Help me plan a vacation to CA

[bisous]

For Los Angeles:

Hollywood is a touristy urine smelling place I try to avoid all costs! I'd skip it.

I'd skip Disneyland and do Universal Studios, especially with teens. You can do the entire park in a day easily.

For some nice walking outside I'd go to the Huntington Library which has the most beautiful botanical gardens.

The Getty Villa Museum is super nice and not crowded and afterwards you're right by the beach to grab lunch, etc.

If your teens are into anime at all then they'd probably really like Little Tokyo and all the shops there. Plus so many choices for good boba, ramen, etc. That's where my 28 year old sister was most excited about visiting when she was here for Thanksgiving.

Eat lots of food! Birria tacos, ramen, boba, Korean hot dogs (LOVE the all cheese ones), Voodoo Donuts at Universal, sushi burritos, etc.

Sent from my SM-A526U1 using Tapatalk

I can't speak to the food aspect of this post as I'm sadly unfamiliar with good LA Eats but I'm totally team Huntington and Getty Villa! Though I'm also team Disneyland... But seriously those locales are so beautiful. I love the idea of the Getty Villa because it is a really neat way to enjoy Malibu, which is a beautiful but mostly residential city. It is also a great way to travel through LA (though not necessarily faster).

I want to make sure you recognize too, as someone above quoted, that June in CA is known to be our gloomiest month. Beaches are rarely warm and sunny in June. They're still nice! And they aren't super cold. There's just a marine layer that might last most of the day, the morning for sure, and won't fit the image of a a sunny beach vacay.

There's really SO much to do on a California vacation. We can keep suggesting cool stuff to do and amply fill your time!

[carolinamama]

We have never been but friends have been to this family camp and had a great time. Montecito Sequoia Family Camp

and we have family who has also stayed at this conglomerate of cabins in The Redwoods in Yosemite and been happy there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We did a family trip to CA some years ago. We actually did the family camp Annie linked here - Montecito. Based on our experience there, I highly recommend it for families looking for a beautiful, outdoors, rustic family vacation but I think the OP may have missed her best age window. Our kids were 12, 9 and 7 when we went - perfect ages but things could have changed. There were families that had been returning for years.

That trip was amazing though. We spent 4 days in San Francisco -Alcatraz, rented and rode bikes across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito, rode cable cars, Chinatown, Fisherman's Wharf, Golden Gate Park/Academy of Sciences, Giants game, Ghirardelli Square, Coit Tower, Lombard Street, Painted Ladies- and there's probably more but that's what I can remember off the top of my head. Next, we rented a car to drive to Sequoia National Park and stayed at Montecito family camp. Our kids mainly did activities onsite but DH and I hiked in both Sequoia and Kings Canyon. It was beautiful. We didn't visit Yosemite since we opted for Sequoia and the family camp but that was another consideration when I was planning. Upon return to San Francisco, we had a few more days and a rental car so we visited Muir Woods and the aquarium in Monterey.

ETA: We went in August and it was definitely not hot but we weren't ever uncomfortably cold with layers.

[firstbaby]

Thank you, all, for the great replies and recommendations. This has really helped me narrow in on ideas / itineraries. We are hoping to go through a planning session with the kids this weekend. It feels fun to dream about travel again

[heatherlynn]

If you're east coast, I assume you've been to Disney World so I'd skip Disneyland.

[AustenFan]

You definitely could stay just in SoCal for a week!

On the other hand, NorCal is amazing, too! Our favorite family vacation ever, while we were living in Malibu, was driving up the coast and doing San Francisco/Sacramento! We visited Hearst Castle, the "Vertigo" mission, Alcatraz, a bunch of San Francisco museums, the state capitol, Sausalito, Marin County, Sutter's Fort (where the Donner party ended up, and the site of a famous little doll that all CA schoolkids read about in their state history year), etc. We spent 8 days and had a nice combination of sightseeing and nature activities.