Highway 1 is much prettier than 101 (although you'll miss Wendell). High points: Santa Cruz, Monterey, Big Sur, amazing ocean views, Hearst Castle, some great seafood.

Does it have to be online? These are the sorts of situations that I think guidebooks are perfect for; they tend to give a better hierarchical picture of a place (in the sense of, "This is a big important thing you should see, this is a medium-big cool thing you might like to see, this is a minor thing you can skip") as well as have handy attached maps to give you a good geographical structure/sense.

For me, internet travel advice always fails on those grounds. It's too "flat" -- every suggestion sounds just as important as every other suggestion, and I can never get a "big picture" structured sense of how I want to structure my own trips.

I say all of this as a former travel writer/editor, so I am slightly biased toward the books, but I found that I could never get a sense of an entire place just from the internet (though looking at photos helped!).

Let's Go does a California/Hawaii guide. I assume Lonely Planet does as well; Rough Guides are also extremely good (and actually would be my preference, if they have a California guide). For a similar trip that ikkyu and I did, we mostly looked at Moon guide that he happened to have, I think, which was also helpful.

I think I was thinking Hwy 1 I meant the coastal one. and no, occiblu, it doesn't have to be online, there is such a plethora of information about that I just don't know where to begin tackling this project.

I've found the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree forum helpful in the past, too. Sounds like a fun trip.

there is such a plethora of information about that I just don't know where to begin tackling this project.

My general procedure is to get a guidebook, skim through the relevant bits and see what stands out to me. That tends to give me a good overall feel for what's out there, what's recommended, and what's interesting. I put together a rough itinerary based on that, then I go to the internet for more information about *specific* sites or hotels or restaurants or whatever.

I think the internet's good for researching individual things that I already know I'm interested in, but it does quickly overwhelm when I *start* there.

So hie thee to a bookstore! :-)

doctor_negative already mentioned the highlights. When in Monterey go to the Aquarium (I haven't been, but want to). Morro Bay has the big rock. Santa Barbara is on the southern end of your route and is fun for people watching and window shopping (it's expensive). It also has one of the California Missions.

I'm with occhiblu - get a good dead tree travel guide. I'd venture to guess that there are books out there that cover just Hwy. 1.

If you're a member of AAA they give you free guidebooks; I've used them to plot my itinerary, then filled in the cracks with Lonely Planet, Moon or Rough Guides.

I would definitely recommend the Hearst Castle. It's one of the most amazing places I've ever visited. There are lots of motels in San Simeon, both chain and family-run, reasonably priced as I recall.

And there's otters!

Santa Cruz is pretty too, and worth a stop for lunch at least.

The wine country around Solvang and Santa Barbara. Also, although it's out of the way a bit, go up to Ojai through Casitas Pass. (ignore this map and take the 150 road). A beautiful place. then you can come back down 33 to Ventura. I would then stay on 1 and take in Oxnard, Malibu, etc all the way to Santa Monica.

Monterey is definitely a must-do, in my opinion. It's my favorite place in CA. It's about 2 hours from SF, so if you leave SF in the morning you can be there by lunch. Definitely spend a whole day/night there. The aquarium gets crowded early. It's soooo worth it, though. [Pro tip: Avoid the ticket line at the aquarium by buying tickets at the concierge desk of one of the big hotels on the Plaza. You'll get your ticket ahead of time, and you're then entitled to go through the members' entrance. Saves a lot of time. The Portola is my choice, because they have 15-minute parking out front for guests checking in. It's also a nice place to stay if you can get a good deal.]

The drive down Hwy 1 through Big Sur and beyond is absolutely stunning, but it's also very time consuming. Nepenthe is a nice place to stop for lunch. It's a tad over-priced (even in the informal cafe on the deck), but on a nice day, there's no better place to sit and stare at the ocean.

Squeeeee!!! Otters! We have river otters at the zoo here, they are so fun to watch swimming, I just wanna jump in and join them.


deborah we have a big rock near here too... I think one surrounded by ocean would be much nicer than one surrounded by Atlanta

oh dear, a trip to the bookstore...this kinda reminds me of that briar rabbit story "please PLEASE don't send me into that briar patch" the hard part is keeping my head focused on only travel books. thats a bad place for the easily distracted.

I am so excited about this trip!

Actually, I'm on the short stretch where the 101 is merged with the 1 between San Luis Obispo and Pismo, so you can't miss me. There's a sign outside my tiny apartment complex that makes it look like a motel. Of course, I recommend spending a night at the Madonna Inn for giggles (so NOT like a B&B). And I agree on Hearst Castle and Morro Bay (its 'touristy area' is my favorite, but not as good as Monterey - no aquarium - and its big rock is actually half-surrounded by beach and will be until the sea level rises in a few years), and if you're going to see only one of the Missions en route, I like the one in SLO-town.

