Which California airport?

[wvjules]

This year's big vacation will be a California Road Trip. But we need to get there first. Which airports between Sacramento and San Diego are the cheapest from the east coast?

Also, any "not miss" things you'd suggest? Our tentative plan is coastline and national/state forests but we are not opposed to taking a side trip to a cute little town or site.

Thanks.

 

[mnrose]

Cheapest is relative. Personally, I prefer non-stops when I'm going cross country. Then your cheapest option would be LAX or SFO. Other options to check for comparison pricing would be OAK (Oakland), SNA (Orange County), and possibly San Diego, although not so many non-stop options, if any, at those airports, and the ones that do exist will be very expensive in general. Also, I would compare the cost of a rental car for your preferred time period from each of those locations. It will vary considerably, and might sway your decision. What things do you want to see on your road trip? California is a HUGE state length wise, and there's a lot to see. The beautiful parks tend to be on the east side of the state, a few hours from any airport, no matter which you choose. The coast is another option. JUST driving from San Francisco to LA along the coast will take an entire day (faster in land, but boring as all get out....LOL). If you want to see the giant redwoods, those are 3.5 hours (or so) north of San Francisco. If I were you, I'd start in either LA or San Francisco....if you want to see San Diego and it's beaches, start in LA, go south, then head back north along the coast, ending in San Francisco (with possible side detour to Yosemite). Fly into LAX and out of SFO.

If you want to see the giant redwoods, fly into SFO, drive up the coast from there to Mendocino, then inland over to the giant redwoods near Garberville. Head straight south back to SFO on 101, possible detour over to Yosemite, and then south along the coast (highway 1) to LAX. Fly out of LAX.

In either case, if it's most economical to fly out of the same airport you arrive at, you can traverse between LAX and SFO via I-5....boring as all get out, but probably more like a 5-6 hour trip, depending on traffic vs. 8-9 along the coast.

 

[skyblue17]

California is a really big state! Before making a decision, perhaps figure out how long you have to explore, what kind of things you'd like to do and see and how much time you want to spend in the car. Nothern California and Southern California are pretty different, but if you're planning to drive from one to the other anyway, the major airports (LAX, SFO) are likely to be your best bet, but it also depends where you are coming from and what time of year you are traveling.

 

[wvjules]

I have a general idea of where we want to go, as stated in the OP. It will be mainly coast in one direction and back through the state/national parks in the other (Sacramento or San Francisco and south). It will be 16 days. We know we won't see everything but should be able to hit a few highlights. We really have no must do's, just a list tentative list of wants. If we can get it all in then great. If not, there's always next time.

I never thought about the cost of rental cars being that much different. Thanks for that tip.

 

[mnrose]

In the past, I've gotten very good deals on rentals at SFO. Not so much LAX. But, it doesn't hurt to comparison shop that point too. 16 days is a good amount of time. You'll be able to see quite a bit. I thought maybe you were talking about what a lot of people do...the one week fly through the state. Please be aware that if Yosemite is on your list, you will need to reserve lodging and park entrance well in advance. Very very popular tourist attraction and access is limited (the park is being loved to death). But, it is spectacular, and there are some big trees there too. Yosemite has some groves of tall trees. While Sequoia has the largest (heaviest, tend to be a bit shorter) living things in the world. Both are worth seeing. On the coast, I'd rank the Monterrey Bay Aquarium (in Carmel) as worth your time. I also love the area around Big Sur (south of Carmel) as being truly spectacular for scenery. I'm not sure of the "open" status of Highway 1 in that area though.

In the San Francisco area, Muir Woods (30 minutes or so north of San Francisco) has some redwoods worth seeing, but again, a very popular tourist attraction. If you are at all into hiking, my favorite tip is to tell people to park near Mountain Home Inn (on Highway 1 in Mill Valley) and walk into the park. There's a free lot right across from Mt Home Inn, that will usually be vacant or nearly so on a weekday. No entrance fee. Avoid the massive crowds in the parking lots. Beautiful hiking....it's maybe 2 miles down into the park, and then (of course) 2 miles back up to your car. It is not all that difficult of a hike....my husband and I did it many times with our babies in backpacks, so obviously not that strenuous).

The whole coast in Marin is pretty neat, if you follow Highway 1 from Mill Valley, over to Stinson Beach, and on to Point Reyes National Seashore, with it's incredible beaches (North and South beach....not "warm water" beaches by any stretch, but just beautiful and usually vacant). In Point Reyes, the Station House Cafe is an institution, and serves fabulous food.

