How to Travel Hack California: See how we saved over $3400 on our trip!

For a long time, I’ve wanted to see the west coast—specifically driving the Pacific Coast Highway.  California is one of the states our family still needed to see so I planned it for our big family vacation.  I’ve been planning this vacation for quite a while trying to not only get the best prices, but also figuring out exactly what we’d see and do.

I started by finding some dates that worked for us and looked up costs of hotels to get an idea of what we’d be spending for accommodations.  I knew that flights from Ohio would already be a pretty big chunk so I needed to have some sort of cost in mind to even begin budgeting.

We didn’t have a huge window on dates since our younger kids play soccer in June and our oldest starts marching band practices in August.  We were left with what is typically the busiest and most expensive time of the year, but I was determined to save as much as I could!  Read on to see where we visited and how we saved along the way.

Hilton Honors Benefits

Once I figured out the best week to go, I started booking our hotels.  Some of these I booked for cash, while others I booked on points.  My husband and I both have the Hilton Honors Surpass card and racked up quite a bit of points with their welcome offer last year.  We were able to use some of those points toward our hotel costs, which saved us over $1000 on this trip!  We’ve been pretty loyal to the Hilton brand for several years and have Diamond status, which gets us some nice extras when we stay in their hotels.

Our Favorite Hilton Brands

Typically, we go for either Embassy Suites or Hampton Inns because we enjoy their benefits most.  Embassy allows our family of five to sleep comfortably because they offer rooms with two beds, plus a sleeper sofa. 

In addition, they have a free evening manager’s reception that includes drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) and a free made-to-order breakfast.  Hamptons are typically less expensive and still offer free breakfast.  However, they don’t usually offer rooms with three beds.  Either way, staying at a hotel with free breakfast can really save you on your cost of dining.  Plus, it’s just one less meal you have to plan.

Some of the other Hotels in the Hilton Portfolio offer other perks like food and beverage credit and room upgrades with our Diamond status.

Always Book REFUNDABLE Rooms

No matter what, when I book any hotel, I always choose a refundable rate.  Most of the time, the advertised prices are pay-in-advance, non-refundable rates.  Although the savings is tempting, I will pay a higher price so I have the ability to cancel, if needed. 

There have been plenty of times that I’ve canceled and rebooked for a cheaper amount—either cash or points.  However, it does seem that the best rates/point redemption amounts are given the earlier you book.  So even if I have a few dates in mind, I’ll book them all and cancel what I don’t need once my plans are finalized.

Best Time to Book Accommodations

I started booking our hotels about 6-8 months in advance and have checked costs pretty regularly in that time, only to find them significantly higher than when I initially booked them.

For this trip, my initial plan was to fly into San Francisco and fly out of San Diego. However, hotel prices and availability were much better starting in San Diego and ending in San Francisco so we went with that.

When to Book Flights

Although I have found that booking hotels further out yields better prices, flights don’t always work that way.  Flight prices change from day to day and the booking “sweet spot” really depends on where you’re flying.  For us, we typically find the best prices for domestic flights around 3 months before we depart.

When I first started searching for ONE-WAY flights from Cleveland to San Diego, they were high—about $450/person and the same for a return flight from San Francisco.  Yikes!  There was no way that a $900 flight x 5 people was in our budget!  I also knew that it was a little too far in advance to book anything since some of the cheaper airlines hadn’t even posted their summer rates yet.

Flying Frontier

We fly with Frontier quite often because they run really good deals from Cleveland, often times non-stop.  Right around 3 months out, I received an email from Frontier about their non-stop service to California from Cleveland. I went to their site and did some searching!  I found roundtrip, non-stop flights for under $200/person—and that even included bags!

Keep in mind that Frontier is a budget airlines so everything extra comes at a cost (bags, seats, help checking in at the airport, snacks, etc.). It’s been a while since we flew Frontier with bags–we typically just carry on personal bags and skip the fee altogether. However, we checked a bag for this trip and found out that Frontier does not allow you to check your bags until exactly two-hours before you flight is scheduled to leave.

We got to the airport a little early and there were no lines at Frontier or security. Since we couldn’t check our bags until exactly two hours beforehand, we ended up needing to wait in a line for both checking bags and security. Honestly, if I ever need to check a bag again, I will NOT use Frontier. Some airports are so busy that they tell you to be there three hours prior. If that were the case for us, we probably would have missed our flight.

San Diego

I wanted to spend at least a couple of days in the big cities and San Diego was our first stop. 

Double Tree by Hilton – Downtown San Diego (Thursday)

Thursday night, we stayed at the Doubletree in Downtown San Diego.  I was able to secure a room with 50k Hilton Honors points, saving us roughly $250/night.  Initially, when I booked our flight, it was an early flight so I had some different hotel plans for the night.  However, shortly after we booked, our flight was changed.  Thankfully, I had refundable hotel reservations so I was able to switch things around without losing out on money/points.

