Wednesday, April 25, 2012

second half of August- how's the weather? how busy is CA...

We%26#39;ll be in CA 2nd half of August. First a self-drive trip San Francisco to SaN Diego. Planning on the coastal route to SD, stopping at the usual sights, overnighting possibly in San Simeon. What%26#39;s the speed limit on this route? (in SA our highways are 120km/hr) HOw congested is it likely to be? I%26#39;m trying to get an idea of how long it will take getting from place to place. What%26#39;s the usual temperature along this route, and is it likely to rain?Then a few days in SD

Coming back, once again taking two days SD to SF. Not sure whether to do the same route back but stopping at different sights, or to go inland, vis Sequioa forest etc. Not keen on dying of the heat! but would like to see as much as possible, with routes as scenic as possible. Same questions- weather, speed,congestion.

The second week no car- we%26#39;ll take tours. We%26#39;ve already booked a day trip from SF to wine country (package with hotel). Would like to see SF%26#39;s best- trolley hop tour or should we just walk? Also Yosemite- should we just do a one day tour or more?. Maybe a tour inland to Grand Canyon for a few days, but once again, we%26#39;re not keen on desert-internsity heat, so not much time there. Is Sacramento worth visiting? Any other interesting towns/ natural areas up SF way or northwards? Due to scarcity of air tickets between SA and USA at that particular time, and unlikelihood of being able to change our flight, we have to return to SF at end of holiday, to fly out from there. We%26#39;ve heard SF fog makes weather dicey, but we%26#39;re not planning on beach time there.

second half of August- how's the weather? how busy is CA...

The speed limit will be 65 mph. If you are on Highway 101 it will be direct. Highway #1 goes along the coast, is beautiful, but much slower. If you are along the coast, you shouldn%26#39;t have to worry about the heat. In San Francisco, in particular, 70%26#39;s would be the warmest. It is a different story inland - in the valleys it is often in the 100%26#39;s. I would skip Sacramento. Lake Tahoe is beautiful, but out of your way. Enjoy Monterey/ Carmel area.

second half of August- how's the weather? how busy is CA...

ncisco) is where they fly near SanFrancisco and they go out of SanDiego to places like Las Vegas from which you could easily get to the Grand Canyon.


I am sorry something happened to my previous post. I had written that the time to go to Yosemite would be onyour inland route back to SanFrancisco not a separate tour. Also there is an internal US airine called Southwest Airlines. You will not find it on other flight search engines. You have to go to their own web site. They have inexpensive flights to US cities like fromSanDiego to Las Vegas.


It will be quite hot when you%26#39;re here - the climate is very similar to yours. It%26#39;s, peak summer weather - but it actually gets warmer here as the summer continues into autumn. No rain.

Note that there is no coastal route from Los Angeles to San Diego. So, you%26#39;ll drive along the coast until Santa Monica and be forced onto the freeway (the 10), which will take you to the 405, which takes you directly to San Diego. This is because of the ports, the marinas, etc.

You can zigzag in and out of beach towns, but you will continually be led back to the 405 freeway - and in August, expect it to be about 30 minutes from the 405 into each beach town, at the very least, because of beach traffic.

So, I would recommend taking the coast route from SF to LA, and the 5 freeway back to SF, directly out of SD. You%26#39;ll have a prettier drive when you head south, and probably should just drive directly back to SF in one shot (7-8 hours) -- because I recommend not visiting the desert or any inland cities in August - you won%26#39;t want to leave your air conditioned car. You don%26#39;t have time for the Grand Canyon, that%26#39;s a two day drive each way.


It will be quite cool along the coast expect highs of around 20 C. 2 days to get from San Francisco to San Diego is a bit of a rush. Speed limits are around 60 km/h, at least between Monterey and San Simeon, but you can skip this bit by taking 101 rather than 1. 101 is freeway speed, but a bit inland. It runs through the Salinas Valley, nowhere near sequoias, but once you are in any of the interior valleys, things will warm up considerably, highs of 35 to 40.

You won%26#39;t have time to visit the Sequoias or Yosemite on the way back if you only give it two days. You%26#39;d need at least three and preferably four or five to do that.


I would think you would want to take the coast route US 1 from SF to Morro Bay and pick up 101 there. There are big redwoods along the coast thru Big Sur. Hearst Castle is definitely worth a stop - you may want to look at Cambria to spend the night - a little more to choose from than San Simeon. Take a swing thru Santa Barbara and continue on to LA. Get back on US 1 at Oxnard and follow coast to Santa Monica via Malibu.

There is no fast coast route thru LA but you may want to stay on Pacific Coast Hwy (US1) from Santa Monica and stop by Venice, Manhattan, Huntington, etc. If you don%26#39;t stay on 1 and take 405, I%26#39;d recommend that you don%26#39;t miss Laguna Beach (you can get there from Hwy 133 off 405). Get on 5 South at Dana Point and continue on in to San Diego. You can save the San Diego coast/beaches for your stay there or exit at Oceanside and follow coast from there. I think you%26#39;ll probably just want to get there by this time though!

Don%26#39;t let the heat scare you off from visiting Sequoia on the way back - exit Hwy 99 at Tulare, swing thru the park and exit via Fresno and on up to SF. If you have time, try to stay the night in the Lodgepole area in the park. There are cabins there and temps are nice in the mountains. You%26#39;ll need to book early tough. Save Yosemite for your SF tours and skip Sacramento. If you have time for two days in Yosemite then do it - 1 day in the Valley and one day by Tuolumne Meadows/Tenaya Lake in the high country - both areas are awesome!

You don%26#39;t need to do a special tour in SF - easy to walk, cable car, BART, or Taxi to the sights.

An alternative to Napa Valley would be Santa Barabra wine country on your way down - Exit Hwy 101 toward Los Olivos - you can take Hwy 154 in to Santa Barbara from there. Many good wineries, cooler, and less crowded. You%26#39;ve already booked but you may want to swing thru if you have time anyway.

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