Is California overrated as a vacation destination?
Aug 19, 2019, 4:20 am
#31
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I think California is only “overrated” if you visit some of the most frequently-visited places at the most frequently-visited times. You may very well end up paying top dollar for a subpar experience, all while spending too much time in traffic.
But that’s true almost everywhere, isn’t it? At least when discussing top tourist spots in the U.S. or the world.
I also suspect that a lot of people who visit SF hit a few tourist spots and assume they “know” the city. Heck, there are even people who live here who don’t know the place well. Again, something that is probably universal. Visiting or even living in a place doesn’t make you an expert on it. I take individuals’ travel advice with a large grain of salt, on FT and elsewhere.
But that’s true almost everywhere, isn’t it? At least when discussing top tourist spots in the U.S. or the world.
I also suspect that a lot of people who visit SF hit a few tourist spots and assume they “know” the city. Heck, there are even people who live here who don’t know the place well. Again, something that is probably universal. Visiting or even living in a place doesn’t make you an expert on it. I take individuals’ travel advice with a large grain of salt, on FT and elsewhere.
Sep 3, 2019, 11:03 pm
#33
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.., spending about eight days there - Tahoe, Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs. Then, coast - Cambria/Big Sur/Monterey/Half Moon Bay and arrival to Bay Area before flying out.
..
So my question to the audience is: if you traveled to California for vacation and - this is important - it was not your first time, did you have a feeling that the travel did not generate the return you've expected?
..
So my question to the audience is: if you traveled to California for vacation and - this is important - it was not your first time, did you have a feeling that the travel did not generate the return you've expected?
Sep 7, 2019, 9:28 am
#34
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what you had was a road trip with checkmarks covering a LOT of very touristy areas in 8 days probably in the middle of busy summer season. Not surprisingly it was expensive exhausting and not particularly rewarding - to put it in SEA prospective probably an equivalent of covering Chiang Mai, Bangkok, Phuket and Samui in a week during chinese new year.
like Kathy said, there’s much to discover in sf despite living here my whole life. I just accept that I don’t have time to see it all - I live in a neighborhood that I never even heard of as a child or young adult.
This is a great thread. Most USA cities have a lot of poverty. I keep telling people that I’ve observed this tragedy since my own childhood. Just gotta try to stay ahead of it to avoid falling into it and then help if there’s extra to donate.
I would enjoy 8 days in big sur / Monterey / Tahoe but would despise the drive with Tahoe. Add 2 more places and it’s just too much travel!
As a lifelong sf resident, this year we took an 8-day holiday to LA including half the time in Disney and I loved it. But no major rushing or pressure to see too much.
Sep 7, 2019, 10:52 am
#35
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One thing that has never stopped in my 34 years in the area is that there's still the sense of at least a little bit tourist while wandering around SF. An alley I never noticed, or a building I never noticed, at least from a particular angle, even though I may have passed these places many times.
Sep 7, 2019, 12:33 pm
#36
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Definitely not overrated! Yosemite, Big Sur, the Redwoods, Monterey Bay, Tahoe, Mammoth/June Lake, Catalina--some of the most beautiful scenery in the world--I should know, I've been to nearly 100 countries! Certainly some places like Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood Boulevard, Universal Studios, etc., are simply tourist traps with nothing much to offer unless you like crowds and overpriced restaurants and souvenir shops but overall, California is a gem among the 50 states.
Sep 8, 2019, 7:26 pm
#37
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Definitely not overrated! Yosemite, Big Sur, the Redwoods, Monterey Bay, Tahoe, Mammoth/June Lake, Catalina--some of the most beautiful scenery in the world--I should know, I've been to nearly 100 countries! Certainly some places like Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood Boulevard, Universal Studios, etc., are simply tourist traps with nothing much to offer unless you like crowds and overpriced restaurants and souvenir shops but overall, California is a gem among the 50 states.
