Looking at 3 weeks, next July (Scottish school holidays).
I have it in my head that we will rent 3 separate places of which 1 will be in/around San Francisco, other than that everything is up for grabs.
So – what airport/airlines – probably premium economy from from Edinburgh via London probably.
Car rental companies and must sees / dos.
Kids will be 10 and 13 and can turn their hand to most outdoor pursuits (unlike their father 🙂 )
AirBNB for accommodation?
National park info / deals?
Is hiring an RV for a week a reasonable idea?

What You Got?

Don’t bother with LA. We did 3 days there on the way back and wouldn’t recommend it! San Francisco was great, as was driving down the Pacific Coast Highway. If you go to SF, Alcatraz is worth a visit but you’ll have to book in advance.

San Francisco – Monterey – Pacific Coast highway as far down as you want, then off to Yoesemite and back would be very relaxed over three weeks. You should definitely go to Monterey Aquarium. You wouldn’t need a car in SF, so would save a bit on rental.

Santa Barbara is worth a visit too if you get that far down. It’s 400 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles, to give you an idea of distances. And then you have theme parks, if that’s your thing.

In the summer you could go over Tioga Pass and down to Death Valley. You could extend the trip back from Yosemite by heading to Lake Tahoe or Sonoma and Napa Valley. Or you could go further afield and head to Grand Canyon, which is breathtaking and a good hike for the kids. That’s a lot of driving though.

I’d avoid an RV. Just hire a decent European car and stay in motels. We took a tent once and camped in Yosemite. More recently we’ve stayed in Evergreen Lodge, which is excellent.

Forget Sequoia, the big trees in Yosemite look the same and King’s Canyon is really an out and back trip that isn’t worth it. If you do choose to head towards LA, Joshua Tree is much more impressive.

It will be a lot of driving, but driving is easy in California.

Lake Tahoe, Lake Tahoe 🙂

Canoeing, MTB, hiking, mountains, lake, amazing scenery

It will be a lot of driving, but driving is easy in California.

This. I love the freeways once out of town.

Go and see the Sea Otters in Carmel.
Cutest critters ever!

So – what airport/airlines – probably premium economy from from Edinburgh via London probably.

If it’s Premium, BA would be my pick. It’s good. Much better than the Premium Economy offerings from any of the US carriers. IIRC, there are a few flights a day to SFO with LHR, with at least one, being on the A380. Given the newness of that ship, I’d fly that. (Worth also considering an Avios upgrade. As you’re already buying premium and and assuming you have the Avii (plural?) to splurge on it, that is.)

However, I’d be looking for deals with American in Business, if they’re flying a 777 there. They can be cheap, and their new business seat is very good.

Breakfast in Tiburon is lovely, too!

i wouldnt do an RV either.

Yosemite worth seeing – i would avoid the main marked tarmaced tracks around curry village and get up onto the hills around the view points – youll probably meet no one – we only met one guy from kentucky that whole day. and the next day we went up behind the hotel and saw no one other than a rattle snake.

tahoe its self a bit meh – the lake cool , the place – not so much . great if you get good weather and awesome riding.

Rated mammoth lakes a much better place for what i expected tahoe to be.

You have to go north or south i dont care which – on state high way 1. North of SF it follows the cliffs and its an awesome drive – we did fort bragg down to SF and ive done pismo to LA previously.

If you want to Redwoods go north on old Highway One through Bodega Bay (Where Hitchcock’s The Birds was filmed), Jenner, Point Arena and Fort Bragg, over Legget Hill and on to the Avenue of Giants a few miles past Garberville. The coast drive is beautiful. A side trip over to Oregon to see Crater lake is worthwhile too. I’d pack a tent and stay in the State Parks. Awesome value and always in incredible landscapes.

