Where to stay between San Diego & San Francisco?

[Torontogal]

Looking for something nice, clean and in a good area. Don't want anything too expensive, but nice. Any ideas? It would be for 1 night to split the drive between San Diego and San Francisco. Heard of Slovak - not sure if anyone stayed there.

 

[Hound 109]

Slovak....or Solvang?

Solvang is touristy...not my choice.

If taking the PCH, I recommend Cambria or Morro Bay. If you want to go a little further, perhaps Pismo Beach.

You might want to advise if you have kids, what type of things you like or want to do, & what you define as "not to expensive".

Have you considered the PCH (Highway 1) between Monterey & San Luis Obispo? It's amazing with several neat stops.

hound

 

[WDWLinda]

We just took the PCH, US1 down the coast from San Francisco to San Diego - amazing scenery! - we stayed in the Best Western Fireside Inn in Cambria for one night. It was clean, had nice rooms, is right across from the beach, and I think most rooms have a gas fireplace. Plus they had a nice continental breakfast included. I read "Calif. for Dummies" and they said Cambria was a better spot than San Simeon, which is near Hearst Castle, because the town was a little larger. I highly recommend the book and the hotel too. It was $179 a night.

Good luck!

~Linda

 

[Valencia Joe]

Let's first find out about how you are getting from San Diego to San Francisco: are you planning to take the coast route (PCH) or are you going the quicker route of taking the 5 and cutting across around Stockton? That could help people out in terms of suggesting stuff. Here's an example... if you decide to take the coast route, the mid-way point of driving from SD to SF should be around Santa Barbara, Solvang and the Ojai area. All those areas are really nice. However, if you are going up the 5, mid-way would put you around Fresno, and just getting there would mean that you would need to cut across to the 99. I know it sounds confusing, but your travel plans would help us out.

 

[grumpy.uncle]

If you will be traveling up the 101, I'd recommend staying in San Luis Obispo. I went to college there and SLO is just a great little town. Lots of motels and hotels w/ the college. If there are no college events going on, you should be able to get a fairly good deal on a room. If you want to stay near the ocean, I'd try out Pismo Beach. Also a great smaller community w/ lots of accomodations. I'd check AAA for their guidebook to get an idea of prices, etc.

 

[Hound 109]

We just took the PCH, US1 down the coast from San Francisco to San Diego - amazing scenery! - we stayed in the Best Western Fireside Inn in Cambria for one night. It was clean, had nice rooms, is right across from the beach, and I think most rooms have a gas fireplace. Plus they had a nice continental breakfast included. I read "Calif. for Dummies" and they said Cambria was a better spot than San Simeon, which is near Hearst Castle, because the town was a little larger. I highly recommend the book and the hotel too. It was $179 a night.

Good luck!

~Linda

WDWLinda, was the BW Fireside (in Cambria) on "Moonstone Beach" Dr.? We also stayed in one of the little (charming) motels there. With it being 95 degrees here in Texas, it was so neat to have to wear a jacket at night while walking along that lil' road.

& is there "lodging" in San Simeon? I don't remember there being any.

& finally along with the jaw droppingly beautiful stretch of road, did you see the Elephant Seals about 10 miles north of San Simeon? Was curious if they're still there. Was a highlight for my kiddo.

hound.

 

[mrs.beast]

I-5 is much faster, but not as nice of a drive. we live near sf and it takes about 6-7 hrs on I- 5 and 8-10 on HWY 1. On I-5 there is no scenery except fields and cows. however, everytime we go thru santa barbara the last 3 yrs (about 3 times a year-one way + thanksgiving and easter) we have been stuck in traffic for over an hour. it could be just bad luck, but all of our family has experienced the same recently. it starts just before santa barbara along the coast going north and about 1/2 way thru santa barbara going south. we have been stoping and eating there so the kids dont go crazy. we still choose hwy 1 though because of the beautiful scenery (unless it is night and there is nothing to see)

 

[WDWLinda]

WDWLinda, was the BW Fireside (in Cambria) on "Moonstone Beach" Dr.? We also stayed in one of the little (charming) motels there. With it being 95 degrees here in Texas, it was so neat to have to wear a jacket at night while walking along that lil' road.

& is there "lodging" in San Simeon? I don't remember there being any.

& finally along with the jaw droppingly beautiful stretch of road, did you see the Elephant Seals about 10 miles north of San Simeon? Was curious if they're still there. Was a highlight for my kiddo.

hound.

Hi Hound...
Yes, it was on Moonstone Beach Dr. I almost booked it just because the name sounded so pretty. There were several cute motels on that stretch. And there's a nice walkway by the beach that we unfortunately didn't get to use. I don't remember too many hotels at all in San Simeon.

Yes, the elephant seals were there - I could have watched them all day. About 25 seals at least laying on one side of the beach, with others coming and going. There was a second spot down the beach but not as many there. It was so amazing to see these great big seals just swim up and then lumber across the beach. It was pretty windy and the sand was flying, but it was so worth it. I think they were actually between San Simeon and Cambria, just a few miles North of Cambria.

~Linda

 

[Pixie_Dust]

I'd do a two-night drive to have time to enjoy things along the way. Day 1: Solvang! Day 2: the Monterrey/Pacific Grove/Carmel area. You'll be very glad you took the time.

If, however, you are just driving and not touring, go up Hwy. 5 instead, in which case it really doesn't matter where you stop as you aren't going to have the time to see anything anyway. Maybe stop in Santa Nella (?) where the other Pea Soup Andersen's is (the first one is in Buellton by Solvang on the other, 101 route), as that is about halfway between SF and LA.