California Road Trip
For this itinerary, we were traveling with 5 people. We got a a rental car, but we decided to pick our car up when we were ready to leave San Francisco- we just planned on walking and using uber to save some money while we stayed in the city. Also, we didn't want to worry about parking. Make sure to book your lodging in advance! We went to California in August, I booked our hotels in November and A LOT of places were completely booked. We also had to cut our trip short by two days- so our itinerary was a little more cramped than we wanted, but we made the best of it! If you have more time, I would recommend at least one or two additional days to complete this route and extend your stays in San Francisco and Lake Tahoe.
Day One: San Francisco
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We arrived Very early and ordered an uber from the airport into the city.
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We stayed in an air bnb in cole valley.
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The location was great, and it accommodated 5 people perfectly! There is also a great view of the city from the balcony!
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Our first day was spent walking around the city and taking in the sights:
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The painted Ladies
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Lombard Street
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Pier 39
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Dinner in Little Italy
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We were hoping to watch the sunset from twin peaks, but the weather didn't cooperate
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Day Two: San Francisco & Highway One (San Francisco- Monterey)
We had breakfast at a great, little coffee shop- just use yelp because I'm useless when it comes to where to eat. Following breakfast, we were ready to take in as much of San Francisco as we could before hitting the road. Again, we were hoping to spend one more full day in San Francisco and then start our road trip the following morning, but it didn't work out that way. The road trip itself is incredibly scenic so you want to give yourself enough daylight to enjoy the views!
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Breakfast in the city
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Bike across the Golden Gate Bridge
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There are a ton of different bike rentals near the Golden Gate bridge, this is the one that we used. If you're crunched for time or don't want to bike too far, you can ride your bike across the bridge and then take the ferry back to the city.
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Lunch in the city
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Pick up the rental car and head out of the city
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Our goal was to hit the road by 4:00 so we would have plenty of daylight for the drive
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Drive from San Francisco- Monterey (2 and a half hours)
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There are a ton of beautiful places to see along the way so make sure to stop and enjoy the scenery! some great places are half-moon bay
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Day Three: Monterey- Big Sur
We stayed in an air bnb, so we were able to cook ourselves breakfast and pack some lunches to cut down on the cost of food. Our airbnb was a cute cottage- it was situated perfectly between the Monterey sights and the coastline.
Our third day was spent driving down highway one and hiking some of the different trails.
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Drive through Carmel By the Sea/ Point Lobos
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Stop at Cypress Grove Trail/ Bird Island Trail
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Pretty short hikes but VERY scenic; the loop is about 0.8 miles long
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Point Sur Lighthouse (36 minutes from trail)
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Pfieffer Beach (53 minutes to beach from Monterey, CA/ 23 minutes from lighthouse)
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Unfortunately, Pfieffer Beach was closed while we were there because there were some landslides, so we didn't actually make it here
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Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park (25 minutes from Pfieffer Beach)
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Since we couldn't go to the beach, we spent some extra time hiking at the state park
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Head back to Carmel by the sea and enjoy the beautiful sunset on the beach!
Fair warning, food in this area is pretty expensive. We tried to make most of our meals at home, but we did find a decently priced pizza place that wasn't too far from the beach... just yelp it!
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Day Four: Whale Watching in Monterey
We spent our day in downtown Monterey before making our way to Yosemite National Park. There are plenty of different tour options, but we went with a morning whale watching excursion so we could get to the park for sunset. There are a few different options for the tours, ours was about four hours but they also have two-hour options.
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Breakfast at the air bnb
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Whale watching tour from 9:00-1:00 pm
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Whale watching was about $49/ person, 2-3 hour tours are $45
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Our tour guide was very knowledgeable & we saw A TON of sea life, including 5 whales!
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Explore the shops in downtown Monterey
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Lunch & ice cream!
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The whale watching tour group gave us coupons for some of the restaurants and shops in the downtown area
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Drive from Monterey to Yosemite National Park (About 4 hours)
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We rented out one of the cabins in the Valley so we would be close to the trailheads. The cabins fill up early! We made our reservations in October (for our stay in August) and a lot of the rooms were already booked up!
