@easytraveler: thank you for taking the time to put together that suggested itinerary, it sounds rig

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My husband and I are flying into San Francisco on Saturday, williamsburg virginiavacation packages April 6th and flying back to Atlanta on Thursday morning (April 11). As of right now, we have hotel reservations for Saturday williamsburg virginiavacation packages and Sunday night in SF and Monday-Wednesday night in Napa. However, we would really like to somehow (magically) fit in Big Sur. Would it be do-able to rent a car early Sunday morning and head down to Big Sur, staying somewhere in Carmel or Monterey before driving up to Napa on Monday? Or is that just crazy? We have already been to SF and wouldn't mind sacrificing a day there if it meant we could see Big Sur. My main concerns are the drive from SF to Big Sur on Sunday and from Monterey to Napa on Monday. I've tried to estimate the drive times by looking at the routes but I know this doesn't factor in traffic etc... Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
I agree with Michelle. On the other hand, we have gone as far as Big Sur as a day trip (but didn't hike or anything), where we stopped at Pfeiffer Beach, Capitola and Nepenthe. Here's my report of that day:
Maybe you should skip San Francisco altogether on this trip? (Personally, I'd skip Napa, but I'm in the minority - I think it's very beautiful, but I'm not into wine tasting, so I wouldn't spend more than a day).
The drive time from Napa to Monterey is less than 3 hours if you avoid commuter traffic. I think I would start in San Francisco, go to Napa, then to Monterey/ Carmel, then to the SF airport (SFO). If you spend the first night in SF, driving the next day (Sunday) to Napa will take 1 hour. You could spend one night but two very full days in Napa, heading to Monterey/Carmel williamsburg virginiavacation packages at 6 or 7 PM on Monday night. You will arrive by 9 or 10 PM. Traffic will not be a problem. Then you would have 3 nights for Monterey/Carmel/ Big Sur.
Driving from Monterey to SFO requires leaving by 10 or 11 AM to avoid San Jose area traffic, which starts to get busy around 2 PM. The reason I suggest going from Monterey to SFO last is because the airport is south of San Francisco.
@elnap29: our flight leaves williamsburg virginiavacation packages around 11 AM on Thursday so I do not want to stay too far from the airport on Wednesday night... which is why I was planning on saving Napa for last. The other alternative is to head straight williamsburg virginiavacation packages from the airport on Saturday (flight williamsburg virginiavacation packages gets in at 1 PM) to Big Sur and spend Saturday and Sunday there, then head to Napa and end our trip in SF on Wednesday night.
Why not just rent a car the day you arrive at SFO and drive straight down to Monterey/Big Sur? SFO is south of SF and therefore would be less of a drive for you to get there. It'll be about a 2 1/2 hour drive to Monterey.
Coming from either williamsburg virginiavacation packages Napa or Monterey williamsburg virginiavacation packages you will encounter plenty of traffic if you leave during commute hours (which you'll have to do if you want to arrive at the airport around 9:30). If it were me, I'd plan my itinerary, but either way stay overnight near SFO (have dinner and a stroll on the very nice Burlingame Avenue)
April 6 From SFO, drive down I-280, the more scenic route, as far as San Jose, then get on Highway 101, cross over to the coast on Highway 156 to Highway 1, the coastal road. Don't stop in Monterey. Just keep going on Highway 1 until you get to Point Lobos State Reserve. About 2 to 2 1/2 hour drive from SFO to Point Lobos.
Then you should start going back north, back along Highway 1 to Highway williamsburg virginiavacation packages 156, crossover to Highway 101, go up 101 until San Jose. If you're too tired or it's too dark, there are several basic but good, clean hotels in the area where you could stay the night. There's a Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Gilroy or further north There's a Residence Inn in South San Jose.
April 8 Start in the early morning for Napa. It's important that from Highway 101 in San Jose you then take I-680 and avoid going into San Francisco or to Oakland - bad traffic. You'll be on I 680 for about an hour. On I680 once you have cross the Carquinez Bridge (Martinez, Benicia are the towns), get on I780 towards williamsburg virginiavacation packages Vallejo (Do NOT continue on I680 towards Sacramento!). I780 is a very short connector road that will take you to I-80. You'll williamsburg virginiavacation packages not be on I-80 long either, only a couple williamsburg virginiavacation packages of miles before you see the signs for "Napa".
I just realized williamsburg virginiavacation packages something: more vineyards will most likely be open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays instead of during the week. You may have to do this in reverse after all or have to make appointments ahead of time to those vineyards that you want to visit during the week.
