Los Angeles to SF and back

[Dana Feiner]

Well, we decided to spend our hard earned dollars here this year. I would like to go fro a road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco area and back. I have allocated 6 days for this trip. I though about taking the one and our time up north, and come back a different way. We would also like to see the SF area.
Every advice is appreciated

I driven pretty much every route between the two cities, if you want to see something, anything, then avoid the 5 fwy. Unless you decide you want to spend a few extra days up in SF (well worth it) then stay up there a while and take the 5 back down. Going up north, probably the best bet is to take the 1 along the coast, nice scenery, some small towns along the way. Figure 9-10 hours driving, plus more if you make many stops. There's solvang, santa barbara, hearst castle, Morro Bay, etc, along the way. Although the 1 can be monotonous at times, curvy 2 lane highway for 10 hours can start to look the same after a while. Then you can cut inland to the 101, bypass some of the curvy roads, and cut back to the 1 further up, maybe by hearst castle or even Big Sur, then finish up the rest of the way passing by Carmel, Monterey, and Half Moon Bay

On the way down, you can take the same route going in reverse, or cut inland to the 99. Or if you're really adventurous, there are pleny of smaller roads cutting through in between the 5 and the 101, you can find a route that will bring you all the way back down, but there aren't a whole lot of things in between, just a lot of nice roads. But it'll take maybe 10-12 hours going this route compared to about 5-6 on the 5.