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We stopped at a grocery store on our way to pick up water bottles, snacks, and sandwich fixings. There is also a pretty large cafeteria in Yosemite
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Day Five: Yosemite National Park
You can spend probably spend two weeks in Yosemite and still not have enough time, but for this itinerary we scheduled 2 and a half days. Again, we lost two days because of last minute scheduling issues so things got a little cramped. However, if you're willing to sacrifice a little sleep, you'll still be able to squeeze in plenty of hiking! We were lucky enough to get a permit for the half-dome hike- i'll give more details about half dome under day six.
Make sure to wake up bright and early so you have plenty of daylight to complete your hikes!
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We started the Four Mile Trail, which is actually a 9.6 mile hike (round trip).
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The hike starts in Yosemite Valley and takes you up to Glacier Point.
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The hike itself is absolutely beautiful and you get an incredible view of the half dome!
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The only down side to this hike, is that there is a bus route to the top of the mountain as well... so the top is more crowded than you would expect.
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If you're short on time, or aren't up for hiking, you can drive to Glacier Point to see the view.
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After eating our lunch while enjoying the view, we continued up to Sentinel Dome (2.2 miles round trip).
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Once you make it down from Sentinel Dome, you can either continue back down the Four Mile Trail (4.8 miles down) or you could take the Panorama Trail (8.5 miles down).
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If you want to look into other hikes, see the National Park website: https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/valleyhikes.htm
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Day Six: Yosemite National Park
Today was the day! We woke up at 4:30 AM to climb half-dome.
If you're interested in climbing half-dome, you need to apply for a hiking permit. There are two options for the application process- there is a lottery drawing in the spring and then another lottery drawing every morning. The Yosemite National Park has a webpage with the preseason lottery drawing statistics; this will help you determine when you will have the best opportunity to be selected for the cables permit, only 300 people are able to hike the cables each day.
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The application for the half-dome cables is open from March 1- March 31
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Lottery winners are selected in mid-April: 225 hikers are selected
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You can apply for permits for up to six people
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Each person in your group can submit a lottery drawing on behalf of your entire group
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If you are not selected during the preseason drawing, you can also apply for the daily lottery
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50 hikers are selected each day
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The Half-Dome Hike Information
The hike itself takes a lot of preparation, make sure you bring A LOT of water, have appropriate hiking shoes. There are plenty of videos that give you some important information about the hike on the half-dome webpage. Some key information about the hike before you consider applying for the permit:
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The hike is 16 miles round trip from the trailhead and has a 4,800 ft elevation gain.
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watch every preparation video you can.. but also understand that there really is no way to understand how strenuous this hike is until you've actually done it
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It takes about 12 hours to complete, make sure to keep a good pace so you finish before sunset
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shuttle services to the trailhead don't start until 7:00 am so hopefully you have your own mode of transportation
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You are allowed to camp at the top if you are more adventurous and would like to break the hike up into two days
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The half-dome information page tells you to bring gloves for the cables, it is also a good idea to bring a harness so you can clip into the cables. Although this isn't completely necessary, it will definitely add a level of comfort while you're ascending/ descending the dome.
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There is a fork towards the beginning of the half-dome hike that splits between the John Muir trail and the Mist trail. We chose to go up the John Muir Trail and down the Mist trail so we could enjoy both sights.
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the Mist trail was much steeper and more strenuous than the John Muir trail; the John Muir trail consists of steep (but flat) switchbacks, while the Mist trail's switchbacks are made up of large boulders, so you have to be much more careful with your footing, especially coming down the mountain.
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Day Seven: Yosemite National Park & Drive to Lake Tahoe
We were pretty beat after the half-dome hike so our last day in Yosemite was spent with the Giant Sequoia Trees. Unfortunately there was a wild fire in the park so the Mariposa Grove (the largest grove in Yosemite) was closed, instead we ventured over to the Tuolumne Grove.
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Check out of cabins & eat breakfast at the Yosemite cafeteria
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Drive to Lake Tahoe (about a 2.5 hour drive)
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We stayed in an airbnb on the north side of Lake Tahoe
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We went into town to grab a bite to eat and then enjoyed the hot tub at our air bnb.
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Day Eight: Lake Tahoe
We kept Lake Tahoe a little more relaxed after Yosemite. However, there are some gorgeous hiking trails that are definitely worth looking into!
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Go into town for breakfast and shopping
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Lounge by the lake
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Eat a late lunch at the air bnb
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Hiking trails
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Enjoy the beautiful sunset
Day Nine: Fly Home
We flew out of the Reno, Nevada airport (about a 45 minute drive from lake tahoe).
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