Need help with US west coast trip...

vanilla8

I'ld recommend Coventry Motor Inn for SF, free parking.
Website wasn't secure so rang up to give CC details, not sure if this has changed since

cottyh24

Don't rule out staying near Union Square. We stayed in the Mayflower Hotel on Bush Street which was about a five minute walk to Union Square. The hotel was reasonably priced (£70 pn), spotlessly clean and had free parking - we didn't use it so I can't comment on this. I felt safe walking back there at night and would have done so evsn if I'd have been on my own.

Link here: http://www.sfmayflowerhotel.com/

Cottyh

John259

Apologies if this is obvious, but it would be well worth using StreetView mode of Google Maps to look at all these recommendations and their surroundings.

michele-p

Hi there, we stayed here, just outside the entrance to Yosemite park:
http://www.stayyosemiteviewlodge.com/ It was older, but clean, and cheaper than those in the park. If you fancy camping the Camp Curry right in the centre looked good fun: http://www.yosemitepark.com/curry-village.aspx

If you are able to have a bit of a splurge, and are in Carmel between Yosemite and San Fransico I can highly recommend here: http://www.ticklepinkinn.com/

I'm the sort of person who likes to have everything booked and know where I'm going on a road trip. We are going to East coast in June, and have all the accommodation booked already!

Enjoy your break, we had a great time when we went 6 years ago now.

visidigi

John259 wrote: »

Apologies if this is obvious, but it would be well worth using StreetView mode of Google Maps to look at all these recommendations and their surroundings.

Oh don't worry, if I don't the better half does all that for me and then advices me if its acceptable

Don't mind that though, saves me getting earache later as I can half blame her

visidigi

michele-p wrote: »

Hi there, we stayed here, just outside the entrance to Yosemite park:
http://www.stayyosemiteviewlodge.com/ It was older, but clean, and cheaper than those in the park. If you fancy camping the Camp Curry right in the centre looked good fun: http://www.yosemitepark.com/curry-village.aspx

If you are able to have a bit of a splurge, and are in Carmel between Yosemite and San Fransico I can highly recommend here: http://www.ticklepinkinn.com/

I'm the sort of person who likes to have everything booked and know where I'm going on a road trip. We are going to East coast in June, and have all the accommodation booked already!

Enjoy your break, we had a great time when we went 6 years ago now.

We're bookers, not walk ins by nature, so thats why I'm having to do all this - when I have free weekends on business trips thats when I do walk ins, the other half prefers to be more organised.

We did the south triangle in cali last year, enjoyed it so much we're going straight back - Florida next year too

torbrex

Second vote for Lombard Street, plenty of motels down there and most have off street parking for guests, it can be a lottery on how much some of them charge but the further down you are the more likely it is to be free.
The cable car runs up the street so getting into the city is easy.

visidigi

We're trying to figure out the best way to do Sequoia and Yosemite - we're checking out from LA early on Sunday morning and driving north - Google maps has it at 4hrs to Sequoia - we figure if you're going to do it then you might as well do the loop through kings canyon too.

Has anyone done it and do you know how long you need to give it to go through?

We would prefer to spend the extra night in Yosemite area if we could (to quote the other half once you've seen a tree the rest are just trees )

My thinking is early Sunday, north, through Sequoia and Kings Canyon parks and stay in Fresno/Clovis before heading north to Yosemite the following morning. The alternative is to stay in Oakhurst, but thinking this might be too much to do in a day.

Thoughts?

John259

Mariposa Grove in Yosemite is being closed for regeneration from around May or June 2015 (details here http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/mariposagrove.htm ), so Sequoia will be the best place to see the tall trees and is therefore likely to have more visitors than normal.

The road through Sequoia is relatively slow and if there are more vehicles then it will be even slower. (There are other groves in Yosemite but they're a bit more difficult to access.)

A lot depends on where in Los Angeles you're starting from, in other words whether you have to get through the central area with the potential for congestion. It might be an idea to stay somewhere near the I-5 or I-405 corridors on the north side of the city for your last night in the Los Angeles area.

Fresno is a big place, not particularly wonderful IMHO, but it is conveniently located. Perhaps somewhere on the outskirts might be more pleasant than in the centre.

Hope this helps a bit.

visidigi

We're going to be there March/April so hopefully we can still make it in.

We're travelling over from Santa Monica so we'll be heading out on the 405 to join up with the I5 - there is a bit of a pinch point where they join apparently, but we should be okay - we'll also be early I would expect given the clocks will still be playing games with out heads.

Its quoting 6hrs to go from SM to Sequioa through to Kings Canyon and then on to Fresno - we could push it up to Merced I suppose.

Just not sure how much time the two Parks should take up for stops etc