Family Trip Los Angeles to San Francisco

[MareSINY]

My family is planning a trip to California for the end of August (August 24 - September 1). I'm more a planner than they are, in fact they're more fly by the seat of their pants but them complain when nobody has any idea of where to go or what to do while I'm more of a check the schedule and see where we are going next.

This trip includes myself, my sister, 3 nieces (18, 16 and 12) and my sisters boyfriend and his daughter (14). Our plans are to arrive on the evening of the 24th and drive to Anaheim where I've booked us rooms at Flamingo Inn & Suites for 6 nights. We plan to make this our base camp to do things around the LA area. Here's what I have so far set in stone:

August 24 - Land 7pm, drive to Annaheim and check in to hotel
August 25 - Los Angeles (possibly a hop on hop off bus tour... I'm pushing for this one.)
August 26 - Beach day (any recommendations for a nice beach to visit?)
August 27 - Disney
August 28 - Either another beach day or a day trip to sights around LA
August 29 - Disney
August 30 - Drive to San Francisco (any recommendations for things to see along the way? Any crazy roadside attractions the kids might like?)
August 31 - Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, etc. Kids want to see the Full House house, Lombard St, maybe take a trolley ride.)
Sept 1 - Early morning flight home

Any suggestions on beaches, must do tours in LA (kids are into bands like Twenty One Pilots and Panic! at the Disco. Youngest one is a huge BTS fan. So anything geared towards their likes would be a plus.)

I'm especially open to suggestions/ideas for the ride to San Francisco.

Thanks!!

 

[cruisehopeful]

August 26 - Beach day (any recommendations for a nice beach to visit?)

Crystal Cove https://www.crystalcovestatepark.org/ or Santa Monica Pier area.

August 31 - Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, etc. Kids want to see the Full House house, Lombard St, maybe take a trolley ride.)

While you can do all of those in one day, you do have to book the Alcatraz tour ahead of time and then schedule everything else around that. For the trolley ride, catch it at the beginning or the end of the route. If you try to catch in the middle and the trolley is full, it won't stop.

I'm especially open to suggestions/ideas for the ride to San Francisco

If you are taking the 101 freeway, you'll pass the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo which is a good stop for something to eat. There are themed rooms and restrooms on the property which are entertaining. Even though I had no men with me, I was told to go into the men's restroom downstairs and apparently it is known as the least private men's restroom because everyone goes in there to take pictures. http://www.urinal.net/madonna/

You may want to consider shaving a day off of Anaheim and adding a day to San Fran or maybe another location on the way to San Fran. There's lots of pretty places to see on the way such as Point Lobos State Park, Carmel/Monterey area. Solvang is a tourist stop. I wasn't impressed, but lots of people like to go there.

Not sure about Flamingo Inn and Suites. I've never heard of it and when I googled it to see where it was, I could only find one in Florida.

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

August 30 - Drive to San Francisco (any recommendations for things to see along the way? Any crazy roadside attractions the kids might like?)

I would probably take the fastest route from Southern California to San Francisco, which is usually I-5. There's nothing to see really, just do the drive as fast as possible and maybe you can have the evening to spend in San Francisco. There's Pyramid Lake (edit: The Water Conversation Center at Vista Del Lago is a good place to have a rest stop though) and Bravo Farms I suppose, but I would treat them more like rest stops than something that is actually worth stopping to see.

Highway 101 is a bit nicer, but adds an hour to your drive according to Google Maps. To me that wouldn't be worth it. I'd rather have the extra hour in San Francisco.

 

[bcla]

I-5 has several roadside stops. Several have chain restaurants and gas stations. A few unique places are Pea Soup Andersen’s and the Harris Ranch Inn & Restaurant. The latter is within whiffing distance of the Harris Ranch feedlot. If you can withstand that in the parking lot, their steaks are great.

 

[MareSINY]

I would probably take the fastest route from Southern California to San Francisco, which is usually I-5. There's nothing to see really, just do the drive as fast as possible and maybe you can have the evening to spend in San Francisco. There's Pyramid Lake (edit: The Water Conversation Center at Vista Del Lago is a good place to have a rest stop though) and Bravo Farms I suppose, but I would treat them more like rest stops than something that is actually worth stopping to see.

