Vancouver, BC to San Francisco.....need help!

Hello,

I am planning a trip to San Francisco at the end of July with DH and two kids (8,4). We will be leaving from Vancouver on July 31st and would like to be in San Fran on August 2nd. The plan right now is to stop one night in either Lincoln City or Newport and maybe a second stop at Crescent City as we would love to see the Avenue of Giants. I think DH%26#39;s plan is to take the I5 down and then make our way over to the coast and stay in Newport then travel down the coast to Crescent City/Eureka and visit the Avenue of Giants. Any suggestions/recommendations on our itinarary would be extremely helpful especially on where to stay for the Avenue of Giants.

Thanks!

Vancouver, BC to San Francisco.....need help!

It would be wise to check for minimum stay requirements in the Newport or Lincoln City areas before you get too far along with your plan. With this being peak season, minimum stay requirements aren%26#39;t uncommon along the coast.

If you can find accomodations, and have a choice, I think that Newport would be your best bet simply for the number of options for things to do.

Vancouver, BC to San Francisco.....need help!

Your children may be better car travelers than mine was, but be aware of the amount of actual driving time.

Vancouver - Newport July 31 will probably be 9 hours of driving. With the border crossing and trafic it could even be more.

Newport - Crescent City - a good 6 hours driving.

Crescent City to SFO another 6 or 7 hours I believe.

If you can%26#39;t find a one-night place in Newport, try Waldport just south. It doesn%26#39;t have all the attractions of Newport, but does have the beach.

The Elizabeth Inn and Holiday Inn Express in Newport will accept one night stays. The Holiday Inn Express is brand new but I%26#39;m not familiar with the area and there are no reviews yet. There doesn%26#39;t seem to be much in Crescent City (Hampton Inn $300!!!)and I%26#39;m going to look to see where else we could stay. In anyone has recommendations on where else we could stay that would be convienent for the Avenue of Giants, that would greatly be appreciated. Still trying to figure everything out and I%26#39;m a bit overwhelmed! Thanks for everyone%26#39;s help so far.

Good point about the driving hours, IluvOregon, exactly what I was thinking . . . bored and restless children!

Also, the Avenue of the Giants will take about 1.5 to 2 hours to drive if you make just a couple of short stops along it, so that will make getting to SF an extremely long day.

To my knowledge, the northern coast, Cannon Beach in particular, is the *only* area on the Oregon coast that has general minimum stay requirements. The exception anywhere along the coast will be B%26amp;B%26#39;s - they *may* require two nights.

Oh, you posted as I was typing!

What is your budget?

There are alternatives in Crescent City, look at Anchor Beach Inn.

The Holiday Inn Express in Newport is in a very poor location in my opinion. It is in South Beach in a sort of light industrial area, and I would be very surprised to find that any of the rooms had any views at all.

The Elizabeth Inn has a good location on a bluff above the beach and according to another regular poster here, is quite comfortable and nice :-)

Most Newport hotels do not require minimum stays.

There are a number of hotels in Crescent City, such as the Best Western. Are they all full?

We stayed at the Elizabeth Street Inn last summer and enjoyed it. It does sit on a bluff, but you can either go to the left of the hotel and down a bunch of stairs to the beach, or go right and head down towards Nye Beach with easy walking access to the beach. Both are easy. Nye Beach has lots of shops and restaurants. The Stephanie Cafe was very good for breakfast. We had our teens with us and the hotel worked well for our family. All rooms are oceanview, and the room was quite large. We had two beds, along with a sitting area with a good size couch. The balcony had a couple chairs as well. The room had a microwave and fridge, and a separate vanity area to get ready which is always nice when you have several people in a room. The elevator is slow as molasses, but there are stairs as well. A continental breakfast is included, but I don%26#39;t know how it was since we opted to go somewhere else. The front desk has movies you can rent, which might appeal to the kids in the evening. There is also an indoor pool. It looks right out to the ocean. We had no complaints about the hotel at all and would definitely stay there again.

Crescent City has only two hotels that are oceanfront, two or three more with ocean view. Most of the lodging in town is right on Hwy 101 with no view of the ocean.

Twenty minutes farther north in Brookings is the Best Western Beachfront Inn - right on the sand. Not sure what the current rates are, but the location is incredible.

A poster in CA often suggests the Ship Ashore Resort in Smith River which is oceanfront, but I%26#39;m not familiar with it, and suspect it may be an older property.