California - Best drive LA to SFO

Will be driving from LA up to San Francisco (and then on to Yosemite and Grand Canyon etc). Wanting to know the best route to take. looks like 101 is quickets way, but is it very interesting and scenic with plenty of places to stop and experience the delights of California?

Or are we better to take highway 1? This looks to be longer, less freeway than 101, but seems to follow the coast more. So will we get to see more along HW1?

We have plenty of time, and this will be at the start of a 3-month RTW holiday, so we are trying to maximise the opportunity to see and experience the variety that is on offer.

We'll be doing this in mid May next year. What are good places to stop overnight? I am assuming we will make two overnight stops by the time we try to see as much as we can along the way. Will be travelling with three kids (6, 9, 10 year olds).

For speed and a totally uninteresting drive, take 5

101 is more interesting, almost as fast as 5.

1 is spectacular, but a several hours longer drive. You will still be able to do it in a leisurely day. You might want to check out the Danish town of Solvang, the tony Carmel with it's famed 17 mile drive, Monterey (with the aquarium), and stay on 1 North of Half Moon Bay so you can go over Devils Slide.

Oops, missed the part about two overnight stays. If it were me, I'd plan on LA to Monterey, overnight in Monterey, catch the aquarium in the morning, then on to SFO. Unless you really like to poke about on the byways two days should do it.

birdstike


[This message has been edited by birdstrike (edited 09-24-2002).]

Once you get to San Jose, if you're not taking SR-1 the whole way, choose I-280 over US 101. It's much prettier... "the world's most beautiful freeway."

Thanks for the tips. Monterey is definately on the agenda. Looks like route 1 is the way for us to go. Travel time is less important that the experience. We plan on being away from home for 3 months, so what is a few more hours driving along a scenic route?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by NM:
[B]Travel time is less important that the experience.B]</font>

Definitely 1 then.

Skip Highway 5 (the quickest route) at any cost as birdstrike suggests. Depending on your route, Santa Barbara and Carmel are worth serious consideration as stopover cities, IMHO. Scenic, beautiful and oceanfront. Clint Eastwood was the former Mayor of Carmel a few years ago. Many other interesting possibilities, of course.

Enjoy our Golden State and your entire Holiday throughout the USA! http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

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The most difficult thing in the world is to watch the one you love, love someone else.

Hint: A good place for a bathroom stop when heading through Santa Barbara is the Amtrak station. Just minutes from the freeway it hosts a -huge- Moreton Bay fig tree. Well worth stopping for.

http://www.beachcalifornia.com/sbtree.html

birdstrike

280 is very beautiful

Before heading into SF, consider driving through Half Moon Bay. There is a new Ritz-Carlton resort there. It's a nice place to have lunch or a cocktail before heading into SF.

About this SF-LA trip:

If you choose HWY 1, be sure to check road conditions south of Carmel/north of Hearst Castle (Cambria). In May, it's the end of the rainy season and the time when the road is sometimes washed out. You might have to turn around or detour--which would be more fun, actually. If you take Hwy 1 southbound (I know you said you're going northward), you're on the ocean side of the road. The driver should drive ONLY, not try to look out (and down).
The views are spectacular.

There are nice some out of the way detours on 101, but it's mostly 4-lane all the way to SF. Jolon Road used to be a good one. And be sure just to stop and look around, whichever road you take.

HEY! What happened to my post? I spent a lot of time finding references for the trip on highway 1.


I posted this morning and it was there then. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/mad.gif

[This message has been edited by wingless (edited 10-03-2002).]

wingless, your information was superb and very helpful. I now wish I had copied or saved it. I hope you did?

Perhaps, this is what happened to your post. It sounds as if there were similar circumstances. I found it at:
FlyerTalk Miles/Technical Issues/A good discussion was gutted today - What happened?
www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum72/HTML/000656 (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum72/HTML/000656)
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by dan at WebFlyer:
Those missing posts are unrecoverable... from what we've seen lately, the system overwrites itself during periods of high traffic. This is something new that has sprung up and we've spoken with the board programmers about it, and they acknowledge the problem, although they don't have an acceptable solution.</font>

Good luck for a speedy recovery. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

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The best thing you can spend on your children is time.

I didn't save it because I have never had this happen before.

wingless, I see there are other posts missing from earlier in this thread also. I had posted at least one big thanks to all the contributers and that is gone too. I am sorry I missed you post - sounds like it would have been a great read and a wonderful resource for our trip.

Thanks for the effort anyway. Hopefully it will be found somewhere.

I went through my internet history and found the webpages for you.

http://www.cftech.com/BrainBank/GEOGRAPHY/California.html

http://www.santabarbara.winecountry.com/

http://www.hearstcastle.com/

http://www.pismobeach.org/HTML.html

http://www.monterey.com/

http://www.jrabold.net/bigsur/

http://www.carmel-california.com/

http://www.beachboardwalk.com/

As I said before I got booted. Bring your camera because it is the most spectacular drive.

I hope this helps.

[This message has been edited by wingless (edited 10-03-2002).]

Thanks again for going to the effort for us. I have bookmmarked these pages so I will not lose them! The camera is already packed http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif

If taking 1 all the way up to SF, I would recommend switching to the foothills about 30-40 miles south of SF, at either San Gregorio state beach to 84 or at Half Moon Bay to 92, then driving along the crest on Skyline (35) for a while. Beautiful and peaceful drive through the redwoods, with mist from the Pacific on the west and a great view of Silicon Valley on the east. 35 is the road motorcyclists, cyclists, and driving enthusiasts go to on weekends.

If time is not a constraint, and given you'll be driving a large vehicle (from your car rental thread http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/wink.gif ), I would recommend:
- 1 to Half Moon Bay
- 92 East to 35
- 35 South to 84
- 84 East to 280 (a bit twisty, but the other options are very twisty and narrow, and best done on a bicycle)
- (option to visit the heart of Silicon Valley, Stanford, Palo Alto, etc.)
- 280 North to San Francisco

Thanks all. Looks like we are building the route/itinerary. Its a shame we only have 3 months! So much to do, so much to see, so much to experience. Or as Willy Wonka once said "We have so little to do and so much time to do it .... no strike that ... you know what I mean".