California Road Trip Suggestions

Hello Departing on August 29 from San Francisco.

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m booking last-minute (I usually reserve way in advance) or if it’s because it’s early September—whereas we usually travel in late September—but I feel like prices have really gone up. Luckily, the dollar is weak right now!

I’ll post the start of the road trip, and I’m looking for your suggestions because I’m a bit stuck around Lassen since I had to cut one day from the rest of the trip.

D1: Flight Marseille → Paris → SFO, night in SFO D2: SFO (3rd time, so it’s just because we love it, but we’ve already done almost everything—we’ll revisit our favorite spots and especially do some walking tours). Night in SF D3 & 4: Heading to Fort Bragg for two nights D5 & 6: Night in Eureka, visiting southern Redwood D7 & 8: Crescent City, visiting northern Redwood D9: Heading to Mount Shasta, night in Mount Shasta D10: Lassen (north entrance), night in Mineral D11: Lassen south, mid-afternoon departure for North Lake Tahoe (two nights) and exploring the area D13 & 14: South Lake Tahoe D15: June Lake D16: Morning walk, then heading toward Fresno, overnight stop in the area D17: King’s Canyon, night at the lodge D18: Drive to Sequoia and walk, night in Three Rivers D19: Big morning in Sequoia, then heading to Pacific Grove (our favorite spot) for three nights to rest and walk along the Pacific D22: Probably (but still undecided) a detour to Sacramento to visit the California State Capitol… if we’re not too lazy, we’ll see D23: Return to San Francisco… night on the coast near the ocean (Pacifica or Half Moon Bay) D24: Return to France

Thanks for your constructive help, and don’t hesitate to criticize—I always try to stay at least two nights in each place and take time to rest a bit. Obviously, we’ve already done all the red rock areas…

Hey! So, back to SF for the 3rd time in May. Coming from Sacramento, stop in Sausalito! This year’s discovery: the Mission murals and the Women’s Building—really stunning.



We slept right downtown surrounded by folks smoking crack pipes—kinda weird but not aggressive.

Discovered Yerba Buena Park and its giant, colorful statues.



Sacramento: 15 years ago, Old Sacramento was cool... went back 3 years ago, now it’s just tourist traps. South Tahoe—Emerald Bay. Gorgeous colors...



East Tahoe: lots of spots are privatized and expensive, even just to stay 10 minutes for photos...

Hello We’ll see about Sacramento .. it’s one of the few Capitols we’re missing.. we’ll just spend one night there coming from Lassen, and then the next morning before heading to Tahoe. At Tahoe, we’ll stay at the Quality Inn, which apparently has a deal with the private beach across the street where entry is $5, which is pretty reasonable for access to a private beach.