After a week in San Francisco, we decided to take a short trip around California: drive to Los Angeles, visit Hollywood and spend a day at Disneyland.

The distance of 400 miles between cities was a little scary - that’s 7-8 hours by car. We considered the option of flying from SF to LA by plane and then taking a car, but this seemed more boring and deprived us of a lot of impressions, because the USA is the best country in the world for traveling by car. In general, it’s decided: we’ll take a car and hit the road! The choice of car rentals in San Francisco is huge and the prices are approximately the same for all. While searching for reviews on the Internet, I accidentally came across Super Cheap Car Rental (yes, that’s exactly what it’s called). Calculation of the final cost for 4 days of rental showed the amount to be a couple of times less than that of competitors, and what was also attractive was the absence of additional fees for drivers under 25 years of age. In general, after reading the reviews, I booked a car there. True, I played it safe and made another reservation with Hertz, however, it was not useful.

Super Cheap provides transfers from and to the airport, since the company's office is not at the airport, like most competitors. We were traveling from downtown San Francisco, so we took a taxi ourselves. After paying the full rental amount, we received the keys to a white Toyota Corolla - a little “dented” in appearance, but in excellent technical condition (and this is the main thing for a long journey). At half past 10 am we hit the road.
America is a paradise for traveling by car. Wide highways, multi-level interchanges and cars, all equipped with cruise control. All that is required from the driver is not to fall asleep at the wheel and not to miss the exit to the desired junction.
Most of the way looks like this
Sometimes, between two major highways, there are fewer lanes, stricter speed limits, and more beautiful views.
And when most of the journey to Los Angeles is already over, the road begins to wind between the mountains. The views are amazing!
We drove for about 8 hours, stopping a couple of times to warm up and have a snack. When there is a need to stop on the highway, you need to carefully monitor the signs warning you about the exit to the next rest area. They meet about once every half hour. Basically, you can only eat fast food in such places. We managed to find a decent dish, rice with chicken in teriyaki sauce, at the Jack in the box cafe. We also had lunch there on the way back.
As you approach Los Angeles, the number of cars on the road increases significantly. On Saturday evenings there are at least no traffic jams.
By 5 pm we reached our destination - the town of Garden Grove, south of Los Angeles. This place is very close to Disneyland and we decided to spend the first two nights here. We stayed in an RV parked next to the owner's house. Booked on Airbnb.
The next day we woke up early in the morning and left for Disneyland at the very opening, that is, at 8 o’clock in the morning. We spent a lot of time looking for prepaid parking through the website - it was not at the entrance to the park, but at a decent distance. Free buses run between the parking lot and the parks, and we took one of them to the entrance to the parks.

There are 2 parks in California Disneyland: Disneyland Park, where it is very beautiful, but the rides are more for children, and Disney California Adventure, built much later, with more interesting rides for adults and teenagers. You can buy a ticket to one of the parks or to both parks, the price will depend on this. You can also buy tickets for several days at once. We took tickets that included entrance to both parks for 1 day - 1 day park hopper.
We decided to start with a visit to California Adventure park. Early in the morning there were still a few people in the park and we managed to ride some cool rides with almost no queues. On some things even twice.
We liked the following rides the most: California Screamin’ - a roller coaster in the best traditions, we screamed a lot,
Radiator Spring Racers is the most expensive attraction in the history of Disneyland based on the cartoon "Cars": you sit in one of the cartoon cars, drive through a fictional city, communicate with the cars from the cartoon, and then race through this canyon. Impressive!
For this attraction, I recommend taking a Fast Pass (an electronic place in line for a certain period of time) as soon as you find yourself in the park - by lunchtime they are already sold out, and queues of 80-100 minutes last for the attraction throughout the day. This is what Fast Pass tickets look like. The Grizzly River Run is a great refresher in hot weather: you float along a mountain river, where you are generously doused with water on sharp descents and more. We rode it twice, the first time I was only slightly splashed (pictured), the second time I came out soaking wet. But when it’s +35 outside, it only makes it more pleasant.
Attractions I didn’t photograph but recommend checking out: Soarin’ Over California – a 4D movie where you soar over various places and landmarks in California. Your chair really flies, so the sensations are the most realistic; Hollywood Hotel Tower of Terror is perhaps the scariest attraction in the entire park: you find yourself in the hotel elevator, in complete darkness, and it starts lifting you up and down at crazy speed (not without special effects, of course).