Little Italy

Our flight ended up arriving around 6pm giving us some time to explore.  Our hotel was right near Little Italy so we were able to park our car and walk everywhere.  The last thing I wanted to do is fight traffic after a five-hour flight, so we chose a hotel right in the action.  We do this for any big city we visit because it not only saves on the hassle of dealing with traffic, but parking costs too.  Parking at the hotel isn’t really cheap, but it’s cheaper than parking at several different places as you hop around the city.

Because we were making the drive up the California coast and always on the move, we hotel hopped each day.  This allowed us to minimize our drive time in the big cities.  Instead of driving back and forth to one hotel, we planned our activities around our hotel location. 

Rental Car (Budget)

We also did a one-way car rental, which allowed us to rent a car at the San Diego Airport and return it in San Francisco.  Costs are higher with one-way rentals than they are when you rent and return at the same location.  However, in our case, it’s really the only option we had for our itinerary.

We used Budget Car Rental, which actually has a deal with Amazon where you can get better rates and an Amazon rebate.  This is the first time we’ve used this service.  For all of our previous car rentals, we’ve used Expedia because we found great rates with free cancellation.  However, for this rental, the Amazon/Budget option actually ended up being cheaper so we decided to give it a try!  We opted for a mid-sized SUV and paid $663 for 9 days (refundable rate).  Then once our car was returned, we received an Amazon credit for $48 added right to our account.

Parking Budget

Just be sure when you’re budgeting your trip, that you add in the cost of parking.  Whether it’s hotel parking, airport parking or just parking around town, those are fees that really add up.  And when you rent a car, you have to factor these in as well as any tolls and gas.  The cost of parking at this Doubletree was $35/night.  We can typically find cheaper parking through SpotHero, but I wasn’t able to find any overnight parking in any of the cities we stayed on this trip. 

Breakfast + Coronado Island

Friday morning, we had breakfast in our hotel.  Since we’re Hilton Diamond members, we get $30 in Food and Beverage Credit when we stay at certain Hilton hotels.  Breakfast is pretty expensive at this hotel so we ordered two meals that we shared and paired it with some other breakfast foods I packed (cereal, pop tarts, donuts, etc.) 

After that, we headed to Coronado Island.  We wanted to check out the beach and just see the town.  Our youngest son, Tyler, had a blast finding shells and sand dollars.  It was also the first time any of us got to see the Pacific Ocean.  Being from Ohio, most of our beach trips have been to the East Coast or the Caribbean so this was new to us!

It’s totally different on this side of the US.  Even in southern California, the water is cold—it’s not that shimmery blue, warm water that we’re used to. However, it has its own charm.  The waves are huge and watching the surfers is pretty cool. 

San Diego Zoo

We then headed over to the San Diego Zoo.  This Zoo is one of the largest in the world.  It’s also a pretty big expense ($69 adults/$59 kids).  The zoo is gorgeous with nicely paved paths and a good amount of shade.  While we were there, San Diego was having a heat wave so many of the animals seemed to be hiding.  I thought this would be one of the kids’ favorite activities. However, I think the combination of the heat, walking and all the animals hiding was the reason it was one of their least favorites.

Casa Guadalajara – Old Town, San Diego

We ended up spending around 4 hours at the zoo and didn’t even see all of it.  The kids were tired and hungry so we decided to cut our day short and head to lunch outside of the zoo.  One of the things I planned was to check out Old Town San Diego.  We ate at Casa Guadalajara for lunch, which was in the area.  This was a Mexican restaurant with great food—and a ton of it!  We each ate about half of what was on our plate and decided to box it up and take it back to our hotel to snack on later. 

Go City LA Pass

We purchased the GoCity LA pass, which included admission fees to several places in LA as well as the San Diego Zoo and Legoland California.  Our pass was purchased through Tickets at Work, which is a discount retailer for all types of activities, car rentals, hotels and more.  These passes are already discounted through Tickets at Work, but I had a coupon bringing the cost down to $204 for adults (13+) and $188 for kids.

Go City All-Inclusive Option

We purchased the 3-day All-Inclusive pass, which allowed us to enter as many of the included activities for three days (over the course of 14 days).  Since the pass doesn’t have to be used for three consecutive days, we were able to use it in San Diego Friday and then LA on Sunday and Monday.  Entrance to the San Diego Zoo is high and even with discounts, we still would have paid $69 for kids and $55 for adults. 

Go City – Fine Print

Although the pass offers some great discounts, there are some caveats that you need to pay attention to if you’re planning to purchase it.  For instance, both San Diego Zoo and Legoland are included, but you have to do these activities on two DIFFERENT days.  So, we couldn’t go to the zoo on Friday morning and Legoland Friday afternoon.  The good thing for us is that we were only planning on going to the zoo, so we didn’t need access to both.

Embassy Suites – La Jolla (Friday)

By the time we finished lunch, our room became available.  Hilton offers digital key, which allows us to choose a room that we want and when it becomes available, we’re notified via the app.   This was perfect because the kids were exhausted and just wanted to go to the hotel and swim!

We stayed at the Embassy Suites in La Jolla, which we booked on points as well.  The hotel was another 60k Hilton Honors points and saved $270 on our hotel costs for the night.  We did have to pay extra for on-site parking, which was $40 for the night.

