ATP Travel: Southern/Central California Coast

I didn't know what thread to dump this in, so one more can't hurt. Flying out tomorrow to San Diego, spending a couple days, and then driving up the coast to San Francisco over the following week. Our general itinerary, or at least where we're spending our nights, is below. Would love any recs for attractions, hikes, restaurants, bars, breweries, wineries, etc. I'd say views/vibe/cool nature are typically more important to us than fancy food/drink.

We've spent a bunch of time in SF/Napa, but virtually none in SoCal or the Central Coast.

12/30-12/31 - San Diego
1/1 - Laguna
1/2 - Marina del Rey
1/3 - Santa Barbara
1/4 - Paso Robles
1/5-1/6 - Carmel/Monterrey
1/7-1/8 - San Francisco

Thanks, Pit.

tigerswood said:

I didn't know what thread to dump this in, so one more can't hurt. Flying out tomorrow to San Diego, spending a couple days, and then driving up the coast to San Francisco over the following week. Our general itinerary, or at least where we're spending our nights, is below. Would love any recs for attractions, hikes, restaurants, bars, breweries, wineries, etc. I'd say views/vibe/cool nature are typically more important to us than fancy food/drink.

We've spent a bunch of time in SF/Napa, but virtually none in SoCal or the Central Coast.

12/30-12/31 - San Diego
1/1 - Laguna
1/2 - Marina del Rey
1/3 - Santa Barbara
1/4 - Paso Robles
1/5-1/6 - Carmel/Monterrey
1/7-1/8 - San Francisco

Thanks, Pit.

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If you're taking 1 from Paso Robles to Carmel, there's great hiking at Julia Pfeiffer and Garrapata in Big Sur. Be sure to check out McWay Falls. If not, Point Lobos is right outside Carmel. It's great, as well, but a bit more crowded. In Big Sur, Nepenthe and the restaurant at the Ventana hotel are both good and have great views. Deetjen's is a really cool place as well, but I'm not sure if it ever reopened after the mud slides.

Restaurants: Roy's and The Bench in Pebble Beach, Mission Ranch, Katy's Place (breakfast), Dametra, and Grasing's in Carmel.
Things to do: 17 Mile Drive, Monterey Bay Aquarium (you have to buy tickets in advance and show your vaccine card), Ocean Ave. in Carmel. Laguna Seca is an amazing track, but I doubt anything will be happening in January. Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey is good for little kids. I have plenty of golf opinions if you're planning on playing. We like to rent kayaks at Elkhorn Slough and check out the otters.

En route from Monterey to San Francisco, the Santa Cruz Boardwalk on the way to the Bay Area is a lot of fun if you have kids. Alternatively, the outdoor bar at the Half Moon Bay Ritz is fun.

There are tasting rooms on every other corner in Carmel. Alvarado Street Brewery in Carmel Plaza and Folktale Vineyard in Carmel Valley are both fun.

I'm only really qualified to give Monterey Peninsula/Big Sur recommendations; I'll leave SoCal and the San Francisco to someone else.

I'm headed to SoCal in March and some spots we are planning on hitting are Coronado Island, Balboa Park (SD zoo), Sunset Cliffs Cave, Windandsea Beach (George's restaurant in La Jolla for cocktail and a view), hiking in Torrey Pines, and a few days in the LA area which will include some hiking in Hollywood Hills. Only definite restaurants I have in mind are George's and Ballast Point.

Great recommendations above for Carmel/Monterey/Big Sur areas and you could easily spend more time in that incredible area. We hit up Nepenthe, Mission Ranch and a drink at the Half Moon Bay Ritz and would recommend all. Crazy sunsets wherever you are but I thought Half Moon Bay was most memorable.

Tex98 said:

If you're taking 1 from Paso Robles to Carmel, there's great hiking at Julia Pfeiffer and Garrapata in Big Sur. Be sure to check out McWay Falls. If not, Point Lobos is right outside Carmel. It's great, as well, but a bit more crowded. In Big Sur, Nepenthe and the restaurant at the Ventana hotel are both good and have great views. Deetjen's is a really cool place as well, but I'm not sure if it ever reopened after the mud slides.