Generally, it's best to visit the Napa Valley during williamsburg virginiavacation packages the week. Much less busy and accommodations are less expensive. The wineries are mostly open seven days a week so don't worry about them being closed.
williamsburg virginiavacation packages @easytraveler: thank you for taking the time to put together that suggested itinerary, it sounds right on par with what we want to do. Would it be a bad idea to stay in Carmel again on the second williamsburg virginiavacation packages night after touring Big Sur and drive up to Napa in the morning? (As opposed to staying somewhere in San Jose that night).
As far as the Napa area goes, we have never been and have always wanted to go. Also, we made reservations at the cottages at napa (which is near yountville). Is it possible to tour a little bit of both Sonoma and Napa in one day?
Not advisable to try and do Napa and Sonoma williamsburg virginiavacation packages in one day. However, you have two days. The vineyards usually don't open until about 10am and if you leave Carmel early enough you'll have an entire day in Napa.
Whether you should attempt to go over to Sonoma or not really is a matter of personal taste. One day in Napa may not be sufficient for your purposes, in which case, you'll need to spend the second day in Napa. Even two days in Napa is a short visit. The wineries in Napa are fairly easy to find - they're mostly on a north-south axis on two roads, Highway williamsburg virginiavacation packages 29 and the Silverado Trail; with some really williamsburg virginiavacation packages nice wineries in the short crossroads between these two.
Sonoma is more the way one would imagine wine country to be: winding roads going all over the place with vistas and vistas of vineyards rolling over hill and dale. I believe the mustard will still be in bloom when you come, so the yellow adds some bright, happy color to the green landscape. However, because of these conditions, you will have to do more driving between wineries and so can't visit too many wineries, so you'll have to select a few of your choice, make certain they will be open, and use your GPS or TomTom.
Also what about restaurants? Napa has some wonderful restaurants (again, comparatively easy to reach). You may want to stay in Napa just for the food experience. Other Fodorites can give you lots of good restaurant suggestions.
@easytraveler: Thanks for the follow up. I am currently trying to make a list of things I would like to do/see in wine country and then try to make an itinerary from there. Like I mention earlier, we made reservations near Yountville so this area will be our base to explore from. We have reservations at Ad Hoc on Monday night. Other than that I don't have any other restaurants in mind that we must visit. williamsburg virginiavacation packages Would like to see Oakville Grocery williamsburg virginiavacation packages though. I think we would like to visit 2 or 3 wineries max. Maybe one that is more established where we can take a great tour and then a smaller more off the beaten path one for a tasting. I would also like to have a picnic at one of them. We have some friends who biked around Napa and they highly recommended it. We are not professional bikers by any means but we love to rent bikes when on vacation instead of touring in a car the entire time. Not sure if this would be advisable given our limited amount of time in the area...? Sonoma williamsburg virginiavacation packages appeals to me because of how you just desciribed it...we love beautiful views.
I highly DON'T recommend it. There is far too much traffic for safe biking williamsburg virginiavacation packages (not that I don't see people doing it all the time, but I've also seen more than one biker downed by a car on the Silverado williamsburg virginiavacation packages Trail).
As between williamsburg virginiavacation packages Napa and Sonoma, this is really a tough call with the limited time that you have. To fully enjoy Sonoma at leisure, I'd say you need at least a day or a better part of a day. Maybe you could give up the day in SF.
Over 15 years ago I would regularly take afternoon bike rides up the Silverado Trail and across the Oakville grade. I had a matter involving the Silverado Country williamsburg virginiavacation packages Club that required numerous visits and I would put my bike on the back of my car, change into biking clothes and go for a ride after my meetings were over. I couldn't do that anymore--there was an explosion williamsburg virginiavacation packages of wineries, restaurants and visitors williamsburg virginiavacation packages in the 90's and a concurrent explosion of traffic and clueless drivers. Biking williamsburg virginiavacation packages backroads in Napa is one of those things whose time has come and gone (for me at least).
Yes, I would avoid Silverado Trail but there are plenty of other roads to bike on. Hwy 29, for example, has a wonderful frontage road that runs from Yountville to Napa. Yountville Cross Road and Yount Mill Road are also wonderful roads to explore on a bike.
Tom, what "back way" would that be? You can avoid going through San Francisco, williamsburg virginiavacation packages but you can't avoid going through the Bay Area. There's as much traffic during rush hour on the east side of the bay as on the west.
I am having a hard time narrowing down wineries to visit for our one full day in Napa. We will most likely be visiting Frog's Leap in Rutherford before checking into our hotel in Yountville on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday we would like to visit one or two more wineries and have a picnic. Do ya'll have any suggestions for a winery that has great views and allows you to bring your own food for a picnic? Thanks!
The two Napa wineries with great views that come immediately to mind are Artesa and Domaine Caneros (very close to each other). There are several others further north, but their names esc