The hotel had an indoor pool and outdoor hot tub, which was the perfect place to spend the rest of the afternoon.  Although our hotel wasn’t near the water, it was in a great location!  We were right across the street from Westfield UTC, which is an outdoor shopping mall.  After swimming, we headed over to the mall to check it out. 

Westfield UTC Shopping Center

The kids probably spent 30+ minutes in the Tesla store playing around with the features of the cars on display.  Did you know that they have a fart/whoopie cushion feature?  I didn’t, but our boys did!  There was also a Lego store, which suck in all my boys (including Dad)! 

Perks at Embassy Suites

We didn’t see all of the stores, but wanted to head back to our hotel for the Manager’s Reception.  I’ve already mentioned that Embassy Suites is our favorite Hilton brand.  One of the nicest perks is getting some free drinks and snacks.  We had initially planned to head to La Jolla Cove to check out the seals, but the kids wanted to go back over to the mall.  We decided to save La Jolla Cove for the morning before we headed to LA.    

Between the late lunch + leftovers and the Manager’s Reception at the hotel, we didn’t even end up needing to grab dinner, which saved us some money on food.   

The next morning, we enjoyed a free cooked-to-order breakfast at our hotel.  Embassy Suites offers a great breakfast spread allowing us to get a good start to our day! 

La Jolla Cove (Saturday)

After breakfast, we headed to La Jolla Cove to see the seals. It took a little time to find a parking spot, but we ended up snagging one after driving around the block a few times.  The kids were getting restless driving around, but once they saw all of the seals, I think their tone changed.  They ended up really enjoying this part of the trip so I’m glad we made the stop. 

In La Jolla, the seals and sea lions just hang out on the beach.  We were able to go down to the beach to get a closer look, but be sure to stay far enough away because they will bite!  And they can actually move pretty fast!  There was a huge seal in the water and a baby seal on the beach.  The big seal started barking pretty loud and chased after the little one.  I never ran so fast up stairs in my life!  Shortly after we got back, there was actually a news report about this same incident happening on a different day. 

Pacific Highway 1

We then began our journey up the coast to LA.  The goal of our trip was to see as much of the Pacific Coast Highway as we could.  My plan was to take the scenic route up PCH 1 the entire trip, but it added on hours of drive time so we hopped on and off.  We did drive through Dana Point and Laguna Beach, which seemed like fun little coastal towns that I’d love to get back to see! 

Los Angeles

Once we hit LA, we stopped downtown to grab lunch.  I wanted to check out the Grand Central Market, Angels Flight and the Last Bookstore, while the kids wanted to go to Little Tokyo for Korean Corn Dogs.  As I was planning the trip, I found parking via SpotHero right near Grand Central Market for $6 that allowed us to park from 11am-6pm.  We booked this in advance rather than getting to the city and not knowing where we’d park.  I didn’t want to spend a bunch of time driving around trying to find somewhere to park and end up spending more than we needed.    

I opted for a slice of Key Lime Pie from Fat and Flour inside the Grand Central Market—and it was delicious!  The kids were so excited to try Two Hands Corn Dogs in Little Tokyo.  They have a few different varieties, but the kids wanted the cheese on a stick that was dipped in potatoes and covered in flaming hot Cheeto dust.  Apparently, this is a big thing on Tik Tok so we just had to do it!  Honestly, they tasted pretty good—just not something I could eat a ton of though.

One thing we learned on this trip is that California’s temps fluctuate significantly depending on where you are.  If you’re by the water, the temps are considerably lower than if you’re inland.  Downtown LA was HOT so once the kids ate, we headed to the California Science Center to cool off in the air conditioning. 

California Science Center

Our kids love Science Centers and this one was right on our way—and free—making it a good choice!  There is parking on-site for $15.  We probably spent 1.5-2 hours at the Science Center and were able to see all of the exhibits; however, you could easily spend more time there, especially if you plan to see an IMAX show or check out the additional exhibits that aren’t free.

Hampton Inn and Suites – Santa Monica

By this time in the day, the kids were again ready to get to the hotel to swim and relax.  We stayed in Santa Monica at the Hampton Inn and Suites for the night.  This hotel is within walking distance to the beach and the iconic Santa Monica Pier.

We again, saved about $500 for the night by booking the hotel on points (70k Hilton Honors).  Parking was extra and not cheap ($50/night).  In the past, we’ve used Spot Hero to find parking garages nearby and spend a fraction of the cost; however, I couldn’t find anything near our hotel that was either available or really any cheaper.

In addition, some of the big cities in California like LA and San Francisco have become known for car break ins.  Because of this, I did not want to chance it and leave our car in some random cheaper lot only to find a busted window the next morning.  So, we sucked it up and paid the fee!

Santa Monica Pier + Third Street Promenade

After relaxing for a bit, we decided to grab some dinner and head to the pier.  We ate at HiHo Cheeseburger, which was a short walk from the hotel.  Their burgers were really good!  We then headed to the pier and finished our night checking out the Third Street Promenade.  We ordered a flight of 5 scoops of ice cream from McConnel’s for dessert.

