Where to stay overnight when I drive from Laguna to San Francisco

[Osprey]

This fall we will visit family in Laguna and then spend 2 days driving up the coast before arriving in the San Francisco area to explore. Any suggestions on where to stay around halfway up the coast and things to see in the San Francisco area when we have flexibility on where to stay and will be there for 5 days.

 

[njhowie]

I lived in Silicon Valley for a few years in my younger days and some of my favorite things in the San Francisco Bay Area:

Muir Woods
Sonoma/Santa Rosa Wine Country
Park the car in Sausalito then walk across the Golden Gate Bridge
Exploratorium

 

[stepford]

Morro Bay is a nice spot and conveniently near the halfway point. That time of year renting kayaks and paddling around the bay is very pleasant. If you don't want to drive that far the first day then Santa Barbara is also a pretty place to stop. Both have lots of lodging options.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Fall is the best time to visit the California coast and the SF area, as there isn't the usual fog.

The best place I can think of to stay on the central coast is Morro Bay. There's a beautiful beach there, lots places to stay. It was our go to place to stay 40-50 years ago when I was growing up.

A couple of other things to consider:
In SF, consider a CityPass or the Hop On Hop Off Bus. I lived in the Bay Area the first 40 years of my life and visited SF frequently. When we went back to play tourist just before the pandemic, the City Pass made it much easier to see a few things that we had not visited in years. This can be an efficient way to see the city.

You may want to avoid SF proper as a place to stay, as you will have a hard time finding parking. Smash and grab is quite common in the city, and it is really easy to get parking tickets as well.

Another thing to be aware of is that all Bay Area bridges only use electronic tolling. We found out the hard way, but were able to sign up with FasTrak using the license plate on our rental car after we went on the first toll bridge. We were pretty anxious about it, but it went smoothly. We set up the one time payment to cover the bridge crossing and then all the others we did.

https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/home/index.shtml

If you decide to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, you won't want park in Sausolito and walk there, as it's an extra 2-3 miles. The bridge is a mile long, and noisy with traffic. Google Golden Gate Bridge parking. There are several free parking options closer to the bridge. Just Google it.

 

[cbo111]

Check out Cambria. There are some nice little inns along the coastline. You can walk the beach trail and watch hundreds of sea otters that live in the area.

 

[bltkmt]

+1 for Morro Bay and/or Cayucos.

 

[38Chevy454]

Another vote for Morro Bay, or little north for Cayucos or Cambria. Also agree that SF is best to use BART to get into the city and daytrip vs trying to stay in SF city.

 

[mh]

This fall we will visit family in Laguna and then spend 2 days driving up the coast before arriving in the San Francisco area to explore. Any suggestions on where to stay around halfway up the coast and things to see in the San Francisco area when we have flexibility on where to stay and will be there for 5 days.

One of the small hotels in cambria along moonstone road on the beach is a nice place to stay. The boardwalk along the beach there is very nice. Cambria is about half way there

 

[Souschef]

The Cavalier in San Simeon is right on the beach. A visit to Hearst;s San Simeon castle is great.

 

[lajolla]

If you like wines I would stay in Paso Robles. It is one of our favorite places to go especially in the spring and fall. Many excellent wines in the region. J Dusi is one of our favorite wineries to visit when we are there.

 

[Bamaman]

There are some small hotels just south of San Simone--north of Morro Bay.

We once stayed in a cabin at Big Sur--and everyone was a 55 year old hippie/artist. Not going to stay in that area again.

 

[Osprey]

Thanks for the great suggestions. We will look into staying near Moro bay!

 

[SecondAttempt]

Park the car in Sausalito then walk across the Golden Gate Bridge

Or rent a bike from Blazing Saddles near Fisherman's Wharf, bike over to Sausalito then take the ferry back.

 

[RobbieB]

Pismo Beach is a fav of ours.

 

[SecondAttempt]

Another vote for Morro Bay, or little north for Cayucos or Cambria. Also agree that SF is best to use BART to get into the city and daytrip vs trying to stay in SF city.

I hate driving in SF even though I am relatively familiar with the city. Another parking option is long term airport parking then take the BART from the airport. Or just simply ditch the rental car for the duration of your stay by returning it then starting a new rental.

The point about the bridge tolls is an important one with a rental car because the rental companies add on an administrative fee ever day you pay a toll. I paid a $5.95 admin charge on a $6.00 toll last summer so be aware. All the bridges are toll into SF but free outbound. The toll is usually not bad. I think the Bay Bridge is $7 and the Golden Gate is about $9.

I don't agree with others about not staying in the city. I used to stay by the airport to save money in my younger days when I would drive to the Bay Area in my own vehicle. But if you stay in the Financial District, Nob Hill, Union Square or anywhere near the Embarcadero it is pretty easy to walk or uber everywhere, or take the muni. I will say that I have used public transportation all over the world and find the Bay Area system one of the most confusing. I'm sure folks who live there don't agree but even after using it about annually for close to 20 years I still find myself on the wrong train or going in the wrong direction too often. Fortunately it is fairly easy to correct in most cases.

 

[Scuba]

Check out Cambria. There are some nice little inns along the coastline. You can walk the beach trail and watch hundreds of sea otters that live in the area.

I would also recommend Cambria. It’s beautiful, not far from Paso Robles for wine tasting or San Simeon to view Hearst Castle.

 

[SecondAttempt]

Some other ideas in SF that I don't think have been mentioned. I have gone once or twice a year for at least 20 years. There are so many dimensions to what I consider one of the greatest cities in America. If you tell us what your interest areas are we might be able to make better suggestions:

- The Presidio. Military fort built by New Spain in 1776 and was a US Army post until 1989
- Golden Gate Park
-- California Academy of Sciences (a natural history museum)
-- Japanese Tea Garden
-- Bison paddock
-- Druid Circles
- Mansions on Nob Hill. The Stanford Court hotel was the HOME of Leland Stanford
- Bay model in Sausalito. This is an engineering model of the entire Bay that is still used to model flows, sedimentation, and so forth. Engineers will find it interesting.
- Cable car museum
- Alcatraz (get tickets now)
- Farmers market at the Ferry Building
- Chinatown of course
- Haight-Ashbury and the Grateful Dead House.
- Coit tower
- Golden fire hydrant - the only hydrant that worked in the Great Fire of 1906
- The cisterns. If you see a ring of red bricks in the paving of an intersection it is the location of the backup water supply. There are cisterns buried beneath the streets to provide an independent emergency water supply for (mostly) fire fighting.

There is a firefighting museum but I have never been there. But I did get to see a ladder company responding to a fire one time. SF uses "tiller trucks" that require a separate driver to steer the back of the truck to navigate narrow streets and tight turns. It's impressive but hardly something you can plan to see.

And be sure to watch

which is a short film made 4 days before the 1906 earthquake. You may recognize a few landmarks like the Ferry Building.