California coast road trip planner
Leg Two (Luke Dahlgren/Unsplash) The Central CoastĬamp, sandboard, or drive ATVs on more than five miles of sand dunes in Oceano Dunes State Park, and check out the history of skateboarding at the Morro Bay Skateboard Museum. Then be sure to grab a scoop of Harmony Valley Creamery ice cream at the legendary Thursday-night farmers’ market in San Luis Obispo. Stay in Hotel del Coronado (from $323), a historic guesthouse on Coronado Island in the heart of San Diego Bay, and don’t miss the ever changing collection of small plates, like pork shoulder with bacon-braised lentils and black trumpet mushrooms, at the award-winning restaurant Juniper and Ivy in the city’s Harbor View neighborhood.Ĭrystal Cove, near Newport Beach (south of Los Angeles), has oceanfront cottages and private rooms for rent starting at just $37 a night, or continue north and hit Sandy’s Beach Shack in Huntington Beach for mahi-mahi tacos, beer, and a surf session before checking into Malibu’s Surfrider Hotel (from $369), a revamped 1950s-era motel with wetsuits and surfboards for rent and a rooftop deck. Near Santa Barbara, Skyview Los Alamos (from $179) is another renovated motel, this one with outdoor showers overlooking wine country and loaner mountain bikes for exploring the area’s miles of quality singletrack.
Start from the southern end of Highway 1 in San Diego, where you’ll find a thriving craft-beer scene, friendly surf breaks, and 65 miles of trails in the city’s 1,200-acre Balboa Park. Leg One (Courtesy Skyview Los Alamos) San Diego to Santa Barbara Tackle the whole thing, or take it on piecemeal by planning a trip for one of the sections below. Along the way, score dreamy campsites overlooking the Pacific Ocean or post up at the many revamped retro hotels that dot the route. You can visit the sunny beaches of San Diego, the wine country of the central coast, the rugged cliffs of Big Sur, and the towering redwoods of Mendocino without ever leaving the road. Sections of the iconic highway were closed due to wildfire and mudslides for over a year, but these reopened in July 2018 and the route is eager for visitors. California’s Highway 1 is a perennial favorite for adventurous road-trippers-and for good reason.