The Ultimate California Road Trip Guide
The Ultimate California Road Trip Guide
From San Francisco to Los Angeles, here’s what we loved most on our California road trip
Over the summer we spent 3 weeks driving through California, and loved every single moment of it.
Our California road trip focused mostly around the coast, and the Big Sur. We also drove through Napa Valley and around San Francisco, then down to Monterey and Carmel, along the Big Sur and then to San Luis Obispo, Los Alamos, and Malibu, stopping at Los Angeles and then finally at Newport and Laguna.
It took the best part of a year to plan though – probably because I’m a sucker for minute details and thick excel spreadsheets. So, we thought we’d share our California road trip itinerary here 😊
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How to get there
We caught a BA flight from Heathrow, landing 10 hours later in sunny San Francisco, where we hired a car from the airport. We drove all the way down to Laguna, and then returned the car at John Wayne airport, and caught a cheap flight back to San Francisco to then get our return flight to London.
Hotel highlights
During our California road trip we stayed at various accommodations, from 5 star hotels down to basic motels. We would recommend:
- Skyview Los Alamos for vintage motel vibes (and a beautiful heated pool)
- Granada Hotel & Bistro for their incredible food, rooms with sauna showers and roaring fires, and as a base to explore the charming San Luis Obispo
- Shutters on the Beach for pure 5-star luxury, and beachy, Santa Monica vibes
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San Francisco & Napa Valley
We arrived in San Francisco and spent 3 days here with a day trip to Napa Valley. In retrospect I would suggest staying overnight in Napa, and the next day exploring Sonoma too. You live and you learn 😊
Our favourite things to do in San Francisco
Our time in San Fran revolved mostly around food, of course.
We’d recommend eating the scrumptious 20-layer Russian cake at 20th Century Café, heavenly pastry creations at Mr Holmes Bakehouse, and those iconic clam chowder loaves at Boudin.
Oh, and don’t forget the double cheeseburgers from the iconic In N Out – which are just as good as everyone says!
We also loved exploring Fisherman’s Wharf. I know, I know, it’s a tourist trap. But it’s fun to walk through all the shops, see the California sea lions on Pier 39, and pose for piccies.
The same goes for the Painted Ladies – although we loved the walk up to them through the hippie-fabulous Hayes Valley as much as the houses themselves.
And for street art enthusiasts don’t miss Balmy Alley in the Mission district, which showcases colourful murals depicting the artists’ interpretation of global issues.
Also, don’t leave without visiting Baker Beach. It has a fantastic view of the Golden Gate bridge, and is the perfect spot to appreciate a California sunset, and the first of many beaches.
If you go to one vineyard in Napa Valley…
Make it Inglenook. This is one of the oldest and most historic properties in Napa Valley, with a chateau at its centre, owned by filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.
Take a tour, or do what we did – grab a bite to eat and sit on the terrace, overlooking miles of rolling vineyards, and relax. Ahhh.
Henry Cowell Redwood Park
So we made a little mistake here – mostly due to timing issues. Instead of heading north of San Fran to see those giant redwoods, we opted to visit a redwood park further south, on our way to Monterey. It was still epic, driving up narrow, cliff-edge roads with valleys of tall redwood trees below. But I think the biggest example of redwoods – the ones with enormous trunks – are in the north. Still, it was a fun part of our California road trip.
Garden of Eden (and almost being run over by a train)
The Garden of Eden is a hidden valley with a pool of water located in the Henry Cowell Redwood Park. We drove as close to it as we could, parked, and then followed some locals to it, carefully hiking down uneven ground. For part of the trip we had to walk in the middle of rail tracks, which sometimes ran through a narrow road with only a patch of ground on either side and a steep drop off below.
The locals who we had befriended walked in the middle of these train tracks with ease, their young kids running ahead and even tripping on to the lines themselves, so we reasoned that obviously this track was inactive. Or surely there would be signs, or fences, or something.
We only realised our mistake on the way back, when we left the Garden of Eden early, just the two of us, and almost got run over by a train. Did the train stop to let us carefully pass it? Haha, no. The driver of this enormous, steaming, roaring oncoming train gestured for us to get off the track, on a cliff-edged margin of land barely half a metre wide, and duck.
Pretty, but would we see it again? Hell no.
Whale watching in Monterey
After the redwoods, our California road trip continued to Monterey, which would be our base for 3 nights. We chose to stay here and explore the surrounding areas – Carmel, and parts of the northern section of Big Sur – mostly for budgetary reasons. Cali is hella pricey, amiright?
If you love sealife, Monterey is a good option. One morning we caught a boat and went whale watching, spotting a fair few humpbacks. If you’re not boat people though, Monterey also has an excellent aquarium.
Another day, we drove for 20 minutes and got to the little, chocolate-box town of Carmel. They have some cute little boutiques and art galleries, and a gorgeous, white-sanded beach.
On our last day in Monterey we drove further south to Point Lobos Park, located on the northern-most side of Big Sur, and hiked a couple of the cliff-edged trails. We saw lots of beautiful views of the sea, and would recommend it.
