We are flying into San Diego and plan to drive up the coast day by day in mid February. Hope to see whales, Hearst Castle, redwood trees and roosevelt elk. Is it necessary to book a hotel nightly in February or can we find motels as needed, depending on how far we drive each day? We don't want to be locked into a firm itinerary and just go as far as we want each day. We don't need high end accomodations, just clean and safe.
zoozoo56, welcome to the forums.
You might want to post this in a different forum, Acton CA isn't the right one probably.
How many total nights do you have? There is not a clear "coastal road" between San Diego and say Santa Barbara like there is between Santa Barbara and San Francisco. Parts of the drive you absolutely have to have set in advance for hotels because there are not many choices.
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11 helpful votes "....Parts of the drive you absolutely have to have set in advance for hotels because there are not many choices."....
Plus, there are a few holidays in February that will have you competing with thousands for the few rooms available between LA and SF. Between Cambria and Carmel, there are very few lodging options and what is there is either VERY expensive or expensive rustic.
Weather may also be a factor in where and how far you can travel in a day. If it's raining during your visit, you might have to skip certain stretches of the coastal drive due to inevitable rock slides that occur even in light rain. When you're on highway hundreds of feet above the ocean with sheer drop offs on one side and coastal mountains hugging the other, there aren't many escape options to avoid hitting a large rock with oncoming traffic.