And at night, in the California Adventure park, next to the Micky’s Fun Wheel, a beautiful light and music show, World of Color, based on your favorite cartoons, takes place.

At Disneyland Park, the rides are less exciting, but more beautiful. We particularly enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and Indiana Jones Adventure.

In the photo below, behind me is Mickey's Toontown - part of the park with attractions for the little ones. 🙂
We spent 16 hours at Disneyland, from opening to closing, and returned home completely exhausted. It was great!
The next morning we left Garden Grove and drove towards downtown Los Angeles in search of a famous place. We leave the highway and wait for the green light at the traffic light, looking at the skyscrapers.
And here is place X - a house familiar to all fans of the TV series "Charmed". According to the plot of the series, this house is located in San Francisco, but in reality it is in Los Angeles. This is an ordinary residential building and today its residents, judging by the Irish flag on the balcony, are celebrating St. Patrick's Day.
Then we went to the Walk of Fame, passing along the famous Sunset Boulevard along the way. An iconic street, familiar to us from a huge number of films and TV series.
The Walk of Fame is quite calm during the day on a weekday.
You can buy a souvenir Oscar for friends and acquaintances
Trampling the stars of all kinds of characters,
We went to lunch at Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood
This place is also a unique museum of unusual exhibits.
We should also talk about parking in such a busy area of ​​the city: you can park your car parallel to the sidewalk and pay for the required number of hours in the machine next to the parking space, but such parking is possible for no more than 2 hours. We left the car in a parking lot a 10-minute walk to the Walk of Fame for $6 (parking can last for any length, up to 24 hours).
The next item on our to-do list was finding a photo spot with the Hollywood sign. This sign is so famous that it even has its own website. We chose Griffith Park as an observation deck, namely the area next to the observatory. This view opens up as you climb the hills. Los Angeles is shrouded in smog from exhaust fumes. What else can you expect from a city where there seem to be more cars than people?
We reached the observatory.
Here are the famous letters.
True, from such a distance the photos with them are not the best. We decided not to waste time looking for better views and moved on.
Hello Santa Monica!
Empty and wide Santa Monica beach.
The air near the ocean is always special, completely different from that in Los Angeles, even though the distance between them is small.
The water is not that cold; they say many people swim on hot, windless days.
There are an incredible number of seagulls around.
Along the entire length of the street, parallel to the coast, there are parking lots like this - you park your car, remember the space number and pay at the machine for the required number of half-hour intervals.
After waiting out the evening traffic, we headed from Santa Monica to our booked hotel east of downtown Los Angeles. Titta Inn is a great budget option for an overnight stay in Los Angeles. The location has a significant advantage: during morning and evening rush hours, you can get onto the highway without traffic jams and drive towards San Francisco.

We decided to spend our last day in LA at Universal Studios Hollywood - an amusement park based on the cartoons and films of the Universal studio, as well as a tour of the filming locations.
Of the rides, we liked Jurassic Park Ride the most, but overall, after Disneyland, they weren’t particularly impressive. But we visited the excursion to the filming locations twice - very interesting! The bus takes you past studios where talk shows, films and TV series are currently being filmed, past sets used in the filming of famous films and along the way you are shown the creation of some special effects (for example, rain and flood).
The wreckage of a real Boeing is the scenery for the film “War of the Worlds” with Tom Cruise.

These “old New York” settings were and continue to be used in the filming of a huge number of films, for example, “Back to the Future” was filmed in them.
The collection of cars that appeared in films is also interesting. This is from the movie "Back to the Future 2".
Or from "Fast and Furious 6".
In general, it’s worth a visit, at least for a tour of the Universal Studios filming locations.
The next day, around 7 am, we left towards San Francisco. We had to spend about 8 hours on the road, and at 18 our plane was supposed to fly to London. Very beautiful in the morning in the mountains.
Along the way, we overtook many trains like this: an RV (like the one we stayed in for the first 2 nights), which is pulled by a passenger car. Americans love to travel this way.
It's interesting to drive through Silicon Valley - all the things you see along the way.
Now we are almost there.
At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon we returned the car, a Super Cheap rental employee gave us a lift to the airport and we, relaxing with a cup of coffee, began to wait for our flight home.

The Virgin Atlantic Boeing took us on a farewell ride around San Francisco - bye City by the Bay, bye California, we hope to be back soon!

