California: Yosemite, Sequoia and the Big Sur Coast

1. Day 1: Arrive in San Francisco

   San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to your hotel in San Francisco

   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in San Francisco
   Day 1 details

   Fly into San Francisco International Airport (SFO). We meet arrivals at set times through the day and drive you about 30 minutes north to a central hotel; the pick-up windows come with your final itinerary. If you land early, the city is good on foot: ride a cable car over Nob Hill, walk the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building, or look out to Alcatraz from the waterfront. Alcatraz tickets often sell out weeks ahead, so book them yourself before you fly if you want to go. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group at the hotel for a short briefing: how the days are paced, what to pack for cool mornings at 2,000 m and fog on the coast, and how the food-storage rules work in parks where black bears live. Then we walk to a welcome dinner nearby. The Golden Gate Bridge comes at the end of the trip, on the way back to the airport, so a late flight in cannot cost you it.

   Included

   • Pick-up at San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner in San Francisco

   Optional experiences

   • Alcatraz (book your own tickets ahead)

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

2. Day 2: Across the Central Valley into Yosemite

   San Francisco to Yosemite Valley on Highway 120

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Yosemite National Park
   Day 2 details

   We leave at 8 am, cross the Bay Bridge and head east through the orchards and farmland of the Central Valley. It is about four hours of driving in all, and we break it with a sit-down lunch in the Gold Country foothills on Highway 120 before the climb into the park. After the Big Oak Flat entrance the road drops toward the Merced River and the valley opens up: El Capitan, a granite wall about 900 m high, is the first giant you meet. We stop in El Capitan Meadow to look for climbers on the face, then walk the short path to the foot of Bridalveil Fall, which blows sideways in the wind. In the late afternoon we check in for two nights in the valley or at El Portal, just outside the park gate, so tomorrow starts in Yosemite instead of four hours away. The evening is free: walk down to the river, or eat early and rest.

   Included

   • Drive from San Francisco to Yosemite with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in the Sierra foothills
   • Yosemite National Park entry
   • El Capitan Meadow and Bridalveil Fall

   Free time: Evening free in Yosemite

   Activity: Short walks only today, about 2 km in all.

3. Day 3: Yosemite Valley on foot, then Glacier Point

   A guided walk on the Yosemite Valley floor, then up to Glacier Point

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Yosemite National Park
   Day 3 details

   At 8 am, before the valley car parks fill, a local naturalist guide walks the valley floor with us. We start at Lower Yosemite Fall, at the foot of Yosemite Falls, which drop about 740 m in three steps, cross Cook's Meadow with Half Dome and Sentinel Rock above, and follow the Merced River to Swinging Bridge. Along the way you hear how glaciers shaped the valley, how the Ahwahneechee people lived here, and how Yosemite became one of the first protected landscapes in the US; it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The walk is about 5 km on the flat. Lunch is in the valley, then the early afternoon is yours. At about 4 pm we drive up past Tunnel View to Glacier Point, about 975 m above the valley floor, where Half Dome, Vernal and Nevada Falls and the high country catch the late light. We are back in the valley for dinner on your own.

   Included

   • Guided walk on the Yosemite Valley floor with a local naturalist guide: Lower Yosemite Fall, Cook's Meadow, the Merced River and Swinging Bridge
   • Lunch in Yosemite Valley
   • Glacier Point in the late afternoon (in season)

   Optional experiences

   • Bike rental in Yosemite Valley

   Easier option: Stay in the valley after lunch: ride the free valley shuttle, visit the Yosemite Museum, or rest, and rejoin the group for dinner.

   More active option: Walk down from Glacier Point to the valley floor on the Four Mile Trail with your guide, about 7.5 km and 975 m of descent, 3 to 4 hours, instead of riding back.

   Free time: Early afternoon free in the valley

   Activity: Glacier Point Road is usually open from late May or June into the autumn. When it is closed we go to Tunnel View and Valley View for the evening light instead.

