Portland to San Fran on the 101 - place to spend the night?

[Pheedno]

Headed to Portland for a wedding and then driving to San Fran for our Anniversary. We're planning on taking the drive slowly and stopping off somewhere in between to spend the night.
We've never been anywhere on the west coast. Anyone have a recommendation or two on a nice city/destination to check out for a night on the way?

 

[Bio]

You could always cut over and hit Halfmoon Bay for a night. Get there during the day to see the water. There's enough restaurants in the area. Plan ahead for a better price on a room.

 

[scmtnboy]

There aren’t many places alone that drive I would ever really recommend along that route to stop overnight until you get to the Bay Area. There are places but more like small truck stop towns off the 5. You could detour a tad and stop in Sacramento. The downtown area actually has lots of nice restaurants we hit em up after the local shows there. Other than that maybe just spend any extra day in San Francisco. Sausalito is nice on the other side of the bridge.


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[fasterthenyoo]

off of 101 there is an embassy suites that's not bad and has free cooked breakfast in the morning. not too far from SFO. nicer places, stay in the city. lots of good places to eat too.

 

[MR. BMJ]

I responded at WCBB, but going from Portland to SF is a LONG drive. You may want to look into driving Oregon the first day and stopping half way. If you wanted, you could hit the 5 freeway, then cut over to the 101, or closer to the coast. I can't give more details than that though, i'm hours south and don't go up north of the Bay much at all...hell haven't even been north of Fresno in like 9 years....lol, I think it was the SF NPC where BIgmike295 won it

Guys like Bio et al will know more than myself.

 

[Bio]

Keep in mind that SF has the most restaurants and bars per capita, so eat, drink and be fat and drunk! Also, if you have time be sure to go to Napa. In fact you should try to spend a couple of days there.

Also, I don't know when you're planing to do this but Bay Area traffic is a nightmare and I'm not just talking about SF. From San Jose on. Don't plan on driving 101 in the AM to San Francisco because the morning traffic is awful. The Bay Area is like Los Angeles now.

 

[way2tense]

Check out Carmel..?


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[Pheedno]

Keep in mind that SF has the most restaurants and bars per capita, so eat, drink and be fat and drunk! Also, if you have time be sure to go to Napa. In fact you should try to spend a couple of days there.

Also, I don't know when you're planing to do this but Bay Area traffic is a nightmare and I'm not just talking about SF. From San Jose on. Don't plan on driving 101 in the AM to San Francisco because the morning traffic is awful. The Bay Area is like Los Angeles now.

Bio, thank you. A lot of help. Especially the traffic. We'd be driving into SF on Monday late morning, most likely/
We leave this Wednesday for Portland and then head from there this Sunday to drive down. Checking into hotel in SF on Monday and staying there all week. We should definitely have time for Napa with some planning. Was actually thinking about hiring a car to do a day trip there for 6-8hrs or so.
A friend recommended Cotogna, Zuni, and Kakkari for restaurants. We usually are a drink and appetizer 5-6 times a day kind of traveler so I'm sure we're sampling 20+ places.


Little, your positivity is inspiring.

 

[EWRECK]

Petaluma is nice.