After some interesting places to stay on our road trip (driving, not cycling unfortunately)… start and finish in LA, up the coast and back down through the national parks is the general gist.

So, after recommends for places to stay – campsites, hotels, cabins, interesting places etc… cheaper and more interesting the better!!

Cheers

Oakland and bring weapons. Lots of them

Bear Valley Inn, Olema. Run by a good pal of McMoonter and moi.

It’s about 400m north of LA tho.

We’re going as far north as San Fran, not staying in LA, its only an entry exit point

If you are a couple this is a great place just north of golden gate bridge.

http://www.homeaway.co.uk/p271873vb

If you’re going to be riding its easy to get to Mt Tam, Camp Tamarancho and Repack Road. The owners are really nice and live above the property and are also cyclists.

Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, ask for the Caveman Room!! and be sure to eat in their restaurant. If the bubble – gum pink leather seats in the booths doesn’t impress you their food certainly won’t!!

Sad bad it was great!!

We only stayed the one night on our way from San Francisco to San Diego. Apart from the Palace Hotel in San Francisco and the Anabella Hotel in Ananheim (across the road from Disney) the Madonna Inn was up there for memorable hotels!

Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn…..old log cabins in a redwood filled valley. If you’re going to Big Sir, which you should

Watching with interest

We are doing san francisco and heading north to oregon for our honeymoon in july,

Cynic al your friends place looks awesome
Ill put it forward to mrs t-r as i want to go to point reyes station.

Go to Praire Creek to see redwoods rather that the Avenue of Giants.

The Madonna Inn in SLO is great to stay at once. We’ve stayed there twice, on separate trips. The second time you notice that behind all the pink and glamour, some bits are getting a bit tired, which considering the cost it shouldn’t be. Would definitely recommend it once though.

We stayed here:

http://www.lucialodge.com/

In one of the cabins on the cliff edge. Well shed, really, rather than cabin, but very nice and cosy. Again, not particularly cheap (not a lot on Highway 1 is), but I’d stay there again just for the views. And we saw whales. 😀 I woudln’t recommend eating in the lodge though, food was expensive and not that great.

Further up into Big Sur, we really liked this place:

http://www.bigsurtaphouse.com/

and this place:

http://www.glenoaksbigsur.com/roadhouse.html

First, head south. San Diego is one of my favourite cities in the world and is a couple of hours south of LA. It’s stunning, try not to miss it.

Further north, I really liked Santa Barbara. Very relaxed, place, full of the older generation and generally very laid back. I stayed at Fes Parkers Doubletree that was very good, though we did get a room upgrade.

Next up was Monterey, again, really enjoyed being there. The aquarium is well worth a visit, it’s very, very good.

And finally, spend as little time as possible in LA, it’s a horrible place.

In the tradition of not quite answering your question…

We spent a few nights in Point Reyes, a bit further north than SF at this place;
https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/55233

We read / heard that LA is a huge vacuous place, which is probably true but we quite liked what we saw of it and wished we had stayed longer. Granted we stayed in West Hollywood just off Sunset Strip, rather than downtown or out by Disney at Annaheim.

We spent two nights in LA, first night was really getting over the flight and had dinner and drinks at the Saddle Ranch cafe which was across the street from our hotel. The House of Blues was next door. We spent a day jumping on and off a double-decker bus checking out the sights of West Hollywood, Beverley Hills and Sunset Strip. The Farmers Market is really good, it was fun taking a stroll down Rodeo Drive, but did not spend too long among the cheese of Hollywood Blvd.

We spent a morning in Santa Monica, walking on the beach and pier. My only regret in LA is not making it to the Getty museum and hiring a bike to ride along the boardwalk at Venice beach.

The canvas tents at Yosemite look awesome but book up very quickly. These were in the main valley. We end up staying in a concrete bunker of a hotel complex just outside the park, but it was a bed for the night and the room had a great view of the Merced river.

Thanks for the input folks, I’ll take a look tonight…

Any other input gratefully received!

