60s) Thanks :-)

EoinMcLovin

bn8719 wrote: »

Can anyone recommend whats good to do in California? I'm staying in Long beach for 1 week in November. Would love to do universal studios but not sure what else is good? Staying with my uncle and aunt (they are in their 60s) Thanks :-)

Was in LA for few days last week, did universal studios and Warner Brothers Studio tour found them both great. Look up the go city card as you can get discounts on multiple attractions in LA

Ace2007

Hi Guys,

Don't want to start a new thread and haven't seen any recent threads on California, but there are 6 of us heading over for 2 weeks in August, our plan is flying into LA and out of SF:

Collect Cars
Venice Beach (4 nights)
Santa Barbara (1 night)
San Simone (1 night)
Pacific Grove (1 night)
Yosemite (2 nights)
Drop off Cars
San Fran (Union Square) (5 nights)

Venice beach is pretty much our base to see LA/do tours, visit the beaches - Newport, Laguna etc, is there anything else that's a must?

On the trip up along the coast - is there anything that we should be looking out for in Santa Barbara/San Simeon/Pacific Grove - accommodation that we got was cheapish and it broke up the trip hence we are stopping there.

For the trip to Yosemite, what is a good time of the day to be arriving in at - from Pacific Grove to the park - is probably 4/5 hour drive I'm guessing (taking breaks into consideration), if we left at 9am, would arrive into the park on a weekday around 1/2 be ok - or will traffic be mental?

We are staying at the comfort inn Yosemite area, would it be a waste of time on the day we are leaving there, to go to the park for a few hours and then head to San Fran - when I said waste of time - I mean getting stuck in traffic jams (I had read someone that it can be bad midday - we need to be in san fran for 7 to drop car off)

For San Fran, we have the twin tour of Alcatraz and Angel island tour booked, was thinking of the following:

half day cycling the Golden Gate,
tour of San Fran - War cemetery etc.
half day in Berkeley

What else are musts in San Fran (bear in mind we wont have car in San Fran)

All Hotels are booked and cars so really looking forward to it and we want to make sure not to miss anything.

KeithTS

Ace2007 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

Don't want to start a new thread and haven't seen any recent threads on California, but there are 6 of us heading over for 2 weeks in August, our plan is flying into LA and out of SF:

Collect Cars
Venice Beach (4 nights)
Santa Barbara (1 night)
San Simone (1 night)
Pacific Grove (1 night)
Yosemite (2 nights)
Drop off Cars
San Fran (Union Square) (5 nights)

Venice beach is pretty much our base to see LA/do tours, visit the beaches - Newport, Laguna etc, is there anything else that's a must?

On the trip up along the coast - is there anything that we should be looking out for in Santa Barbara/San Simeon/Pacific Grove - accommodation that we got was cheapish and it broke up the trip hence we are stopping there.

For the trip to Yosemite, what is a good time of the day to be arriving in at - from Pacific Grove to the park - is probably 4/5 hour drive I'm guessing (taking breaks into consideration), if we left at 9am, would arrive into the park on a weekday around 1/2 be ok - or will traffic be mental?

We are staying at the comfort inn Yosemite area, would it be a waste of time on the day we are leaving there, to go to the park for a few hours and then head to San Fran - when I said waste of time - I mean getting stuck in traffic jams (I had read someone that it can be bad midday - we need to be in san fran for 7 to drop car off)

For San Fran, we have the twin tour of Alcatraz and Angel island tour booked, was thinking of the following:

half day cycling the Golden Gate,
tour of San Fran - War cemetery etc.
half day in Berkeley

What else are musts in San Fran (bear in mind we wont have car in San Fran)

All Hotels are booked and cars so really looking forward to it and we want to make sure not to miss anything.

Personally I would stay in Yosemite the day you're leaving to get another hike in, something easy like the mirror lake loop is grand before travelling, it's a few hours to do the whole loop but on the flat so you wont' be wrecked.