You can get from Los Angeles to San Francisco very quickly - in 6 hours along Route 5. But you can travel for a very long time - two days. And stop at all the interesting places along the way. Go?

Visit the city of the longest soap opera, go to Denmark, listen to the swearing of lions, drive across the highest bridge, look into a postcard bay and not see one of the country’s largest castles...

Stop #1 – Santa Barbara

There's no smell of soap opera here. But the city is very nice and attractive in a Californian way. White houses, palm trees, a beach where you can’t walk barefoot...

You can hang out in Santa Barbara for a week. We didn't have a few days. We walked through the streets and moved on.

Stop #2 – Solvang, Danish America

From Santa Barbara to Solvang it is only 50 kilometers. And these 50 kilometers take you from the USA to Denmark. Because from the American in Solvang there are only flags and currency. This city was built by the Danes who moved to the United States in the image of their cities, and Solvang is the Danish capital of the United States. Even the main street here is called “Copenhagen Drive”. Solvang turned 100 years old in 2011.

Stop #3 – Hearst Castle

The castle is, of course, beautiful and worthy of deep study. Honestly. But there was nothing special to show us - the castle, standing on the mountain, was hidden by fog.

You can only get to the castle grounds with a guided tour, which costs $25. Without a tour, you will only see it from a distance, from the highway. The main manor house stands on the “Enchanted Hill” (Spanish: La Cuesta Encantada), 8 km from the ocean. The house has 56 bedrooms, 61 restrooms, 19 living rooms, and on the estate there are several swimming pools and tennis courts, a cinema, an airfield and the world's largest private zoo. William Randolph Hearst created one of the largest media and publishing empires in the United States. At the zenith of his career, he owned 26 newspapers, 13 national magazines, 8 radio stations and other news services. He also published film news reviews and created about 100 feature films. Throughout his life, Hirst collected works of art and antiques from all over the globe.

Stop #4 – Sea Lions

Sea lion rookery. They sleep, bury themselves in the sand (the reason why lions throw sand on themselves from the beach is still unknown), swim, swear, molt... They even swear and kiss. And from a deep bell tower they spit on tourists. Parking coordinates: N 35° 39.756" W 121° 15.393". You can view the lions endlessly and for free.

Stop #5 – Big Sur Bay

There was once a hotel here, which was destroyed in the 80s of the 20th century by a giant landslide. Traces of the foundation still remain. And the bay is very beautiful. There are a dime a dozen tourists there. True, not in the bay itself - going down into it is very problematic. More precisely, it is prohibited in principle, but risking your legs, it is still possible. True, there is no guarantee that Americans who observe any prohibitions will not immediately report you. Viewing from above is suggested.

Stop #6 – Bixby Bridge

ABOUT!!! This is something! Not stopping and rushing further across the bridge is like death.

The Bixby Bridge was built in 1932. It is located 190 kilometers from San Francisco, which means that most of the route from Los Angeles has already been completed.

Before the construction of the bridge, residents of Big Sur were cut off from large cities in the winter, becoming almost impassable. We had to go around, making a detour of almost 20 kilometers and it took several days!

The gorge has the same name as the bridge, named after Henry Bixby, who in the 19th century owned large tracts of land in Big Sur and operated a sawmill here.

In order to build the bridge, rocks had to be cut away. The contract to build the bridge, awarded in 1931, was worth $200,000. Construction took 14 months during the Great Depression. As a result, we see the longest concrete span at a height of 98 meters.

The distance from Los Angeles to San Francisco is 614 km by car or bus, 550 km in a straight line by plane.

Travel time depends on the chosen transport: direct flight - 1 hour 15 minutes, with a transfer - from 2 hours 40 minutes; by train - about 10 hours; by bus - 7-12 hours; by car - 6-7 hours.

Train Los Angeles - San Francisco

The railway route is provided by the Coast Starlight train of the American railway company Amtrak. Departure from Los Angeles is from Union Station. The railway network is divided into six zones, and ticket prices vary for each zone.

It is better to book tickets in advance, as only the most expensive ones will be left at the last moment. Ticket prices depend greatly on the level of comfort, departure time (day or night) and duration of the trip (on average 10-11 hours).

Please note: Coast Starlight trains arrive in Oakland (about 10 miles offshore from San Francisco) and then take a ferry ride on BART (often called "subway"). Travel time on this section is about 30 minutes.