Our favourite Big Sur stops
And now we come to the main part of our holiday – the Big Sur drive! This section of our trip is also sometimes known as the Pacific Coast Highway, and is considered as one of the best and most scenic routes in America.
We left our hotel in Monterey at 10am to avoid rush hour, and drove the whole of the Big Sur in one day. Hubby, who did all the driving, was exhausted afterwards, but loved the experience.
The drive is completely coastal, and the narrow road winds up and down, and around enormous mountains. Parts of the drive are so high up that you’ll be above the fog. This is not a drive for the squeamish or inexperienced.
Along the route are various vista points – dirt patches where cars can stop and passengers can get out and take in the incredible views. Some of these unnamed spots have the best views of the whole drive, so do stop at as many as you can.
Our favourite stop was at Nepenthe, a restaurant with delicious, reviving food, and picture-perfect views.
We also loved finding the McWay Falls, located just a ½ mile walk through Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. After a fairly even walk, you’ll come to an ocean overlook with views down onto a cove.
The waterfall drops down from sheer cliffs on to the sand below – which is undisturbed, as the beach itself is off limits to visitors.
All-American, little town vibes at San Luis Obispo
Our California road trip through Big Sur ended at San Luis Obispo, a place which must surely be California’s most dinky and charming little town.
We stayed one night at Granada Hotel & Bistro, dining in their popular restaurant on local oysters, and loved the in-room amenities.
As well as a generous, fluffy bed, we also had a roaring fire, which we put to good use through the otherwise chilly night, and in the bathroom a sauna shower, to clear the strain of driving all day from hobby’s limbs.
If you have to choose between Pismo and Avila beach….
The next day we set off for the town of Los Alamos, and on the way stopped at two beaches – Avila and Pismo.
Both are lovely, although if we had to recommend just one then it would be Pismo for its slow waves that lapped the edges of the wide beach.
Motel vibes at Skyview Los Alamos
Our drive ended at Skyview Los Alamos, an otherwise quiet town that has this beautiful vintage motel to recommend it.
We loved the whole vibe of the place – which in parts felt like a 5-star hotel (the bed, heated pool and restaurant), and in other parts felt like an all-American motel. The best of both worlds 😊
Watching the surfers at Malibu
The next day we started another long drive, taking us through Malibu and to Los Angeles. Although we couldn’t stay long in Malibu, we’d highly recommend stopping here, grabbing a bite to eat on the pier, and then watching the surfers.
After a little while, we carried on our drive to Los Angeles
Taking a day to really appreciate how bad West Hollywood is
We had an awful first night in West Hollywood, which is altogether less hip and much more seedier than we thought it would be.
If we had stayed at a better hotel I don’t think our impression of West Hollywood would be quite so negative though. The award for the worst hotel we’ve ever stayed at goes to Mondrian West Hollywood. But that’s a whole other story.
Which made us super appreciate how nice Santa Monica is
Our first impression of both the hotel and area were so bad that we cut our stay in West Hollywood short to just one night, and headed to Santa Monica a day early.
As much as West Hollywood is not to our taste, Santa Monica is its opposite. With a stunning beach, fun pier and lots of boutique shops and restaurants around it, we had a great time.
And if you’re celebrating, then opt for Shutters on the Beach – a gorgeous hotel with beach shack vibes, ocean views, and luxurious accommodations.
Our favourite things to do in LA
Having been cooped up in a car for a while now, and swapping hotels almost every night, we decided to take it easy in LA.
So we mostly stayed in Santa Monica, exploring the pier, watching sunsets on the beach, enjoying the heated pool of our hotel, and eating locally.
The other reason we choose not to go further afield was the traffic. The drive both to and from West Hollywood showed us exactly how bad traffic in LA is, and we weren’t keen to get back into it.
During our local walks though we stumbled on a fantastic street food market, where we ate savoury donut burgers and crepes. At sunset, we made our way to the Griffith Observatory…
We also made it out to Venice beach and Abbot Kinney Boulevard. We watched insanely talented skateboarders at the former, and enjoyed mid-to-high-end boutique shopping at the latter. FYI, I’m loving my new Toms 😊
Reliving our youth in The OC – Newport and Laguna
After 3 days of rest and relaxation in Santa Monica, we carried on our California road trip south to Newport and Laguna, with The OC soundtrack filling the car the whole way 😊 PS, it’s only when we go there that we realised The OC was filmed mostly in Malibu and LA. Doh.
Can I just say – if I ever become hella rich I am so buying a house here. The OC is gorgeous! We stopped at Newport first and explored The Lido, a new addition to the pier with a range of great shops and restaurants. Hungry for fresh seafood, we ate lunch at Bear Flag Co. Isn’t hubby a G.
Then we drove a little further to Laguna, where the name of the game was to visit as many beach coves as possible, and top up our tans. We loved Crescent Bay Beach the most, but I don’t think you can go wrong visiting any of the beaches here.
After a lush 3 nights in The OC we dropped our car off at John Wayne airport, caught a flight back to San Fran, and then our return flight to London.
