San Francisco Travel Forum

Hi

Further to my earlier posting seeking advice for our road trip in the fall:

http://forum.virtualtourist.com/discussion-406975-1-1-Travel-0-0-San_Francisco-discussion.html

we now have our itenary/accomodation (almost) sorted

We are flying to San Francisco(four nights)

and driving to each of these destinations staying one night at each

>Carmel-by-the-Sea
>San Luis Obispo
>Santa Barbara
>Riverside
>Joshua Tree

then to Las Vegas (three nights)

We plan to take a helicopter to Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam

----

My next question is...

As we are obviously already driving through and seeing a lot of the coastline (Big Sur etc) Would you recommend also the drive hugging the coast (Hwy 1) from San Fran to Santa Cruz (If so how long would this take?) or would you recommend San Fran to San Jose (exploring something here)then onto Monterery/Carmel?

Unfortunately we couldn't fit Yosemite in this trip

Many thanks, Kind regards
Phil (and Den)

SF to Santa Cruz will be two to three hours along the coast. Much of it is a tamer version of Big Sur. The only unique thing that you might see is big waves at Maverick's at Half Moon Bay.
On the other hand, if you go inland, there are some big redwoods worth seeing just off of highway 17 from San Jose to Santa Cruz.

If I were doing it, I'd check the weather forecast just before leaving. If there is big surf, I'd take highway 1, if not, I'd take 280/17.

Hi - Many thanks for your advice - that's useful

Best wishes

Phil

If you like national parks, do a side trip through Death Valley. There is a motel (Furnace Creek Ranch) in an oasis in the middle of it. Feel free to visit our Death Valley page for pictures and tips.