In order of preference, first choice Petaluma. San Luis Obispo. Santa Cruz. But most of them are nice places. Sacramento & Agoura Hills, compared to the others, would both be no. First 3 would be better than the 2 left for wineries.

Agree with MmePerdu - Petaluma for the wine country, coast and redwoods, Santa Cruz for the beach, boardwalk and redwoods, also, or San Luis Obispo for Pismo Beach area, wineries, etc.

Have fun!

Best,
Lisa

Petaluma and Santa Cruz have the added advantage of being close to other things - Petaluma is an easy drive to Pt. Reyes, San Francisco, Sausalito, Berkeley. Santa Cruz is an easy drive to Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur and not too far from San Francisco itself.

I love the Belly Up. Which band?

Another option is to fly into Orange County (or LAX if much cheaper) and see the band at San Juan Capistrano. Then you can spend time in San Diego.

For a 5 or 6 day - easy trip (with the least congestion) - while enjoying the best weather - base in San Diego. Plenty of other things to do - and you can see the band at the Belly Up Tavern in Solano Beach (15/20 minutes north of downtown SD) - and San Juan Capistrano is within an hour or so drive - outside of rush hour.

If you can get to Santa Barbara, it's beautiful. It's along the coastal route; north of L.A. and just south of San Louis Obispo. Keep heading north and you'll reach Santa Cruz. But Santa Barbara is a must! State Street is a fantastic stroll with shops and cafes that starts at the pier and continues inland. A quaint, upscale beach town not to be missed for it's authentic mission architecture and old world Spanish ambiance.

We like San Luis Obispo a lot, because it is a nice little town without too much glitz and has a gorgeous Spanish mission in its center. It is a bit isolated, but you could drive down to see Santa Barbara, or up to see Carmel.

San Juan Capistrano is the only place I know on your list that's south of L.A. It, too, has a beautiful old mission you can tour. Plus, it could be a good idea to base in San Diego that time of year.

Santa Cruz-- not a favorite of ours. Very young vibe, don't like the boardwalk tackiness.

Definitely not Sacramento.

I would choose San Lois Obispo. Get in the car, and explore!

Pardon moi Peace - but Solano Beach - here in San Diego - is certainly south of LA.

And Santa Barbara and San Lois Obisbo are nice - but don't offer as much to see/do as San Diego. Not even close.

Now having said that - if you like to explore - you could drive up to say Cambria in about 6 hours from SD (suggest you head out after 8:30 or so - to avoiding rush hour traffic in SD, LA and Santa Barbara) and stay for a night or two. From Cambria - you could easily drive up/through Big Sur and back in a day. Incredibly beautiful drive.

San Luis Obispo is beautiful that time of year. With 5 days you could split your time between the Santa Ynez area, San Luis Obispo, Cambria. Visit the Santa Ynez and Paso Robles wine growing areas, Hearst Castle, the missions, Pismo Beach., SLO Farmers market on Thursday nights. Where is the venue in SLO?

Using your own criteria I wouldn't bother with the ones in the Los Angeles or San Diego areas. Stay north or central. MichelleY gives good examples why.

Here is an email special I received today for the Central Coast lodgings:

http://www.pacificahotels.com/emailblast/feb2012b/

If you don't go with SLO, as mentioned above, Petaluma will be handy to SF etc.

Thank you, everyone, for your helpful replies!

The band is Toad The Wet Sprocket, a long-time favorite of mine. They had commercial success in the 1990s, have had success on solo projects, and are together currently working on a new album.

MichelleY, the venue in SLO is SLO Brew. Thank you for the email link for lodgings, looks promising!

The more northern venues are in April, and it looks like that will work best with our schedules. The more southern venues are in early March, and we may not be able to get everything worked out to travel that quickly.

Tomsd, I said, "San Juan Capistrano is the only place I KNOW on your list that's south of L.A". That I am familiar with. Get it?
And you think it's a good idea to stay in San Diego, then go to Cambria? Huh?

Oh - I got it Peace. Are you saying you have not been south of LA?

And I said there are more things to see in San Diego - if one was using it as a base - vis a vis Santa Barbara, etc, as I don't think the original post envisioned traveling up the coast.

Sugar Plum- if you want to be right in the town of SLO, we usually stay at La Cuesta Inn. No ocean atmosphere, but it would be good for the concert night. On Thurs. nights the town has a Farmers market on the streets and a trolly to take you from the hotels to the downtown area.

I like SLO too - much different vibe from those other spots. Have a good time and rock on!!

My personal choices would be either Santa Cruz or Petaluma for the same reasons sf7307 cited. Sacramento would be my last choice.

Never been to CA and only 5 - 6 days....why on earth has nobody suggested San Francisco??? March and April are too early to enjoy Ocean swimming even in San Diego (save that for the summer time). SLO??? Come on folks? This is way down on the list of California must sees. Yes the Monterrey - Carmel - Big Sur - Santa Cruz thing is nice too.

But for first-timers to CA, I vote for basing yourself in San Francisco without a car. Then rent a car for one day to go up to Petaluma for the concert, stopping for lunch in Sausalito. Then ditch the car back in SF since parking there is outrageous.

Enjoy.