You'll do the whole trip and have fun along the way. Of course, if you can spare two years you might just get to see everything. We turned the advice above into a fun little YouTube video:.
If you've got your own wheels it's kind-of nice to think of starting at either the Canadian or Mexican border, and driving all the way to the other end. It's a nice notion but it's not always practical. If you're flying into Seattle why drive almost to Vancouver only to turn round and come back again? Likewise if you arrive in San Diego , don't feel you need to drive to Mexico before you can begin your journey. By all means do it if you want to, if that's your personal goal, but don't feel guilty if you can't make it.
You get extra time to enjoy the real fun bits, and that's more important to our way of thinking. Sure, no problem. Fly into San Diego or Seattle, pick up a rental car and hit the road for two-three weeks. It would be cheaper to drive back the fast Interstate route, which can be done in days, and return your car to the same place. Or there's another alternative: take the train. If you can get a good return flight deal flying in and out of the same airport, why not drive one way and catch the Amtrak back again?
Or do the train journey first, pick up a car, and drive slowly back? At the midway point, you pass through the great redwood forests of Northern California, where the tallest and most majestic living things on earth line the Avenue of the Giants, home also to some of the best meaning gloriously kitsch remnants of the golden age of car-borne tourism: drive-through trees, drive-on trees, houses carved out of trees, and much more.
The phenomenally beautiful coast-line of Northern California is rivaled only by the incredible coast of Big Sur farther south, beyond which stretches the beachfronts of Southern California. The land of palm trees, beach boys, and surfer girls of popular lore really does exist, though only in the southernmost quarter of the state. While rarely as old as places on the East Coast, or as impressive as those in Europe, these diverse sites include the Spanish colonial missions of California, Russian and English fur-trading outposts, and the place where Lewis and Clark first sighted the Pacific after their long slog across the continent.
Also, about how many miles a day are you traveling on your 10 day itinerary? Thanks for your comment, Vicky! The total distance is about 1, miles!
Loved your trip adventure and recommendations!! I am saving this to research more of the places you mentioned!! Very nicely done thanks ever so much!! Thanks for reading, Angel! Extremely informative. I am planning for this roadtrip this December- starting from Dec 25th.
I will be driving from Dallas to Seattle. Planning for days of Seattle to San Diego. My car is a convertible BMW 3 series so I am not sure if it can take on the road during Dec end — Seattle and portland area mainly? Glad this was helpful! You should have no problem making it down the road in December. We are planning to do Northbound…from Ventura to Wine country but only have 5 days returning on the 5th day. From Ventura. How can we apply this info in the reverse.
Cherie, thanks for your comment. You could do this road-trip in as little as five days, but I recommend taking at least seven — or maybe 10 if you have the time!
Thanks for your comment, David! I love small beaches and in less popular destinations like this! Those little beaches overlooking the water below is freaking amazing. Hi, and thanks for this terrific resource. Whats your thought on late availability rooms at that time of year? Adrian, great to hear from you! For bigger cities, there are probably enough options that you can wait until you arrive to book, even during that time of year. The worst that happens is you might end up in a slightly less nice place than you had planned.
I hope this helps! Thanks Valerie. The rest of time will hopefully be in small towns all along the coast. Thanks again for this excellent resource. Let me know if you have any other questions while planning or on the road! Though I have visited a few cities in California over the years, I we are looking forward to that California coastal drive. I already have the vista points where we will stop for photos and eating.
Thanks for your points. Mike, great to hear from you and thanks for reading! We detoured at Reedsport to go to Crater lake, which turned out awesome, there was a ELK reserve on the way, it took about 3 hrs to get to Roseburg, where we stayed the night, the next day the drive to Crater lake was about 3 hrs, the drive was absolutely beautiful. The views of the colors changing in the trees were surreal. After Crater lake we headed back to towards HWY , we took an off road to hit the coast right at Brookings.
So we used really about a day off the coast but well worth it. Crater lake was amazing!! We then headed to San Fran, our ending point. This was a 6 day trip. Best trip ever! I had saved this resource to help me plan. It was a great help! Thank you! Awesome suggestions and itinerary! I am planning to take this trip with my family of 5 as you have lined out for the 10 days this coming June.
Only question I have is how much money would you recommend someone having for a trip like this and staying in a 3 star hotel each night? I would love to take this vacation but not fall short on money.
I do not plan to do any shopping at stores, so our money would be spent on a rental vehicle, hotels, gas, and food. We might consider staying a total of days.
Thanks so much for any tips you can suggest on having adequate funds! Donna, thanks for your comment! We are so overwhelmed. We can only do a quick trip. We are planning to stay overnight at the Madonna Inn. Is this possible?? Do you have any tips? Can you share with me how long this should take us?? Aretta, thanks for your comment! You can definitely do that!
Stop and admire the views in Big Sur, too! When in doubt, stay on the coast. Have a great trip! You did a fantastic job with this giude, everything is straight to the point but provided in a fun and educational way. Hi, I love Portland and San Francisco. I love to do a Pacific Coast Highway drive at some point in my life.
I love all the details that you are recommended here. Thank you so much for sharing this informative article with all of us. My husband and I plan to do this trip in June. As we will be married 40 years! Anyway, we are looking to do the very same drive.
