<p>Hi everyone. My son and I will be in San Fran for 5 days would like to spend our last day renting a car and driving south on 1 as far as we an comfortable go and returning to the San Fran airport that evening for the red eye home. Our thought is to pick up a rental car early that morning, head out and travel for the day and drive the car back to the airport for our flight home. (11:30 PM) Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to stop and what to see? Is the Redwood park worth a stop or would it be a good end point? I have looked around the internet and there is lots of advise from San Fran to LA but not in the form of a day trip. And what can I expect in the way of traffic? Thanks is advance…CS</p>
<p>You should consider going to Carmel/Monterey. It’s a beautiful area. You can wander around, visit the shops if that’s what you like, rent kayaks and go kayaking around looking for sea lions, sea otters, and the like, visit the beaches, go to the Monterey aquarium, etc.</p>
<p>Between SF and Santa Cruz is Ano Nuevo state reserve that often has some elephant seals on the beach that you can see. </p>
<p>You’ll go through Santa Cruz on the way to Carmel/Monterey. Personally I’d just keep driving right past Santa Cruz since IMO it’s gone way downhill over the years but they do have a boardwalk area where your S or you might be interested in going on the roller coaster.</p>
<p>You can definitely go from SF to Carmel and back in a day and still do stuff while you’re there.</p>
<p>I did that once when I was in my 20s. I regretted it as the drive was challenging in the dark. At least for me.</p>
<p>Since you mentioned redwoods, there’s a lesser-known redwood grove in San Mateo County that’s lovely. It’s called Huddart Park. You could take Highway 1 down to Half Moon Bay, a cute town with many art galleries, then cut over the Skyline Drive on Hwy 92 to Huddart Park. From there you can drive back to Hwy 1 and continue down to Monterey and then on to Carmel if you have time, or just go to Santa Cruz and drive back to SFO from there.</p>
<p>[San</a> Mateo County - Department of Parks - Huddart Park](<a href=“http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/portal/site/parks/menuitem.f13bead76123ee4482439054d17332a0/?vgnextoid=407bc8909231e110VgnVCM1000001d37230aRCRD&cpsextcurrchannel=1]San”>http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/portal/site/parks/menuitem.f13bead76123ee4482439054d17332a0/?vgnextoid=407bc8909231e110VgnVCM1000001d37230aRCRD&cpsextcurrchannel=1)</p>
<p>If you drive to Carmel/Monterey (or further south) on 1 you can drive back to SF on 101 from just a bit inland from Monterey or take 1 back up to Santa Cruz and then head to the bay area on 17 to avoid driving back up 1 in the dark. Check out those routes on Google maps or other maps.</p>
<p>Note - Santa Cruz is no substitute for Carmel/Monterey so try to head past Santa Cruz if you can whether you stop there or not.</p>
<p>Thanks y’all. I will look at the suggestions. I am hoping to be at the airport by 9:00 so we don’t have to drive in the dark. I am a big BMW motorcycle rider and love challenging switchback types roads, even in a car. The key is to not be in a hurry, which is why I was concerned about time!</p>
<p>Take the freeway to Monterey. The really beautiful part of Big Sur is south of Monterey. Drive to any of the state parks south of Carmel, Lobos is a great one and see the unspoiled coast. Then back to the airport on the freeway.</p>
<p>I agree with the suggestion of Point Lobos State Reserve. It’s very beautiful, and you can do short hikes and still feel like you’ve seen a lot.</p>
<p>There are many parks with redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains. If at all possible, it’s worth trying to walk through an old growth forest - it feels completely different than second or third growth forests. My favorite old growth forest is too far out of your way: Hendy Woods State Park in the Anderson Valley, which is inland from Mendocino. But this Peters Creek Loop in Portola State Park looks promising: [The</a> Peters Creek Loop](<a href=“http://www.redwoodhikes.com/Portola/PetersCreek.html]The”>The Peters Creek Loop). It is recently acquired land and I haven’t checked it out yet, but now I will :-).</p>