Beverly Hills – Rodeo Drive – LACMA (Sunday)

On Sunday morning, we woke up and had breakfast at our hotel, which was included.  Afterwards, we headed out to explore more of the city.  We started by heading to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive.  We really didn’t have anything planned in the area; we just wanted to drive around.  Beverly Hills was, by far, the nicest area of the city.  It was cool just to see some of the houses!  They were gorgeous!

We then headed to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to check out the Urban Light exhibit.  The exhibit is outdoors and free to the public.  It’s a bunch of street lights all in one small area, but the way they are arranged is so cool.  I would have loved to check it out at night, but we just weren’t near it at that time so the morning had to do!

We found free parking right outside the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, which we were heading to see as well.  Since it was Sunday, there was no charge for the meters—and I carried a bookbag with all of our electronics and valuables, just in case the care was broken into! 

La Brea Tar Pits

We used the Go City Pass again today—using the second day of our three-day pass.  The La Brea Tar Pits are all around the museum and thousands of bones have been excavated from the pits over the years.  You can see those without going into the museum; however, since the museum was included with our Go City Pass, we decided to check it out!

It’s similar to a Natural History Museum displaying skeletons of ice age animals and dinosaurs.  It’s pretty small so easily doable within an hour; however, you can allot for more time if you’re really reading all of the displays.  The cost of the museum was $15 Adults and $7 kids, but we didn’t pay anything since we used our Go City Pass (total savings of $59).

Warner Brothers Studio Tour

We had an 11am Warner Brothers Studio Tour reservation so we left the La Brea Tar Pits Museum and headed to Burbank.  We enjoyed the tour; however, depending on what shows you like or what set you get to see, it may be more or less exciting.  I love Gilmore Girls and Pretty Little Liars and the tour takes you to those outdoor sets.  Fun Fact—the church in Gilmore Girls and Pretty Little Liars is the same!

All American is also currently filming so seeing some of their sets was also really cool.  If you’re a Friend’s fan, they have an entire store and café for you. Plus you can take a picture on the couch in front of the fountain.  We did get to go in a set for Bob Hearts Abashola, but neither of us watch it so we didn’t know those references.

Part of the tour is guided and the other is self-guided.  For the guided portion, you board a tram and get taken around to visit the backlot and some of the sets.  The tram then takes you to the Central Perk Café where you can eat and shop.  There are also some extra sets you can see like Big Bang Theory and the Central Perk set.  You can stay as long as you like in the Central Perk Café. Then just hop on the tram to get back to where you started, which had a museum of sorts with Harry Potter and Marvel exhibits as well as a huge Warner Brother’s store. 

The kids weren’t huge fans of the guided tour, but more so because they didn’t know any of the shows they referenced.  They did, however, enjoy the self-guided portion.  We spent about two hours at the Studio, but you can easily spend more time.  Honestly, if we didn’t have the kids with us, I bet my husband and I would have easily spent 3-4 hours checking it out.

This was another activity covered with our Go City Pass, saving us $340 (Regular price Adults:$70, Kids:$60). One thing to note about this activity is that you do need to make advanced reservations. It’s simple though, just send an email to Warner Brothers with your Go City Pass number and they get you booked pretty quickly!

Hollywood Museum + Mel’s Diner

Once we were done with the tour, we headed back into Hollywood and were able to see the Walk of Fame. Then, we had lunch at Mel’s Diner, which was really good and reasonably priced.  Right next to Mel’s is the Hollywood Museum.  It’s not huge, but has 4 floors of movie memorabilia. 

We got through it in about 30 minutes, but if you’re a movie buff, I’d set aside more time to really take it all in.  The kids actually enjoyed checking this place out! It was also part of our Go City Pass so we didn’t have to pay anything extra (Adults $15 and kids $12, saving us $66 total). 

Madame Tussaud’s

From there, we headed over to Madame Tussaud’s, which is a wax museum.  This was one of their favorite places we went.  Actually, Hollywood ended up being their favorite town/place we visited on our entire trip. This was another activity included with our Go City Pass, saving us another $179.95 ($35.99/person).

We parked in the LADOT Parking Garage on Highland Ave., which is typically $2/20 minutes (yes—many of the garages are priced per 20 minutes, not per hour so watch that).  However, you can get your parking validated when shopping or dining in certain stores or restaurants.  We grabbed a few drinks at Walgreens, which validated our parking and made our parking cost for the first 2 hours $3, which saved us some money.

Griffith Observatory

We planned to head to Two-Bit Circus for the night, which is an arcade type place and was included on our Go City Pass. However, their hours changed and they were no longer open on Sundays.  Instead, we drove around Hollywood trying to get the best view of the Hollywood sign.  We drove up to the Griffith Observatory, where you can get some really great shots.  I planned to go in and check out the observatory, but it was PACKED so we just drove around it, snapped some pictures and headed to our hotel.

