We are taking our 30 year aniversary trip along the coast of central California. We intend to fly into San Fransico in April for 9 days. We want to poss. fly out of Santa Barbara. Any advice on places to visit, stay, eat, see etc. would be very much appreciated.
Do your 9 days include visiting San Francisco?
If so, here's one possible itinerary for you (BTW- Flying out of LAX would be a more affordable option than flying out of Santa Barbara):
SF: 3 nights
Monterey/Carmel: 2 nights
Cambria: 1 night
Santa Barbara: 2 nights
Will need to know what kind of budget you're operating on to give good advise on lodging, dining, etc.
"Some" lodging options in the Monterey/Carmel area:
Seven Gables Inn, Green Gables Inn, La Playa Hotel, Monterey Plaza Hotel, Tickle Pink Inn
Lodging options in Cambria:
Moonstone Landing, Fog Catcher Inn, Best Western Fireside Inn, Castle Inn, Cambria Pines Lodge
Santa Barbara lodging:
Fess Parker Doubletree
Simpson House Inn
Harbor View Inn
Upham House
Here's a list of things to see/do between SF and Santa Barbara:
Half Moon Bay
Ano Nuevo State Park
Santa Cruz
Elkhorn Slough
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Cannery Row,
Carmel by the Sea
Carmel Beach
17 Mile Drive
Big Sur coast: Bixby Bridge, Pfeiffer Beach, Nepenthe/Phoenix Shop, McWay Falls @ Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Ragged Point
Elephant seal rookery near the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse
Hearst Castle
Moonstone Beach/Leffingwell Landing
Morro Bay/Rock
San Luis Obispo
Pismo/Avila Beach
Solvang
Mom's itinerary looks pretty good to me. I'm not a big city guy myself so I'd do one less night in SF & add 1 to Cambria or SB.
Leaving from LA will save you money. Returning to SF for flight back will save more if you don't mind doing a return to SF.
One way car rentals are expensive as you will find out. Returning them to your pickup airport or city location may be cheaper. Flights out of SB will also be expensive. You can take 101 all the way back to SFO.
I think Kibblesmom's itinerary looks great.
Happy New year KBmom!!!
Heed DAM and Belomiser's advice re: returning your rental car to SFO. The drive from Santa Barbara to the San Francisco airport vis Highway 101 is only about 300 miles and 5 hours. You could enjoy a nice lunch in SB (or somewhere in Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles, etc. along the way) then drive back to SFO to spend the night before your your flight home.
Carmel would be a nice place to spend time in on an anniversary trip. Lots of romantic restaurants, art galleries, beautiful beaches and scenery in this area.
www.carmelcalifornia.com is an informative website for this area. :)
