Help planning california trip

We are planning a two week stay next year and are thinking of flying into San Diego and out of San Francisco. We would like to stop along the way and do a few nights at DL, do universal and LA. Would love to see Monterey and some parks etc.
can anyone point me in the right direction of how to plan such a trip. I don't know where to start booking hotels etx because I don't know how long it will take to get from place to place or what is best lengthy to stay at each place. Help please ?

I spent a fair bit of time here on the Dis and on tripadvisor when I planned my trip this summer. I basically sat down and looked at each component of what I wanted to do and figured out how much time I would want in each. Plotted it out, and then eliminated from there. I'm still juggling reservations, etc around. I'm rethinking some of my itinerary (still think I have too much jammed in) so I might move some stuff around.

Good luck - I'm super excited about my trip!

Do you mind me asking what your itinerary looks like?

Depends on what you want to see in each place. We have stayed 5 nights in both San Diego & San Francisco and still had places we didn't get to. That was with staying in the area. Maybe just do San Diego, DL and some things in the LA area. The drive from LA to SF is 6 hours going the Inland route (or more if you go up the coast). You can easily do 3 days in San Diego plus 3 in DL. Not to mention the drive between the 2 which can vary due to traffic. Having done vacations where we tried to fit everything in we now go for a more relaxed pace.
You should check out drive times using mapquest or Google to get an idea of how long it takes to get from A to B. We find it a good base to plan a trip.

Thanks. Our plan is to take two weeks and see what we can. We have three nights San Diego and three nights San Francisco and 2 or 3 at Disneyland. In between we want to see beaches and ocean for the girls. We want to do LA, Monterey, big sur and Yosemite if possible.

I started off knowing I wanted to spend at least 5 park days in Disneyland. I ended up booking a 7 night stay so I had a rest day in between. I knew I wanted a National Park so debated between Yosemite and Sequoia. I finally decided on Sequoia because it is quieter, easier to access (less driving is important to DH) and it sounds beautiful. We are OK with moving hotels every night if that cuts back on driving so our itinerary reflects that. Cost was also a factor.

My original itinerary had us flying into San Jose and out of SNA
Day 1 - Fly into San Jose (arrive 11am), drive 2 hours to Monterey, night in Monterey
Day 2 - Drive 3 hours to Sequoia/Kings Canyon, night in the park
Day 3 - Sequoia/Kings Canyon, night in the park
Day 4 - Sequoia/Kings Canyon, night outside the park
Day 5 - Drive to Anaheim, arrive by 2/3pm to skip rush hour
Day 6 - 11 - Disneyland (5 park days, 1 break day)
Day 12 - Fly home

My boss just gave me the day before my vacation off - so I changed my flight to arrive a day earlier. San Jose is now too $$ so I switched and am now flying into Burbank. I had to come up with a change in plans.

My new itinerary has us flying into Burbank and out of SNA
Day 1 - Fly into Burbank (arrive 11am), drive 3.5 hours to Pismo Beach/San Luis Obismo, stay the night
Day 2 - Avila Hot Springs, Dune Buggy rental, Whale Watching Tour, chilling on the beach, leave area by 4pm. Drive 3 hours to Sequoia, night outside the park
Day 3 - Sequoia/Kings Canyon, night in the park
Day 4 - Sequoia/Kings Canyon, night in the park
Day 5 - Sequoia/Kings Canyon, night outside the park
Day 6 - Drive to Anaheim, arrive by 2/3pm to skip rush hour
Day 7 - 12 - Disneyland (5 park days, 1 break day)
Day 13 - Fly home

Good luck! There is so much to see and do I had to piece each part together and then look at everything overall (including drive time) to make sure it all made sense.

Right now I get 3 full days in Sequoia. I am still considering spending all 5 pre-DLR days there instead of doing the Central Coast thing (extra 3 hours of driving). But seeing the Coast would be amazing and dune buggies and whale watching would also be awesome. Also, I really like the laid-back, small-town sound of Pismo Beach/Avila Beach. More appealing to me than glitzy Monterey.

A reasonable itinerary would be thus:

2 nights San Diego
3 nights Anaheim
2 nights LA
1 night Cambria (Highway 1)
1 night Monterey
1 night Yosemite
3 nights San Francisco

You can adjust from there as needed, but that is the general route.