It's only about 3 hours drive to SF and the traffic will be bad most of the time, in the evenings leaving SF is horrible but coming in isn't the worst. Just contact the hire company and tell them you're going to be a few hours later than expected, I've never been charged for that and once you get into Yosemite I think you would appreciate the extra time there. The comfort Inn is only 15-20 mins drive into the park (if you leave early and miss the queues) so easily doable.

ideb

Having done a 5 week tour of California/Arizona I would highly recommend that you take a day or two from either start or end of trip (Venice Beach or SF) and do at least three days in Yosemite. I only had 3 days there and I regretted not having more. It was the highlight of the trip of me..... even more that Grand Canyon which was 2nd best. Do the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour in San Francisco and in LA. My suggestion to people is to do the full trip without getting off the bus. That gives you a full overview of all the tourist spots. Then you can decide where you want to spend more time visiting the places you are most interested in seeing.
My other bit of advice is try to drop the cars as far outside of San Francisco city centre as possible. Seriously! I have a large amount of experience driving abroad. As I said, I drove for 5 weeks through some of the mad and wonderful roads of California/Arizona, from LA to Death Valley to Tioga road back to LA via Highway One. I was terrified driving in San Fran!. I literally just drove straight to the Car hire place, which thankfully was across the road from where I was staying, but if I were there again, I would drop the car at the airport and go from there. I loved San Francisco, but driving those hills in heavy traffic was probably one of the hardest drives I have ever experienced.

Ace2007

ideb wrote: »

Having done a 5 week tour of California/Arizona I would highly recommend that you take a day or two from either start or end of trip (Venice Beach or SF) and do at least three days in Yosemite. I only had 3 days there and I regretted not having more. It was the highlight of the trip of me..... even more that Grand Canyon which was 2nd best. Do the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour in San Francisco and in LA. My suggestion to people is to do the full trip without getting off the bus. That gives you a full overview of all the tourist spots. Then you can decide where you want to spend more time visiting the places you are most interested in seeing.
My other bit of advice is try to drop the cars as far outside of San Francisco city centre as possible. Seriously! I have a large amount of experience driving abroad. As I said, I drove for 5 weeks through some of the mad and wonderful roads of California/Arizona, from LA to Death Valley to Tioga road back to LA via Highway One. I was terrified driving in San Fran!. I literally just drove straight to the Car hire place, which thankfully was across the road from where I was staying, but if I were there again, I would drop the car at the airport and go from there. I loved San Francisco, but driving those hills in heavy traffic was probably one of the hardest drives I have ever experienced.

of the 6 of us going, only 1 has driven in the states before so will be an experience, we are staying near union square and dropping the car off around there as well so it's handy like that, the latest we could drop car we told was 7pm.

Unfortunately we can't find an extra day, while we are there for full 14 nights, one couple is arriving a day late and another heading home a day earlier, so need the days in Venice Beach and San Fran.

I've read that there is a bus tour that goes from Venice Beach into LA, would you advise us to get that or would it better for us to drive into LA and get a tour, as that way he have a car to do stuff later in the day if needed as public transport is terrible I've heard?

ideb

I had no real issue with driving in LA except the usual traffic jams. But, with 6 of you I would say it would be better if you got the bus connector. It just gives you more flexibility if you all want to visit different places. That said, it may be cheaper to go by car. Starline tours have the connector into the main tour areas. See details here. https://www.starlinetours.com/hop-on-hop-off-faq/

Tips for driving: if possible have someone else that can drive in the front passenger seat. Even if they aren't willing to drive, they can watch the road with you. Constantly remind you when turning left or right where you need to be on the road. They can also watch out for the exits while you concentrate on the road.

I assume you will have Sat Nav? Either way, I always "drive" key points of a route on google maps if it is new to me. The little man - street level is my friend. Sat Nav can sometimes be a hindrance at exit point, spaghetti junctions, city locations etc. If you "drive" it on google maps, you can memorise some of the exits - Names of buildings/road signs/speed limits etc. will be a bit more familiar when you get there in real life. Get your "passenger driver" to look at the route with you. Then you both know what to expect along the way.

rossie1977

The metro leaves from Santa Monica (just down the road from Venice Beach) to Hollywood and downtown LA. A car in la can be a nightmare given the highways are congested but la is so vast a car can often be needed if you plan doing alot of touring outside your base.

tricky D

In case you are unaware, HWY1 between San Simeon is closed due to rock slides in 2 places and 1 condemned bridge and won't be open for probably at least a year. So you will have to start off heading south from San Simeon and hit the boring 101 near Paso Robles to get to Pacific Grove.