Bus Los Angeles - San Francisco

For those who prefer to travel by bus, it is more logical to choose one of the major bus networks. For example, Greyhound. Bus tickets from Los Angeles to San Francisco start at $23 early and $32 early and can be purchased on the company's website, by phone, or at the Greyhound terminal located at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. Angeles.

In addition to Greyhound, there are other bus operators: Hoang Exp, USAsia. A budget option is to use the services of the low-cost bus service Megabus. The regular price of a bus ticket along the route is from 10 dollars, during promotional periods - from 1 dollar.

There are several bus flights from Los Angeles to San Francisco during the day, the travel time is from 7 hours, and this method of transportation is considered more convenient than trains.

You can compare prices for suitable routes from several bus companies at gotobus.com.

Plane from Los Angeles to San Francisco

You will have to travel to San Francisco from Los Angeles International Airport or Long Beach Airport. Arrival at San Francisco Airport, located 21 km from the city.

Flights from Los Angeles to San Francisco

Direct flights to San Francisco are offered by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and others. Departures take place quite frequently.

The minimum travel time is 1 hour 15 minutes. The approximate price of an air ticket is from 82 dollars one way, from 170 dollars there and back.

How to get from Los Angeles to San Francisco by car

Traveling by car will give you absolute freedom in choosing your route. State Route 1 and US Route 101 are coastal roads that provide great views of the surrounding area due to the added length of the roads due to the twists and turns. You should not take Interstate 5 as it is not very scenic and will be difficult due to the volume of traffic.

Route description Los Angeles - San Francisco

Route length between Los Angeles and San Francisco: 614 km

Approximate travel time: 5h 44m show route description

Distance	Time	Note
0.2 km	1 min.	Head to northwest By W 1st St to the side N Spring St
0.6 km	2 minutes.	Turn right on N Broadway
16.7 km	13 min.	Turn right and go to US-101N to the side I-110N
9.7 km	6 min.	Stay at the fork to the left, continuing to move along CA-170N/Hwy 170 N/Hollywood Fwy; follow the signs on Sacramento
1.4 km	1 min.	Turn left to the congress 11B on Interstate 5N to the side Sacramento
3.3 km	2 minutes.	Go to I-5N
7.7 km	4 min.	Hold on to the left, continuing to move along I-5N
2.5 km	1 min.	Stay at the fork to the left, continuing to move along I-5N
93.9 km	53 min.	Hold on to the left, continuing to move along I-5N
363 km	3 hours 11 minutes	Stay at the fork to the right, continuing to move along I-5N; follow the signs on San Francisco/Sacramento/Interstate 5N
74.6 km	41 min.	Stay at the fork to the left, continuing to move along I-580W; follow the signs on Tracy/San Francisco
25.1 km	14 min.	Stay at the fork to the right, continuing to move along I-580W; follow the signs on Oakland/San Francisco
13.3 km	10 min.	Roll up left on departure 19A, to get to I-80W in the direction San Francisco Road with toll sections
1.1 km	1 min.	By congress 1B go to US-101N to the side Golden Gate Bridge
0.3 km	1 min.	Take the exit Mission St
0.3 km	1 min.	Continue on Mission St
0.3 km	3 min.	Smooth turn left on S Van Ness Ave The destination will be on the right

Car rental in Los Angeles

To travel around the United States, tourists from other countries cannot do without car rental services. You can find a rental car from a selection of companies using the Rentalcars aggregator:

Search for a rental car

Finding travel companions

If for some reason it is not possible to rent a car, there is always a chance to find a travel companion for a relatively small fee. Driver search service - Blablacar.ru.

It's time to say goodbye to our cozy hotel. We decided to take the famous Highway No. 1 from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The road runs along the ocean and is an attraction in itself because of the unique scenic views that open from it. The only negative is that this highway is not very large, its speed limit is lower and it makes a decent detour from the main highway. As a result, we had a rather long road ahead of us - about 650 km, so we would have to leave early...

A little about the road...

The two-lane California State Highway SR 1 (California State Route 1 or Highway 1) runs along the Pacific coast of California and is famous for being located near one of the most scenic coastlines in the world. The length of the road is 1055 kilometers. It provides access to beaches, parks and other coastal attractions, making the route popular with tourists from all over the world.

It was not for nothing that Californians assigned this road the first number. The entire route from Los Angeles to San Francisco surprises and amazes with an abundance of magnificent panoramas, rocky cliffs, sharp turns and, most importantly, all the way you feel the proximity of the mighty Pacific Ocean, the power of its fierce winds and the taste of its salty spray.

