California Road Trip (with kids)

Pinklepurr

We're planning what we are hoping will be an exciting road trip to California for ourselves and our two children who will be aged 12 and 9. I wondered if any experts could give their opinion on our itinerary. We don't want to cover huge distances as it is more about what we will see along the way. I like dramatic scenery and the kids like to be active and of course theme parks which is why we've planned Disneyland at the end!!!

Fly into SFO
3 nts SFO (Alcatraz / cable cars / Golden Gate etc)
2 nts Santa Cruz (Redwoods / Boardwalk etc)
2 nt Monterey (Aquarium / 17 mile drive etc)
Drive Monterey to Pismo Bch via Big Sur (how long will this take)?
2 nt Pismo Beach? Is this nice or can you suggest an alternative?
2 nts Santa Monica
3 nts Anaheim (Disneyland)
Fly home from Los Angeles

We plan to hire a car after our stay in SFO and drop off at LAX airport on way home.

We are also thinking about the possibility of hiring an RV and staying in campgrounds en route (not in SFO or Anaheim though). I think this would be fun but I am a little concerned that having such a large vehicle would make parking for visiting attractions along the way difficult. I guess it's not so easy to stop wherever you like in an RV !! Maybe I am wrong?

We plan to go either in Easter or summer hols - which time of year is best?

Thanks

mrsg26

havent done a west coast road trip myself however if u go to a site called the dibb they have a west coast section and can advise on ur itinerary or failing that try trip advisor.

gmac9i

Hi, ive just returned and done the exact trip, some places on your list need adjusted, pm me if you want more info, but the trip will wow you.

Red_dog_Sam

A round the bay boat trip is a must in SF and an open top bus tour gives a good overview of the city.
Kids will like the Musee Mecanique (a collection of old penny arcade machines etc) on Pier 45 and if you're thinking of getting an Annual pass for the state parks, it will get you onto the boats in the SF Historic dockyard too.
The funfair (Boardwalk) , Pier with it's resident Sea Lions (and kayak hire if you fancy it) and the sandy beach are good for kids in Santa Cruz.

mumibear

Hi - we have just come back from 3 weeks of doing something similar - we covered 2100 miles, there are 6 of us only our brood are older - 20, 18, 16 + 13. We stayed in hotels as we only stayed a max of 4 nights in any place which worked out great. We did 4 nights LA, 2n vegas, 2n williams ( grand canyon) then 2more in vegas (not on the strip) 2n mamoth, 4 n san fran, 1 n groover beach (near Pismo) then 1n LA + home.
Make sure you book alcatraz tickets b4 you go this is a fab trip but gets very booked up.
The drive down the west coast on the big sur is breathtaking - we felt we did this bit a bit too quickly.
If you do hire an RV dont worry about parking it - loads of room.
Be careful hiring a car at one point and dropping it off at another - most companies rip you off for that privelidge - so shop around.
You will have a fantastic time - plan it well tho - you can pick up lots of advice from here. :j

mumibear

4 got to say - I was a bit concerned about the heat in the summer hols - but we all coped fine - Vegas was pretty hot tho. You will notice pretty big changes in temps from san diego to san fran - we had been told san fran is cool and cloudy but it was in the 90's when we were there and the locals were complaining about the heat. Cable car ride is a must........great fun!

poet123

We are thinking about doing this as well, all info would be welcome.

davetrousers

Don't forget Knott's Berry Farm as well as Disneyland.

Also with the car hire consider getting Car Hire Excess insurance rather than the Full CDW from the car hire company.

mumibear

If anyone is concerned about driving distances along the big sur route we found it useful to google map our journeys to get some idea - however be warned there is some very spectacular scenery and you just have to keep stopping at the various vista points - so it does add quite a bit to your journey - great great fun tho :j:j

ferf1223

mumibear wrote: »

Be careful hiring a car at one point and dropping it off at another - most companies rip you off for that privelidge - so shop around.