We had 5 nights in San Francisco at the start of a 2 week trip. First day was arrival day from UK, we then had an Alcatraz/Fisherman's Wharf Day, a day exploring San Fransciso - cable cars, Lombard Street, Ghiradelli, Coit Tower (which was my favourite part of SF) and a Giants ball game, then day trips to Santa Cruz and Sonoma Valley. SF was cold when we went in July (a long time ago) and one of our group loved the cable cars which had huge queues so we seemed to spend a lot of time waiting in the line to ride them. We then went on to Yosemite for 2 days and could easily have spent longer there - so beautiful and the smell of the pine on the way in is fantastic. We did drive to somewhere else near Yosemite to see the big trees but can't remember where that was.

We did a similar trip to do college tours last year. We did start in LA though and at least from my area airfare is significantly less to LA than San Diego. We did 1 day in LA (obviously you would need more--I like 3/4 days for Disneyland). We did one short day at the Embassy Suites Mandalay in Oxnard. We left early in the am and stopped at the State Park in Carpinteria to see the seals. Stayed most of the day in Santa Barbara at the pier area (Don't miss the candy store!). Drive to San Luis Obispo and stayed at the Embassy Suites. The next night we stayed in Carmel---it's much nicer than Monterey. We stayed at the Comfort Inn they had a nice big family suite but book early as they only have 1 and you can walk to shops and the amazing beach views. Did the Point Lobos State Park (AMAZING!!) and then the scenic drive 17 mile drive. After that you can do Monterrey Aquarium but we passed because we saw enough sea life free and wild There is an Embassy Suites in Monterrey too. After that we veered off and did Yosemite. # nights and 2 days which was pretty ideal. On VRBO we stayed at the Ponderosa House in Midpines which was very convenient for us. We did not stay on site at Yosemite because I have 2 teens and we don't like 1 traditional room and eating on site for 3 days was going to be really expensive. Renting the house we made picnic lunches and had more dinner options. After that we just spent 2 days in San Fran because we had been there before. Let me know if you have any questions....

I love Sequoia National Park. Just came back a few weeks ago. Please note, that from the entrance gate to the actual Giant Forest (where the Sequoias actually are) is about another 90 minutes of winding mountain driving. The lodge and main campground (LodgePole and Dorst Creek) is even further past this point.

Also not sure when you are traveling, but Kings Canyon was closed as of yesterday due to the Rough Fire. Please check with the National Park Service before traveling. Air quality was abysmal our first day there, then it cleared up for about four days. On the fifth day the smoke was so thick you could stare at the sun. We still had a lovely time but at 8,000 feet with "unhealthy" air quality your mileage may vary.

Purrkins said:

I love Sequoia National Park. Just came back a few weeks ago. Please note, that from the entrance gate to the actual Giant Forest (where the Sequoias actually are) is about another 90 minutes of winding mountain driving. The lodge and main campground (LodgePole and Dorst Creek) is even further past this point.

Also not sure when you are traveling, but Kings Canyon was closed as of yesterday due to the Rough Fire. Please check with the National Park Service before traveling. Air quality was abysmal our first day there, then it cleared up for about four days. On the fifth day the smoke was so thick you could stare at the sun. We still had a lovely time but at 8,000 feet with "unhealthy" air quality your mileage may vary.

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We loved our time in Sequoia National Park. But yes, a lot of winding mountain roads. We solved that by moving every night. We were there 3 nights and Night 1 was at the Comfort Inn outside the park (arrived at dinnertime). Night 2 was at a tent cabin in Kings Canyon National Park. Day 3 was at a motel room at Hume Lake Christian Campground.

I'm doing a SF to LA area starting in 2 more sleeps (plus a sleep on the plane). We're doing:
3 nights SF
1 night Monterey (Henry Cowell redwoods on the way)
1 night Cambria after driving Big Sur
2 nights Yosemite
2 nights LA
7 nights DLR
2 nights Santa Monica

I would have liked another night in Monterey but that would have been at the expense of a DLR night. We have one big driving day from Yosemite to LA but the other days should be no more than 4 hours (I hope). I used google maps a bit for driving time estimates. I like to have 2 night stays where I can to at least have 1 full day somewhere.

Good luck with your planning, I also use Trip Advisor forums a bit for help, mostly just reading/lurking.