P.S.: Mentioning Pier 39 reminded me of the resident sea lions there, and this year is the 30th anniversary of their taking up residence!
It'll also be the 30th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake (Oct. 17), after which the sea lions arrived.
Last edited by KathyWdrf; Sep 8, 2019 at 7:32 pm
Sep 8, 2019, 9:01 pm
#38
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Very true. But even Santa Monica Pier has some good qualities -- it's on the Pacific Ocean. Kind of like the Fisherman's Wharf area of SF, which is on the SF Bay, if a place has a beautiful natural setting, that redeems it to a certain extent. And there are even a few worthwhile sights around the Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 (etc.) north waterfront area. You just have to know what to seek out and what to skip.
P.S.: Mentioning Pier 39 reminded me of the resident sea lions there, and this year is the 30th anniversary of their taking up residence! It'll also be the 30th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake (Oct. 17), after which the sea lions arrived.
P.S.: Mentioning Pier 39 reminded me of the resident sea lions there, and this year is the 30th anniversary of their taking up residence!
It'll also be the 30th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake (Oct. 17), after which the sea lions arrived.Last edited by mahlerfan; Sep 8, 2019 at 10:53 pm Reason: Keep the political commentary our of this forum
Sep 9, 2019, 5:25 pm
#39
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Don't get me wrong. Santa Monica Pier and the adjacent Palisades do have some nice qualities (as do Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39), but if you have been to Santa Moncia lately, during the summer, especially now that the Expo light rail line can whisk tourists and beach goers to the beach from downtown LA and all points in between in under an hour, you'll know that the place is swarming with people.
Which was exactly my first point in post #31 .
Except that if a lot of those tourists are indeed using public transit instead of clogging the roadways and parking lots even more, well, at least there's that.
Sep 9, 2019, 11:11 pm
#40
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(Bolding mine)
Which was exactly my first point in post #31 .
Except that if a lot of those tourists are indeed using public transit instead of clogging the roadways and parking lots even more, well, at least there's that.
Which was exactly my first point in post #31 .
Except that if a lot of those tourists are indeed using public transit instead of clogging the roadways and parking lots even more, well, at least there's that.
Oct 12, 2019, 12:07 pm
#41
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Find the gems off the beaten path! Don't do some cliche Golden Gate or Hollywood package, those are indeed a waste of money. There's so much California it seems a waste to spend your precious vacation days on San Francisco and Los Angeles. My recommendations are hot springs resorts like Sierraville and Orr, mountain retreats like Tahoe City, oceanfront spots like Monterrey, Half Moon Bay, Morro Bay, desert retreats in Palm Springs/Palm Desert.
Oct 14, 2019, 8:31 am
#42
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The OP compares 6 days in California with 2 weeks of living large in Bali. That sums up how odd an unanswerable this question is. Only the one paying for the flights, lodging, meals and attractions can say whether a California holiday is worth the bucks. Nowhere in the world is comparable to California. If you like what we have on offer, great. And if you don’t, or if you’re underwhelmed, that’s cool. Go where you like to go.
Oct 17, 2019, 7:43 am
#43
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Visiting San Francisco or Los Angeles does not require buying "some cliche Golden Gate or Hollywood package." If that is someone's idea of San Francisco or L.A., well....
Oct 17, 2019, 2:34 pm
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Oct 19, 2019, 1:35 am
#45
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I understand that the subject might look a little bit inflammatory but bear with me.
I am former California resident, I spent more than 14 years living in Bay Area and up to very recently considered it my home and mentally/culturally still identify myself as Californian. I left California more than seven years ago and have been living in South East Asia since that.
After moving to SEA I, my wife and our family friend just returned from my first California vacation, spending about eight days there - Tahoe, Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs. Then, coast - Cambria/Big Sur/Monterey/Half Moon Bay and arrival to Bay Area before flying out.
