Portland to LA drive, places to stay things to do, 10 days

Hi,

We are doing an 8 week road trip around various western US states, both starting and ending in LA.

We would like to spend the final 10 days driving down the coast from Portland to LA.

Is 10 days enough or should we increase it to 2 weeks?

We would be spending a couple of nights in Portland first and so the 10 days does not include the time spent here.

I%26#39;m after suggestions for places to stay, things to do along the way. Hotel budget is $150 a night, but we are open to spending more on a fab place once or twice.

I would like to include a couple of nights in San Francisco, a couple of nights in Napa Valley or any other wine area to go on a few vineyrad tours, a night in Monterey.

Any other ideas will be most gratefully recieved.

We don%26#39;t need to spend ant time in LA as will already have done that, just need to end up back in LA to fly home.(Not sure I%26#39;ll want to fly back home after our 8 week holiday though!!)

Many Thanks,

europe-chick

Portland to LA drive, places to stay things to do, 10 days

10 days is plenty for this trip.

I would do this:

Ashland, OR 1-2 nights: Nice college town, great setting, fantastic Shakespeare Festival

Napa/Sonoma or Russian River area: 2 nights

San Francisco: 3 nights. We found a motel that was actually in the central city and an excellent value, Nob Hill Motor Inn.

Monterey and Big Sur: 2 nights.

Santa Barbara: 2 nights. Beach is nice, mission, wine tasting

Portland to LA drive, places to stay things to do, 10 days

Your plan is to drive down the coast?

Ashland is not on the coast.

So you have 10 days, minus your time in San Francisco and two nights in Napa? First off, I would add another night in SF, unless you have been there already? There is much to do there and it%26#39;s a unique city. Do you plan to visit Alcatraz?

Okay, so if you do that it will leave you with only about four days to drive the Oregon coast to SF. That is enough time, but not any extra!

When are you visiting? How many hours of driving do you usually plan for a day?

Oh, just re-read your post and realized the four days is to go all the way to LA, taking out the nights already scheduled for SF/Napa/Monterey? So in reality only three nights between Portland and SF, and one between SF and LA?

Is that right or am I over-analyzing this? (Been known to happen, LOL)

Half-Brit

Sorry it was probably me that didn%26#39;t make myself very clear!!

I would have 10 days to do the drive from Portland to LA.

I have been to San Francisco before which is why I just allocated it 2 days.

Napa Valley (or other wine area) - I%26#39;m open to ideas here as to the best areas to visit to go on a couple of vineyard tours and maybe just chill out for a couple of days.

Monterey - I had heard that it%26#39;s nice so that%26#39;s why I added it.

If I go with 2 days SF, 2 days Napa, 1 day Monterey that leaves 5 days - so I%26#39;m open to suggestions for the other 5 days or maybe I need to rethink the 5 days I have!!

All ideas are very gratefully recieved, places to go, things to see / do, places to stay etc, etc.

Many Thanks

europe-chick

So four nights between Portland and SF, and one in-between SF and LA. The latter is plenty, look to stop around Cambria (charming little town with oceanfront lodging) or Pismo Beach (classic CA beach town with oceanfront lodging).

For Oregon, perhaps Astoria, Newport or Yachats, Gold Beach or Brookings, and then the Eureka area, Trinidad or Ferndale.

Have a look at those cities. Also this may help:

http://www.oregoncoasttravel.net/

What sort of lodging do you prefer?

I%26#39;ll chime in in favor of a night in the Eureka area to see the Redwoods. They are absolutely magnificent and can only be found in a few places in the world, the northern California coast being one of them. There is a beautiful hike through the redwoods to the coast, %26#39;Fern Canyon%26#39;, you catch it out of Praire Creek redwoods state park north of Eureka. Or, there are other small groves you can visit. You can do the redwood highway and drive through a giant redwood (yes, they are that big).

A bit further south, the town of Mendocino is quite nice, a good food and wine town, Point Reyes north of San Francisco is quintissential northern California coast ambiance.

If you drive down the coast south of Monterey through Big Sur, don%26#39;t miss the restaurant/store called Nepenthe. It%26#39;s been around since the 60%26#39;s and has magnificent views and a nice new-age sort of ambiance.

Personally, I would spend more time in Northern California which has (IMHO) the more striking scenery, interesting towns and terrific food.

my designing dream