Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: AA Plat, HH Gold, SPG Gold, HH Gold, Marriott Silver, Amex Plat, GlobalEntry, SW A-List Preferred
Posts: 866
I did a similar trip the summer before last. A week is definitely needed. Our itinerary:
- flew into LAX: for us flight and rental car were both cheaper there than into SFO
- visited Hollywood/Venice for a bit: 2 nights
- drove up to Sequoia national park to see the giant trees (about 3 hours): 1 night
- drove up to San Francisco (about 3 hours). with a side-trip to Napa Valley (1 hour): 2 nights
- drove down to Monterey, visited aquarium and Carmel (about 1.5 hour): 1 night
- drove down the coast to Santa Barbara (about 4 hours)
- drove down to LAX (about 1.5 hours): final night
My regret: we should have spent one night in Santa Barbara. Both because it was beautiful and because it would have broken up the long drive we had the last day.
One tip: having a GPS navigation system in the car was real useful.