Highway 1, Pacific Coast Highway, PCH… many ways of saying "a California bucket list road trip." Stop along the beachside towns and seek out the insane views. This trip can be squeezed into a few days, or spend more time at each location and make it a week itinerary.
HOW TO GET THERE
California's Pacific Coast Highway extends across the state's coastline. The PCH starts in the southern area of the state in Orange County and goes up to Mendocino County in the northern part of California. For this road trip, you can either go north to south or south to north, but we chose to start in the south due to flight prices. Los Angeles is the best airport to start in the southern area, and San Francisco is the best airport to fly into the northern area.
WHERE TO STAY
Pick your stops wisely along the way and know your limits. We chose to stay in Solvang, Carmel-by-the-Sea, and San Francisco. Solvang is a hidden gem Dutch inspired town in central California. It's often overlooked due to California's beach towns, but it was a cute area with little shops and restaurants lining the streets. Carmel-by-the-Sea is a more upscale town located on the coast. It's nearby the famous golf course Pebble Beach for a quick day trip. Finally, San Francisco is known for its beautiful colors, bridges, windy roads, food, and so much more. It was clear to us, we had to spend some time in the city to check it out.
TIPS FOR VISITING
Plan your stops in advance, but be flexible along the way.
Bring snacks and water for the long stretches of driving. (We stopped at a local Trader Joe's!)
ITINERARY
Day 1: Arriving to California
Upon arriving in California, we immediately picked up our rental car. Our key considerations when renting any vehicle is 1. Safety 2. Gas Mileage 3. Unlimited miles. We have learned the hard way that you don't always need to take the insurance with the car rental company.
Pro tip: you may already have rental car insurance covered through your credit card and/or insurance company, so check with your provider prior to departure.
Because of our big day ahead we didn't spend any time in Los Angeles and instead, set off for the beach:
Los Angeles
Venice Beach—Muscle Beach
Santa Monica Pier—Mariasol
Malibu— Point Dume, 21mi drive
Ventura—Clam Chowder
Santa Barbara—August Ridge
Solvang— Hadsten House
Hidden Gem: We stopped at Solvang for the night and highly recommend spending some time there. It is the cutest Danish-inspired town. We hadn't heard of it before, but were so glad we explored it.
Route from Los Angeles to Solvang
Day 2: Driving the Beach Towns & Big Sur
We knew this day would be a lot, and it was. If you have a 5th day, spend it breaking this drive into 2 parts. You will see so much natural beauty along this route, it's not only exhausting to take in at once, but we were unable to give each stop the time it deserved to immerse in the beauty:
Pismo Beach
San Simeon
Hearst Castle
Elephant Seal Rookery
Ragged Point
Julia Pfeiffer Burns
McWay Falls
Big Sur
Pfeiffer Beach
Bixby Canyon Bridge
Carmel By the Sea
Albatross
Caraccioli Cellars
Flaherty’s Seafood
Hidden Gem: Julia Pfeiffer Burns has the most beautiful alcove hidden amongst the rocky cliffs and purple-tinted sand. It's stop you don't want to miss.
Route from Solvang to Carmel-by-the Sea
Day 3: Carmel to San Francisco
We woke up so exhausted, yet rested form our day before. We hit the beach nice and early and caught sunrise. To this day, we still talk about how peaceful Carmel-by-the-Sea was and how we'll always cherish that peaceful morning on the beach. After spending the morning in town, we took off for a scenic drive to San Francisco.
Sunrise in Carmel
Cafe Carmel
Pebble Beach
17 Mile Drive
Monterey—Cannery Row
Santa Cruz— Pier
San Francisco
Chinatown— Sam Wo’s
Pier 1—The Ferry Building
Fisherman’s Wharf
Ghirardelli’s Square— SF Brewing Co.
Hidden Gem: Carmel, California. Maybe it's not so hidden, but you need to stop here and spend the morning watching sunrise on the beach.
Route from Carmel-by-the-Sea to San Francisco
Day 4: San Francisco
Last stop on our list was San Francisco. Again, we don't think 1 day in the city did it justice, but we walked most places in the city and after all of the windy roads and hills, we
Painted Ladies
Golden Gate Park
Enchanted Cafe
Baker Beach
Golden Gate Bridge
Lombard Street
No.9—Lunch
Fisherman’s Wharf—Boat Tour of Alcatraz
Beignets
Pier 39
Coit Tower
Financial District
We had to head back to Michigan which means a long flight and time change. Therefore, Day 5 isn't included into our 4-day itinerary, but we simply woke up, got some food, returned the car, and said see you soon to California! You beautiful, state, you.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
This was one of our favorite road trips! You are able to see so many different environments and beach towns as you ride along the route. If you have more than 4 days, we strongly recommend it. We wish we had more time to experience Big Sur and wander around San Francisco. Those two stops could be 4-day trips in themselves. We were also pleasantly surprised with Solvang - it wasn't a town that we had heard of before, or that was recommended, it was simply a good stop in our path. It made for the most pleasant surprise mid-trip.
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