I would skip San Diego and Orange Counties.

The best road tripping of California is the central coast to the Bay Area. It's the least traffic, most stunning views and most varied landscape.

Fly into LA, stay a night, drive up to Santa Barbara stay a night or two, go up Highway 1 to cambria (stop and see elephant seals), do Hearst Castle (agree on the bedroom tours!). Stay a few nights in Cambria. You can go inland to San Luis Obisp, or if you want to head north to Bay Area, you can head inland to Paso Robles and then take the 101 up and go through beautiful California coastal farmland.

Once up north, you can go to Monterey, Carmel, Pebble Beach etc. stay a few nights there, it's gorgeous.

fly out of SFO so you don't have to drive back to LAX.

Anonymous wrote:I have yet to take my kids to CA, but I have 3 & they're similar ages to your kids. FWIW my parents somewhat recently flew into SF then drove up the coast and flew out of Seattle. Afterwards, they suggested I NOT do that trip with my kids right now I like the suggestion of doing SoCal only. I have considered as much - doing SF zoo, maybe Seaworld, maybe Disneyland and some LA stuff, maybe Le Brea tar pits... --> basically I have done all those things as a kid myself, but haven't taken my kids yet.

I meant to say San diego zoo - sorry for the typo.

I have yet to take my kids to CA, but I have 3 & they're similar ages to your kids. FWIW my parents somewhat recently flew into SF then drove up the coast and flew out of Seattle. Afterwards, they suggested I NOT do that trip with my kids right now I like the suggestion of doing SoCal only. I have considered as much - doing SF zoo, maybe Seaworld, maybe Disneyland and some LA stuff, maybe Le Brea tar pits... --> basically I have done all those things as a kid myself, but haven't taken my kids yet.

We did Irvine/Newport Beach to Cambria (Hearst Castle) last summer. Kids were 2, 5, 7. I would suggest limiting it to this area because of driving. You might be able to do the Big Sur area as well. The highway was closed last summer north of Cambria so we skipped it.
Ojai/Santa Barbara and Ventura area fantastic. Much quieter. Beaches in Malibu are great north of the residential area.
The traffic in Orange County is outrageous. I much prefer the central coast.
We did the Hearst Castle with a 2 year old so your kids could do it. Do the bedroom tour. It was much better than the general castle tour.
And plan on a lot of driving. We tried to limit it as much as possible, but we still did quite a bit. Our kids were happy to just go to different beaches every day. We skipped the theme parks. Overall, fantastic trip.

California native here and this is excellent advise. The road is still blocked in Big Sur so I would not go any further north than Cambria. Only thing additional that I would add is Pismo Beach is a great central coast beach town.

We did Irvine/Newport Beach to Cambria (Hearst Castle) last summer. Kids were 2, 5, 7. I would suggest limiting it to this area because of driving. You might be able to do the Big Sur area as well. The highway was closed last summer north of Cambria so we skipped it.
Ojai/Santa Barbara and Ventura area fantastic. Much quieter. Beaches in Malibu are great north of the residential area.
The traffic in Orange County is outrageous. I much prefer the central coast.
We did the Hearst Castle with a 2 year old so your kids could do it. Do the bedroom tour. It was much better than the general castle tour.
And plan on a lot of driving. We tried to limit it as much as possible, but we still did quite a bit. Our kids were happy to just go to different beaches every day. We skipped the theme parks. Overall, fantastic trip.

Anonymous wrote:My tip is to consider just doing SoCal. I did this trip with similar aged kids and thought it was too much car time. Beautiful views, but serious traffic, and not a lot of diversions for kids along the way. Hearst Castle was fun for our oldest, but it's tough for little ones. There was construction on Rt 1 when we did it, and maybe that made it worse than it would normally be. Also, if you do it, make sure you rent a sedan or car with a low center of gravity. It's twisty and windy, would not have wanted to be in minivan.

Good advice here. The Central Coast is absolutely gorgeous, as is Big Sur. But for a lot of kids that doesn't have much impact, and water too cold to swim in is just a tease.

If you wanted a feel for that part of the state, you could go up towards Santa Barbara/Ojai for a few days, then back to LA. that way you experience some of the coast and mountains, but don't get too far away from more kid-oriented activities.

We have family in both LA and the Bay Area. When we go out there we fly in between the two. When kids are older will probably do the drive.

My tip is to consider just doing SoCal. I did this trip with similar aged kids and thought it was too much car time. Beautiful views, but serious traffic, and not a lot of diversions for kids along the way. Hearst Castle was fun for our oldest, but it's tough for little ones. There was construction on Rt 1 when we did it, and maybe that made it worse than it would normally be. Also, if you do it, make sure you rent a sedan or car with a low center of gravity. It's twisty and windy, would not have wanted to be in minivan.

Any California experts here? I'd love to take my three kids 9, 7, 4 on a road trip of the California coast this summer. I was thinking of flying into San Diego, driving the coast and then flying out of San Francisco. What are your must sees along the way? Any tips or advice? Thanks in advance.