I reckon you should have booked a flight to San francisco First.....you wouldnt need car hire in san francisco because its a easy city to get about plus high charges for car parking...spent 3-4 days in san fran....see all the sights...then hired a car and drove down the big sur highway 1 to LA...stopping off to see Hearst castle...one of the most impressive things i have ever visted...
then do all the tourist things and beach maybe in LA....maybe 4-5 nights stay....then finish off driving to san diego and seeing what that lovely city has to offer....about hotels the handlery we have stopped at in union sq for location in san fran they also have one in san diego perhaps you could get some sort of deal....Hotels in LA depends where you want to stop beach areas or disneyland areas...your choice good and bad in each area..

Thanks for the info.

Have decided to stay the first 4 days in LA and have booked the Orchid Suites Hotel in Hollywood, mainly for the location. Will probably do all the touristy stuff from there.

We then plan to get the train to San Diego and spend 4 or 5 days there probably staying in downtown or gaslamp areas.

After that it will be a flight to San Fran (using Southwest Airlines) for around 4 days then hire a car and drive down the coast road staying a couple of nights on the way, maybe Monterey & Santa Barbera (taking in Hearst Castle) before the last 3 days or so relaxing on a beach (Santa Monica?) before flying home.

Can't wait now.

Now got my trip organised.

Will arrive in LA on 30th April and stay 4 nights in Hollywood at The Hollywood Orchid Suites then we will get the train to San Diego and stay 4 nights here in the Gaslamp area at The Bristol Hotel.

Then it's a flight to San Francisco on 8th May and another 4 nights here staying in the Galleria Park hotel near Union Square. After that the plan is to hire a car and drive down the coast road back to LA staying a couple of nights on the way.

We finish off with another 4 nights at Santa Monica in LA right beside Venice Beach staying at the Marina Pacific Hotel.

We will also be able to catch one of our favourite bands (Kings of Leon) who are playing in Santa Barbara on the 17th May, our last night before we fly home.

Can't wait now.

hi there
we did san fran 4 days san diego 5days and a week in vegas had a fantastic time, my favourite was san diego,agreat blues,rock bar live music is called patricks 2 which is really well known we also went to the top gun bar we loved the zoo seaport village and the old town,a real must is the fire engine tour in san fran you do a tour of the city on an old 1950`s mack fire engine wearing all the gear,the couple that take you are real fun (have a look on google)