My wife wants to do a big trip to California this spring since neither of us has ever been there. Would it be possible to do all of the following in two weeks? Palm Springs, LA (Hollywood etc.), Yosemite, San Francisco, and Napa?
We enjoy the train, but it looks like LA to San Francisco is 12 hours and drops us in Oakland (or vice versa), so thinking a rental car might be better. If so, what’s the ocean side route and is it worth it to do it the whole way?
How long would spend in each place? Thinking 2 nights in Palm Springs, 3 in LA, 2 in Yosemite, 5 in San Francisco (possibly overnighting in Napa for one of those).
What itinerary would you make?
Should we break it up into two separate trips of 10 days each over a few years? Do Palm Springs, LA, Sequoia National Park, and San Diego this year and San Francisco, Napa, Yosemite and Lake Tahoe in the future?
Where would you stay in neighborhoodwise in LA and San Francisco?
I would skip Palm Springs and do LA then head up the 101 and do Santa Barbara, Avila Beach, Carmel, Santa Cruz, SF and wine country. Then veer over to Yosemite. If there is time head to Sequoia/Kings Canyon.
Not much to it unless you are over 70, gay or a golfer.
Depends, if the poster is from a cold weather area PS in the spring is phenomenal. If you’re into architecture I think PS is great. Personally I like PS and I don’t golf and dig the ladies.
5 days inSF is too many, make it 2 and hit up Santa Barbara and central coast. Santa Barbara on up is fantastic.
Either plan would work for you - it kind of depends on what your interests are. Do you want to see a lot of national parks? Do you want to see a lot of cool “city” stuff/art? Do you want to do a lot of shopping? Drink a lot of wine? See a lot of the Pacific?
I would personally urge you NOT to go to California without stopping in Monterey. Monterey is a paradise of beauty and relaxation like nowhere I’ve ever been.
I’ve been stationed in rural/central CA for 2 years and have gone absolutely everywhere I possibly could, so feel free to PM me if you want any more specifics.
Skip Palm Springs unless you’re a 70 yo gay golfer.
Also you will need a car in California. That’s just a fact. Keep in mind the distances (Palm Springs to SF is just under 500 miles taking the most direct route up I5, which is the opposite of scenic).
Another thing to consider. There could be issues getting into Yosemite in spring. Snow. But if you get to Yosemite and/or Sequoia-Kings GO THERE.
Thinking 2 nights in Palm Springs, 3 in LA, 2 in Yosemite, 5 in San Francisco (possibly overnighting in Napa for one of those).
PS: skip it.
LA: 2 or 3 days is plenty (go to the Getty Museum).
SF: 5 could be too many days there.
YS: 2 days there, then 2 or 3 in Kings/Sequoia.
Napa: Is a shit hole. Overpriced shit hole.
In between LA and SF stop for a few days in Santa Barbara for you wine tasting needs (I assume that’s reason for Napa). The Santa Ynez Valley has many wineries. You can get tours to there out of SB, about 30 minute drive, (varying from a bus style tour, to smaller groups, to private depending on budget).
Also, SB now has an “urban wine tour” where you can walk to several wine tasting venues right here in town (“Funk Zone”).
Go to Avila Beach from SB for a day or over night then take Hwy 1 to Carmel/Monterey. Your mind will be blown. The hit up SF.
PM me if you get to SB and I’ll tell you where to get good food.
My wife wants to do a big trip to California this spring since neither of us has ever been there. Would it be possible to do all of the following in two weeks? Palm Springs, LA (Hollywood etc.), Yosemite, San Francisco, and Napa?
We enjoy the train, but it looks like LA to San Francisco is 12 hours and drops us in Oakland (or vice versa), so thinking a rental car might be better. If so, what’s the ocean side route and is it worth it to do it the whole way?
How long would spend in each place? Thinking 2 nights in Palm Springs, 3 in LA, 2 in Yosemite, 5 in San Francisco (possibly overnighting in Napa for one of those).
What itinerary would you make?
Should we break it up into two separate trips of 10 days each over a few years? Do Palm Springs, LA, Sequoia National Park, and San Diego this year and San Francisco, Napa, Yosemite and Lake Tahoe in the future?
Where would you stay in neighborhoodwise in LA and San Francisco?
Anything we’re missing in the highlights area?
I did a trip to SF in 2011, we saw everything we wanted to see in 4 days. Catch a game if the Giants are in town, that stadium is a very cool atmosphere and you can eat just about any type of food at that park.
I have only been to Cali once, flew into Fresno and hiked in Yosemite for 5 days. Looking back on it, we should have spent a day or two going to Sequoia. Again it all depends on what you want to do, my wife and I don’t care for cities and rather spend the whole time dayhiking.
Lots of good advice here. I would also skip Palm Springs. Take one of your SF days in Monterey and take the two Palm Springs days in Lake Tahoe.
This. Palm Springs is definitely Boys Town and a haven for geriatrics conventions. LA for two or three days is more than enough unless you are visiting theme parks. Get a Groupon deal for a quick Hollywood tour, go to Amoeba Records then hit the coast. Depending on your budget, stay in Downtown LA or in Santa Monica. From thw LA area, head North to Santa Barbara/ Santa Ynez, Monterey, San Francisco for a few days and maybe Napa, if you like wine. Finish off in Tahoe as it should not be missed.
Lots of good advice here and since I haven’t lived there since the 80’s I won’t comment except to say that the family and I stayed in SF on a Disney cruise for about 2 1/2 days. We had a blast walking the city and using the cablecars. The highlight of our time there was the Alcatraz tour. Even my 12YO daughter and wife enjoyed it.
Did I say we walked, a LOT??? If not, we walked…a LOT. And some of those hills…shit.
The central coast area around SLO is definitely a gem and worthy of a few days of decompression from the big cities. Pismo Beach and Avila Beach are classic CA beach town where you can still imagine how things used to be. SLO has a great downtown for shopping, eating, hanging out, microbrews, wine bars with local offerings etc.
Speaking of wine, there are wineries all the way from Santa Barbara to SLO and on to Paso Robles if you stay on 101. Way less touristy and pricey than Napa.
I would pick Sonoma over Napa. Even Healdsburg is better than Napa proper.
Yosemite would be highly dependent on weather. Some of my favorite Yosemite stuff is the high country off Highway 120 but that would probably be still snowed in. If only the Valley, and depending how ambitious your hiking plans are, you could spend 2 days there. Same with Tahoe – spring is still ski season (hopefully!).
Second the Central Coast recs. I found Cambria boring as hell, but Hearst Castle is near there. Paso Robles is good, as is Monterey.
Don’t even think about the train – not only is the nominal schedule 12 hours, it’s never on time, and it sucks. The ocean route is long, but pretty. It all depends on how you want to go. If you want to stop in every small town and poke around it’s good. I think the northern end of it through Big Sur is the best. Carmel, etc. is nice.
No to Palm Springs. Nothing there, unless you want to lie in the sun because you live somewhere cold.
Again depending on what you want to do, I would stay in westside L.A. (Santa Monica, Century City, etc.). For San Francisco most of the major hotels are downtown. I wouldn’t personally stay near Fisherman’s Wharf. S.F. is easy enough to get around that where you stay really doesn’t matter much.
Easy to do. Not sure what you mean by spring but many roads in / around Yosemite can be closed due to snow. Palm Springs has great weather, nice hiking, great restaurants and is an hour away from Joshua Tree which is worth the drive. We take the kids there almost every spring because the weather is usually great.