<p>Great trip. Your can have a leisurely morning making your way down the coast on Route 1 with a possible stop at Ano Nuevo to see the elephant seals (check with the park; mating season is in winter but I believe they come ashore to molt at certain times in the summer, but you may need a reservation for a guided tour). Agree you should skip past Santa Cruz, but Monterey is lovely. Some decent seafood on Monterey’s Fisherman’s Wharf, much more laid back than its San Francisco namesake. Take a few minutes to watch the sea otters cavorting in Monterey harbor. After lunch, head out of Monterey along the coast until you catch the breathtaking 17 Mile Drive which will take you through Pacific Grove and Carmel, then head south just a few miles to Point Lobos, one of the loveliest spots on the California coast, great place for some short hikes. (If the weather’s miserable you can skip Point Lobos and spend part of your afternoon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is just a fantastic facility, but on a nice day you’d probably prefer the outdoors). That should leave you enough time to hustle back up to Santa Cruz and from there head inland via Routes 9 and 236 to Big Basin Redwoods State Park, home to the largest contiguous stand of ancient coast redwoods south of San Francisco. You won’t need much time walking among these giants to appreciate their magnificence. That should still leave you plenty of time to return to SFO by 9 pm. Long day, but a spectacular one.</p>
<p>bclintonk’s itinerary is filled with great stuff, but it seems overly ambitious to me. To do lunch in Monterey followed by Point Lobos (which if the weather is good is to my mind the best destination on the list) and then head to Big Basin seems like a real afternoon sprint. Maybe you could leave out Ano Nuevo this time around since the early morning drive might well be foggy unless there’s a heat wave. I’d be inclined to possibly head down 280 to Highway 9 from the airport and do Big Basin in the morning then head south to Monterey/Point Lobos.</p>
<p>If you have time and the weather’s good you can return via highway 1 to 92 then back to the airport. If you’re more rushed you can go inland for a faster return trip.</p>
<p>Lots of good suggestions above. I know little about the traffic these days, but personally would drive the whole thing south from San Francisco on Highway 1. There are some great vistas going towards Half Moon Bay. Highway 1 takes time, but it is glorious. Also, may be foggy in places right on the coast. </p>
<p>Take a sweatshirt, as it can be cool. But you know that, if you’ll be in SF!</p>
<p>The question is, what do you like? If you like banking, curved, roads, you need to drive Big Sur! Doing this and the Half Moon bay route might be a bit much. </p>
<p>Now this requires a certain amount of passing by some great attractions, but it is a glorious piece of coastline. You could drive as far as Pfeiffer Big Sur State park for the redwoods, or just go as far as Garapatta Beach, which has the famous Bixby Bridge featured in many Big Sur photos. </p>
<p>Mapquest has the Pfeiffer Big Sur trip from SF driving south on 101, taking the Hwy 17 cutoff towards Santa Cruz before picking up Hwy 1, as taking about 3 hours. You could get down there and then meander back, stopping in Monterey at Fishermans’s wharf for an early dinner before returning to the airport.
[Monterey</a> County California - Parks & Beaches](<a href=“http://www.seemonterey.com/things-to-do/parks/pfeiffer-big-sur/]Monterey”>Big Sur, Pfeiffer Beach & Sand Dollar Beach | Monterey, CA)</p>
<p>On the way down, for a bit of local funk, eat fried artichokes at the Giant Artichoke in Castroville, atichoke capitol of the world. </p>
<p>Historic Monterey attractions are in the Wharf vicinity. It was the first capitol of California. 17 mile drive is nice, but costs close to $10 for admission. You can drive along a good section of beautiful rocky coast for free in Pacific Grove from just past the Monterey Aquarium, to Asilomar State Beach. Not quite the vistas of 17 mile drive however. </p>
<p>If you like art, and quaintness, Carmel has it in abundance, as well as a great beach. </p>
<p>You certainly want to drive up 101 on the return, as the airport is south of the city.</p>