Start in Seattle and end in San Diego. Any other advise you could give us. Getting excited. Angie, thanks so much for your comment! Thank you for this wonderful review. I am planning a trip for next year, saving and researching. I live in Florida and have never been to the pacific coast. I want to fly out to the NW and drive to Crescent city, then go inland to see the redwoods, Bend, and Mt.
Sort of a round trip Oregon adventure. I hate cold! Also, I will have 3 weeks to do this, I like small towns, Vegan food, and too out of shape for extended hikes. Ann, thanks so much for your comment. I hope you have a great trip! Wonderful trip sharing you made. Thanks so much. Am planning to do a 10 day PCH drive in August. This will be a great tool in planning. This time I plan to take a friend and start in Portland.
Again, thanks for great info and advice. Thanks for the great ideas! We are planning a west coast trip and are considering renting an RV one way from Portland or Seattle to San Francisco. Does that sound reasonable or doable? Thanks for reading, Laurie! Hope that helps you plan! Valerie, valuable tips! Nice ride. Thanks for sharing. Great read! My wife and I are planning an 18 day trip in the coming months to fly into San Diego and then make the drive up to Seattle.
But, we need to go the opposite way; starting in San Diego and heading north. Is this going to be a big disappointment? Also, we were thinking with the additional days to do a detour over to Yosemite. To ensure accommodations, I was thinking to book all of the hotels in advance. Any additional thoughts? Can you recommend where to spend time and in which cities to plan to spend the night?
The redwoods are a definite. Seeing some nice beaches is also of interest. Is there any river rafting or boating along the way? This is exactly what I was looking for. My husband and I are both 62 in pretty good shape and planning to do this trip from Portland to San Diego in late September over 2 weeks. Are we likely to hit snow in the northern stops?
I am not fond of the cold and a bit fearful of icy driving in the mountains. We will be stopping to see the sights along the way but not for strenuous hikes. Thank you for any other tips. Eileen, thanks for your comment, and for reading! Thanks for reading, Lynda! Thanks for your comment, Rex!
Should be pretty good — it might be a bit rainy up in the Pacific Northwest, but the weather once you reach California should be great! Looking to travel with your recommendations southbound! Also being from Colorado, we would love to camp oceanside, do you have any recommendations on campsites? Thanks for your comment, Victoria! I am planning a trip in late July.
I am flying into Portland to meet my niece and we will rent a car and drive down the coast to LA to meet another nephew.
We fly out of LA. I am thinking 5 days from Portland to LA. Would it be worth it to continue to San Diego then back to LA? We will probably book Airbnb if cost effective. I appreciate this guide. I want the most scenic route but RT 1 on the cliffs seem risky? Also, niece is vegan and I am meat eater. Thanks for your comment, Kathy!
To answer your questions: 1. Just give yourself more time and end n LA. You should have no problem finding vegan options! Doing this trip starting this weekend! Super excited. Great article! I have been reading your blog posts about the PCH and think I read where you mentioned a couple of crossover vehicles that would be good rental cars. Any ideas? Karen, great question!
I hope this helps. Hi — We have just 1-day and will be starting in Fortuna and heading to San Francisco. We want to make the best out of drive there. I see we can head to Mendocino and then over to a larger highway to San Francisco or……. We are only going to be there once though and want to make the most of it.
Thanks for your help in advance!!!! Thanks for your comment, Shelly! Hi Valerie, Great job! I am planning 14 days to take in the sights. Would you have any other suggestions since I am using 4 more days and not going south to Sa Diego and strarting in Vancouver? We want to spend 5 days for PCH and not sure where to fly in or out of. Is this time of year realistic for an enjoyable adventure, or should we maybe plan to go somewhere else?
Where would you start and end if it is reasonable to go in December, and what might we expect weather wise? Thank you, and your blog is fantastic! Let me know how it goes! Is Yellowstone worth the long detour? Thanks for your comment, Anthony! I can think off the top of my head that you could do the Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Thank you so much for this information!
We are planning a trip next year from New Orleans while my husband has a conference in Portland…we were thinking of driving Hwy 1 down to Disneyland…and catching some of the beautiful beaches and state parks. We were planning on 10 days total for driving, site seeing and ending it with 2 days in Disneyland.
Any recommendations will be appreciated! Heather, you saw the rest of the post, right? Those are my top recommendations! Have a great drive! I am traveling with my husband, brother and our 4 year old. What type of car would you rent for 4 of us? We will only have 7 days. We planned to start in Seattle and drive to San Diego. Is this doable in 7 days, with stops during the day and to spend the night?
Raynard, when are you going? Many thanks, alex. Alex, unfortunately, this might not be the trip for you. Quickest Route About miles, almost 13 hours without a break. Quickest Route About miles, or 6 hours of driving. Pacific Coast Highway Route About miles, or 9 hours without a break.
Combining the two Note that if you set off from either end along the Pacific Coast Highway then there's no easy place to cut across to the freeway and make up time. What you gain in time you'll lose in getting to the freeway to begin with, as it doesn't run close to the coast. Highway Although the Pacific Coast Highway and Highway are mostly one and the same, there's a stretch of this route roughly between Salinas and San Luis Obispo when goes inland.
Going that way is about miles, or about 2 hours of driving. Taking the coast route is about miles and will take about 3 hours, as it's a slower route. That's what we've assumed you'll do in the above estimate of miles. So if you really need to, you could shave an hour off your driving time by skipping this bit of the coast.
0コメント