Highway 101 is a bit nicer, but adds an hour to your drive according to Google Maps. To me that wouldn't be worth it. I'd rather have the extra hour in San Francisco.

Thanks! I've done the coast highway as a kid and know it takes a lot longer going that way (beautiful drive, but very long!) so we did plan on going I-5. I just wasn't sure if there was anything worth seeing on that ride. I'll keep Vista Del Lago and Bravo Farms on my list of possible pit stops. Thanks again!

 

[MareSINY]

I-5 has several roadside stops. Several have chain restaurants and gas stations. A few unique places are Pea Soup Andersen’s and the Harris Ranch Inn & Restaurant. The latter is within whiffing distance of the Harris Ranch feedlot. If you can withstand that in the parking lot, their steaks are great.

LOL I grew up on Staten Island, NY which is home to the worlds largest (or it was... it's now closed and may have been beat) garbage dump. I'm used to stinky smells. LOL Thanks for the tips, I'll add Pea Soup Andersen's and the Harris Ranch Inn & Restaurant to my list of possible stops!

 

[bcla]

LOL I grew up on Staten Island, NY which is home to the worlds largest (or it was... it's now closed and may have been beat) garbage dump. I'm used to stinky smells. LOL Thanks for the tips, I'll add Pea Soup Andersen's and the Harris Ranch Inn & Restaurant to my list of possible stops!

https://www.peasoupandersens.net/homeSantaNella.htmlhttps://www.harrisranch.com/
Garbage dumps are one thing, but the smell of over 10,000 head of cattle in a relatively confined space is something altogether different. My preference is to know when I'm approaching it and turn on reciculate at least 5 miles before passing by. That's I-5 on the left. There's no median per se. That part of I-5 the north and southbound directions are separated by about 100 ft or so.

Apparently they've sold the cattle ranching business but will still operate the inn and restaurant. Not sure what the deal would be since the whole point of the restaurant was that they sold Harris Ranch beef.

 

[sjmac42]

Frankly I’d fly to SF. There is nothing compelling enough on the i5 to warrant wasting a day driving it. You could fly from SNA to SFO and you don’t need or probably want a car in SF.
All the best.

 

[bcla]

Frankly I’d fly to SF. There is nothing compelling enough on the i5 to warrant wasting a day driving it. You could fly from SNA to SFO and you don’t need or probably want a car in SF.
All the best.

I've flown the route, and frankly it's pretty close between flying and driving. A good pace and it's 5 hours driving. If there's a rental car, then that's additional time getting to the rental return, taking whatever shuttle to the airport (a peoplemover system at SFO), security, and a cushion. The other thing is the possibility of being late and missing a flight. With a car (or two) one has flexibility compared to missing a flight. I speak from experience where we just left later rather than going crazy trying to meet a fixed departure time.

Driving can often be way ahead on how much it costs too, although a couple of one-way rentals might need to be factored for a group of 7.

 

[sjmac42]

A good pace and it's 5 hours driving.

Sorry, not from Anaheim it isn’t, not even close. From somewhere like Pasadena or Glendale, maybe. From Anaheim it’s easily 6.5 hours if you leave after about 9am or 10am. Hit LA traffic from the south and you could easily add an hour or more.
Yes I’ve driven the i5 from both LA and Anaheim, never again.
Mind you, I’ve no idea where The Flamingo is in Anaheim, maybe it’s further north than the OP thinks.
All the best.

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

Sorry, not from Anaheim it isn’t, not even close. From somewhere like Pasadena or Glendale, maybe. From Anaheim it’s easily 6.5 hours if you leave after about 9am or 10am. Hit LA traffic from the south and you could easily add an hour or more.
Yes I’ve driven the i5 from both LA and Anaheim, never again.
Mind you, I’ve no idea where The Flamingo is in Anaheim, maybe it’s further north than the OP thinks.
All the best.

It just depends I think, pluses and minuses to both sides. I definitely prefer driving (we make the drive from Northern to Southern California about once per month, occasionally to San Diego which is even farther), but I can see the appeal of flying also.