Restaurants: Roy's and The Bench in Pebble Beach, Mission Ranch, Katy's Place (breakfast), Dametra, and Grasing's in Carmel.
Things to do: 17 Mile Drive, Monterey Bay Aquarium (you have to buy tickets in advance and show your vaccine card), Ocean Ave. in Carmel. Laguna Seca is an amazing track, but I doubt anything will be happening in January. Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey is good for little kids. I have plenty of golf opinions if you're planning on playing. We like to rent kayaks at Elkhorn Slough and check out the otters.

En route from Monterey to San Francisco, the Santa Cruz Boardwalk on the way to the Bay Area is a lot of fun if you have kids. Alternatively, the outdoor bar at the Half Moon Bay Ritz is fun.

There are tasting rooms on every other corner in Carmel. Alvarado Street Brewery in Carmel Plaza and Folktale Vineyard in Carmel Valley are both fun.

I'm only really qualified to give Monterey Peninsula/Big Sur recommendations; I'll leave SoCal and the San Francisco to someone else.

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Thanks, this is excellent! Both of those state parks look very cool. I'd love to play golf, and have an option to tee off first thing AM at Pebble one of the two days, but don't think I'll drop the $700+.

Revised itinerary.

tigerswood said:

12/30-12/31 - San Diego
1/1-1/8 - Huntington Beach with RJKarl

Thanks, Pit.

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Rj will squire you about town for $$$

tigerswood said:

Thanks, this is excellent! Both of those state parks look very cool. I'd love to play golf, and have an option to tee off first thing AM at Pebble one of the two days, but don't think I'll drop the $700+.

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If you want to play golf without spending too much, the Pacific Grove municipal course is cheap. The front nine is like any poorly maintained local muni, but the back nine is almost a poor man's Pebble.

Also, Tiger Woods just redesigned the Peter Hay par three course at Pebble and it's a blast. It's very kid- and beginner-friendly and it has an 18 hole putting course you can play for free.

no idea what's open, but some breweries that I really love are:

The Bruery (OC)
El Segundo Brewing Company (LA)
Golden Road Brewing (LA - probably the best facility/experience of all these)
Angel City Brewery (LA)
Arts District Brewing Co (LA - walking distance from Angel City)
Modern Times (SD)

The trip was awesome. Great weather, although a little chilly in SoCal. Did way too much to list here, and put 1057 miles on the rental car over 10 days. Highway 1 is just incredibly gorgeous, albeit a bit of a harrowing drive (and amazingly beautiful) in spots between San Simeon & Big Sur. Eager to get back out and do a SF - Portland - Seattle road trip some day soon.

Nature Highlights
- La Jolla Cove & hundreds of sea lions, w/ pups
- Torrey Pines - beach, hikes, cliffs
- Laguna - Main Beach - Saw 4-5 grey whales, a pod of dolphins, right off the beach/by our hotel
- Douglas Preserve - Santa Barbara
- Santa Ynez Mountains/Valley
- San Simeon - dozens/hundreds of elephant seals and pups - the big ones are 15 feet long
- All of Big Sur, especially Point Lobos, Pfieffer, and Garrapata (thanks for the recs, Tex on the latter 2)
- Pebble/17 Mile Drive (obviously)
- Montara Beach/State Park
- Rodeo Beach/Marin Highlands (had done this, but worth another trip close to SF)

Hotels - all were great but I'd probably rank them:
1) La Playa Carmel
2) The Piccolo - Paso Robles
3) The Inn at Laguna Beach
4) The Guild Hotel (Marriott tribute property w/ points) - San Diego
5) Marina del Rey Ritz (points)

Food/Wine/Beer Highlights
- Mitch's Seafood - SD (Point Loma)
- Juniper & Ivy (Richard Blais' place in Little Italy, SD)
- Ballast Point
- The Cliff - Laguna
- The Saloon - Laguna
- Deep Sea Winery - Santa Barbara wharf
- Loquita - Santa Barbara - best Spanish food I've ever eaten, including in Spain
- The Boathouse at Hendry's Beach
- Industrial Eats - lunch in Bulleton
- Wolff Vineyards - San Luis Obispo
- The Hatch - Paso Robles
- Tablas Creek Vineyard - Paso
- Epoch Estate Wines - Templeton
- Mission Ranch - Carmel
- Dametra Cafe - Carmel
- Fish. - Sausalito