Input please--San Francisco-Anaheim, beach hotel/moterey area hotel?

[mad_for_mickey]

So happy to have found this board! Our family is taking its first trip to Disneyland this summer, driving from Missouri, hitting several national parks on the way out, then Sequoia, Yosemite, and San Francisco.

This is where I would love input, the leg of my trip I just can't seem to work out on my own...we are leaving San Francisco 6/18, and will check into The Grand Californian 6/21. So the days/nights of 6/18, 6/19 and 6/20 will be spent driving down the coast. The BIG priority here is significant time at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. My daughter (11 y.o.) is a big lover of marine animals, and this has been a dream for most of her life.

I would also love some time at a beach, which is a major luxury for someone who lives in Missouri.

I would SO appreciate any input on how to work that portion of our trip--2 nights at Monterey, and a night at a beach somewhere? Any specific hotel suggestions would be very welcome as well.

Thanks in advance!

 

[bcla]

Monterey is an expensive place to stay. It's a great aquarium, but I've never spent more than three hours there. I'm by nature cheap, and the last few times I visited Monterey I stayed in Gilroy or Salinas. When I went to the U.S. Open golf tournament at Pebble Beach, I stayed at my house in Silicon Valley and drove every day. There are cheaper places to stay like Seaside or Marina, but your timespan is after school lets out and Monterey is packed. Last time we visited Monterey was a Sunday in August and it was heavy visitation. The least crowded was during a golf tournament. I went after a practice round, and one of the volunteer docents (who was also a golf tournament volunteer) at the aquarium said it would normally be packed with visitors, but most of the hotels were requiring a full week at rack rate. Most weren't showing up until the official competition started, and in any case weren't likely to visit the aquarium.

Monterey gets peak hotel rates for events like golf tournaments at Pebble Beach or events like Monterey Car Week (saw Ferraris everywhere).

Along the way from Monterey there are plenty of public beaches. Maybe Pismo State Beach? Here we are, Pismo Beach, all the clams, we can eat.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=595

 

[zshellmatt]

Dont really have alot of recommendations for places to stay. Just wanted to say that we will be driving from Oklahoma City to California. We are going to Disneyland, then San Diego, San Francisco, and finally a couple nights at the grand canyon.. We plan on going 7/23 to 8/11.

Last year we did the drive as well and went to Yuma, AZ to San Diego, to Anaheim and then visited some stuff in Arizona on the way back. We had so much fun as family driving

 

[usnuzuloose]

So happy to have found this board! Our family is taking its first trip to Disneyland this summer, driving from Missouri, hitting several national parks on the way out, then Sequoia, Yosemite, and San Francisco.

This is where I would love input, the leg of my trip I just can't seem to work out on my own...we are leaving San Francisco 6/18, and will check into The Grand Californian 6/21. So the days/nights of 6/18, 6/19 and 6/20 will be spent driving down the coast. The BIG priority here is significant time at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. My daughter (11 y.o.) is a big lover of marine animals, and this has been a dream for most of her life.

I would also love some time at a beach, which is a major luxury for someone who lives in Missouri.

I would SO appreciate any input on how to work that portion of our trip--2 nights at Monterey, and a night at a beach somewhere? Any specific hotel suggestions would be very welcome as well.

Thanks in advance!

Is there a budget you are sticking to for hotels? There are a lot of nice ones in Monterey. The beach area you can go to is toward the frontage road going into Pacific Grove. There is Lovers point. A lot of families hang out there for the day. Parking is right there. So if you could let me know what kind of hotel and what kind of budget, just show in dollar signs. I have stayed there may times and we go every couple of weeks.

 

[mad_for_mickey]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Maybe my best plan is not to stay in Monterey itself. As for budget, I have had to remain very flexible with my budget for this trip...for example, staying at the Grand Canyon is pricier than I would have guessed. However, sometimes we are willing to pay more for a really unique hotel--for example, when we are staying at a beach, we will pay more for an ocean front room (living in MO makes me willing to pay more a few nights a year to see the ocean).

