Anaheim to San Francisco?

[Parkerpooh]

We are planning a trip to CA in sept. and was wondering if anyone here has done the coastline drive from Anaheim to SF? We are looking for a beachfront suite hotel to stay at somewhere along the coast. Any recommendations? thanks, Jen

 

[npealer]

I have not done the drive but I Live in Cali. The drive is a long one but beautiful! What part of the coast are you looking to stay. I personally love the Carmel/Monterey, Santa Cruz part of the coast. Lots of cute little B&B's in that area

 

[Jen_in_NH]

My sister and I drove it 2 years ago. It's really beautiful, and there are tons of cool places to stop and look at. Can't help you with a place to stay though - we're campers. If you want to know where to pitch a tent, there are some great campgrounds around Big Sur.

Jen

 

[RADOPT]

Pismo Beach is very nice area. It is a little less then half way. The drive is about 9 hour. There is a lot to see if you want to make the time (monterey/carmel, santa barbara, hearst castle, etc.)

 

[Magix]

There's a brand new hotel in Avila Beach (www.avilalighthousesuites.com), which is a nice little beach town just a couple minutes off Hwy 101. A very short drive to Pismo Beach, SLO, Morro Bay, etc. Looks like a nice place. A little pricey, but most anything on the coast will be. I was looking to stay there, when I was thinking of taking a trip up that way early this year, but I decided not to go. The hotel is brand, spanking new and is located right across the street from the beach.

 

[almostGoofy]

Cambria, which is in central California just south of San Simeon, has many motels, inns and B&B's along Moonstone Beach. Although most are average size motel rooms, you might be able to find a few suites. Cambria makes a good base to visit Hearst Castle.

Moonstone beach is not a beach to lay out on; it's rocky. You will find a few surfers though. All of the inns and motels are across the street from a cliff overlooking Moonstone beach with a nice wallking path along it. Not all of the rooms along Moonstone will have ocean views but each inn/motel will have at least a couple with full views, the rest of the rooms will have partial or no views.

If you want something nicer and have the $$$ to spend; you might want to think about staying at the Huntington Beach Hyatt resort which is about a 30 mins. drive to Anaheim. It's located directly across the beach.

 

[kelmac284]

We are doing that exact thing in June except driving all the way to Sacramento.

We are going to Disney for 2 days and then driving up the coast to Monterey and then heading inland from there.

We plan to go to Hearst Castle and Big Sur.

It is very beautiful and I think you will enjoy it!

 

[Syn&Bri'sDaddy]

We did the coast highway from SF to northern LA a few years ago. One thing I'd suggest is don't do it at night!! (at least not the first time)

I couldn't tell you if there were ANY forms of lodging ANYWHERE along the way, as the road had so many twists and turns (and did I mention, it was dark?) that I had my eyes glued to where I thought the road was the whole time. lol

 

[LucyKate]

We drove from San Diego to Monterey over two days and chose Pismo Beach because it was approximately half way (so it would also be around half way from Anaheim to SF).

The place that came up tops on tripadvisor.com for Pismo was the Kon Tiki Inn http://www.kontikiinn.com/.

You can read more about it on our trip diary (link below) but we thought it a nice, brilliantly situated place (on a cliff above the beach) with a great restaurant attached.

 

[Parkerpooh]

Thanks everyone for all the great responses!! I'm going to start checking all the above mentioned places. I'm so excited to go now . Thanks, Jen

 

[Judy from Boise]

We spent time on our honeymoon at the Moonstone Inn in Cambria, it was wonderfull. We also used to really enjoy the Apple Farm Inn in SLO.

 

[mamacatnv]

Hwy 1 is very curvy and can take hours from Hearst Castle to Monterey. I would suggest staying south somewhere if you plan to drive Hwy 1. If you are going up 101 you could stay in Monterey and there is a really nice Embassy Suites there. Also a 2nd vote for the Apple Farm in SLO, never stayed but the food was really good.

MamaCatNV