I agree San Francisco to Anaheim is probably more of a 6+ hour drive if you drive reasonable speeds , although when I was a reckless youth I did it much faster than that.

 

[MareSINY]

https://www.peasoupandersens.net/homeSantaNella.htmlhttps://www.harrisranch.com/
Garbage dumps are one thing, but the smell of over 10,000 head of cattle in a relatively confined space is something altogether different. My preference is to know when I'm approaching it and turn on reciculate at least 5 miles before passing by. That's I-5 on the left. There's no median per se. That part of I-5 the north and southbound directions are separated by about 100 ft or so.

Apparently they've sold the cattle ranching business but will still operate the inn and restaurant. Not sure what the deal would be since the whole point of the restaurant was that they sold Harris Ranch beef.

Oh wow, ok yes that's a lot of cattle!! The smell must be delightful! Thanks for the heads up! LOL

 

[nkereina]

We just spent a 4 nights in Anaheim, followed by 3 nights in LA. Flew in and out of LAX. We found the drive between the two to be long enough and grueling (traffic) enough that we were glad we opted to get a hotel in LA. I would consider a stay in LA to accomplish all the things you want to do there, or just do the one day in LA rather than two. Also be conscious of rush hour times because that will make or break your commute.

We did a hop on hop off tour with Big Bus Tours. Its smaller than Starline, but it was less busy and had all the stops we wanted. They have a red line and blue line, and the blue line goes out to the beach, but its much more time consuming. We stayed on the red line and spent time in Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and the Grove/Farmer's Market. The tour was informative, but would be a bore for kids. It was better used as a mode of transportation for us. A more exciting tour might be the TMZ tour - its not hop on hop off, but it takes you by all the famous paparazzi and celebrity spots. The celebrity homes tours sounded cool too.

As for beaches, we wanted to spend a day at Huntington Beach but never made it. I would do Huntington or another beach in Orange County so you can stay closer to your hotel without having to make that commute again.

 

[MareSINY]

Thank you! This is very informative and helpful. My biggest concern is the traffic in and out of LA. Originally the plan had been to stay in LA for one or two nights before heading to Anaheim but eventually everyone pushed for staying in Anaheim because they didn't want to keep changing hotels. I lost that battle. I've been talking to them about one of the hop on/hop off bus tours, basically for the same reason you did it, not so much for what they talk about while on the bus, but as a means to get to all the spots we'd want to see without having to drive to each spot, fight traffic, and pay for parking. Big Bus Tours is one of the ones I've been leaning towards, your review was a big help! I'm trying to avoid the TMZ and star tours, I keep explaining to the kids that it's not that much fun to look at the gates of some famous persons house when a) they probably only live there part of the time and b) your odds of seeing a famous person on those tours is slim to none.

Definitely had planned to spend beach days at beaches closer to Anaheim, I just wasn't sure where to start researching that. Orange County, got it!

Thanks again for your response, it was definitely helpful!

We just spent a 4 nights in Anaheim, followed by 3 nights in LA. Flew in and out of LAX. We found the drive between the two to be long enough and grueling (traffic) enough that we were glad we opted to get a hotel in LA. I would consider a stay in LA to accomplish all the things you want to do there, or just do the one day in LA rather than two. Also be conscious of rush hour times because that will make or break your commute.

We did a hop on hop off tour with Big Bus Tours. Its smaller than Starline, but it was less busy and had all the stops we wanted. They have a red line and blue line, and the blue line goes out to the beach, but its much more time consuming. We stayed on the red line and spent time in Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and the Grove/Farmer's Market. The tour was informative, but would be a bore for kids. It was better used as a mode of transportation for us. A more exciting tour might be the TMZ tour - its not hop on hop off, but it takes you by all the famous paparazzi and celebrity spots. The celebrity homes tours sounded cool too.

As for beaches, we wanted to spend a day at Huntington Beach but never made it. I would do Huntington or another beach in Orange County so you can stay closer to your hotel without having to make that commute again.

 

[nkereina]

Originally the plan had been to stay in LA for one or two nights before heading to Anaheim but eventually everyone pushed for staying in Anaheim because they didn't want to keep changing hotels.