Hampton Inn – Burbank

Since LA is so big, we actually stayed in three different hotels in the city.  Santa Monica is near the beach, but it’s close to an hour drive to Hollywood!  And depending on traffic, it can be longer than that!  Since most of our plans were in the Hollywood area on Sunday and then Universal Studios on Monday, we stayed in Burbank for the night at the Hampton Inn and Suites.

We scored a room at this hotel with two beds and a pull-out sofa making it a perfect fit for our family of 5!  For most stays, we squeeze into a room with two beds, although we’re getting to the point where the kids are having a harder time sharing a bed between the three of them!  Not many hotels offer rooms with three beds so our only other option is to add on another room, which is a huge expense.  That’s why we try to find hotels that offer suites with two beds and a pull-out sofa like Embassy or Home 2 Suites. 

We really do enjoy Hilton brand hotels and Hampton Inns are one of our favorites because they are cheap, relatively easy to find anywhere we travel and offer free breakfast.  This one, however, also offered cookies and milk from 6-8pm, which was a nice touch!  The kids really enjoyed the warm pool and hot tub too.

Universal CityWalk Hollywood

After the kids enjoyed some pool time, we decided to head over to Universal Studios Citywalk.  We love the vibe in Orlando, especially later in the evening when it cools off.  Hollywood was nice too, although they don’t offer parking for free after 6pm like Orlando does. 

Parking in CityWalk

It’s $10 to park—so just be sure to budget that in.  We checked out the shops and ended up grabbing a bite to eat at Margaritaville.  The food was good, but Orlando typically has live music, which is nice.  This one did not have that though. 

Although Hollywood and Orlando’s CityWalks are similar, I’d say Orlando is the better of the two. It’s bigger and I feel like it’s so much more lively.

In the morning, we had an early breakfast at the hotel (included) and headed to Universal Studios Hollywood for opening.  If you’ve visited Universal Studios Orlando, you almost need to wipe anything you know about it away because Hollywood is pretty different.

Universal Studios Hollywood (Monday)

One of the things I miss most with Hollywood is that they don’t have the on-site hotels like Orlando does.  We love Orlando’s on-site hotel options, which include complimentary transportation to the parks, early entry and even express passes with certain hotel stays.  In Hollywood, these things are either non-existent or cost extra. 

In Orlando, early park admission can really give you an advantage and allow you to ride several rides before the park opens to the public.  This option in Hollywood is $20/person extra and gets you into Super Mario World.  I knew our family wouldn’t be up and ready to go for a 7am entrance, so we opted to arrive at park opening at 8am instead. 

Go City Pass – Universal Hollywood

Because we purchased the 3-Day GoCity All-Includsive Pass, we also got access to Universal Studios Hollywood.  This is a premium attraction and can only be used once with a three-day pass.  The ticket for Universal was $130 for Adults and $124 kids (saving us a total of $644)! Last year, we had season passes to Universal Studios Florida and our kids LOVED it and were excited to check out Hollywood and see the new Super Mario World.

The GoCity Pass allows you to check out as many activities as you can, but your pass has to be scanned by 5:30pm.  When we arrived, we got right in and headed to Super Mario World.  It’s a hike to get down to the lower lot and there were already a ton of people there. 

Super Mario World

On our way to Super Mario World, we passed the Mummy, which had a 5-minute wait.  We literally walked right onto the ride so as soon as we were done, we hopped back in line and did it again!  The ride is similar to the one in Orlando, but it’s not exactly the same so be sure to give it a try!

Once we got to Super Mario World it was so packed and the Mario Kart ride was already at a 180-minute wait.  We decided to skip it and come back to it later in the afternoon.  We did the Jurassic World ride, which was also in the lower lot before heading back to the upper lot to check out everything else.

Since the Studio Tour was only a 10 minute wait, we hopped in line.  The kids like this studio tour a lot better than the Warner Brothers Tour.  This tour is included in your Universal Ticket and is about 45min to an hour.  If you’re familiar with Universal Orlando, this tour combines several rides (an actual tour of Universal Studios, Jaws, Kong, Fast and Furious and more).  It’s definitely a must-do in this park!

We also checked out Hogsmeade and had some butter beer, but the ride lines were already over an hour.  They have Flight of the Hippogriff and Forbidden Journey.  Since we’ve ridden those rides several times in Orlando, the kids didn’t want to wait.  We headed over to Kung Fu Panda and then Minion land.  A lot of the rides in these areas seem to be more geared towards smaller kids. 

There aren’t any real roller-coasters, which my kids were bummed about.  However, Hollywood still has many of the 3D rides like Transformers, Simpsons, and Minions, plus a Secret Life of Pets ride.

We headed over to the Waterworld show, which everyone really enjoyed and then headed back into Minion land for their Felonious Float.  It’s a blue-raspberry ice with banana frozen yogurt—and it was pretty tasty!  By this time every ride was over an hour and it was over 100 degrees so our kids had enough.  They were ready to cool off. 

TCL Chinese Theater

Since we were moving hotels again and our room wasn’t ready, we decided to head back into Hollywood to see a movie at the TCL Chinese Theater.   With the Go City Pass, we were able to either take a tour of the Chinese Theater or watch a movie and get either a small popcorn or small drink.  Tickets for the show were $16 adults and $14 for kids.  A small drink was $6.50 and a small popcorn was $8.50 so the go City Pass definitely saved us $110.50!

