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Old 10-20-2020, 05:57 PM
 
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Flying into Oakland & will eventually be making it down to LA via PCH.

Staying in SF the first day then the next day will be driving down the PCH towards Santa Barbara. Without getting to far off the coast anybody recommend a town that might have chain hotels within a couple hours from Santa Barbara?
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Old 10-21-2020, 10:45 AM
 
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Keep in mind that it will take you a lot longer than Google Maps says to drive from San Francisco all the way down Hwy 1. It's a very slow-going curvy road and you will make lots of stops for pictures. If I were you, I would spend the night on the Monterey Peninsula and then make the drive the following morning.

Your next overnight could be Cambria, Morro Bay, or Pismo Beach. There are lots of hotels to choose from so not sure why you need a chain.
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Old 10-21-2020, 05:50 PM
 
Location: Sacramento
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If you’re planning on taking Hwy 1 from San Francisco to Los Angeles, allow plenty of time and flexibility. Parts of Hwy 1 were closed through San Mateo, Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties during the recent wildfires. Caltrans QuickMap will be your friend:

QuickMap

As far as chain lodgings within a couple hours of Santa Barbara, you’ll find them in San Simeon, Cambria, Morro Bay and the Five Cities (Pismo Beach/Arroyo Grande) area. Have a good trip.
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Old 10-22-2020, 07:31 AM
 
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Originally Posted by sacreole View Post
If you’re planning on taking Hwy 1 from San Francisco to Los Angeles, allow plenty of time and flexibility. Parts of Hwy 1 were closed through San Mateo, Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties during the recent wildfires. Caltrans QuickMap will be your friend:

QuickMap

As far as chain lodgings within a couple hours of Santa Barbara, you’ll find them in San Simeon, Cambria, Morro Bay and the Five Cities (Pismo Beach/Arroyo Grande) area. Have a good trip.
Thanks for the heads up on fires. I should've mentioned this isn't going to happen till next March.
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Old 10-22-2020, 07:48 AM
 
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I probably should've mentioned additional details.

My main goal here is driving through the Big Sur.

Since you all know a lot better than myself. If I were to fly into SF on Thursday (staying night). And left Friday morning. How long would you give yourself to not rush & be in LA?
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Old 10-22-2020, 10:13 AM
 
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From San Francisco I would go to Point Lobos and explore for a few hours. It's beautiful and will give you a taste of things to come on your Big Sur drive. I would spend the night in Carmel or Pacific Grove.

The next morning I would start the drive and make several stops along the way. You can Google where the best stops are. I would end the drive at Cambria and stay in one of the small inns on Moonstone Beach. Don't miss the Elephant Seal Rookery just north of Hearst Castle. Also, there are lots of zebras just south of the castle.

The next day I would stop in cute Cayucos, then Morro Bay to see the rock (can't miss it!). Montana de Oro would be a great stop as well. After that I would drive to Santa Barbara for the night and then to LA the following day.
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Old 10-22-2020, 11:12 AM
 
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Originally Posted by AustinTraveler View Post
From San Francisco I would go to Point Lobos and explore for a few hours. It's beautiful and will give you a taste of things to come on your Big Sur drive. I would spend the night in Carmel or Pacific Grove.

The next morning I would start the drive and make several stops along the way. You can Google where the best stops are. I would end the drive at Cambria and stay in one of the small inns on Moonstone Beach. Don't miss the Elephant Seal Rookery just north of Hearst Castle. Also, there are lots of zebras just south of the castle.

The next day I would stop in cute Cayucos, then Morro Bay to see the rock (can't miss it!). Montana de Oro would be a great stop as well. After that I would drive to Santa Barbara for the night and then to LA the following day.
Appreciate the info!

I checked out Pacific Grove. From SF area to Pacific Grove via google maps it says 2.5 hours.

I know google maps is not a perfect way of looking at things because we'll be stopping for pictures etc.. But if it's only 2.5 hours. Even if you increased that to 5 hours it still wouldn't make sense to stop there.

The reason for that is I imagine coming from the East Coast (time zone wise) we'll be leaving the hotel by 9 am Friday morning (maybe earlier because we'll feel like it's later). So if we left the hotel by 9 am. Taking our time we would still be around Pacific Grove before 3 pm.

Then the rest of the day to figure something out to do. I can't do that realistically because the ultimate goal is to get to LA area where we have many things planned.

That's why I'm really looking for a place to crash one night that is probably a commute of about 7-8 hours including stopping for pictures etc. Then the following day be close enough where we can drive to LA after stopping in Santa Barbara. Even if it means getting to LA at 6 or 7 at night.

I will say that once I get to Santa Barbara I'm cool with jumping on the 101. I know the 101 doesn't start up till Ventura. But I imagine if it's not rush hour taking the 101 would be a lot faster than staying on the 1 through Malibu.
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Old 10-22-2020, 02:18 PM
 
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You'll pick up the 101 in San Luis Obispo. There is a section of Hwy 1 near Lompoc but don't take that as it just runs by Vandenberg AFB and not along the ocean. If you don't want to see the Carmel area then you could push on to Cambria. I wouldn't go any further though because you'll be tired from the driving. Highway 1 isn't like the 101. The driver has to be concentrating on the road the whole time. Lots of twists and turns and slow moving traffic. This all might be a moot point by March because rainy season is coming and with the recent fire we could very likely have mudslides, which means Hwy 1 will closed.
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Old 10-22-2020, 02:23 PM
 
Location: Northern California
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Unless you want to stay in SF the first night, why not head down to Pacifica or Half Moon bay, both are small towns, just south of SF & right on Highway 1. Hotels there will also include parking, make sure any place you book in SF also has parking, some hotels want to charge extra for parking. If you want to stay on One all the way, just stay on it. If you use gps it will likely try to divert you back to the freeway.
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Old 10-22-2020, 02:41 PM
 
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Originally Posted by AustinTraveler View Post
You'll pick up the 101 in San Luis Obispo. There is a section of Hwy 1 near Lompoc but don't take that as it just runs by Vandenberg AFB and not along the ocean. If you don't want to see the Carmel area then you could push on to Cambria. I wouldn't go any further though because you'll be tired from the driving. Highway 1 isn't like the 101. The driver has to be concentrating on the road the whole time. Lots of twists and turns and slow moving traffic. This all might be a moot point by March because rainy season is coming and with the recent fire we could very likely have mudslides, which means Hwy 1 will closed.[
Pay heed to this. It happens more frequently than you would think. Within the past few years Hwy 1 through Big Sur was closed for months, maybe more than a year, due to landslides. You should have a Plan B in place.

It's open right now and we did a similar drive (OC to Monterey and back) in 3 days early in September. We had three drivers taking turns, which helped, because otherwise it would have been a very exhausting drive. Beautiful, though.

We spent the night in San Simeon both days. There is a cluster of motels right off the highway and the beach, of course, is right across the street. At that time traffic was still unnaturally light and we got to Santa Barbara in less than two hours and south OC in about two hours from there.
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