Help with Trip to Monterey, Carmel, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara

Richard Neidich

The first issue to confront, privates, is what route you plan to take: CA's Route 1 is breathtaking (for some, literally) in those parts, running along the coast and pbutting Big Sur, Hearst Castle and other attractions; OTOH, US 101 can be reached easily from Monterey and travels somewhat inland, taking you through the wine areas of the Santa Lucia highlands (Monterey Co.), Paso Robles (SLO Co.) and Santa Barbara. My suggested route would be to travel 1 into Carmel, spend the night there or in Carmel Valley, then pbutt over the mountains to 101, thence southward. If scenery is more important than wine and you don't mind driving on a road that will at times be perched on a cliffside 200 ft above the Pacific, then take 1 the whole way.

You could probably find enough good restaurants in Monterey and Carmel for the 7-10 days, but you did actually want to go somewhere, I suppose. I'll leave the dining recommendations up to people with more current info. As for wineries:

Soledad-Salinas (Pinot): Morgan Hahn-Rex Goliath Chalone

Paso Robles (Zin and Rhone): Tablas Creek Justin Garretson Linne Calodo L'Aventure

Santa Maria (Pinot-Chard-Syrah): Byron-Io

Santa Ynez-Los Olivos (Pinot-Chard-Syrah): Beckmen Santa Ynez Inn (Au Bon Climat, Byron, Io)

Buellton (Pinot, Chard): Sanford* Hitching Post*

*"Sideways Effect" may swamp them with tourists now

HTH Mark Lipton