As a lover of road trips, driving the Pacific Coast Highway between Los Angeles and San Francisco had been near the top of my wish list for years. It’s a well-travelled route, but it’s popular for a reason. Ocean views, wildlife, giant redwoods and two famous cities at either end: there really is something for everyone in the car.
We did our California road trip with teenagers over the UK Easter holidays, flying into LA and home from San Francisco, with 10 days to play with. This guide is the plan I’d hand a friend: the route, which way to drive, where we stayed, what we’d change, and the things I wish I’d known before we left the UK.
Allow at least 10 days for a California road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco: three nights in each city and four nights on the coast in between. The coastal route is roughly 460 miles and needs around 10 hours of driving without stops (check your route on the day), compared with about five and a half hours on Interstate 5. Driving north to south keeps you on the ocean side, but south to north (as we did) works well if the flights suit.
When we first suggested a California road trip, the teenagers were mostly excited about the cities. They’d seen Los Angeles and San Francisco in so many films that they felt they already knew them, and I think the coastal bit in the middle sounded like a lot of sitting in the car.
That changed as soon as we started looking at stops along the way. Sea otters, sea lions, walking among enormous trees in Big Sur and driving dune buggies on the beach all went on the list, and suddenly the drive was the part they were looking forward to.
That’s why I think of this trip as the perfect holiday sandwich: a big slice of nature and wildlife between two cities. The cities give teens the buzz and the film locations, and the coast gives everyone room to breathe. It works just as well as a California road trip with kids, although with younger children I’d plan shorter driving days than ours.
Our 10 day route, south to north. Tap any leg for the full guide.
Days 1 to 3
Los Angeles
Overnight: LA (3 nights)
Day 4
LA to Pismo Beach
Overnight: Pismo Beach (1 night)
Day 5
Pismo Beach to Big Sur
Overnight: Big Sur (1 night)
Day 6
Overnight: Monterey (1 night)
Day 7
Monterey to Healdsburg via Santa Cruz
Overnight: Healdsburg (1 night)
Plan B: high winds cancelled our Elkhorn Slough kayak trip, so we spent the morning at the Monterey Bay Aquarium instead.
Day 8
Healdsburg to San Francisco via Muir Woods
Overnight: San Francisco
Days 8 to 10
San Francisco
Overnight: San Francisco (3 nights)
That adds up to 10 nights on the ground, and we flew home from San Francisco the day after. The one wobble was day 7, when high winds cancelled our kayak trip at Elkhorn Slough. Instead we stayed on in Monterey for the morning and visited the aquarium, which turned out to be a very good Plan B.
The usual advice is to drive north to south, making it a San Francisco to Los Angeles road trip. That way you’re in the lane closest to the ocean, with uninterrupted views of the beaches and the water, and it’s easier to pull into the viewpoints on your side of the road.
We couldn’t get our flights to work that way round, so we did a Los Angeles to San Francisco road trip instead, and it was still beautiful. The main difference is that the viewpoints are across the road from you, so you need a bit more patience and good timing to turn in. At Bixby Bridge, for example, we crossed first and then found a spot to pull over and look back down the coast.
My advice is to let the flights decide. An LA to SF road trip also has one advantage for UK families: you get the big city at the start, when everyone is jet-lagged and happy to do touristy things, and you finish in San Francisco, which is a more walkable city to wind down in before the flight home.
Here’s a quick taste of each leg. The full guides have the detail, directions and our honest verdicts.
Three days of Hollywood, film locations and beach bikes to get over the jet lag. Our 3 days in Los Angeles with teens guide has the full plan.
Coffee at Malibu Pier, lunch at Paradise Cove where the Beach Boys shot their Surfin’ Safari cover, then inland through the hills to Solvang, a Danish town that feels like a film set. See our Los Angeles to Pismo Beach guide.
Dune buggies at Oceano Dunes (we got stuck twice), sea otters wrapped in kelp at Morro Bay and hundreds of elephant seals at Elephant Seal Vista Point, before the most dramatic drive of the trip. See Pismo Beach to Big Sur.
Redwoods on the Pfeiffer Falls Trail, the purple sand of Pfeiffer Beach (more pinky-purple on our visit), Bixby Bridge, Carmel-by-the-Sea and the 17-Mile Drive. See Big Sur to Monterey.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium, a rainy Santa Cruz Boardwalk, a night in Healdsburg, film memorabilia at the Francis Ford Coppola Winery and the giant redwoods of Muir Woods National Monument. See Monterey to San Francisco the long way.
Biking the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito, cable cars and Alcatraz. Our San Francisco with teens guide covers three days.
With so many options along the coast, you have to accept that you can’t see everything. We reluctantly drove past Santa Barbara because we thought the teenagers would prefer the dune buggies at Pismo Beach. Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands are firmly on my list for next time.
With teenagers still at school, you’re probably looking at the school holidays. The summer holidays give you more time, but the route gets very busy in the summer months, and because the road is single lane in places, traffic can build up behind slower vehicles.
We went in the UK Easter holidays in April and had clear, sunny days for the whole trip, with a jumper or sweatshirt needed in the evenings. It felt like a good balance of weather and crowds. We only saw about four people on the Big Sur trails, which apparently get very busy at other times of year. The one weather blip was wind and rain around Monterey and Santa Cruz, so build a little slack into your plans.
If your teenagers have just finished school or are starting university, early September is another very good window, as the weather is still good and the crowds are easing off.
As for how long to drive the Pacific Coast Highway, 10 days was our limit. It fitted into a two-week school holiday with time for the long-haul flights either side. Three weeks would have been perfect, giving us more time on the coast, or the chance to loop back inland through Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks. If you only have a week, I’d cut a night from each city rather than rush the coast.