For Russian travelers, the road will also be interesting because about 100 miles north of San Francisco, in close proximity to the road, there is the Fort Ross fortress, which is a must-see. The fact is that Fort Ross State Historic Park is the American name for the Russian fortress of Ross in California, which existed from 1812 to 1841. The fortress arose on the site of a Russian settlement founded in 1812 by the Russian-American Company for fishing and fur trading on the coast of Northern California.

This is the most popular hiking trail in California.

So it is advisable to drive along Highway 1 slowly, stretching the pleasure over several days, enjoying every new panoramic view and every stop.

What can you see along the way

There are many interesting parks and preserves along the Pacific Coast Highway where you can enjoy a day out, such as Morro Bay State Park, Los Padres National Forest or San Simeon.

Naturally, the list of attractions of the Pacific Coast Highway does not end there, just like the road itself, which stretches along the Pacific coast all the way to Canada. From what we would really like to see, but where we unfortunately did not get to, I will mention Glass Beach, located in MacKerricher State Park, about 170 miles north of San Francisco. The beach area is strewn with many glass pebbles.

Unfortunately, apart from the most beautiful pink sunset into the ocean, we saw practically nothing from the above, since most of our journey took place at night and along another, shorter road... That is why we decided to insert a description of the sights along the Highway 1 so that users who are planning to travel by car from Los Angeles to San Francisco do not repeat our mistake and plan their trip more carefully.

Well, now we can continue about us again... ☺

Having had breakfast and packed our things, we were ready to hit the road, but we just had to run into the local outlet for 20 minutes to buy a pair of Levi's jeans and Converse sneakers...

And then 5 hours later... ahaha outlet, what are you doing, stop, let us go please. In general, at about 18:00 we got stuck in a traffic jam on the way out of the city. Just as it is difficult to measure Los Angeles itself, the traffic jam leaving it was also dimensionless.

As a result, only by 7 pm ☺, we somehow got out of the main part of the suburb and breathed freely. According to the navigator, the drive was still about 6 hours away - it looks like today will be a long evening...

On the way, we stopped at the store of the local cellular operator T-Mobile, since I was unable to use the SIM card I bought at Walmart. This is despite the fact that I paid $70 for it! hoping to get a measly 5 GB of internet, but couldn’t even get that.

Therefore, it was decided to stop by a cellular communication salon, where people work and will certainly help us buy cheap, working Internet. Our wish came true only partially - the Internet was working, but it could not be called cheap.

When I just walked in, a smiling, oversized Afro-Latino American man shouted to me from the doorway, “Oh bro, how can I help you,” and he really tried his best, telling me the tariffs for local mobile Internet: 2 GB for $40, 4 GB for $60 and 8 GB for $90. Well, holy shit, that’s all I had time to think. For that kind of money, I can use my 10 GB tariff in Moscow for six months. The seller, seeing my disappointment, thought a little more and asked: am I going to use the tariff after 30 days and having received the answer that no, he beamed, taking out his new offer from under the table.

It had 2 SIM cards with unlimited calls and internet throughout the USA for $80 for 30 days. What's the catch, I asked? The fact is that after 30 days, this tariff will cost $150 per month. With that we decided - having inserted the long-awaited Internet into our phones, we finally connected to mobile communications and set off on our further journey.

Along the way we refueled for the first time. We must remember that in the USA, as in Europe, if you rent a car, the rule “take a full tank, leave a full tank” applies, so we had enough gasoline for all the days in Los Angeles until we drove 200 km away from it .

By the way, at gas stations, for some reason, cards with a chip almost always do not work, so you have to go to the gas station employee and ask to withdraw money from the card through him. At the same time, everyone may have their own rules - some withdraw a certain amount from the card and then return the change. Some people simply take the card “hostage”, and after refueling they withdraw money from it. Some take cash as a guarantee, and then return it, and withdraw money from the card. Who cares?

So we filled up... 12.9 Gallons of gasoline at a price of $2,729 per gallon is approximately 3.78 liters. Yeah America...☺. Miles, feet, gallons.

Do you know what gas mileage was in our car? 24 mpg. Are you weak in your mind to quickly convert into the usual liters per 100 km? Okay, I'll help - 24 mpg is 38.6 km per 3.785 liters. Now 100/38.6 = 2.59 * 3.785 = 9.8 liters per 100 km! This is the fuel consumption of our Mustang on the highway. In the city it came out to 11-12 liters.