4. Day 4: Tunnel View, Grant Grove and into Sequoia

   Yosemite Valley to Tunnel View and Fresno, then Grant Grove in Kings Canyon and the Generals Highway into Sequoia National Park

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sequoia National Park
   Day 4 details

   We leave at 8 am and stop first at Tunnel View, where El Capitan, Bridalveil Fall and Half Dome line up in the morning sun. Today is one of the two longest days, about five hours of driving, because no road crosses the Sierra between Yosemite and Sequoia: we go down through the foothills and around by Fresno, about two and a half hours, with a coffee stop in Oakhurst. We break the drive with a sit-down lunch in Fresno at about 11:30, then climb Highway 180 for about an hour and a quarter to Grant Grove in Kings Canyon National Park, first protected in 1890 as General Grant National Park. A short loop leads to the General Grant Tree, named the Nation's Christmas Tree in 1926, and through the Fallen Monarch, a hollow sequoia trunk you can walk inside. The last hour is on the Generals Highway, with a stop at the Kings Canyon Overlook for the view into the high country, and we reach our lodge inside the parks at about 4:30 pm for two nights.

   Included

   • Tunnel View in the morning
   • Sit-down lunch in Fresno
   • Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks entry
   • Grant Grove: the General Grant Tree and the Fallen Monarch
   • Kings Canyon Overlook on the Generals Highway

   Free time: Evening free at the lodge

   Activity: About 2 km on paved paths in Grant Grove, at about 2,000 m.

   

5. Day 5: The Giant Forest

   A day in the Giant Forest: General Sherman, the Congress Trail, Moro Rock and Crescent Meadow

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sequoia National Park
   Day 5 details

   Staying inside the parks means we reach the General Sherman Tree, a short drive from the lodge, before about 9 am, ahead of the day visitors. It is the largest known living tree on Earth by volume, about 84 m tall and more than 2,000 years old. From there the Congress Trail, a paved loop of about 3.2 km, winds through the House and Senate groups of sequoias. We do not rush it: there is time to stop and look up, and if the group wants longer, your guide extends the stop and shortens the afternoon. Lunch is a picnic by a meadow in the Giant Forest, followed by the Giant Forest Museum. From the museum we ride the park shuttle along the Moro Rock and Crescent Meadow road, which is closed to vehicles over 22 feet. We climb about 350 steps to the top of Moro Rock for the view over the Great Western Divide, walk through or past Tunnel Log, a fallen sequoia cut through for the road, and stroll the edge of Crescent Meadow. We are back at the lodge by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is free.

   Included

   • The General Sherman Tree early in the morning
   • The Congress Trail with your guide, extended on request
   • Picnic lunch in the Giant Forest
   • Giant Forest Museum
   • Moro Rock and Crescent Meadow by park shuttle, with a walk through or past Tunnel Log

   Easier option: Skip the Moro Rock steps and stay with the sequoias around the Giant Forest Museum and Round Meadow.

   More active option: In the free late afternoon, walk the Tokopah Falls trail from Lodgepole with your guide, about 5.5 km return along the Kaweah River to a granite cliff and waterfall.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: About 6 km on foot in all, at about 2,000 m, with about 350 steps up Moro Rock. The Moro Rock and Crescent Meadow road is closed to vehicles over 22 feet, so we reach Moro Rock, Tunnel Log and Crescent Meadow on the park shuttle from the Giant Forest Museum; when the shuttle is not running, we use a confirmed alternative such as a smaller vehicle. We confirm before you travel.

   

6. Day 6: From the big trees to the coast

   Sequoia National Park down the Generals Highway to Three Rivers, then Paso Robles and Cambria

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Cambria
   Day 6 details

   A last walk in the Giant Forest first: at about 8 am we take the Big Trees Trail, a level loop of about 1.2 km around Round Meadow, while the low sun lights the red trunks. We leave at 9 am. The Generals Highway drops about 1,400 m in a long series of bends to the Kaweah River, about an hour to Three Rivers, with a stop at Hospital Rock to see pictographs painted by the people who lived here. This is the second of the two longest days, about five hours of driving, because the parks lie far inland from the coast. From Three Rivers it is about three and a half hours across the Central Valley and the coast hills, broken at Paso Robles, a wine-country town, with a sit-down lunch, then Highway 46 to Cambria. We reach Cambria at about 4 pm; the day has little slack, so stops are kept short. Before dinner on your own, walk the boardwalk along Moonstone Beach, where the light goes gold over the Pacific.

