I have to find a hotel near Camp Roberts in CA. What town is Camp Roberts closest to? Later the same week, I have to be in Presidio of Monterey. Is there a town (with chain hotels, I should say) convenient to both places? By “convenient”, I leave it open to your interpretation which you can explain in your post.
Find a place on the south end of Salinas. This will put you midway between CR and Monterey.
OK… I think Google Earth’s location for Camp Roberts is incorrect. Maybe someone familiar with this part of CA can look at Google Earth and verify? Also, maybe someone can mark on a screen shot of Google Earth where Camp Roberts really is?
Sorry, sorry! I retract that statement about Google Earth! I failed to zoom out enough to recognize that Camp Roberts was located correctly in Google Earth. (It looked like it was too far inland from Monterey.)
Thanks, Rick!
The Camp Roberts I’m familiar with is just north of San Miguel, about 90 miles south of Salinas. If this is the one you’re talking about, Salinas is much closer to Monterey than to Camp Roberts (20 miles from Salinas to Monterey).
Although there isn’t much on 101 between Salinas and Paso Robles. King City perhaps? So Salinas may be your best bet regardless.
I would recomend a hotel in Paso Robles (the largest small city nearby) for Camp Roberts. I recomend Monterey for Monterey. It really is too much distance between Camp Roberts and Monterey to find a half way point that is reasonably convenient.
Can you believe that anyone on this board actually ever lived in San Miguel? Little hamlet along 101 that you could easily drive past many times before even noticing that it’s there. (As I did.) Then I quit my Silicon Gulch job, packed my bags, and moved there for 10 years (1989-1999). Quiet peaceful little place.
There’s a motel there. Real close to Camp Roberts. Not in between Roberts and Monterey, but not too terribly distant either.
And you could consider King City too. That’s pretty much right in between.
ETA: Check out San Simeon too, on the coast. Lots of motels there, as it’s a tiny little resort hamlet.
Google Maps has Camp Roberts and the Presidio of Monterey being ~1 hr 45 minutes away from each other. Is the convenience of only having one hotel room worth the near hour commute each way? King City would work as a midway point, if you’re o.k. with the Quality and Days Inns of the world. Paso looks like it has the Hampton Inn/Holiday Inn Express/La Quinta/Best Western end of the market, as well as some nicer, independent properties, probably to cater to people there to go wine tasting, or visit the Mid-State Fair. It’s about 15 minutes away.
Me, I’d stay in Paso for the visit, and somewhere in Monterey for the second, as was mentioned above. San Simeon is about an hour drive too from Camp Roberts, mainly because you have to go down to 46, over to 101, and then back up 101. There isn’t a whole lot of anything around Camp Roberts or in it, for that matter. I had to spend a weekend there, as a guest of a National Guardsman (or Reservist, I forget) while he was doing his one weekend a month. An Army Base is exquisitely boring if you don’t have a job to do. Hopefully it won’t be as blazing hot as Paso can get in the summertime.
The motels on the coast are in Cambria, not San Simeon. But there are some really nice places right on the shore.
There is a small cluster of touristy spots, including several motels, farther north than Cambria. There seems to be two separate areas along Highway 1 that call themselves San Simeon – the area immediately near Hearst Castle, and this touristy spot I just mentioned. But since you have to drive down to Highway 46 anyway to get to Camp Roberts from there, might as well stay in Cambria. The Moonstone Beach area is very attractive and full of motels, but certainly quite pricey.
Moonstone Beach is lovely. I stayed in a motel there one night, it had no phones and no TV. You were expected to spend the night listening to the waves, I guess 
The best restaurants are across Highway 1 in the inland portion of the town.