In the south, continuing from Big Sur, I love Santa Barbara.

HTH. I lived north of San Francisco in Marin for 20 years.

 

[longboard55]

Oakland tends to be the cheapest

 

[clutter]

I've found LAX to be the least expensive for both flights and car rentals in SoCA. For Northern, San Jose and Oakland have worked out to be pretty low cost. In CA, some of the one way fees aren't too terribly bad. I love Costco for car rentals. And once I find a rental I like, I keep checking to see if it goes down. I had a decent car rental that was LAX to OAK. Then we changed our plans to fly out of LAX. So I ended up getting an in-state flight. Those are fairly inexpensive if you book early.

 

[RedAngie]

Southwest to Oakland.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

My suggestion if you plan on driving up the coast is to start your trip in SoCal and drive upward. This way when you're on PHC, your on the inner lane. We took 20 days, flew into San Diego, flew home from SFO. Stay in San Diego, LA (did Disney from there), Santa Barbara, Hertz Castle, San Luis Obispo, and a few other stops. It was FABULOUS.

 

[kdonnel]

Plug the dates you want to go into Google Flights and list California as your destination.

I plugged in some dates in May from Atlanta to California.

https://www.google.com/flights#flt=...5300180.-1304137847.437281770.-1081994293;t:e

San Diego was the cheapest at $209.

Which is cheapest depends on the origination, dates, and what airlines you are willing to fly.

 

[wvjules]

Huh! I had never thought just looking for California. I do WAS for Washington Area but never considered a California search! Thanks!

 

[neverlandsky]

My bucket list is to fly into SFO, rent a car, and then drive down the coast to San Diego. Then return the car in San Diego and fly out from there. Heard the drive from North to South is absolutely breathtaking. Booking one way flights with different airlines and different airports can be the cheapest.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

How long is your trip? Relatives came out to visit us, and we did a week-long trip. We went up the coast and visited Santa Barbara, Solvang, spent the night in San Luis Obispo, drove out the next day, stopped at La Purísima Mission, (alternate route would be to stay on the 1 and stop in Cambria, visit Hearst Castle) drove to Monterey and spent two nights (aquarium and 17-mile drive), then to San Francisco for 2 nights (The Pier, Ghiradelli, Exploratorium, Napa Valley), then to Yosemite for a couple of nights (visiting Mariposa Grove, the Valley, and Glacier Point), then left early and drove through Sequoia (stopping at Hume Lake - there is a beach there, Giant Forest) before continuing on the 198 to Visalia and back to Los Angeles on the 99.

 

[Chaoster]

I usually fly into Burbank airport. A one way rental will cost more.

 

[jdb in AZ]

We avoid LAX as much as possible -- just too too big and crowded. If there's no other option, LAX is an "interesting" place to people watch. It's such a microcosm there.

 

[NotUrsula]

Note that Google Flights cannot price SWA. SWA often has good prices into San Diego, Ontario, and also LAX, and Oakland or San Jose the north end.

SIXT doesn't charge a destination fee on one-way rental from San Diego to San Francisco. (Also, depending on what time of year you are doing this, snowbird rates can be had when Southern California is one end of the trip.)

 

[Sandeep1]

OP check out a site called Hotwire for car rentals. I've gotten very good quotes there. And they currently have a promo code for taking $15 off if you spend $150.

 

[lifesavacation]

I usually fly into Burbank airport. A one way rental will cost more.

My sister lives in Huntington Beach. The last time I visited her, we flew into Burbank. It was cheaper and I didn’t mind the drive. She thought we were crazy and she must have told her friends about it because every time we ran into a neighbor, they brought up that we flew into Burbank. They acted like it was a huge head scratcher.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

How long is your trip? Relatives came out to visit us, and we did a week-long trip. We went up the coast and visited Santa Barbara, Solvang, spent the night in San Luis Obispo, drove out the next day, stopped at La Purísima Mission, (alternate route would be to stay on the 1 and stop in Cambria, visit Hearst Castle) drove to Monterey and spent two nights (aquarium and 17-mile drive), then to San Francisco for 2 nights (The Pier, Ghiradelli, Exploratorium, Napa Valley), then to Yosemite for a couple of nights (visiting Mariposa Grove, the Valley, and Glacier Point), then left early and drove through Sequoia (stopping at Hume Lake - there is a beach there, Giant Forest) before continuing on the 198 to Visalia and back to Los Angeles on the 99.

Lol, I realized that I didn't answer your question. I always fly out of LAX, so if you start/end your vacation in Los Angeles I'd recommend LAX.