Nice place a bit south of SF plz

[numtumfutunch]

We are flying into San Francisco in May and planning to sleep off jetlag +/- do a modest amount of "stuff" before spending a few days looking at the Pacific before we drive to Yosemite which is very much a non negotiable bucket list place

Id really like a bit of help with the middle bit

Im aware the Pacific coast is a bit fake tan and Mercedes SL however suggestions for sligthly hippy chic towns would be most welcome

Monterey is probs not on my radar, Carmel may well be, Santa Cruz possibly and I need to do more Googling of Santa Barbara

Nice coffee, independent bars/restaurants and live music much more imprtant to me than 5* luxury and whale watching

Cheers

[boxst]

It depends how fr you want to go. San Mateo has some interesting place and restaurants (I was there a couple of weeks ago for work). Santa Cruz is hippy awesome town and have spent some quality time there.

And if you don't want to go that far, then San Jose is also really good but has some incredibly expensive hotels.

Edit: If you have some time, I did this a couple of years ago and its awesome: https://mounthermonadventures.com

Edited by boxst on Sunday 5th February 23:41

[jeremyc]

If you like staying on the coast (and I mean right on the beachfront) then try Half Moon Bay - some great and reasonably priced hotels just to the north of the town. I'm not sure about the availability of live music though - it's fairly sleepy, but home of the infamous Mavericks surfing destination.

Further south and inland perhaps Los Gatos in the suburbs of San Jose, so plenty of nightlife and close to the coastal mountain range with redwood forests and fantastic driving roads.

[CraigyMc]

Los Gatos is the nicest bit of silicon valley. It's a 1960s town on the edge of the bay area.

[WyrleyD]

Yes, Los Gatos is a good choice. Company I used to work for was based near there, hotels were a reasonable price and there are some nice small restaurants around, the company mandated that we stayed at the Inn of Los Gatos (Best Western I think it was) which was OK.

Edited by WyrleyD on Monday 6th February 08:19

[adamlstr]

I added a few days on to a work Palo Alto trip a couple of years ago and airbnb'd a guest house in Woodside. About 30 mins south of central SF, near Redwood City. It is the only place outside of where I live that I immediately said 'I'd live here'.

https://goo.gl/maps/32beUmdDTxhniYoU7

Heading straight into the hills on the 84, you will experience some of the greatest roads on the planet. You end up at 'Alice's' near La Honda which is a destination for petrolheads over there. It was fantastic, and authentic. In any direction from there the scenery and roads are nothing short of spectacular.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/adamlstr/albums/7215...

From Alice's you can either head west to highway 1, or south on skyline blvd, in any direction you can't miss.

dwa-111018-26 by Adam Lister, on Flickr

If you head to Carmel, Laguna Seca is pretty much on route...

Laguna Seca 11th November 2018 by Adam Lister, on Flickr

Edited by adamlstr on Monday 6th February 08:28