California Coast Ride - 3 Days

Train and Bus
Hearst Castle, Coast & Monterey by rails & wheels

3 days / 2 nights
From Los Angeles to San Francisco

Los Angeles to Monterey by Amtrak
From Monterey to San Francisco by Motor Coach

Tour includes :
Amtrak Los Angeles to Paso Robles and Monterey. Night in Paso Robles, Hearst Castle and Winery tour, San Simeon Coast, Night in Monterey, 17-Mile Drive, Pebble Beach, Carmel by the Sea. Amtrak

Day 1: Anaheim or Los Angeles to Paso Robles. 258 miles by AMTRAK Coast Starlight train
See below for pictures of traveling by Amtrak

Santa Barbara coast On AMTRAK train leave Anaheim at 8:07 or Union Station, Los Angeles at 10:15 a.m. See Simi Valley and Fillmore, orange groves and green houses, reaching the Pacific coast at Oxnard. As the train hugs the shore we see the most magnificent vistas west through Santa Barbara. Turning north at Gaviota past Vandenberg Space Station fields of strawberries and miles of new vines are all around us on the way to Pismo Beach. Through San Luis Obispo the train chugs up Cuesta Grade and then drops down to the horse ranches of Templeton and green pastures and vineyards of Paso Robles arriving at 4:45. Within minutes you are in real quintessential small town California.
Overnight at Paso Robles Inn or similar hotel.

Day 2: (L) Paso Robles / Hearst Castle/ Monterey. 110 miles tour and 117 miles by train and bus.
The Wine Wrangler (tour company) takes you about 45minutes west to the coast and then on Highway One to San Simeon.
*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.
Enjoy a picnic lunch and stop for shopping or visit a winery. Back to Paso Robles for the train at 4:45. At Camp Roberts we enter Monterey County and along 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. It is best to have dinner on the train. Around 6:36 you reach Salinas where John Steinbeck chronicled the transformation of Monterey county from the days of depression to the wealthier times. The AMTRAK bus takes us to Monterey. It should be just after 7:15 in the evening. A short 5 minute cab ride takes you to Bay Park Hotel.

Check in at Bay Park Hotel, Monterey Relax at this full service hotel. Dinner & Breakfast

Day 3: (B) Monterey Peninsula Tour - then to San Francisco. 154 miles by motor coach.

Monterey Peninsula Tour - then to San Francisco.

Have breakfast and spend the morning at the hotel. Between noon and one meet the tour motor coach from San Francisco. Spend the rest of the day in historic Monterey, Cannery Row, Pacific Grove looking at golf courses, mansions and scenic vistas. See the Pacific crashing on the rocks and swirling around on the 17 Mile Drive, where the Lone Cypress stands guard. Brush with luxury at the resorts of Pebble Beach. Time in Carmel by the Sea for shopping & browsing. After five we go east through Fort Ord and Castroville to Highway 101 as the artichoke and strawberry fields and green houses give way 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 driving through the Silicon Valley then past San Francisco International Airport arriving at your hotel in the City around 7:30 p.m.
Notes: Picnic lunch on the second day and breakfast on the third day are included in the tour price. It is best to have lunch on the first day and dinner on the second day on the train. With so much to enjoy in Monterey you can spend an extra day and night at Bay Park Hotel coming to San Francisco on the 4^th day.

Pictures of Amtrak (Coast Starlight Train)

Amtrak Amtrak