If I look at expenses, it came out as $500 per day spent which included just rental car/gas, lodging and food while travelling (airline tickets were bought using miles). Note - it did not include lodging in Bay Area, we stayed with friends. And these expenses were on low side - I used discount codes for car rental, we stayed outside of national parks at motels and 1-2* properties and instead of dining at restaurants, we grabbed food at supermarket deli sections or made sandwiches on our own.
So for three people, it was $3000 for 6 days. And this was my second most expensive vacation (per day expenses) after New Zealand. For $3000 you can have 3br villa with pool in Bali for two weeks, breakfast and lunch included and money will be left for activities - you can rent a car with driver for 10h for $30, and food cost fractions of the US prices. The same applies to pretty much anywhere in SEA region.
Or take South Africa for example - 3br home on AirBnB next to entrance of Kruger NP or Cape Town suburbs costs like $90/day, compare it to one room at $250/night at Motel 8 next to SFO or $500 per room at a lodge inside Yosemite or Sequoia. Car rental costs 1/3 of US prices without outrageous one way rental fees. As for food - the best steak I had in my life was at outskirts of town Hazyview next to Kruger.
Now, I get it - you don't have Yosemite, General Sherman Tree anywhere in the world and if you have not seen them, you have to go to California to see/experience them. But the question for me to ask myself after this trip was - does California worth the hassle and money?
Answer to me is - no. There are plenty of places in this world where I have not been and where I can get much better performance/price ratio for my money compared to California.
So my question to the audience is: if you travelled to California for vacation and - this is important - it was not your first time, did you have a feeling that the travel did not generate the return you've expected?
I am former California resident, I spent more than 14 years living in Bay Area and up to very recently considered it my home and mentally/culturally still identify myself as Californian. I left California more than seven years ago and have been living in South East Asia since that.
After moving to SEA I, my wife and our family friend just returned from my first California vacation, spending about eight days there - Tahoe, Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon NPs. Then, coast - Cambria/Big Sur/Monterey/Half Moon Bay and arrival to Bay Area before flying out.
If I look at expenses, it came out as $500 per day spent which included just rental car/gas, lodging and food while travelling (airline tickets were bought using miles). Note - it did not include lodging in Bay Area, we stayed with friends. And these expenses were on low side - I used discount codes for car rental, we stayed outside of national parks at motels and 1-2* properties and instead of dining at restaurants, we grabbed food at supermarket deli sections or made sandwiches on our own.
So for three people, it was $3000 for 6 days. And this was my second most expensive vacation (per day expenses) after New Zealand. For $3000 you can have 3br villa with pool in Bali for two weeks, breakfast and lunch included and money will be left for activities - you can rent a car with driver for 10h for $30, and food cost fractions of the US prices. The same applies to pretty much anywhere in SEA region.
Or take South Africa for example - 3br home on AirBnB next to entrance of Kruger NP or Cape Town suburbs costs like $90/day, compare it to one room at $250/night at Motel 8 next to SFO or $500 per room at a lodge inside Yosemite or Sequoia. Car rental costs 1/3 of US prices without outrageous one way rental fees. As for food - the best steak I had in my life was at outskirts of town Hazyview next to Kruger.
Now, I get it - you don't have Yosemite, General Sherman Tree anywhere in the world and if you have not seen them, you have to go to California to see/experience them. But the question for me to ask myself after this trip was - does California worth the hassle and money?
Answer to me is - no. There are plenty of places in this world where I have not been and where I can get much better performance/price ratio for my money compared to California.
So my question to the audience is: if you travelled to California for vacation and - this is important - it was not your first time, did you have a feeling that the travel did not generate the return you've expected?
with traveling to all all National Park areas or large cities in downtown areas hotels are going to be around $200 on the low end per night.
rental car rates innthe summer after taxes are going to be near $75 per day if not higher. More if you include insurance.
food cost on travel will be near$40 per person per day without alcohol purchase.
for a coup,e it’s looking at around $350 per day if not more
buy the way these price costs aren’t limited to California but across the entire country.