I love the Marin headlands just north of San Francisco. the Point Reyes national park is a lot like Scotland. there’s even an Inverness there. Limantour Beach is good for whale watching. Point Reyes Station is a cool town. Visit the mountain biking museum in Fairfax. I think Smerican Grafitti was filmed there, or maybe San Anselmo just down the road. Stand on the bridge like Dirty Harry near the ferry terminal at Larkspur.

Lake Tahoe is wonderful too.

Thanks guys, keep it coming.
I’ve got the map on the kitchen table and a load of post it arrows – a lot more satisfying than google maps!

a load of post it arrows

Hurrah! My children can eat tomorrow. 😀

In SFO itself, the cable cars are a must, such a great way of seeing the city. Sadly you might have to miss Vesuvio’s given the children’s age, though.

Moont. You missed out the most important poitn on the drive north….

The invernesspark deli ! Will you post the vid or will i ?

Im salevating alreDy !

I would use San Fran as a base – fantastic city (do try the classic movie in the park), great people and loads to do in the area. Yosemite, wine tours north of the Bay, Pacific Highway to Santa cruz and Monterey and Carmel. Personally I would miss LA completely…..

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gVoB_Q1aT4[/video]

Mmmmm,mm,mm

Personally I would miss LA completely…..

This is good advice.

For me, fly into SFO. Explore the Bay Area for a few days, Golden Gate, etc. Then Yosemite. But after that I’d be torn between going north to the Redwoods, via some wineries in Sonoma/Napa and the coastal drive. Or south for Monterey, sea otters etc. It’s all good. I’d probably go north to see the big trees because it’s a bit wilder up there. Bear in mind that’s only a fraction of the state. If you wanted to have two bases, San Diego is a very pleasant place and you could head out to the desert (Joshua Tree NP for example) for a few days. Very different to NorCal. Sorry, that’s not much help…

Ignore LA, it’s a hole.
But do, please, go to San Diego, it’s a stunning, wonderful town.

Seconded. San Diego is very good, but a long way from SF – can drive to Grand Canyon via Joshua Tree and London Bridge (which is pretty cool, surprisingly). Since you are going to SF, I’d also recommend a trip to Oakland for 1) Baseball and 2) The Museum of California – especially on a Friday when they get the food wagons and salsa music. One big party. Easy to reach on the BART and off the beaten (tourist) trails.

I’d still go to Monterey though. Kids will love the best aquarium in the world. You’ll miss peak whale watching season I’m afraid, but might be orcas.

So that’s fly to SF drive up to Grand Canyon, across to Yosemite via Tioga Pass, down via Napa and five days in SF before flying home. If Tioga pass is closed, it’s quite a detour!

And yo may not be aware, but SF will be cold and foggy when you are going. Take warm clothes and a coat. This often surprises people, but I’m afraid the best time to go is early spring and late autumn.

The Snoopy Museum in Charles Schultz’s home town is great. There is an ice rink next door and the baseball pitch nearby has Snoopy’s kennel as the ticket booth. Who wouldn’t want to see the kite eating tree?

San Diego is great, one of my favourite cities – LA, personally, wouldn’t bother with.
San Francisco great – rent bikes, cycle over Golden Gate bridge, turn left to do loop of Marin Headlands, then ferry back from either Sausalito or Tiburon, cracking route. Cable cars a definite, touristy must, as long as you stand on the running boards (how on earth does that still get allowed?).
Re flights, BA also operate a route to San Jose, worth checking out if there are any bargains.
RVs are great fun, but they’re expensive.
We flew into LA, then went Palm Springs, Vegas, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Zion, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Yosemite, San Fran, then back down Pacific Highway 1. Lots of fun, but lots of driving too, but that was before kids.
You will have an amazing time!

BA also operate a route to San Jose

IIRC, that’s on a 787, so not likely to be too many bargains! Nice plane, though!

San Diego is indeed ace. Especially if you like sailing. Have friends over there who might be worth tapping up for some contacts for you if you’re inclined towards the water.

