Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Critique my itinerary - SF/coast/wine country
The rainy weather has me planning a trip for next spring already. We want to do some combination of San Francisco, the coast, and wine country. Our next few trips between now and then will be heavy on history/sightseeing, so for this trip I want to focus on food, wine, scenery - more laid-back fun type of trip. We'll do about two days in SF because we love checking out new cities. Neither of us have been to any of these places before (or anywhere in CA, for that matter). I've been mapping out drive times online but I know sometimes that's not the best measure. We are pretty active and like to see and do a lot while we're traveling so longish days are not an issue if worthwhile. I know this is a popular topic on this board, but I'm interested in feedback on the road trip itinerary itself.
Days 1 & 2 (full days) - San Francisco
Day 3 - Pick up rental car, drive to Monterrey, visit aquarium and downtown, overnight in Monterrey
Day 4 - Carmel and light hiking in Point Lobos National Park, overnight in Monterrey
Day 5 - Drive to Big Sur, hiking in state park, overnight in Big Sur
Day 6 - Drive to Napa or Sonoma, stop at Santa Cruz boardwalk along the way
Days 7 & 8 - wine country (either Napa, Sonoma, Calistoga, open to suggestions...prefer smaller vineyards and quieter area)
Day 9 - Fly home
Re: Critique my itinerary - SF/coast/wine country
Your trip sounds fab! DH and I did a trip last year and had 2 nights in SF, 2 nights in Yountville in Napa (loved and highly recommend!), 2 nights in Tahoe, 2 nights in Yosemite and 1 night in Monterrey. I was really disappointed not to have time for Carmel and Big Sur...can't wait to go back! Have a great trip!
Thanks! Where did you stay in Yountville?
The Villagio Inn and Spa in Yountville is really nice and can be priced much more competitively than some of the other hotels in town.
Add the following restaurants to your trip plan in Yountville:
-Bottega
-Ad Hoc
-Bouchon (go for breakfast)
-Red's
French Laundry is also up there, if that splurge fits into your budget.
Your itinerary is good, but I might do Napa / Sonoma on the front part of the trip instead of driving all the way from Big Sur to wine country. It's only an hour drive from SF (Sonoma uses the Golden Gate Bridge; Napa uses the Bay Bridge), so you could go up there first thing in the morning or late at night the night prior. Traffic from Big Sur to SF can sometimes be dicey, depending on what time of the day and what day of the week you're doing the drive.
In SF, you could try to book reservations in advance to eat at the following restaurants:
-Frances (1 Michelin star, priced at around $25/plate)
-Flour + Water (really popular pasta restaurant)
-Boulevard
-Baker and Banker
-Gary Danko (splurge)
HTH.
Ok, so two days in SF, two days in Sonoma, then drive down the coast for the rest of the week, then just drive from Big Sur to SF to fly back home at the end of the trip. I appreciate the tip. We're not usually big roadtrippers, so the timeline is where I needed help, thanks! Also love the restaurant recommendations - we definitely love some good food and will probably do a few splurges on this trip.
You're very welcome for the advice! French Laundry is a *huge* splurge but one of the best meals I've ever had in my entire life (also crazy difficult to get reservations at). Ad Hoc and Bouchon are Thomas Keller's "affordable" restaurants and both are very good - make sure you make reservations weeks in advance, especially if you'll be there over the weekend.
I saw you're headed to Italy / Greek Islands in a few months - if you're going to Santorini, seek out Ambrosia & Nectar in Ia for dinner. It's delicious.
We're doing a week in Italy and then a quick cruise of the islands. We are stopping on Santorini. Unfortunately I don't think we'll be there for dinner, but I'll look into it for lunch.
I see your next trip includes Portugal. I'm not sure if that includes Lisbon, but we spent a week there this winter, and it was hands-down one of the most beautiful cities I've been to. We had an amazing time exploring the city - wonderful history and it's incredible how it has retained its charm, the tourist traps were really limited to one main drag.
We start off in Lisbon and I am very excited - visiting a friend of mine from Portugal! We only have five days but I'm sure we'll go back.
If you have any restaurant or sight-seeing recs, please PM them to me (not trying to hijack your SF-related thread). 
We stayed at the Maison Fleurie.