Yes, by the way, all restrictions on the highway are also, of course, in miles. Typically, the limit on country highways is 65 mph, or 70 mph on higher speed roads. On a normal country road 55 mph, and in the city 25-35. Translated into ours, this is 105-125 km/h on highways, 90 outside the city and 40-50 km/h in the city.

All distances between cities are also indicated in miles and the speedometer of our Mustang is also marked there, but it is also duplicated in kilometers. Okay, enough about miles and gallons...

Meanwhile, we turned onto the desired route No. 1. The views from it are really very picturesque - thanks to our carelessness, we caught a beautiful pink sunset into the ocean, looking at it was simply breathtaking and there were no words for delight. This lasted for about half an hour, until the sun completely disappeared behind the horizon, and the route turned into suburban darkness.

On country roads in the United States there is almost no lighting, basically the same as in other countries, but reflectors are built into the markings, turning the road into something like an airplane runway. So it was very comfortable to drive along it, but practically nothing else was visible around. Warmed by our new jeans and sneakers, we accepted this fact and continued our journey to San Francisco in pitch darkness.

Closer to 21.00, when San Francisco was still at least 4 hours away, we realized that we most likely would not have a chance to eat there and we needed to address this issue right now, while there was a chance to find open establishments within reach.

Now we had mobile Internet, so feeling like super tourists, we went into trip advisor and started looking for cafes and restaurants nearby. But that was not the case - the Internet, which worked perfectly within the city, suddenly lost speed on the road and virtually disappeared along with the view of the city in the rearview mirror.

We drove and tried to catch at least a weak signal as we approached another small coastal town with a population of 5-10 thousand people. In unsuccessful attempts, we turned to the nearest “largest” city on the way, which turned out to be Lompoc, with a population of as many as 40 thousand people. Tripadvisor immediately came to life, offering us “restaurant number 1 out of 85” in this town, which promised to remain open for at least another half hour.

Having arrived at the right place, we circled around, but could not find the right sign, so I stubbornly returned to another restaurant in this place. Nevertheless, it was open, and we generally didn’t care. “Maybe the name has changed?” we thought and went inside.

Two men were sitting at a table in the far corner enjoying a couple of beers; all the other 10 tables were empty, as was the food ordering counter. The men turned in our direction with genuine surprise, and we began to study the menu lying on the counter right at the entrance. The restaurant turned out to be Mexican, so the menu, which had no pictures, was only clear to us: “tacos,” “burritos,” and “quisadilla.” However, this is already a good dinner in our situation, so we did not intend to retreat.

To help you understand the difficulty of choosing, here are examples from a typical Mexican menu: Tostada, Camarones Rancheros, Aguas frescas, Enchilada, Relleno, Tostada de Ceviche, Huevos Rancheros (probably not very good), Camarones al mojo de ajo, Desebrada, Carne Asada, Chorizo etc. All this was not described or illustrated in any way.

After a couple of minutes, one of the men could not stand it, and either out of his curiosity, or because of our torment of choice, came up to us with the question: “Where are you from and what do you want?” “We modestly replied that we were from Los Angeles and were on our way to the city of the famous bridge, but here we just wanted to eat.

The man perked up, and the next question was - do we understand at least something on the menu? Guessing our thoughts that we understand almost nothing, he completely beamed. He ran to the kitchen, dragged a young Mexican girl from there and solemnly announced that this was their restaurant! He is American and his wife is Mexican and this is an authentic Mexican restaurant with dishes prepared according to her family's traditional recipes.

Then he started showing us dozens of photos of dishes from the menu on his iPhone, calling them by names, which we forgot a second after the next photo appeared. He only paused for a photo of the interesting Molcajete dish, which I ended up ordering because I had already forgotten all the others, and my companion chose quisadilla with shrimp.

As for drinks, we tasted two traditional drinks - horchata (khurchata hehe) similar to milk with vanilla and the second whose name I don’t remember, similar to fruit drink. We also took coffee. I was asked if I like spicy food? I answered that it was moderate, and suspecting the Mexicans of extremes, I corrected myself that it was not very spicy. They assured me that, in general, they don’t cook anything spicy, and if I want something spicy, they have a bunch of sauces that I can use for these purposes.