This is where a UK family’s trip looks a little different from an American one, so here’s what worked for us.
We booked two one-way flights with British Airways, London Heathrow to Los Angeles and San Francisco to London Heathrow. There are lots of flight options into both cities, so it’s worth comparing an open-jaw booking like this with a return.
Booking your flights and hire car together with British Airways counts as a BA Holiday, which earned us good points with BA’s loyalty scheme. Our guide to travel reward points explains how we use them.
You don’t need a car in LA or San Francisco, so start the hire on the day you leave LA and return it when you reach San Francisco. We dropped ours at San Francisco airport and took a taxi into the city. One-way hires often carry a drop-off charge, so check the total before you book.
We didn’t get the hire car we booked. It’s now a standing joke in our family that we never do. Ours had no sat nav, so we rented a plug-in one and I brought a paper road map, just in case.
We’re members of IHG’s loyalty scheme and used points at the Kimpton Everly in Los Angeles, the InterContinental The Clement in Monterey and the Kimpton Alton in Fisherman’s Wharf.
Remember that you’ll be driving on the right, and most hire cars in California are automatics. The first hour out of LA felt like a lot to take in, so I’d plan a gentle first leg with plenty of stops.
We enjoyed driving our Highway 1 road trip and found the roads very good. We drove most of it on two roads: Highway 1 from Venice Beach to just north of Santa Barbara and again from Morro Bay to Santa Cruz, with the inland US-101 in between, plus a detour on Highway 154 to Solvang. The quicker Interstate 5 (I-5) runs further inland and misses everything that makes the coastal route special.
The hardest section by far was Big Sur. The road hugs the cliffs, climbs high above the ocean and has tight, hair-raising bends with sheer drops, a bit like the Amalfi Coast. It was one of the most beautiful drives we’ve ever done, but it was tiring, and it’s easy to get distracted by the views. Take it slowly, use the pull-outs and swap drivers if you can.
Before you set off each day, check for closures. Landslides are not unusual on the Big Sur coast, and sections of Highway 1 can close for repairs, sometimes for long periods. Wildfires can also reach down to the coast road depending on the wind, and that risk isn’t limited to the summer. Check Caltrans QuickMap for current road conditions and keep an eye on local news while you’re there. If Highway 1 through Big Sur is closed, the usual fallback is the inland US-101, picking the coast back up further along. Not every stop is reachable from both ends during a closure, so check before you book Big Sur accommodation.
There’s a good range of places to stay along the coast, but book Big Sur first. It’s remote and relatively undeveloped, so there are far fewer rooms. We had hoped to stay at the Post Ranch Inn, but it was full, so we booked a cabin-style room at Big Sur Lodge, which put us right on the walking trails for the next morning.
We often book Airbnbs with the kids, as it’s usually more economical, but this time we stuck to hotels because it was simpler with a new bed almost every night. Our full list:
Los Angeles: Kimpton Everly (IHG points).
Pismo Beach: Vespera Resort (Marriott), right on the beach by the pier.
Big Sur: Big Sur Lodge, basic but beautifully placed in the trees.
Monterey: InterContinental The Clement (IHG points), a former cannery on the bay.
Healdsburg: Hotel Trio, with a shuttle into town and a robot that delivers drinks.
San Francisco: Kimpton Alton, Fisherman's Wharf (IHG points).
When we checked out of our San Francisco hotel, the bill came with a long list of taxes. City tax, state tax, tourism charges and a levy for being in the Fisherman's Wharf area all added up. Check what the final price includes when you book, and look for resort or destination fees in the small print.
Check the US entry requirements for your nationality and make sure your passport has enough validity left for your whole trip.
As British citizens on a short trip, we each needed an ESTA (the US visa waiver), bought online through the official US government website. Ours came through within hours, but don’t leave it to the last minute.
Get a policy that covers travel disruption and medical treatment, as healthcare in the US is very expensive without it.
Carry your driving licence every time you drive the hire car, as it’s a legal requirement. Check with your hire company whether they also want an International Driving Permit.
Check the FCDO travel advice for the USA before you go. I do this for every country as a matter of routine.
One thing to prepare your teenagers for is homelessness. California has a serious homelessness crisis, and it was very visible in parts of Downtown LA and around Venice Beach. We saw less in San Francisco, probably because we avoided certain areas such as the Tenderloin.
It can be a shock if your teens aren’t used to seeing it at home, so it’s worth talking about before you go, and remembering that these are people going through a very hard time. We were a little more careful about walking in the cities at night and kept our belongings out of sight, as we would in many UK cities.
California also sits on the San Andreas Fault. The chance of an earthquake during your trip is small, but it’s worth noting the safety information in your hotel.
Packing couldn’t be easier, as everywhere is very casual, even in Los Angeles. Jeans, shorts, sweatshirts and trainers will do unless you’ve booked a smart restaurant. Pack layers for the cooler evenings and a light waterproof in case of rain, and check the forecast before you go, as the coast can be much cooler than the cities. If you want a packing checklist, we have a dedicated packing guide available with a free downloadable.
When you get home, make a photo album while you’re getting over the jet lag, before the memories fade. I use the Journi app for this. Leave reviews for the places you stayed and visited, as it helps other travellers, and start your list for next time.
In closing
Our California road trip turned out to be one of our favourite family holidays. The teenagers came for Hollywood and the Golden Gate Bridge, but it's the sea otters, the elephant seals, the redwoods and getting towed out of the sand dunes (twice) that we still talk about.
If you're planning your own, start with our Los Angeles guide and work your way up the coast one leg at a time. Allow more days than you think you need, book Big Sur early and leave a little slack for the days the weather has other ideas.
Santa Barbara, we're coming back for you.
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