I only know the Southern end of ca well, so I’m offering your final week or so only of my imaginary 3-weeker (other than to say that SF is cool & windy, so take a windproof top):

San Diego’s a nice place. In my ideal world I’d start from SF and end up leaving from San Diego if flights allowed. I’d have 2-3 days there after lashing it down the 15 from Murrieta where I’d just returned my demo bike to the Turner Bikes place, where I’d pre-booked a demo bike for the day 8) (I visit family fairly near there every year and keep not doing this – yes, what a dickhead).

For your biking day, send the family speedboating on Lake Elsinore or to Dana Point / Laguna Beach or somethng, after they’ve dropped you off at the campsite at the top of The San Juan trail. Ride down, back up to halfway and then back down the final 5mile downhill and they can pick you up at the bottom and take you and the bike back to Turner. (if you’re a big Hans Rey fanboy ride Laguna Hills instead).

To get To Murrieta, I’d have come down the PCH (down better than up IMO as you’re on the ocean side of the road). I’d have spent a couple of days camping in Big Sur somewhere and had a shuffle round Hearst Castle for half a day. Getty Villa is quite cool for a (free?) gallery, too – bit of performance art thrown in by the staff in the galleries and great views from the grounds.

I wouldn’t necessarily bother with PCH anywhere below about Santa Monica / Venice Beach although there’s a nice “natural” beach at the crystal cove conservation area south of Newport

If it was me, though, (unless you need to go to theme parks in Anaheim) I’d cut across the top of LA (could go through/via Hollywood if you want) and if not in a rush, go up into the San Bernardino Hills / Angeles forest up HWay2. Big Bear and Arrowhead are nice enough places and lots of walking/scrambling/canoey/horsey stuff available in Big Bear as well as moderately well priced cabins/campsites (if you’ve been somewhere like Tahoe this may be a bit less of an attraction)

After that, as above, lash it down to Turner for a day’s biking and then get to San Diego

Mammoth. Its got everything.
You can take the Tioga Pass from Yosemite if it’s open (ie. not snowed up).
And visit Mono Lake. Freakiest place ever 🙂

If you do end up going over Tioga pass, pay the ghost town at Bodie a visit!

Yosemite is a must-see, although it’ll be busy in July so start your days early if you can. We love the North Lake Tahoe area, since friends have a holiday ‘cabin’ (Ie. Enormous house) up in Truckee (drop me an email if you’re interested, I’ll send you the link) – simply fantastic for outdoorsy stuff – watersports, biking, hiking, camping, horse-riding.

I think folks have covered most of the other stuff. Carmel down Monterey peninsula is great, aquarium at Monterey is worth a visit. Whale watching boat trip (Moss Landing) can be good if you get lucky (last time all we saw was fog but that was earlier in the year).

Ive just done a 2 week California road trip this summer with the kids. California isn’t cheap, but it was amazing. If you want to stay in Yosemite, book it quickly. I’d definately tag a Vegas/Grand Canyon link on to the end. You can even fly home from there – one way car rentals are very common in The States.

You can even fly home from there

As long as the plane doesn’t catch fire! 🙂

Hope all well, Dan! Next flight is with your lot, but ex-LHR to ORD on a 74. Will keep trying!

Wow! Thanks for all the contributions. Lots to plan and think about…..but keep it coming,

Based on our one trip, this summer, i’d say whatever you do you’ll love it. We hired a car and drove down from Oregon over a week as part of a longer US trip. Through the Humboldts redwoods (if you’ve never seen BIG trees before, its mind blowing)and norcal coast – Mendocino (a quaint, hip clifftop town) was a bit of a highlight, we also stayed in Arcata further north, which was OK – some good ale. The driving in the coast regions can be much more time consuming than you might think, and dont run short of gas.
I’d have to say we preferred Oregon – from what we saw, California is quite different to a lot of the US, but San Francisco was great – San Remo Hotel in North Beach is cheapish compared to most, well located and fun, with good places to eat nearby.
We spent ages planning the trip, and i’d go back tomorrow if funds allowed!