   Included

   • The Big Trees Trail in the Giant Forest
   • Hospital Rock pictographs
   • Sit-down lunch in Paso Robles
   • Moonstone Beach boardwalk in Cambria

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Cambria

   Activity: Easy walking only: about 3 km in all.

   

7. Day 7: Highway 1 through Big Sur

   Cambria to Piedras Blancas, Big Sur and Point Lobos, then Monterey

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Monterey
   Day 7 details

   We drive north at 8:30 am, and twenty minutes later stop at the Piedras Blancas viewing area, where northern elephant seals haul out on the beach below the boardwalk all year; winter and spring bring the most. From Ragged Point Highway 1 runs along the cliffs of Big Sur, with the Santa Lucia Mountains dropping straight into the sea. At Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park a short path leads to the overlook above McWay Falls, which falls about 24 m onto a cove beach. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Big Sur, then Bixby Creek Bridge, built in 1932 high over a canyon mouth. At Point Lobos we walk the Cypress Grove Trail among wind-bent Monterey cypress and look for sea otters and harbour seals in the coves. We reach Monterey in the late afternoon for free time on the waterfront before a farewell dinner. If a slide closes Highway 1, we drive inland on US 101 to Monterey and see Point Lobos and Bixby Bridge from the north; McWay Falls is then lost.

   Included

   • Piedras Blancas elephant seal viewing area
   • Highway 1 through Big Sur with your guide
   • McWay Falls overlook, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
   • Sit-down lunch in Big Sur
   • Bixby Creek Bridge
   • Point Lobos State Natural Reserve entry and the Cypress Grove Trail
   • Farewell dinner in Monterey

   Easier option: Stay at the McWay Falls and Bixby Bridge viewpoints, a few minutes from the van, and sit out the Point Lobos walk.

   More active option: Add the South Shore Trail at Point Lobos to the Cypress Grove loop, about 5 km in all along the coves.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Monterey before dinner

   Activity: About 4 km of walking in short sections on coastal paths. Big Sur is often foggy in summer mornings and clears through the day.

8. Day 8: The Golden Gate Bridge and home

   Monterey to the Golden Gate Bridge, then San Francisco International Airport (SFO)

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   Start with an early walk along the Monterey waterfront on your own, past Fisherman's Wharf and Cannery Row, where sea otters often float in the kelp just offshore. We leave at about 9:30 am and drive north through the Santa Clara Valley and the Peninsula, about two and a half hours, to the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge. This is the finale, kept for the last day so that nobody misses it to a late flight on day 1. We walk out on the bridge's sidewalk toward the south tower, high above the water at the mouth of the bay, with Alcatraz, the city and the Marin Headlands around you; the bridge opened in 1937. After a quick lunch near the bridge on your own, it is about 40 minutes to San Francisco International Airport (SFO), arriving at about 2:30 pm. Your guide sees you to departures. Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm.

   Included

   • Walk onto the Golden Gate Bridge with your guide
   • Drop-off at San Francisco International Airport (SFO)

   Easier option: If your flight leaves before about 5 pm, we can drop you at SFO on the way north at about noon, and you skip the bridge walk.

   Free time: Early morning free in Monterey

   Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm. If you are staying on in San Francisco, we can drop you downtown instead of at the airport.

Wildlife and weather: Yosemite's waterfalls are fullest in May and June and can shrink to a trickle by late August; Glacier Point Road is usually open from late May or June into the autumn. Summer days in the Central Valley often pass 35 C while park mornings at 2,000 m are cool, and the coast is often foggy from June to August. Look for mule deer and black bears in the parks, elephant seals at Piedras Blancas all year (the most in winter and spring), and sea otters and harbour seals at Point Lobos and Monterey.

• San Francisco1 night
• Yosemite National Park2 nights
• Sequoia National Park2 nights
• Cambria1 night
• Monterey1 night