I definitely understand trying to go with the flow of what people want when vacationing with others, but this might be one thing I'd push back on. Frankly, changing hotels was less of a hassle than trying to navigate the highways and roads around there. The traffic was intense, but even aside from that, they seem to drive fast and have big five lane highways. Not something we're used to back home. I had considered renting a car, but was very glad we didn't!

Big Bus Tours is one of the ones I've been leaning towards, your review was a big help!

They also have an app where you can see where the buses are in real time - kind of like Uber. Its a little misleading because you might see that the bus is at the stop before yours, but it could take a half hour for them to get to you. The stops are a bit far apart in some cases, and the traffic just adds to the time it takes for them to get from one point to the next. But it was helpful when we wanted to sit on a bench and wait, and then we could get up to walk to the bus stop when we saw the bus was approaching our stop.

 

[ktlm]

If you are staying near Disneyland, for the beach, I would probably just Uber down to the Balboa beach (Newport Beach area). We were just there a couple of weeks ago and thought it was nice. We typically spend 5 days at DLR and then go to the San Diego area, but this year we decided to stay around LA/Hollywood. Having been to the beaches throughout San Diego County for years and to Newport beach before, we were not fans of the Santa Monica Pier area when we visited it for the first time this year. We much prefer the Newport/Balboa beach area as far as just hanging out on the beach, plus it will be a lot closer to where you are staying if you are in Anaheim.

We would want to spend more than 2 days at DL/CA, but that is just us.

You should realize that driving from the DLR/Anaheim area to the Hollywood/Beverly Hills/ Burbank/ Santa Monica etc areas with traffic can be a 2 hour drive even though it is only about 40 miles. We moved into a hotel in that area for our time in that area. We flew home out of SNA, and even though we left the Griffith Observatory at around 1:15 p.m. (so not rush hour) , it took us over 2 hours to get to the airport.

If your kids are interested in Full House, you might want to look into the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. That is where Full house was actually filmed, and also where Fuller House is filmed. If you tell your tour guide you are interested in Full House/ Fuller house, they will tell you all about it and show you where it was filmed. All that is in San Francisco is the house that they filmed the exterior they used for the opening credits. I remember a story last year that they banned tour buses from driving by it-- don't know if that is still in effect, but of course, you can drive by it on your own. We did the Warner Brother's Studio tour, and if you are interested in movies and how they are made, it is great. Also lots of great costumes and props. They currently have a DC exhibit that has costumes and props from Aquaman and Wonder Woman, and also have a floor of costumes and props from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beast movies. We also saw Batmobiles and a lot of other things, including a soundstage set where they are currently filming a show. The Friends' Central Perk set was taken apart and re-assembled in a building for the tourists there, and when we were there, as Big Bang has finished filming they were in the process of moving that set into that same tourist building. Sadly we missed the Big Bang set opening by 10 days. That Tour was better than we expected and definitely a big highlight of our trip. Other than Disney, it was DD's (13) favorite thing.

The Griffith Observatory was a pretty neat place to visit too-- it has been in so many movies, and you get a great view of the Hollywood sign from up there. The Observatory is free unless you want to go to a Planetarium show. I think parking was $14.

As far as Hollywood itself--- the area around the Chinese Theatre is fun to see once, but it is pretty much a much smaller, dirtier version of Times Square (without the blue/green zone to confine creepy Elmo and the other characters from trying to get you to pay money for pictures unless you go in the zone- they are all over). It was fun to see the Chinese Theatre, see some of the hand and footprints and walk around and look at the Hollywood stars (there is a brochure we picked up at the hotel that gives the address of everyone's star). We wound up going to Madame Tussards wax museum and DD (13) had a great time taking photos with all the "stars" . We opted just to drive around or Uber to the places we wanted to see instead of the hop on/ hop off bus, but I would think the hop on/ hop off might be fun. If you find yourself not liking it or that there isn't a bus to pick you up fast enough, you can always get an Uber.

Just FYI-- From Anaheim, you are probably looking at a 6 1/2 hour drive to San Francisco-- IF you don't hit traffic in LA. If you take the Pacific Coast highway- the estimate I see online is 9 hours if you don't stop along the way.

