Off to California end of August start of September for honeymoon.

2 days San Francisco
4 days Lake Tahoe
4 Days Yosemite
2 Days Santa Cruz

Not bragging, just looking to see if anyone has any recommendations of things we should check out/do or anything that we should avoid cause its not worth doing. We’ve already got a bunch of things that we are looking to do but just thought i’d see if anyone comes up with anything we’ve not thought of.

Thanks in advance!!!

less time at lake tahoe. theres not @Alot@ there … the rim trails ace , the beach on the lake is ace but the town is deathly quiet we spend 3 days there and were scraping the barrel for things to do beyond the rim trail and the beach

go over tioga pass out of yosemite and go down to mammoth for a couple days. mammoth is awesome ski bum town with awesome local breweries + mtb for all levels up at the mountain resort.

also i appreciate you dont have much time but if weathers good statehighway 1 up the coast into marin country was an awesome cliff top drive.

I’d agree with trail rat, perhaps more time in sanfran – there’s so much to do there.

+1 for mammoth mountain too

agree Tahoe was a bit underwhelming, wouldn’t want 4 days there.

Pacific Coast Highway – Carmel, Monterrey (Steinbeck, etc.) Big Sur, Hearst Castle, all worth a look.

Didn’t get into Yosemite personally – scuppered by the first autumn snows but we were a month later.

To mod your itinerary I’d suggest 3 days SF – there’s lots to see, 2 days Tahoe, 3/4 days Yosemite (take time to get from Tahoe to Yosemite and look at proper ghost towns from the gold / silver rush) and the rest on the coast / HW1

[edit if you (OK, the wife) isn’t precious where you stay there are dozens of Motels you can just walk into and get a room – we booked rooms in SF, Tahoe, Vegas (we went there but sounds like it’s off your list) and Monterrey, but with gaps in between and just went where we felt like]

1/2 dome at Yosemite is a must, a long old trek but very special.

Ride over the golden gate bridge into Marin and come back via saulsalito for beer then take the ferry back to town.

Very jealous here, you’ll have a great time

Go to the Sequoia NP if you can make a sensible route to get there in your timeframe.

spent three nights in San Fran and two nights in Yosemite last August. So much to do in San Fran which was a wonderful place,but then found 2 nights in Yosemite wasn’t enough to do much more than speed around in the car to the main spots with a few short walks thrown in. So you need to plan VERY carefully, reading up all the Trip Adviser recommendations and define your itinerary.

Half Dome is a balloted trek, but looks amazing if you have the time and get lucky. The sequoia’s a must, as is glacier point and a waterfall trek, plus the drive right through the park to the lake at the other end….forget the name of the road but you’ll spot it.

Lucky you! 😀

If you decide to hike up Halfdome in Yosemite take grippy shoes and grippy, rubber palmed gloves, the rock and metal rope ladder are polished smooth. If you do go for any hikes set off very early to avoid the daytripper crowds.
Edit
Halfdome wasn’t balloted when I went…. I can understand why it is though, there were huge queues at midday and it looked chaotic and dangerous.

I did a similar thing in reverse last September on a solo road-trip in a massive pickup truck.

SF is great. You can make as much or as little of it as you want. I’ve been a few times with work now and there’s always more stuff to see and do.

Whether you take the clockwise route that you mentioned or anti-clockwise, drive in/out of Yosemite on the Tioga pass. Spend as much time as you can in Yosemite. It’s just stunning. I spent two pretty rushed days there and I wish I’d had longer.

Between Tahoe and Yosemite, try to make time to visit Bodie, a ghost town in a state of preserved decay. Only a hundred years ago it was the 5th biggest town in the US. Then it just emptied. Gold-rush stuff. Fascinating and beautiful. I got there when it opened in the morning and there were only a handful of people looking round.

Santa Cruz was a bit shit. It’s just a seaside town and if you’re going midweek in September it’ll be a dead seaside town. Carmel is very pretty, in a chocolate-box kind of way. I dipped into Big Sur and that was pretty beautiful too.

If you’re bothered about the Highway 1 (coast road) drive, I’d suggest doing the route anti-clockwise so that you’re driving south on that road as it means you’re on the ocean-side of the road and you get better views. Driving north you’ll only really see other cars. The view to the east of the highway doesn’t really get pretty between SF and Santa Cruz. It’s only once you get towards Big Sur that it gets good.

When I did it I booked my first night’s accommodation in Pacifica (a surf town just 15 minutes out of SF), then just booked AirBnBs each morning as I went, deciding where I’d end up that day and aiming for it.

Outside of SF, the driving is easy. It’s not like driving here. Wide lanes and steady speeds mean it’s comfortable. You can go a long way/time without really noticing.

If I went again, I’d like more time in Yosemite and Big Sur and a trip into Sequoia.

agree on more time in SF

If you’re interested, here a few of the photos from my trip:

California 2016 on Flickr

Also honeymooned in San Francisco spent 9 days there as a base then 9 days in Mammoth.

I think everybody has covered most things.

Marin and the Redwood forest was good.
Wish we had done the wine train through Nappa Valley.

Yosemite was awsomelabobs, in hindsite would have spent a few more days there than San Francisco.

