California 5 DAY getaway. NEED help with ordering! starting from San Diego? -

This is what I have so farStarting from San Diego, this is the order (distance) I am planning to take-Sequoia Trees -Kings Canyon then-YosemiteThen -Lake TahoeThen -Golden Gate Bridge -Alcatraz -Crooked streetI also want to use Route 1andHighway 50and pass by Santa Monica pier as well.My questions are: First of all, Do I have the ordering right? How do I make use of Highway 1 and 50? How long do you think I should spend at each place? (Maximum of 5 days all together)PLUS, are there any additional places that I MUST stop by?

You may need to pass through Santa Monica on the way north from San Diego. Hit there first then jump on the 10 to the 405 and your on your way to the 5 north and on your way to Sequoia National Park. As an alternative you could take 1 north and at Santa Margarita you can take 58 across to Bakersfield. No Big Sur however. Now with your time limitations you may want to skip Sequoia and Kings Canyon and head right for Yosemite. You can hit the Mariposa Grove of Sequoias just inside the south entrance. So here you go Day 1 Drive to Santa Monicathen north on 1 to Santa Margaritacross on 58 to Bakersfield and north on the 99 for as long as you can. Route 41 takes you to Yosemite.Day 2 into Yosemite spend day and night there.Day 3 Drive to Tahoe and spend night there.Day 4 drive to San Fransisco and spend night thereDay 5 San Francisco and area. Longest drive is day 1You certainly have an ambitious trip planned. I just hope you are leaving via San Francisco.Anyway here s a site that has info on both San Diego and Yosemite that might help you.http://www.smart-tourist.org/

You have the order correct.50 will take you from Lake Tahoe to the bay area. I would go north of the bay into Napa Valley (must stop you don t have, assuming you like wine). Across the top of the bay to Sausalito and into SF that way.In my opinion, not that much to see on 1 between SF and Santa Cruz, so I d take 101 south of SF then take 17 over to Santa Cruz, then take 1 to San Luis Obispo, get back on 101 until the two roads come back together just north west of Santa Barbara. Stay on 1 to the pier in Santa Monica.The other place I d consider stopping is Solvang. That s a nice loop, to bad you only have 5 days. I could easily spend a whole day or more at each of your first target sights. Napa is a day all by itself, going to take at least a 1/2 day to do Alcatraz and there is so much to see in SF if you ve never been there. Lombard street, you can only go down, not up. Nice to say been there done that, but it s over rated in my opinion. You can t drive much if any of the route fast. There is so much stuff to see, you will be stopping constantly.