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Hello all I am new to the forum. I am having some trouble and I heard you all might have some great answers. Here we go.
We are landing in San Fran and driving to San Diego.
Tentatively are planning to go from the airport and spend two days in NAPA, then to San Fran off to Route 1 to San Diego. We have about 10 days. I am having trouble with how to break route 1 down. How long should I stay in San Fran, where to stop along route 1 and how long to stay in San Diego?
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Napa:...2 days
SF:......1 day
PCH:....2 days
to SD:..1 day
SD:......2 days
Total:...8 days
So, as you can see, you'd still have two extra days to play with. What I might do with those two days is to spend one by only driving as far as Monterey when I leave San Francisco and just enjoy that town and Carmel before starting out on the PCH. Then Cambria and maybe Oxnard become a generally good places to spend the nights at the end of your two days on the coast, and if you sleep late at Oxnard, you can drive through Los Angeles after morning rush hour and still be in San Diego before its evening rush hour starts and maybe even see a few things that day. The other extra day could be spent in San Francisco if you find you're enjoying it, or in San Diego where there is a ton of stuff to do.
AZBuck
I think AZBucks' suggestions are pretty good.. I'd add a couple of minor changes though, from my personal preference.
I'd cut Napa to 1 day. Why? Napa's very nice, with wonderful wineries, but it's gotten very busy and touristy. I'd add a day tasting wines elsewhere (see later..)
Monterey/ Carmel is a good place for the night -- walk the boardwalk in Santa Cruz, walk the wharf in Monterey, have dinner on the water in Monterey, visit Cannery Row or the aquarium, do the 17 mile drive, etc.
Rather than Oxnard, I'm more partial to Santa Barbara -- with dinner either down near the water, or in the Presidio area. The Presidio is an open air mall/ market area of around 8 square blocks with lots of small stores, cafes and the like. Nice place to walk around. And the beautiful old Spanish mission is quite near by.
However, if you're willing to go inland a way, you might want to spend a day visiting some of the 120 or so wineries near Paso Robles (take CA-46 inland from near Cambria after visiting Hearst Castle, perhaps). These wineries are in general smaller, family-owned wineries compared to the ones in Napa. They are an interesting comparison.
Santa Barbara to LA is about 2 hours, so sleep late a bit, and hit the LA freeways after 10 am -- which is after rush hour. I'd also avoid taking the I-5 through downtown LA, just because that goes through the worst tangle of freeways intersecting all together all at once. LA to San Diego is 2-3 hours depending upon your route. You should make it from Santa Barbara to LA by mid afternoon at the latest.