Hi Elle

I have some idea's but will wait for HT member "grayejectbutton" to contribute, as he/she lives in the CA area.

Driver02

By all means Driver, go ahead.

Hi Elle

Well, this is my version, although I'm sure other members will contibute.

San Francisco to Los Angeles, consider the following links, then depending on your timetable I would stopping off at least one night in several of the locations listed.

Between San Fran and L.A, I'd say there are probably four tourist regions.

The most scenic route is the Pacific Coast Highway.

Use the following links, then depending on your timetable I would consider stopping off at least one night in several of the locations listed, if possible..

a)
Carmel http://www.carmelcalifornia.com/
Monterey http://www.monterey.com/
Big Sur http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/ In my view the most stunning coastline in California.

b).
San Luis http://www.sanluisobispocounty.com/
Obispo http://www.visitslo.com/
Morro Bay http://www.morrobay.org/cm/Home.html
Pismo http://www.classiccalifornia.com/
Cambria http://www.cambriachamber.org/
Cambria, is where I would stop for Hearst Castle visit: http://www.hearstcastle.com/
Cambria is perhaps the choice of most tourists

c)
Santa Barbara http://www.santabarbaraca.com/

We have stayed at http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/cp/925/en/hd/sbaca

d).
As for Los Angeles itself, well, LA is so spread out, depends on what you intend to see or do.

There are several areas to choose from, Hollywood, Marina Del Rea, Venice Beach, Disneyland, etc, although all of the areas I mention, are accessible by car.

I have deliberately not supplied any itineraries for the above, as I do not want to confuse you at this stage, if however, you come up with an itinerary, I will be happy to assist you if you require it.

As for your trip from LA to Vegas, well, I'll leave that for another time.

Driver02

Oh, LA to Vegas is the easiest of the lot. Just get on to Highway 15 and continue headed north. It goes all the way into Las Vegas. As it happens, I live only a couple of miles from Highway 15 but it's around 40 miles from downtown LA. The 10 freeway is pretty accessible from LA and that links up to the 15 just after Ontario Airport.

Thank you very much for all those tips! Coastline does look amazing!

Re the hotel in Santa Barbara - funnily enough I found that on TripAdvisor just this morning and it looks pretty reasonable.

The drive from LA to Vegas is really just going to be a matter of getting from A to B - we have the Bellagio booked and want to get our money's worth!

Hi Elle,

When do you go? I am doing exactly the same trip with two of my friends during the last 2 weeks of June... so if it is later than that i'll be able to give you a first hand report!

We are arriving in San Fran and staying a couple of nights - then out to Yosemite, before heading back to the coast and all the way down to Santa Barbara. We're not planning on going any further towards LA - just cut inland towards Vegas where we finish up.

I built up a schedule for the trip on Yahoo trip planner - helps cos there are plenty of other people who've done the same, so you can have a look at what they've done too. I'll post the link to mine soon as i work out how to do it.

I'm sure though that greyejectbutton can give you plenty of advise (he/she has already helped me - cheers Grey!)

I'm not sure how you can easily get from Santa Barbara to LV without getting closer to LA. You'll have to at least get reasonably close to LA if you want to make good time to LV. All other routes would take a long time. You'd have to take 101-S to 134-E to 210-E to 15-N, at least I believe that would be the quickest route. True, it doesn't take you into downtown LA but it's pretty close! Close enough that you'll be able to see the LA skyline, anyway.

The only other possible route I can see is 101-S to 23-N to 118-E to 5-N to 14-E (merges with 138) to 58-E to 15-N... but I would need some convincing about that route.

Nylo - we're going those same weeks too so I'll have to take my chances! I'll check out the yahoo planner though...

GEE - thanks for that - we are going to stay in LA for the pure reason of going to Universal Studios so we do have two nights in LA but we plan to head out early after the second night!

Universal Studios is okay but, if you want rides, Magic Mountain is considerably better. In fact, there's really no comparison in that department. I think Universal Studios is interesting and it's cool to look at the movie sets and so on. I guess it depends what you are looking for.

Ha ha well if you see 3 guys in a convertible looking lost you'll know who they are!

Hi - did this journey about 3 years ago. We stopped in Carmel and Monterey for some time on the way down and back. I loved Carmel. You should try to do Seventeen Mile Drive - the scenery is superb. Big Sur is spectacular and there are some nice places to stay there but may be a bit isolated - if you want nice restaurants in the evening go to Carmel - it is a great town. Hearst Castle at San Simeon is not to be missed - even my husband who was sceptical was mega impressed. On the way there, you may get to see the hundreds of sea lions who were lying on the beaches near there ( it was late May/early June time). Santa Barbara is fab - If you want a nice place to eat and enjoy the view go to the pier and eat at The Longbeach Grill - great food and views.