Book Hearst Castle early for your stay at San Simeon.

Ace2007

tricky D wrote: »

In case you are unaware, HWY1 between San Simeon is closed due to rock slides in 2 places and 1 condemned bridge and won't be open for probably at least a year. So you will have to start off heading south from San Simeon and hit the boring 101 near Paso Robles to get to Pacific Grove.

Book Hearst Castle early for your stay at San Simeon.

Do you have to book a tour for Hearst Castle or can you just wander round yourself? seems a touch expensive paying for each part of the area

tricky D

I very much doubt you there's any wandering around. You would be unlikely to get passed the visitor centre down the hill.

Looking at their website

The only way to experience the grandeur and wonder of Hearst Castle is to purchase tour tickets.

The J Stands for Jay

Ace2007 wrote: »

Do you have to book a tour for Hearst Castle or can you just wander round yourself? seems a touch expensive paying for each part of the area

I'd recommend going to Hearst Castle. It felt expensive buying the tickets, but when I was leaving I didn't feel ripped off.

él statutorio

I'd knock a few days off either end of that trip as others have said. 4 nights in Venice beach is too much IMHO. Depends what you want to see but I'm not a huge fan of LA. The traffic is a pain in the hole down there so for tours I'd do the bus tours. If it was me, I wouldn't bother picking up the rental car until you're ready to leave LA.

As for San Francisco, it's fine to drive around, lots of hills and lots of traffic but not as bad as LA.

Other things to remember, you can turn right at most red lights (unless signposted otherwise). Makes a hell of a lot of sense.

As for the trip north, you can't take the coast road all the way anymore since the landslides, you'll get to Paso Robles as mentioned and then have to go inland. Which is a pity as that coast road is spectacular.

Zaph

Ace2007 wrote: »

Do you have to book a tour for Hearst Castle or can you just wander round yourself? seems a touch expensive paying for each part of the area

Book the tour in advance once you know roughly what time you'll be there. We didn't and ended up missing out on it because the next available tour wasn't for a few hours and we didn't want to hang around that long waiting for it.

InTheTrees

él statutorio wrote: »

As for the trip north, you can't take the coast road all the way anymore since the landslides, you'll get to Paso Robles as mentioned and then have to go inland. Which is a pity as that coast road is spectacular.

Such a shame isnt it? I used to live in santa cruz and i've driven it many times, and recommended it on here many times too.

I read the road is possibly going to be closed until next year.

For going south from SF I'd still recommend people drive highway 1 down to Monterey bay and then go over to the 101 at Salinas. A shame to miss Monterey and Carmel though. as they become a detour.

Ace2007

statutorio wrote: »

I'd knock a few days off either end of that trip as others have said. 4 nights in Venice beach is too much IMHO. Depends what you want to see but I'm not a huge fan of LA. The traffic is a pain in the hole down there so for tours I'd do the bus tours. If it was me, I wouldn't bother picking up the rental car until you're ready to leave LA.

As for San Francisco, it's fine to drive around, lots of hills and lots of traffic but not as bad as LA.

Other things to remember, you can turn right at most red lights (unless signposted otherwise). Makes a hell of a lot of sense.

As for the trip north, you can't take the coast road all the way anymore since the landslides, you'll get to Paso Robles as mentioned and then have to go inland. Which is a pity as that coast road is spectacular.

AirBnb is booked, plus while 4 of us have 4 nights, 2 of them only have 3 nights in Venice Beach. We were only planning one day in LA anyway I think - down south to the beaches for a day, and then see how it goes for the other day. So figure need the car for going to Laguna etc, + old threads mentioned that public transport is very bad - hence we got the cars.

