Napa to LA

You can drive it in a day. Today I did the reverse to sonoma to race. If you do an overnight the applefarm inn is nice off the 101. It has a nice restaurant attached lots of apple motif and apple eats. SLO is there to walk the campus and they make their own ice cream which is pretty good. There is a drive in movie south of applfarm. That is unique in 2018. Then there are all the beaches

 

Paso Robles - Wine tasting, quaint but inland,
Cambria - off the beaten track coastal, go see Hearst Castle
San Luis Obispo - Just nice

Big Sur is great too - Post Ranch Inn if you really want an experience, but the problem is Hwy1 Coastal Road had a huge landslide they're still repairing. So you can't go a straight shot south, you're gonna have to back track, or take some really slow roads over the coastal mountains if you head south from Monterey.

Paso, Cambria ,SLO are all within ~70 miles of each other. From there take 101 south through Goleta, Santa Barbara, Ventura into LA. It's a few hours, maybe 3.5 without traffic. Napa to Cambria is about 4 hours depending on Bay Area traffic, so it's a reasonable half way point. SLO is a good alternative, college town, not a lot to see but pleasant.

If I was looking for off the not crazy expensive + coastal, I'd go to Cambria. You will have to hunt for a good B&B, some of the hotels can be so so. Hearst Castle if you've never seen is worth the 1.5-2 hr diversion. You could see that and still be in LA by mid afternoon, easy.

 

welcome
taco trucks are hit or miss, more traffic is better, so you might wait till you get to LA.
(San Diego rocks fish tacos if you're down that way).

 

That drive can be epic; a wonderful casual "cruise". Highway 1 is definitely the way to go; slow sweeping turns and many beautiful views. Stop at the view points frequently (particularly if stuck behind a lumbering RV).

Note that the inland highways are plain multilane roads. Highway 101 is plain, but at least has rolling hills. Interstate 5 is a barren soul-sucking means to an asap destination-oriented end (although entering LA via the Grapevine is kinda cool).

Its not in the middle of your miles but, as noted already that the entire trip could be done in a (long) day, another wonderful place to stop is Santa Barbara. There are lots of hotels/motels within a block or two of the water. Restaurants are walking distance (peir & downtown), but seperated from the hotel area.

I hope California treats you well. Please report back and let us know how it went.

 

Keep in mind you still CANNOT drive Hwy-1 from Monterey to LA...still closed just south of Gorda.

Big Sur: After a 14-month closure, Caltrans announced Tuesday Highway 1 will reopen at Mud Creek at the end of July following the $54 million construction of a new roadway atop a massive landslide.

The reopening will take place close to two months ahead of schedule. Just over a month ago, Caltrans said the 7-mile stretch of Highway 1 would reopen in mid-September.

 

ditto on both Cambria and post ranch in.

Pri is pricy, call to see if they are running any specials. They send out emails from time to time.

 

Napa, head west on 80 to San Francisco, cross the Bay Bridge, get out your iPhone and ask it to guide you to Half Moon Bay. Have lunch at the Ritz.
Continue down high way 1 (PCH) until you hit Morro Bay / San Simeon / SLO (your choice of where to spend the evening).
Stop, have dinner, pass out.
Wake up the next day, drive down highway 1 to Santa Barbara, have lunch.
Continue down 1 to 101 and join in the madness of Highway 405 to arrive at LA.

 

You should start Hwy 1 at Half Moon Bay. You can go past Big Sur and take Ferguson- Nacimiento road ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nacimiento-Fergusson_Road) back over to Hwy 101 South just north of Paso Robles. I would suggest spending the night in Pismo Beach and having dinner at https://oysterloft.com/ overlooking the pier and water. I would not bother with Hwy 1 south of Pismo. Take 101 down to hwy 154 into Santa Barbara. You could stop and visit Solvang (A Danish village). Have Lunch in Santa Barbara on the end of the pier at http://shellfishco.com/. Take 101 south from SB and pick up hwy 1 in Oxnard and take down the coast through Malibu to Santa Monica.

 

I wold suggest the same. BTW, taco places galore in Santa Barbara.. Montecito is 5 minuutes away ans very charming place.

 

Hwy 1 is now open:

We're pleased to bring you some wonderful news. Highway 1 is now officially open from the south of Big Sur! The long-awaited opening allows guests in Southern California to finally make the iconic drive up the coast to Post Ranch from the Los Angeles area. Coupled with last October's re-opening from the north, Highway 1 is now completely open, providing full access to Post Ranch from both the north and south.

Thank you to Caltrans for their hard work and dedication, as the project was completed well ahead of schedule. For additional information about the opening, along with a video highlighting the drive itself, please click here.


If you have any questions in the meantime, please feel free to contact us directly. We look forward to welcoming you to Post Ranch in the coming months. Enjoy the drive.

 

Old news...
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/highway-south-of-big-sur-status-update.579705/

 

And once you see directions to Highway 10 or 405 it is time to turn around else you will be on the planets 2 biggest parking lots.


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