We watched Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, which was really good.  It was a great way to beat the head and grab a cold drink!  Plus, if you park in the TCL lot, they will validate 4 hours of parking for $3!  If you have the Go City Pass, but don’t want to see a movie, I suggest getting tickets anyways so you can at least get the validated parking. Plus you can get a free drink/popcorn while you’re at it! 

After the movie, we talked about checking out the park again, but it was still so hot and the ride lines were still super long (download the Universal Studios Hollywood app to see wait times).  So, we ended up just heading to our next hotel. 

Hilton Garden Inn – Calabassas

On Monday night, we headed north to Calabasas and stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn for the night.  Because this hotel was outside of the city it was cheaper and also included free parking—finally!

Unfortunately, this hotel does NOT offer free breakfast; however, because we’re Diamond Hilton members, we get a $20 Food and Beverage Credit.  Usually each of the kids grab a few snacks from their market to use the credit.  We don’t normally do their breakfast because it’s pricey and the food isn’t really any different than what you’d get at a Hampton for free.  McDonald’s was close so we stopped and grabbed some hashbrowns and sandwiches to go.

Grocery Run – Packed Lunches + Coastal Drive (Tuesday)

We also stopped at the grocery store and picked up some stuff to eat for lunch.  Food is a huge part of our budget and to help offset that cost. We had a couple of days planned where we packed a lunch and ate it on the way.  This was one of those days!  Our kids love snacking on lunchables so we created our own version with meats, cheeses, fruit, crackers and nuts and ate this on the way.

Solvang, CA

We continued back up the Pacific Coast driving through Malibu, Santa Barbara and making a stop in a unique town called Solvang.  I love small towns, but this one was so unique!  It looked like something you’d see in Europe. The town was super-cute and we had some fantastic pastries from Olsen’s.  Their apple strudel was out of this world! 

We walked around the town and stopped in a few shops along the way.  I could have easily spent hours looking through the shops, but my boys wouldn’t have that!  Plus, since we were inland,  it was over 100 degrees again!  We hopped back in the car and headed up north towards Pismo Beach.    

Pismo Beach

We got to our hotel early so our room wasn’t quite ready.  We were able to leave our car with valet and went to check out the beach.  The water is freezing so we didn’t swim, but enjoyed walking the beach and finding shells and sand dollars in the meantime.

By the time we hit this point in our trip (in mid-July) I was wearing jeans and a jacket.  Being by the water is so much cooler than it is inland so be sure to pack warmer clothes!

Inn at the Pier, Curio by Hilton – Pismo Beach

We stayed at the Inn at the Pier at Pismo Beach in an ocean-view balcony room.  We booked this hotel on points to save some money.  The hotel cash cost was over $300/night, but we were able to grab it for 70k  Hilton Honors points.  The only option for parking was valet, which cost $30/night. 

Because this is a Curio hotel and we’re Diamond Hilton members, we also received $30 in Food and Beverage credit.  We ended up walking to dinner at Wooly’s, but used our food and beverage credit for a few cocktails at the rooftop bar as we watched the sun set. 

Pismo Beach is a small coastal town with small shops and restaurants.  Our hotel was right on the beach and in the center of the town so we were able to walk to shops, restaurants and the pier.  My son was browsing the seashells at Pier Gifts and one of the workers noticed he was interested in all the different variety.  She took the time to tell us about the shells, which we really enjoyed! I definitely recommend checking out the store if you’re in the area!

We all really enjoyed Pismo Beach!  It ended up being one of our favorite stops on our trip!  The hotel was beautiful with a nice vibe and the town followed suit!  I would highly recommend a stop here if you’re in the area!

Big Sur – Carmel – Monterey (Wednesday)

In the morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast at Jack in the Box, packed a lunch and started our trek up to Monterey.  This is honestly the part of our trip I was most excited about.  The goal was to drive PCH 1 the entire way, but the road was washed out recently and is still under construction.  So, we had to detour around the construction and get to Monterey first before heading down PCH 1 from the north.

The views in Big Sur did not disappoint!  Even the kids enjoyed it!  There were several pull offs along the road that allowed us to get out of the car and explore.  We were able to take in some amazing views and even hike down to the beach and see the huge waves.  We also got some great shots of Bixby Bridge.  There was a dirt road heading north that we followed and were able to snap some cool photos.

17-Mile Drive: Carmel-by-the-Sea

From Big Sur, we headed back up towards Monterey and did the 17-Mile Drive in Carmel.  There is a fee to enter the 17-Mile drive ($11.25), but if you plan on visiting any of the shops and restaurants, you can get the fee waived.  The views here were also pretty cool!  We did most of the loop and stopped at several pull offs to explore and take pictures.