Ha the turning right at red lights actually reminded me last time I was passenger - us getting beeped and not knowing why - cheers for reminding me.

InTheTrees wrote: »

For going south from SF I'd still recommend people drive highway 1 down to Monterey bay and then go over to the 101 at Salinas. A shame to miss Monterey and Carmel though. as they become a detour.

Defo Monterey bay and Carmel are on the to do lists, originally had booked a place in Monterey but guys found someone cheaper in Pacific Grove - and since all we'll be doing is sleeping in the spot - made some sense.

InTheTrees

Ace2007 wrote: »

I've read that there is a bus tour that goes from Venice Beach into LA, would you advise us to get that or would it better for us to drive into LA and get a tour, as that way he have a car to do stuff later in the day if needed as public transport is terrible I've heard?

Venice Beach is in LA. Its a bit confusing because there's Los Angeles County and there the City of Los Angeles, which is mostly called Downtown. Its more of the financial centre though and has little for tourists. Although there is Dodger Stadium there, if you'd be interested in baseball. Very easy to get tickets as they play almost every day.

Every hotel/motel has a rack of brochures for guided tours. There is every conceivable variation of Bus/Van/Limo tour. tours of holywood, tours of the hills, etc etc. Go into a hotel and take a look, and ask at the front desk if they recommend any particular company.

I've always enjoyed driving around though, its not hard, its just that the distances are further than you'd expect. Have a map and a GPS and you'll be good. Maybe do a bus/van/limo tour of Hollywood and Beverley Hills and then drive around yourself as well. There's some great view spots in the hills overlooking the city, amazing at night.

él statutorio

InTheTrees wrote: »

Such a shame isnt it? I used to live in santa cruz and i've driven it many times, and recommended it on here many times too.

I read the road is possibly going to be closed until next year.

For going south from SF I'd still recommend people drive highway 1 down to Monterey bay and then go over to the 101 at Salinas. A shame to miss Monterey and Carmel though. as they become a detour.

I live in Santa Barbara and I love that drive north. I'm glad it is at least getting fixed up and reopened as at one point there was talk of letting it be.

InTheTrees

Ace2007 wrote: »

AirBnb is booked, plus while 4 of us have 4 nights, 2 of them only have 3 nights in Venice Beach.

Four nights is good, that's really only three days. There's plenty in LA to fill three days, plus some lazing on the beach.

And I hate to be negative but...in LA stay on the freeways in the areas east and south east of the Airport LAX. Inglewood, Hawthorn, Compton...these are areas where you dont want to get off the freeway. Flat tire or smoke coming out of the engine? Stay on the freeway and call.

él statutorio

InTheTrees wrote: »

Four nights is good, that's really only three days. There's plenty in LA to fill three days, plus some lazing on the beach.

And I hate to be negative but...in LA stay on the freeways in the areas east and south east of the Airport LAX. Inglewood, Hawthorn, Compton...these are areas where you dont want to get off the freeway. Flat tire or smoke coming out of the engine? Stay on the freeway and call.

Yeah, this unfortunately is true.

But, once you get out of LA, you don't really have to worry about that sort of thing. Unless you maybe end up in certain parts of Bakersfield.

InTheTrees

Ace2007 wrote: »

Hi Guys,
Collect Cars
Venice Beach (4 nights)
Santa Barbara (1 night)
San Simone (1 night)
Pacific Grove (1 night)
Yosemite (2 nights)
Drop off Cars
San Fran (Union Square) (5 nights)

For San Fran, we have the twin tour of Alcatraz and Angel island tour booked, was thinking of the following:

half day cycling the Golden Gate,
tour of San Fran - War cemetery etc.
half day in Berkeley

What else are musts in San Fran (bear in mind we wont have car in San Fran)

You have five nights in SF?

A bus tour of Napa Valley perhaps? Its very close by to the north, even if you're not into wine its a pretty area full of vineyards. A bus tour means you dont need a designated driver either.

This is a great view spot right in the City. Twin Peaks. You'll need to get a cab up there though. And its brilliant at night.

https://goo.gl/maps/MvsukUUfF772