California Dreaming
Start in San Francisco and then hire a car to take the famous Pacific Coast's Highway 1 to Los Angeles, Santa Monica & Disney and beyond!
Where to start with San Francisco, there is so much to do. I always include the hop-on-hop-off bus tour which has a few routes but includes the fascinating and often booked out trip to Alcatraz. If you can, get tickets for the Alcatraz evening tour, my clients rave about it.
I love the interesting neighbourhoods like Castro and Haight-Ashbury and iconic sites like Golden Gate Bridge, Plus the restaurant scene is the best and 3-4 days often isn't enough for my long list of places to eat.
Take a drive to the lovely wine region of Napa and inland to Yosemite National Park if you’ve more time. Immediately down the coast is Monterey/Carmel with its lovely Mexican architecture. The last time we were up early and straight to the Big Sur which is often closed due to rock fall and landslides but it wasn’t when we were there. It's just WOW! The scenery is glorious. We had lunch at the wonderful Nepenthe and my highlight was the McWay Falls look out in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. I really fell in love with Big Sur, there is something magical & mystical about those forests.
The redwoods start to turn into palm trees as you drive south and although many people will stop at Cambria for the night, the last time we decided to go a little further to Pismo Beach where we had the most amazing seafood for dinner and did some shopping.
The next stop was Santa Barbara and I could have stayed an extra couple in both of these with their Southern Cali vibe, endless palm trees and sunshine! In Los Angeles, I love a pit stop at the Griffith Observatory in the Hollywood Hills for those iconic LA / Hollywood sign views. You could stop for a night and do Universal Studios Hollywood or keep driving to Anaheim for Disneyland California, you need a couple of days to do both parks, we had a great time at the happiest place on earth.
I’d usually finish up by dropping the car back and having a few nights in Santa Monica, relaxing by this wonderful city beach. I absolutely love LA, and have previously stayed at the Mondrian in West Hollywood which is another fun area especially for nightlife. It is important to stay in the right area and Santa Monica is definitely at the top of my list with its proximity to the airport (avoiding the awful traffic!) & ocean, incredible restaurant scene and more palm trees!
If you have more time you can drive down to San Diego or across to Joshua Tree National Park and on to Las Vegas.
The most incredible scenery and beaches, delicious food, endless shopping opportunities and something new every single day. California is the perfect companion to a multi destination Hawaii honeymoon and holiday. You can also fly to Bora Bora and French Polynesia or back via Florida for a Caribbean Cruise or even hop down to Mexico - Cabo is a great add on to a California road trip.
Give me a call to plan your dream California trip!
