California Coast Ride - 3 or 5 or 7 days

California offers some of the world's most spectacular sights and best spots for vacations. From Tinsel Town to the Golden Gate, this train, taxi and motor coach itinerary includes train rides on the Pacific Coast by Santa Barbara and through Salinas Valley then motor coach tour of must see places in Monterey. You can choose to take just the three day train and bus trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco or combine it with hotels and tours in Los Angeles and San Francisco or to make it a 5 or 7 day package vacation.

THIS IS NOT A GROUP TOUR. It is an independent trip using local sightseeing companies and AMTRAK trains. International visitors like the experience of riding the trains through beautiful California countryside. Trains can be late at times but overall the itinerary is very interesting and enjoyable.


L.A. Bustle and Stars (Los Angeles)

Day 1: Transfer from LAX airport to Kyoto Grand Garden Hotel Downtown check in for two nights. If you want to stay close to Los Angeles Airport or Anaheim** we can book a different hotel.
Day 2: Grand tour of Los Angeles & Movie Stars' Home (about 8 hours). See Hollywood sign, Rodeo Drive, Melrose, Sunset Strip, Farmers Market, Olvera Street, Chinatown, The Music Center and the Griffith Park Observatory and Movie Stars' Homes in Beverly Hills and Bel Air. (Other tours such as Universal Studio or Getty Museum Tours are also available)
Day 3: Check out hotel. Go to Los Angeles Union Station. (Taxi takes just a few minutes)


3 Days California Coast Ride

On AMTRAK train leave Anaheim at 8:07 or Union Station, Los Angeles at 10:15 a.m. Riding through Ronald Reagan's California you see Simi Valley, Fillmore, orange groves and green houses by Oxnard reaching the Pacific coast at Ventura. As the train hugs the Pacific coast for the next two hours you see the most magnificent vistas at times the ocean just a few yards away with beautiful beaches and campgrounds. A few miles offshore are Channel Islands. As you turn west through Santa Barbara you can have lunch in the dining car. Leaving the Pacific we turn north at Gaviota passing through Vandenberg Air Force Base and Space Station on way to Pismo Beach for a brief glance at the Pacific Ocean. Fields of strawberries and miles of new vines are all around us as we reach our overnight destination of San Luis Obispo at about 3:40. Beach Cities Cab will take you on a short tour then to the hotel. Click here for pictures of traveling by Amtrak.
Overnight at La Cuesta Inn, San Luis Obispo.

Day 4: From San Luis Obispo to Hearst Castle 80 miles by taxi
Beach City Cab will pick you up at hotel and takes you to San Simeon, about 40 minutes north on Highway One on the coast.
* Tour No. 1 of Hearst Castle built by Julia Morgan during the 1920s and 1930s for the art collection of world famous newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. This 2 hour tour is ideal for first time visitors with an easy walk, a total of about 150 steps. Back to San Luis Obispo for the train at 3:43 p.m. Soon the train chugs up Cuesta Grade and then drops down going to the horse ranches of Templeton and pasture lands of Paso Robles and old Franciscan Missions. At Camp Roberts we enter Monterey County and run alongside the Salinas River. Oil fields give way to the Valley, one of the richest agricultural areas in California. Riding through one of the largest vineyards we come upon miles of broccoli, lettuce, flowers and berries. The train lets us off in Salinas where John Steinbeck chronicled the transformation of Monterey county from the days of depression to the wealthier times. The AMTRAK bus takes us past Laguna Seca to the ocean at Monterey Bay where golf courses, mansions and scenic drives take over. It should be just after 7:15 in the evening.
Check in at Bay Park Hotel, Monterey Relax at this full service hotel.  Dinner & Breakfast

Day 5 Morning: From Monterey to San Francisco.  154 miles by motor coach. nbsp;Monterey Peninsula Tour - then to San Francisco. Morning free at the hotel. You can easily take the local bus to downtown or the Cannery Row. The hotel staff is very helpful with directions and information. After 12:30 p.m. meet your motor coach. Spend the rest of the day in historic Monterey, Cannery Row, Pacific Grove. See the Pacific crashing on to the rocks and swirling around on the 17 Mile Drive, where the Lone Cypress stands guard. Brush with luxury at the golf courses and resorts of Pebble Beach. Time in Carmel by the Sea for shopping & browsing. Around five we go east through Fort Ord and Castroville. Soon the artichoke and strawberry fields and green houses give way to Highway 101 turning north along the San Andreas fault line through Gilroy and Morgan Hill. The urban sprawl emerges as we enter San Jose. The pace quickens and slows with the traffic as we drive through the Silicon Valley then past the San Francisco International Airport arriving in the City around 7:30 p.m. The trip ends at your hotel.


San Francisco Riesling (San Francisco)

Day 5 Evening: San Francisco. Check in for two nights at The Hilton Union Square Hotel or Tuscan Inn Fisherman's Wharf (*). Afternoon free for exploring the city, Fisherman's Wharf or riding cable cars, etc. Dinner tonight at your choice of Italian or French Restaurant.

Day 6: Sonoma and Napa Valley Wine Country tour at 8:10. Across the Golden Gate Bridge visit the historic square in Sonoma. Time for lunch on your own. Then to Napa Valley. Visit two or three wineries. Return to the city via Oakland Bay Bridge. (Instead of wine country take a city tour with Muir Woods. OR for Yosemite 13 hour tour add $80 per person.). * Other hotels in San Francisco also available.

Day 7: Check out hotel. Shuttle transfer to San Francisco International airport available with additional $16.00 per person.

Cost per person	Double	Single	Child
L.A.Bustle and Stars	$271	$439	$103
3 day California Coast Ride	$575	$895	$222
San Francisco Riesling	$298	$478	$118
Total of 7 days	$1144	$1812	$443

* For San Francisco Riesling Package to stay at Tuscan Inn Fisherman's Wharf add $26 per room per person on a double basis. Cost of the 7 day California Coast Ride tour includes 6 nights' hotel rooms with tax, admissions and fees to 17 Mile Drive and Hearst Castle, 2 dinners and 1 breakfast with tax and tips, narrated tour and transportation in Los Angeles and Monterey and San Francisco with experienced driver/guide. (Vehicle size depends on number of clients booked).

** To stay at Clarion Anaheim save $25 (per person on double). You can add extra night(s) before or after the tour. There is open choice of menu. Vegetarian or other diet followers can order fish or appropriate items.

Trains can be late at times but overall the itinerary is very interesting and enjoyable. This independent trip requires some flexibility and acceptance of train or other delays and minor changes. It is like a mini adventure. If you are finicky about times and details perhaps you should look at a different itinerary.

For Reservations click here

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