And so they brought it to me Molcajete. This dish is served in a stone bowl with a pig's head. The bowl is filled with 6 types of meat and meat sauce, grilled cheese and avocado. All this must be collected from the “pig” into small flat cakes, thus obtaining small tacos.

I assembled the first one from some sausage and meat, threw cheese on top, bit off half and realized that all the spicy food I had eaten before was not spicy at all. My fruit drink ran out in a couple of minutes, the coffee lasted another 5 minutes. Then I just put out the fire in my mouth with water, feeling how the color of my face was turning crimson. Having finished half the dish, I realized that I had to make a truce with the pig, since it was clearly winning ☺.

After talking with the owners, we found out that the restaurant we were looking for was in this place, however, half a year ago, but they opened 3 weeks ago and were very surprised by our visit “on Tripadvisor”, where they don’t even exist yet. The second man, a friend of the owner, hearing that we were from Russia, said that he had been to Bulgaria, which means we are almost relatives! ☺

Our dinner cost a humane $45, and to leave, they packed the remains of the pig into a container for me. Full and satisfied, we set off on our further journey. There was no point in driving along the coast anymore, so we returned to the fast freeway and drove to San Francisco much faster.

By the way, we booked a hotel in San Francisco a couple of days ago through the hotel tonight application. The application allows you to choose a hotel from a small number for the coming days, but with a very good discount. Our hotel was pretty cool and cost $230 for 2 nights instead of the usual $350.

The application has some limitations, for example: payment is made immediately and cannot be canceled or changed. You also cannot choose a room, but it will be at least for two. This is the price for a big discount. Unfortunately, I managed to book a hotel for the wrong date due to a time shift, did not change the clock on my phone and only realized it the next day.

Without hope, I called the hotel, where they offered me to simply make another new reservation for $420, without refunding the money for the existing one. Then I wrote a letter in support of hoteltonight, although I understood that this was clearly stated in the rules and nothing could be done. However, after a couple of hours I was surprised by the answer that not only had my reservation been changed to a new date, but the service had also compensated for the $60 difference in room prices, since the new date fell on a more expensive weekend! It was a salvation and my gratitude for the service knew no bounds.

We finally arrived in San Francisco at 3 am, very tired and freaked out. At the entrance, by the way, I had to pay about $9 to cross some bridge. Our hotel was located in the lower part, not the best in the city, which was immediately made clear to us by local psychos and homeless people, one of whom sang songs and made strange sounds, and the second simply urinated on the road, well at least at some distance from us. As it turned out later, for San Francisco, homeless people and all sorts of street psychos are an absolutely normal phenomenon.

The hotel had parking for $60 per day, which of course is just a robbery, so we parked the car in the open parking lot opposite the hotel with a sign “Parking for day - $15” (remember this point). The parking lot was managed by a Mexican who himself parked and removed cars from their spaces, and also kept all the keys in his booth, which I would rather call a safe. There seemed to be few options, so we handed the keys to him, watching as he rather carefully drove “our” Mustang into a good spot at the edge of the parking lot. He gave us a ticket, clarified that payment was due at the end of parking, and with that we parted.

The hotel was very pretentious, tall, with old interiors, all in carpets, wood and bronze. The room was quite ordinary - modern. We finally fell asleep after a tiring day of travel.

Are you planning a colorful trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco? Or maybe you urgently need to get from one city to another? The editors of the portal "ZagraNitsa" figured out what, how and for how long you can get from Los Angeles to San Francisco and what is worth seeing along the way

Airplane

The fastest way to get to San Francisco is by plane. The Bay Area is home to three international airports: San Francisco International Airport (SFO), Oakland International Airport (OAK), and San Jose International Airport (SJC). Of these, San Francisco Airport is the closest to the city (21 km).

Travel time: approximately 1 hour 20 minutes

Price: on average from $50

Advantages: rapidity

Step-by-step instruction:

1. Direct flights from Los Angeles to San Francisco are provided by Virgin America, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, etc. Use aggregator sites like expedia or skyscanner, choose the best price offer and book your ticket.

It's cheaper to book online - this way you can avoid the service charges that can be incurred if you book by phone or at the box office. However, if there is a possibility that your flight date will have to be rescheduled, it is better to book your ticket through the airline's website - this will make it easier to exchange your ticket without additional fees.

2. On the day of departure, go to the airport (depending on the flight you choose, most likely it will be Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) or Long Beach Airport (LGB)) and board the plane. The flight usually takes from 1 hour 15 minutes to one and a half hours. You most likely won’t have time to get bored on the road.

3. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) high-speed trains run from the airport to the city. A trip on such transport will take about half an hour, and a ticket will cost $8-9. You can also get there by bus. You can read more about public transport on the airport page.

Photo: shutterstock

Train

By 2030, they promise to launch a high-speed train from Los Angeles to San Francisco, which will take travelers to their destination in 2 hours 40 minutes, but in the meantime, Amtrak's Coast Starlight train lazily runs between Seattle and Seattle, passing San Bay along the way. Francisco.

Travel time: about 12 hours

Price: from $59

Advantages: more than 2000 kilometers of the picturesque Pacific coast outside the window

Step-by-step instruction:

1. Decide on a travel date and book your ticket on the Amtrak website. Do this as early as possible so you can get great discounts. Select Los Angeles as your departure point and Emeryville as your destination. Don't be alarmed, there is no mistake here. This is where you will need to disembark to continue the route.

2. On the appointed day, go to Union Station (800 North Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012), where your train departs. Trains are often delayed, but we still do not recommend being late for your own flight.

3. Look out the window during your trip: the scenery of the California coast is exactly the reason you are going to spend the whole day on the train! Well, don’t forget to take your player or book with you.

4. Get off at Jack London station in Auckland (it's a short stop before Emeryville). As part of the Coast Starlight route, the company will provide a free shuttle bus to take you to San Francisco.

5. Get off the bus at the desired stop (Ferry Building, Financial District, Fisherman`s Wharf, S.F. Shopping Center and Caltrain station). Congratulations, you're in San Francisco!

Photo: shutterstock

Bus

The length of the bus route from Los Angeles to San Francisco is about 611 kilometers. Flights of different companies may differ in routes and duration.

Travel time: from 7 to 12 hours

Price:$5-40

Advantages: inexpensive

Step-by-step instruction:

1. Buy or book a bus ticket. The most popular carriers are Megabus and Greyhound. Megabus tickets are cheaper (can be purchased for $5-10), but Greyhound is considered a more reliable carrier (tickets can be purchased for $23-45). There are also smaller companies that you can search for on the Gotobus website. Book your tickets online, so you can save a lot.

2. Arrive at the bus station at the appointed time. You will find its address on the carrier's page.

3. The trip takes from 8 to 12 hours. Most buses are equipped with Wi-Fi and charging outlets, so feel free to download movies, books, music and other entertainment.

4. Most flights arrive in San Francisco at the Caltrain station (700 4th St, San Francisco, CA 94107). From there you can take public transport to anywhere in the city.

Photo: shutterstock

Automobile

There are several options for getting from Los Angeles to San Francisco by . One allows you to get there quickly, the other allows you to fully admire the surrounding beauty.

Travel time: completely depends on the chosen route, minimum 6 hours

Price: gasoline + roadside expenses

Advantages: complete freedom of action, the ability to plan your own route

Step-by-step instruction:

1. Plan your route according to the purpose of your trip. If you need to get there quickly, choose Interstate 5. This is a highway about 620 km long. In just 6 hours you will be in San Francisco. But don’t expect picturesqueness from it.

If you have a couple of days left and would like to admire the beauty of the Pacific Coast, choose between CA Hwy 1 and US Hwy 101. The first one runs almost entirely along the coast. The total length of the road is 755 km. Along the way, you can stop by the charming coastal town of Morro Bay, visit Monterey, famous for its aquarium and cannery, and admire the surfers in Santa Cruz. The length of the route along US Hwy 101 is 674 km (this is about 7.5 hours without stops). On the way to San Francisco, you will find sunny Santa Barbara with its Mediterranean architecture, the small towns of Pismo Beach and San Luis Obispo, as well as the city of Salinas, the birthplace of the famous American writer John Steinbeck.

If you have the time and desire to get the most out of your trip, you should choose a route along the Sierra Nevada mountains, through Death Valley, past famous national parks and Las Vegas. From Los Angeles, take I-405 to CA Hwy 14 and then take US Hwy 395 north to the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Mono Lake. If Tioga Pass is open, cross it, visit Yosemite Park and head west towards San Francisco. If not, then go straight north to Lake Tahoe and then to San Francisco.

Photo: shutterstock

2. Pack everything you need for the trip, take a map or navigator and don’t forget your camera.

Have a nice trip!