And please don't drive off the road while staring at the world-class view when you first approach Shell Beach/Pismo Beach just south of me. (It happens; the locals get annoyed) And if you have to stop for gas, be prepared for sticker shock, it's already $4 a gallon here. But if you pay cash, the best prices is at an ARCO at Los Osos Valley Road. I could make other recommendations, but I'm pretty much a cultural cretin, picking the places with the funniest names: Mee Heng Low's chinese restaurant, The Frog and Peach pub, etc.

Oooh, I'm so jealous. One of my best vacation memories was driving down the PCH in the summertime, despite my car-sickness and some sort of sinus infection that caused unbearable pressure in my ears.

Lots of good advice here. Just a couple of thoughts:

Re: going down PCH/Hwy 1 (particularly the stretch from Monterey/Carmel through Big Sur to San Simeon/Hearst Castle): definitely do it! It's gorgeous and lots of fun. But be prepared for that leg of the trip to go slow -- PCH is one lane in each direction, and extremely twisty-turny for most of that run, and so goes very slow (especially in the summer when traffic is heavy). Even though Monterey to San Simeon is only about 90 miles (with Big Sur about 30 miles south of Monterey), it can take several hours to make the drive.

Don't rush yourself. One way to do it would be to spend the night in Monterey after going to the aquarium (or whatever else you want to do there -- it's a great little town), then drive down to Big Sur the next day for lunch, then head down to San Simeon. Spend the night in San Simeon or Cambria (I like the Cambria Pines Lodge), and go to Hearst Castle the following morning. After the castle, head to San Luis Obispo that afternoon.

Also, I don't want to alarm you, but lodging can fill up along the coast months ahead of time for summer season (especially the non-chain hotels/lodges/B&B's). So I'd move fast in terms of making reservations for June. If you're traveling during the week rather than over the weekend, it should be a little easier (especially because on the weekends, some places will insist on a 2-night stay).

Wendell: I'm on the short stretch where the 101 is merged with the 1 between San Luis Obispo and Pismo, so you can't miss me. There's a sign outside my tiny apartment complex that makes it look like a motel.

Hey, I think I know exactly which complex you mean! Next time we drive through, we'll give you a holler -- we usually stop in SLO for a quick bite on the way to or from Big Sur.

Wendell OH my Gosh! I think I kinda want to live at the Madonna Inn

It's dinner time here in SF, and I'm hungry. So in that spirit:

In SF, there are lots of great restaurants. Don't miss a classic San Francisco Mission Burrito at Taqueria Cancun, Pancho Villa, or one of the many others. Towards the other end of the spectrum, get a nice dinner or lunch at Zuni Cafe.

If you find yourself hungry in San Jose, you could do worse than eating at Vung Tau. Get the tamarind crab.

Hungry in Sunnyvale? Go to Dishdash.

Umm... what else? San Francisco: Skip Fisherman's Wharf. I wouldn't skip the Ferry Building. Bring a windbreaker to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Don't drive south from San Francisco during rush hour. Rush hours are 7-9:30 and 3:30-7. If you must, plan to take 280. Highway 101 south of San Jose can get mysteriously slow at any time of day or night.

Places to eat south of San Francisco on or near HWY 1 (and my favorites).

Princeton:
Barbara's Fish Trap

Pescadero:
Duarte's Tavern

Moss Landing:
Phil's Fish Market & Eatery
The harbor here is a good place to spot sea lions and sea otters.

I would go HWY 1 out of San Francisco. 17 to Santa Cruz is a scary road for the uninitiated and there's some great scenery on 1, once you past Pacifica.

I stayed at Gorda Springs south of Carmel last year and am happy to recommend it as a B&B. It was cute and quaint. Not too much to it. Just a cozy B&B composed of separate houses overlooking the ocean, a general store, and an overpriced but lovely cafe. Oh yeah, and then there was the llama petting zoo smack in the middle, which was weird. But weird in the "weird and wonderful" kind of way. During the whale migration season, which I believe is in mid-winter, you can sit in the cafe all day and watch the whales spout as they go by in herds.

It's within a short drive of a ton of fun stuff like Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (gorgeous hiking), the Esalen Institute, the Henry Miller Library (which is just a quaint bookstore with a bunch of neat art but still one of the better bookstores I've ever been to - then again I like the Beats, etc) and of course Carmel itself, which is lovely and more expensive than God's vagina.

A big part of going to the area is simply enjoying Highway 1. Take music you love and drive slow and safe.

Oh yeah, and a BIG HEARTY WELCOME from this CA native! Enjoy one of the most beautiful places on Earth.