From what I understand, the one-way fee is down to the locations not being under the same ownership (just because they operate under the same name doesn't mean each location is owned by the same company - there are regional ownership entities from what I have been told)...so the drop location has to get the car back to the pick up location...so where you don't see a one-way fee is where the 2 locations are under the same ownership. It doesn't seem like a rip-off to me - something to keep an eye out for, absolutely...but rip-off, not so much.

mysparrow

Ok love road trips so I’m going to give my opinion based on the fact you say you love dramatic scenery. If so then you’re missing a huge opportunity by only sticking to the coast of California for most of your trip.
First bit of advice is to buy a AAA map from Amazon & really plan your route well.
Ideally three weeks would be better if you could possibly manage it (if you pre-book your motels on-line you can get some incredible bargains! Most of their bog-standard rooms come with 2 queen beds). Food is also very cheap too.
However I’ve worked with 14 nights as that’s what you’ve planned. Don’t be scared of big distances over there either, driving is easy (especially out of the big cities).

I’ve done you a loop to & from San Francisco (easier for car-hiring & flight booking). I've also whittled down a lot of the beach places you had. Not sure if the beach places are really what you're after - the coast is spectacular but there is so much more to California/ West Coast.

Day 1 arrive San Francisco (doing all the things you mentioned)
Do not bother getting your car straight away unless your hotel has free parking (which is unlikely unfortunately). You don’t need a car to get around & parking costs a small fortune. Stay 3 nights (2 full days)
Day 4: Leave SFO for Yosemite National Park (for amazing dramatic scenery!). Head East via the 80 – 580 – 205 – 120 – 99 to Merced then take the 140 to Mariposa then 140 into Yosemite. You must book ahead to stay anywhere near the park nevermind in the park.
Stay 2 nights to get a full day in the park
Day 6: Leave for Las Vegas via Death Valley. Take the 120 east through Yosemite to meet the 395 South down to Lone Pine, switch to 136 East to go through Death Valley & then South on 95 into Las Vegas (1 night) This is a very long drive but if there are 2 of you sharing & the kids are entertained it should be OK – no other section is this long.
Day 7: Leave for Grand Canyon. Take the 93 out of Vegas to Kingman. From here head East on the 40 to Williams (side trip on route 66 to Peach Springs is possible on the way. This is the place Disney animation Cars was based on). Stay in Williams (very cute old west style, steam train, cowboys, lots of places to eat) or if you can manage it get rooms in GC park itself (need advance booking). Stay 2 nights to get full day at GC.
Day 9: Leave for LA via Joshua Tree National Park (a little desert gem in my opinion!). Head back West on the 40 back to Kingman & continue on to Needles. Here take the 95 South to meet the 62 West, this will take you through 29 palms which is the North entrance to Joshua Tree NP. From here you can exit in 2 ways to get you to the 10 to take you West into LA & Anaheim (stay 2 nights)
Day 10: Disneyland – you won’t need more than a day at this park. It is much smaller than its Florida equivalent. Unless you want to do other parks/ see LA itself (which I personally didn’t like but hey that’s my opinion!) then don’t bother with anything else.
Day 11: Leave for Pismo Beach. Take the 405 N/W to meet the 101 to Pismo Beach. You should arrive quite early so may be 1 night is enough here?
Day 12: Leave for Monterey. At San Luis Obispo the road splits into the 101 & ‘highway 1’. Take the ‘1’ as this is the coast hugging road. Take this all the way to Monterey. Stay 1 night.
Day 13: Leave for SFO for final night. Stay close to airport for convenience. Arrive lateish so you can spend more time in the Monterey area.
Day 14: Fly back (boo!)

The trick to this is to take it easy & enjoy the drives & not be in a huge hurry to get to the motels – if you’re pre-booked then there’re no worries.
If you could stretch to even a few more days it would make this an even more brilliant holiday! You could also then include San Diego, Sequoia NP & King's Canyon to name but a few...
The RV is a cool idea & would mean you could stop when tired. There are RV parks all over the place (never done this though!). I’m pretty sure Anaheim has places for RV parking/ overnight stays too.
I wish I was doing this again it was one of the best trips I've ever had. If I had the money I'd go every year