Leaving next month for a 2 1/2 weeks in California with my three kids age 19-27 and I have some questions. Starting in SanDiego to visit family for a couple of days, then heading to DLR for 3 days, then LA for 3 days and up to San Francisco stopping along the way. We will have a rental car the entire time. Parking at the hotels in LA is so expensive, I struggled to find a hotel in a central location that didn’t have insane parking fees. We’ve been to LA once before and did most of the tourist things. We plan to be mostly in the West Hollywood and Santa Monica areas, plus the Getty and Universal. I booked the Holiday Inn Express West Los Angeles-Santa Monica which is on Santa Monica Blvd in Sawtelle. It seems pretty central to everything we want.
-Is that a good location and pretty safe area?
-We want to get to Universal as early as possible one morning. Should we drive or would the Metro be faster with rush hour traffic? It seems like rush hour traffic is usually going in the opposite direction.
-Is the Warner Brothers tour worthwhile? My kids are Harry Potter fans, but not any of the other shows that seem to be featured.
-On the drive up to SF, we’re planning to stop in Malibu, Santa Barbara, Pismo Beach, and San Luis Obispo, spending the night there. Is Santa Barbara worth visiting? Should we consider Ojai?
-Then driving up to spend a couple of nights in the Monterey area to visit some of the state parks, Pebble Beach, and drive PCH south to Bixby Bridge. I’m terrified of heights so I don’t know if I’ll be able to drive across and drive some of the scarier parts of PCH down to Pfeiffer State Park, but we may do that if I’m up to it. Any hotel recommendations in the Monterey area that aren’t insanely expensive? Doesn’t have to be in Monterey itself.
-Then driving up to the San Francisco area for a few nights, stopping at Henry Cowell. Again, parking at the hotels in SF is $60+ a night. There’s some budget hotels in the Marina District with free parking, but across the bay in Emeryville there’s much nicer hotels with inexpensive parking. We plan to spend most of the time in San Francisco, but also going to an A’s game, Berkeley, and some other areas. How bad is the traffic on the Bay Bridge if we stay in Emeryville and avoid rush hour?
-Is that a good location and pretty safe area?
-We want to get to Universal as early as possible one morning. Should we drive or would the Metro be faster with rush hour traffic? It seems like rush hour traffic is usually going in the opposite direction.
-Is the Warner Brothers tour worthwhile? My kids are Harry Potter fans, but not any of the other shows that seem to be featured.
-On the drive up to SF, we’re planning to stop in Malibu, Santa Barbara, Pismo Beach, and San Luis Obispo, spending the night there. Is Santa Barbara worth visiting? Should we consider Ojai?
-Then driving up to spend a couple of nights in the Monterey area to visit some of the state parks, Pebble Beach, and drive PCH south to Bixby Bridge. I’m terrified of heights so I don’t know if I’ll be able to drive across and drive some of the scarier parts of PCH down to Pfeiffer State Park, but we may do that if I’m up to it. Any hotel recommendations in the Monterey area that aren’t insanely expensive? Doesn’t have to be in Monterey itself.
-Then driving up to the San Francisco area for a few nights, stopping at Henry Cowell. Again, parking at the hotels in SF is $60+ a night. There’s some budget hotels in the Marina District with free parking, but across the bay in Emeryville there’s much nicer hotels with inexpensive parking. We plan to spend most of the time in San Francisco, but also going to an A’s game, Berkeley, and some other areas. How bad is the traffic on the Bay Bridge if we stay in Emeryville and avoid rush hour?