Mammoth was great, bit more chilled and I even managed a day on the bike riding the kamikaze 🙂

Enjoy yourself 🙂

Be aware the road along the Big Sur coast is closed for the immediate future.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/forum/board/message/?thread_id=765170

If you are in San Francisco Get a ticket for the cable cars for the amount of a days you are there, you will be amazed at how much you can save, I ride is $7 each and some journeys can take 3 or 4 rides, due to the layout and depending where you want to go. They are great fun and like nothing we have in this country (Health and safety goes out of the window)

Cable Cars San Fran

You can also use the same ticket for buses etc.

Also if you are planning visiting Alcatraz don’t wait till you get there to book it as you might find it fully booked.

Another vote for Tioga pass, it is awesome (if it is open).

http://houseofnanking.net/

This place is a must in San Fran – If theres a queue, which there will be, wait

Its worth it

Was in Cali for a few days and have family there.

Be aware the road along the Big Sur coast is closed for the immediate future.

This. I was at the blockage. It’s blocked, and has friendly CHiPs sitting at the block to remind you it’s blocked.

Worth doing a tour of San Fran in a bus, even if it’s just to get a layout of the city. Due to the natural geography SF itself is not a huge place.

I like Santa Cruz, but it is a little bit ‘cool’. If you ever rode BMX then you may want to get a coffee at Ron Wilkerson’s coffee shop. Similarly if you surf, then Jack O’Neill’s place is just outside and pretty spectacular, by all accounts.

I’d like to go to Marin County, purely because it’s Marin County. I’ve been into / through it a few times, just never spent any time there. Ping me if you want recommendations from a local – my cousin used to live there (and his Dad has a cabin at Tahoe), and a colleague/friend lives in Oakland and works downtown.

Big Sur is stunning, Carmel is cutesey and Monterey is nice – the aquarium is awesome.

I’ll add more as I think of it…

We were lucky enough to spend 4 days in SF and the same in Yosemite. I’ve also had a few weeks in SF with work. It’s a great city, and the people are lovely.
A few more suggestions to add to those above:
SF City Segway Tour
Try the soup on a sourdough loaf from Boudin Bakery near Pier 39.
Hire bikes and ride over the Golden Gate Bridge.
Listen to live jazz in Sausalito.
Explore Chinatown.
We stopped in the Handlery Union Square Hotel which is very central.

Yosemite is stunning and needs time to appreciate. When we were there in April Half Dome was closed, but the hike to the top of Yosemite Falls was excellent. We also saw a bear near Vernal Falls.
Try breakfast in the Majestic Lodge before setting out.
We stopped in the Redwoods in Yosemite cabins.
Enjoy

Was in Cali for a few days* and have family there.

*Recently. March, to be exact. Was there a few years back too, and backpacked up in about 20 years ago.

Unless you’re biking, there’s not a great deal in Santa Cruz for touristyness
Pick your spot
Roller coasters on sand

The Monterey Bay Aquirium is really good if you like fishies

4 September is Labor day weekend, so hotel prices before and around that in Santa Cruz will be eye-watering

I found Montery & Carmel to be a little dull when I visited. YMMV.
Big Sur may be too far South, and it’s cut in half currently so your visit may be limited.

With the limited time you have, I’d skip Santa Cruz. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been there for work over the last 10+ years, and whilst there are nice places, a city like SFO is always going to be my recommendation for tourist activity.

Another vote for redwoods in Yosemite cabins – pretty fantastic waking up in the middle of the forest each morning

Yosemite is fantastic, great views and some good hikes.

If you’re heading north from SF over GG into Marin County, then an early morning trip to Muir Woods National Monument is great – arrive early to beat the masses and head straight up into the woods – after 500m no-one else walks that far. It is a narrow canyon with some of the last remaining giant redwoods in the area. If you have more time, drive the swoopy road down to PCH and maybe head out to Point Reyes for some whale watching and elephant seals if in season.

Alcatraz.

Highway 1 north of San Fran is also blocked – another huge land slip by Muir Beach. If you are into road riding PM me – I ride there a lot & have some great rides. I can also recommend a bike shop to hire road bikes rather than the usual tourist BSOs

This place was awesome again last time we visited – lovely wine and food in a special clifftop location.

Skim reading just then you may be able to still get there after the closures – by a shuttle.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g240329-d939220-Reviews-Nepenthe-Big_Sur_California.html

We did San Fran, Yosemite, Monterey inc aquarium, dinner at Pebble Beach, Santa Barbera, LA, San Diego.

You could miss all of those places and still have a great time. You will never have enough time or money to do everything hence my comment about reading as much as you can and the planning very carefully to ensure you fit in as much as you can.

+1 for Bodie. One of the highlights of my trip, and the approach to preserving a ghost town in the states is massively different to how we would do something similar here…

I did a similar trip 3 years ago;
3 days San Fran
2 days Nappa Valley
2 days Lake Tahoe
3 days Yosemite
1 night in Cambria then drive upto Monteray for 1 night
Then back to San Fran for 1 night

Pretty much agree with most of the feedback on here….Lake Tahoe is OK but with hindsight would have left this out spent more time on the pacific coast near the beach….that said we did go star gazing in the mountains near Tahoe which was amazing

Yosemite is absolutely incredible…the beauty of it brought me to tears….

Santa Cruz has not got a lot unless you are into surfing, the boardwalk is ok and downtown is ok for an hours mooch but that is about it. Capitola is ok for a mooch about.

If you want to see breathtaking trees then don’t go to the Avenue of giants go to Praire Creek Redwoods state park, stunning and much quieter than AoG

Don’t stop in Euricka awful vile tweakerville place.