Old Fisherman’s Wharf

We then headed over to Old Fisherman’s Wharf where we checked out some of the shops and my husband and boys grabbed some seafood for an early dinner.  My middle kiddo, Cohen, is not a seafood fan and I’m not either so we grabbed some snacks and walked around while the others ate.  They tried the Grotto Fish Market and had a boil with a variety of fish.  They raved about it and it ended up being their favorite meal on the entire trip!

Canary Row

Afterwards, we went to over to Canary Row where I grabbed some food and the boys got dessert.  There are tons of shops and restaurants in the area so it’s a great place to check out!  It’s also home to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  We originally had this on our list of things to see, but we stayed an extra day in LA so we knocked an extra day off Monterey.  The Aquarium is also pretty expensive with no discounts that I could find ($59.95 Adults, 44.95 Kids). 

Embassy Suites – Monterey

After Canary Row, we headed to our hotel for the night (Embassy Suites in Monterey).  We booked this hotel on points saving us $419/night (70k Hilton Honors Points).  Because this hotel is considered a resort, it did include an additional $15 resort fee (which was waived since we booked on points) plus a $20 parking fee.  The resort fee did give us a $15 Food and Beverage credit, beach chairs, etc., which helped defer that cost. 

Because it’s an Embassy Suites, we also got to enjoy the evening manager’s reception and free cooked-to-order breakfast making it worth those points. 

Most Embassy Suites limit you to just two cocktails per adult, but this one did not limit us.  Plus, they had a few specialty cocktails available.  We tried their strawberry basil margarita, which was pretty good!  They also had Shirley Temples ready to go for the kids along with some snacks to munch on as well.

Monterey was pretty cold the day we arrived, but thankfully the hotel had an indoor pool.  The kids enjoyed some swimming and then headed to the hotel store to buy candy and ice cream with our food and beverage credit. 

In the morning, we woke up and enjoyed our cooked to order breakfast.  They had a great spread of food and even some different cooked to order items.  Tyler was pretty excited to get a freshly-made slice of avocado toast!

Muir Woods (Thursday)

After breakfast, we packed up and headed north to Muir Woods.  Muir woods is a National Monument filled with huge redwoods.  If you’re planning a trip, you will need to make reservations in advance for parking or if you plan to use their shuttle, both of which have fees.  Parking was $9 and the entrance fee was $15/adult (kids are free).

Muir Woods was beautiful and it was so cool to see all of the gigantic trees!  It was also very walkable—there was a boardwalk for much of our hike.  There are other hikes you can do that are off of the boardwalk, but you can see quite a bit from the boardwalk making it do-able for someone with mobility issues.

San Francisco

In order to get to Muir Woods, you have to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, which I was so excited to do.  Unfortunately, even though the sun was shining, fog loomed over the bridge.  We hoped the fog would clear by the time we were done at Muir Woods, but it didn’t.  And the next day wasn’t any better!  My best pictures actually came from our flight home when we flew over it.

Golden Gate Bridge

We did stop at the viewpoints on both sides of the bridge for photos, but we just didn’t have any luck.  We decided to stop at Fort Point since it was open with free entrance and free parking.  We always enjoy checking out museums or historical places when we travel—especially when they are free!

One thing to note is that the Golden Gate Bridge is free to cross when you’re heading north, but there is a fee coming back into the city.  The cost was $8.75 and I was able to pay for it right online.  We were in a rental car and avoided tolls on our entire drive, but this was a toll we had to pay. 

The online payment system was super easy; however, our rental car company still sent us a bill.  I noticed the charge on my credit card and had to call Budget to get that fee removed.  If you don’t pay the fee on your own, the rental car company charges a service fee on top of the toll, which ended up being over $15.  So you can save money by paying the toll online with Fast Track.

Kimpton Alton – San Francisco

We then headed to our hotel, which was the Kimpton Alton right near Fisherman’s Wharf.  I was honestly so nervous to park in the city.  San Francisco has become the break-in capital of America.  I’ve seen so many reports of cars getting broken into in broad daylight so I really didn’t want to park anywhere in the city—especially with a car full of valuables.

I had so many different hotels booked—some in the city, some outside the city, trying to see what area we could stay without having to worry.  I ended up finding a deal on Travelzoo for the Kimpton Alton Hotel in Downtown San Francisco.  It was $185/night with waived resort fees and discounted valet parking.

Hotel Parking

Parking at the hotel is usually $65/night, but with the deal, we only paid $35 for the night.  We were also able to keep our car parked until 6pm the next day, which gave us the opportunity to explore the city for two days and not have to worry about our car.  Valet uses an underground parking garage with security, which gave me a little more peace of mind.

The hotel is part of the IHG brand (Holiday Inn), which we’ve used in the past.  They did offer a social hour with wine and beer from 5-6pm, which was a nice touch.  The location of the hotel was great!  It was a block from Fisherman’s Wharf and within walking distance to a variety of areas in the city.  It was so nice to be able to park our car and walk everywhere!

Fisherman’s Wharf

We took our bags to our room and decided to head to the wharf to check it out.  There are tons of stores and restaurants in the area.  We grabbed a snack from Boudin Bakery and checked out their cool sourdough animals!  They make sourdough bread shaped into all sorts of creatures.  The kids got a turtle to snack on!  I also had a piece of their coffee cake, which was really good!  It was filled with a cinnamon sugar glaze.