Santa Barbara – Nice atmosphere, good rocky trails on the front range.
Santa Cruz – Cool place. More good riding. Visit Santa Cruz Bikes new place and also clock the roller coaster from the Lost Boys.
Marin County – Fairfax is worth a look. Good singletrack at the scout camp. Repack downhill is defo worth a ride.
Kernville – Southern Sierra Nevada mountain town. Nice and chilled small town. Some really good singletrack including the Cannell Plunge.
Manhattan Beach – LA but really nice. Used for scenes in Point Break.

A great part of the world. We spent a month out west two years ago, just soaking up all the good bits.

Make sure you spend enough time in SF – it has a lot going on. We did a great scenic ride out though GG park to the ocean, round the coast and over the GG bridge and into Marin County, taking the ferry back from Tiburon.

Highway 1 south from SF to LA so you can look out over the cliffs, we stayed in Santa Cruz (wish we’d stayed longer), Carmel (quirky, 17 mile drive on the way is very picturesque), Morro Bay, Santa Barbara (very nice) and then Venice Beach (cruisers on the boardwalk are a must!) for the randomness.

The Elephant Seal Rookery at San Simeon was cool.

We only briefly toured LA, but the Getty Museum is a must, for the views as well as the exhibitions.

When we were visiting Yosemite we stayed in Mariposa, a pretty small old mining town. Sequoia and Stanislaus Parks are also a great drive (although we were looping back from Joshua Tree/Grand Canyon/Vegas) towards SF.

Enjoy!

We did the same trip, LA > SF > Napa > Yosemite > LA. Heading North, we just drove and stopped wherever took our fancy. Finding somewhere to stay was part of the fun & we only ended up in one “Bates Motel” 🙂

I recall staying (in no particular order) in San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Big Sur, Mariposa. There were others, but it was a few years ago & my memory isn’t so good! 🙁

Coming back to LA we did it in one long day.

Wortha quick pop over to Vegas and/or the Grand Canyon? Internal flights are stupidly cheap.

Thanks all, we’re going to play it by ear a bit I think. What has really surprised me is the cost of sleeping in CA… ouch!

Did a similar trip 2 years ago in rental car big enough to sleep rough in if necessary, Ford Escape.

LA, Palm Springs, Joshua Tree (Camping), 29 Palms Inn very retro and cool, Lake Havasu City (stopover), Grand Canyon (camping), Monument Vally Navajo Hotel, Moab, Zion NP cheap (heated) log huts… it snowed there, Las Vegas for a night’s luxury at the Continental, Mammoth Mountain Lodge (caught the last few days of ski season), wanted to see some of Yosemite but the spring was late arriving. Spent about 25 days or so doing that split the flight for buttons and dropped into NYC on the way back for some sightseeing. Going to do LA – Seattle/Vancouver when we get another chance for a break.

If you are a couple this is a great place just north of golden gate bridge.

http://www.homeaway.co.uk/p271873vb

If you’re going to be riding its easy to get to Mt Tam, Camp Tamarancho and Repack Road. The owners are really nice and live above the property and are also cyclists.

I know exactly where this is, and you couldn’t ask for better location, location and location. Ride in any direction from here!

I went on a biking trip to CA about ten years ago and the most memorable place I stayed was the Riverside Inn in Downieville.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g32309-d271271-Reviews-Riverside_Inn-Downieville_California.html

A long while back did various stops around California, Nevada & Arizona. Just stayed in cheap motels. Winged it when there, just booked a place in advance to stay on arrival. Though might find they’re a bit more fussy at the airport now if you can’t show you have places to stay for the trip. Then again been on plenty of holidays and they just ask where you’re staying but not ask for evidence.

breatheeasy – Member

Wortha quick pop over to Vegas and/or the Grand Canyon? Internal flights are stupidly cheap.

Hire a car and road trip it. Easy drive and you have a car to get out to GC. Interesting stuff on the way. Vegas obviously. Maybe stay in Flagstaff. Hoover Dam is near Vegas. Meteor Crater is around Flagstaff way also.

Driving along the Pacific Coast Highway is a nice drive.

verses – Member
We spent a few nights in Point Reyes, a bit further north than SF

Location of the lighthouse in The Fog 😀