I just feel like there is a lot of flexibility in this part of the trip. Maybe a less expensive hotel in Monterey, then something beach front for a night farther south? Or maybe the opposite of that?

 

[mad_for_mickey]

And zshellmatt, thanks for the encouraging words. Our trip is 18 days beginning and ending with 2 LONG days of driving, and we have a 15-year-old and an 11-year old. I have questioned the wisdom of this trip, and thought about flying, but I want my kids to have a sense of what the West looks like. I am very glad to read that your trip went so well!

 

[bcla]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Maybe my best plan is not to stay in Monterey itself. As for budget, I have had to remain very flexible with my budget for this trip...for example, staying at the Grand Canyon is pricier than I would have guessed. However, sometimes we are willing to pay more for a really unique hotel--for example, when we are staying at a beach, we will pay more for an ocean front room (living in MO makes me willing to pay more a few nights a year to see the ocean).

I just feel like there is a lot of flexibility in this part of the trip. Maybe a less expensive hotel in Monterey, then something beach front for a night farther south? Or maybe the opposite of that?

I tried pricing a hotel room for 6/18 in Monterey and got better prices than I thought there would be. $160/night on Priceline (regular booking) for the Hyatt Regency Monterey. It's not that close to Cannery Row, but it's a decent hotel and fairly close. There are also motels for under $100 a night in Monterey, but again the location may not be that close to Cannery Row. Monterey will have heavily visitation, but it's probably not like Monterey Car Week, where I was looking at booking a motel room and got prices like $350/night at a Super 8. It's also a weekday, so that helps with pricing.

Now if money is no object, the Intercontinental is right on Cannery Row and about $300/night in your timeframe. That is a really nice place to stay, but it would depend on your budget priorities.

As for Grand Canyon, it can actually be pretty cheap to stay in the cabins there onsite. The Bright Angel cabins are ideal for their location and cheap, but they book really early as a result. The cabins further away from the rim are easier to book and not too far away with their transportation system. We statyed at Maswik in a quad-cabin. Nothing fancy, but each unit had a full bathroom, TV, and phone. A lot of national park cabinS I've stayed in didn't even have heat or a bathroom. I remember using communal bathrooms, although they were typically clean and sometimes even pretty modernized. A lot of in-cabin bathrooms I've used looked like they were installed in the 60s or 70s and never updated because of the cost.

 

[StellaD]

We are driving from Minnesota to San Francisco and after that and are staying a night in Monterey at the Best Western Victorian Inn. We are paying $225 on a weekend night. It would have been less on a weekday. It is walking distance to the aquarium. Then driving to Pismo Beach and staying at the Lighthouse suites. Monterey was expensive, but we wanted to stay somewhere we could park and walk to cannery Row. Maybe check the Best Western out. Have a great trip!

 

[junmatno]

We are driving from Minnesota to San Francisco and after that and are staying a night in Monterey at the Best Western Victorian Inn. We are paying $225 on a weekend night. It would have been less on a weekday. It is walking distance to the aquarium. Then driving to Pismo Beach and staying at the Lighthouse suites. Monterey was expensive, but we wanted to stay somewhere we could park and walk to cannery Row. Maybe check the Best Western out. Have a great trip!

You'll be in my neck of the woods! Enjoy!!

 

[KCmike]

Hey Neighbor!

Your taking one of my favorite trips! Yosemite (Heaven on Earth), Grand Californian (can't beat the location!) and Monterey! The only thing your missing for the complete California trip is a stay in San Diego at the hotel Del Coronado (rated as best beach for the family in SoCal).

When we stay in Monterey we like the Sanctuary Beach Resort. Its just a few miles north of Monterey. Views are great, huge swimming pool and hot tub, get to drive golf carts around the resort. The beach area is spectacular.

I think they only have two beds though in each room. One being a king and the other a pullout sofa. Check out the site though as it is in a fantastic spot of protected beach area. All of this area though is not suitable for swimming in my opinion. The surf is pretty rough in Monterey.

Where are you staying in Yosemite?