Musee Mechanique

We also checked out Musee Mechanique, which is an arcade with vintage games.  It was a neat place to stop.  Most games were $.25-$.50 so the kids each got some quarters and played for a bit before we headed to Pier 39, which is where we made dinner reservations. 

Pier 39 was also a cute area filled with lots of shops and restaurants.  Cohen, our middle kiddo, was pretty excited to find the Lefty store, which caters to all you left-handers out there!

Fog Harbor

Our dinner reservations were at Fog Harbor.  I booked these in advance knowing that my husband would want some fresh seafood and it didn’t disappoint.  I even requested a water view and they had our table ready with that view when we arrived!  I don’t do seafood so I got a salad and their bruschetta, which was really good!  The restaurant is certainly pricey, but it’s expected when you’re ordering fresh seafood. 

Ghiradelli

After dinner, the kids wanted dessert.  Initially they asked for gelato, but I suggested Ghiradelli.  When we stayed in Chicago, they loved Ghiradelli so they were excited to have it again! The shop is right near the where the Cable Car route ends so we were able to see all of the cars and watch the sun set as we walked over.

Crepe Cafe (Friday)

The next morning, we headed out and had breakfast at Crepe Café.  My husband had a savory breakfast crepe, while the kids had fruit crepes.  They were all really good and we ate every ounce!  Afterwards, we checked out of the hotel, but left our bags in the luggage hold since we had parking until 6pm.  We walked up to the Cable Car Museum—and when I say we walked up, I mean UP.  San Francisco is full of steep hills so be prepared!

Cable Car Museum

The Cable Car Museum was really interesting.  It’s not very big, but it’s free and shows how the Cable Cars move through the city.  If you’re in the area, check it out!   

Chinatown

From the Cable Car Museum, we walked to Chinatown to check out the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory.  I loved Chinatown and their decorations.  Although the factory was big, we only saw a small section.  They give you a flat fortune cookie to try for free, but you can also buy a variety of fortune cookies (oversized, chocolate dipped, flat, etc). 

I would definitely suggest stopping by if you’re in the area.  The cookies were so good!  And the flat ones are almost like waffle cones, so they’d work great in some ice cream nachos!

We also had lunch at Hong Kong Clay Pot.  We ordered the Chicken lo mein, Orange Chicken, Sweet and Sour Chicken and Kung Pao Chicken.  All of our food was good and we had more than enough for the five of us.  We could have easily ordered three dishes and had enough! 

We walked through Chinatown and headed back to our hotel to grab our car.  On our way back, we saw police taking a report right in front of our hotel’s valet stand where a mini van had a busted window.  I highly recommend not skimping on parking in this area!  It happened between about 11am and 1pm, right across from a valet stand—so you know those people do not care if it’s light out or not.  So just be careful and make sure you don’t have any valuables visible!

Painted Ladies

When we left the city, we made sure to stop and grab a picture of the Painted Ladies—you know, the houses you see on Full House!  You can see the little park at the beginning of the show and the houses, although they look a little different now! 

Hampton Inn – Union City

We then headed to our final hotel of the trip, the Hampton Inn in Union City.  This was a little further out, but the area was safer and it offered free parking.  It was also the cheapest hotel of the trip ($160/nt).  We walked to dinner, enjoyed some pool time and just relaxed for the evening.

Google Campus (Saturday)

When we woke up the next day, we had breakfast and decided to drive to the Google complex to see some of the statues before heading to the airport to catch our flight home.  They have a bunch of the android statues for the operating systems placed all around the campus (i.e. Jellybean, KitKat, Honeycomb, etc.)  It was a nice way to spend our morning before our flight.

State #37 – Check!

Overall, our trip was good and it was one more state crossed off the list!  We all agreed that San Diego was our favorite city; although the kids enjoyed the activities in Hollywood the best.  We all really enjoyed Pismo Beach and Big Sur and I would love to spend more time in Solvang.  If we went back, I’d love to check out Dana Point and Laguna Beach because those towns seemed to have a nice vibe as we drove through.

Travel Hacks

Our trip was 9 days and packed full of activities; however, we did find ways to save along the way! Booking our Hotels with our Hilton Honors points earned from our point bonuses on the Hilton Surpass Card ($95 annual fee) as well as the Hilton Honors card (no annual fee) saved us over $1750 on our hotel cost, leaving us to only have to pay around $814 for 9 nights!

In addition, we spent $1048 on our Go City Passes, but were able to use it all over Hollywood, at Universal Studios and at the San Diego Zoo. Purchasing these things separately would have cost us $1724, saving us $676!

California vs Florida

If I had to pick between California’s beaches and Florida’s, we would choose Florida any day!  And we’d also rank Universal Studios significantly higher than its Hollywood counterpart. 

Where are your MUST SEE places in California?

One day, we’d like to get back out there to see Yosemite and the Redwood Forest.  And I’d love to check out Glass Beach and Lake Tahoe.  What are your favorite parts of California?