Drive from San Francisco to LA along the coast

G%26#39;day everyone. Boy am I finding this site useful. How did people previously travel without your help!!! The final leg of our Californian trip is from San Francisco to LA in late August. Our family of five (3 children 10,14.16) are keen surfers currently living near The Great Ocean Road in Victoria AUS. We are spending three days traveling down the coast after spending a few days in San Francisco. I thought we would overnight at Monterey and Santa Barbara (only a thought at this stage). I am open to any suggestions and advice on great surf beaches, cheap accommodation (we are on a tight budget and with five people), %26#39;not to be missed%26#39; sights, and cheap places to eat. I have done a lot of reading on this site but it is difficult to work out distances and travel times. We certainly don%26#39;t want to be in the car all day. Looking forward to your local knowledge. Mick from down under

Drive from San Francisco to LA along the coast

The drive from SF to L.A. along the coast aka hwy 1 is about 8 to 9 hours. So if you have 2 or 3 days to do so, you will have plenty of time to explore our coastline and the amazing places that graces it

I would suggest to post your specific questions at the local messageboards on tripadvisor, questions about monterrey on there specific board, santa barbara the same(btw both places worth to spent some time/night at)

These boards are frequented by locals that would gladly help you out with recomending great surf spots, cool places to visit and nice restaurants you should not miss

Drive from San Francisco to LA along the coast

Thanks Alex90028, really appreciate your advice. I will add this post to the other local forums as suggested. I hope everyone understands when they see the post repeated in a number of areas. Thanks again

Of course they will, it just makes sense that locals who are actually living in the area would be able to give you the best advice

For cheap places to stay and eat en route, you%26#39;re best advice will come from your fellow surfers at the beaches. You will see many beaches with surfers all the way down The Coast.

Please visit the DRIVING DIRECTIONS page geocities.com/touringsfo/鈥riveDir.html where some of your questions are answered. It%26#39;s augmented by reports linked to the TouringSFO site at http://geocities.com/touringsfo/ entitled ';A Trip to Las Vegas鈥?quot; and ';A Trip to Anaheim鈥?quot;

Some posts that TripAdvisor%26#39;s Moderator removed prior to 00:01 GMT of May 4, 2008, may be seen at http://geocities.com/swingcha/Moderate.html