Have a great trip!

 

[Lumpy1106]

Because the kids are all old enough to be into the big rides, I'd do 2 days in DL/DCA, then head up to Valencia and spend the day at Magic Mountain. You can cut over to the coast on 126 and spend the night in Ventura or even a little further up the coast to Santa Barbara. The 101 is WAY nicer than the 5 or 99! Wake up, spend a leisurely morning in Santa Barbara, then stop for lunch in San Luis Obispo (2 hours from Santa Barbara). The drive to SF is another 5 hours from there.

Edit to add;
the only flaw in this route is you won't want to leave - buyer beware.

 

[nkereina]

If your kids are interested in Full House, you might want to look into the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. That is where Full house was actually filmed, and also where Fuller House is filmed. If you tell your tour guide you are interested in Full House/ Fuller house, they will tell you all about it and show you where it was filmed. All that is in San Francisco is the house that they filmed the exterior they used for the opening credits. I remember a story last year that they banned tour buses from driving by it-- don't know if that is still in effect, but of course, you can drive by it on your own. We did the Warner Brother's Studio tour, and if you are interested in movies and how they are made, it is great. Also lots of great costumes and props. They currently have a DC exhibit that has costumes and props from Aquaman and Wonder Woman, and also have a floor of costumes and props from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beast movies. We also saw Batmobiles and a lot of other things, including a soundstage set where they are currently filming a show. The Friends' Central Perk set was taken apart and re-assembled in a building for the tourists there, and when we were there, as Big Bang has finished filming they were in the process of moving that set into that same tourist building. Sadly we missed the Big Bang set opening by 10 days. That Tour was better than we expected and definitely a big highlight of our trip. Other than Disney, it was DD's (13) favorite thing.

We did this tour as well! We also got to go on the set of the Ellen Show which was very cool! It was an interesting tour, worth the money, but I will caution that a lot of the stages and sets are unrecognizable from the movies and TV shows they were featured in. Everything is re-used and re-purposed, and they do the bare minimum when filming. For the Full House exterior, it was literally just a front of a house that we stopped in front of on a golf cart. It was totally recognizable, but it's not an actual house you could go in. There was nothing behind it.

the area around the Chinese Theatre is fun to see once, but it is pretty much a much smaller, dirtier version of Times Square

Totally agree! We spent maybe a total of 30 minutes in this area. Too crowded to enjoy, the sidewalks are narrow and crowded, and lots of seedy people around.

 

[Lumpy1106]

We did this tour as well! We also got to go on the set of the Ellen Show which was very cool! It was an interesting tour, worth the money, but I will caution that a lot of the stages and sets are unrecognizable from the movies and TV shows they were featured in. Everything is re-used and re-purposed, and they do the bare minimum when filming. For the Full House exterior, it was literally just a front of a house that we stopped in front of on a golf cart. It was totally recognizable, but it's not an actual house you could go in. There was nothing behind it.

If you can go to a live taping it is well worth it, but it is usually pretty time consuming. "Live" things like game shows and late night shows are the best. There aren't many sit-coms anymore but those take much longer as they need to re-do sets and will sometimes tape scenes 2-3 times to try out different lines and see what get the best reaction. There are age limits for tapings and some of the tours so be sure and check those requirements.

Totally agree! We spent maybe a total of 30 minutes in this area. Too crowded to enjoy, the sidewalks are narrow and crowded, and lots of seedy people around.

Same can be said for Venice Beach. Neither are worth the time and effort IMHO.

 

[oakleycat]

I agree with PPs that if you want to spend significant time in LA, stay there rather than driving back and forth from Anaheim as you will save so much time. But if it's only one day, and a Sunday, you should be okay just driving in for the day to see the sights. For the beach, stick to Orange County to avoid another long drive and do Huntington or Newport. By end of August everyone is back in school here so it shouldn't be too crowded. I'm with the driving is better than flying people for San Francisco- I've done the drive back and forth probably a hundred times and with seven people it is going to be a lot easier and cheaper to get a van and drive the 5 with minimal stops. Definitely get your Alcatraz tickets ASAP if that's important to you and then plan the rest of your day around that.