USA West Coast Road Trip routes - things to see

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

Raymond Lin

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It is early days (12 months away) but planning a road trip for next year in the states on the west coast. Plan is start from San Diego and drive up to Seattle.

Stops in a few cities in between see the sights and move on.

Route - Click

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This is the first draft of the route so far. Obviously there is a slight double back to Yosemite (so may not do that), but in terms of actual road/highway, is there any stretch on there that is a must drive through?

Any places outside the cities that is a must see?

p.s. Las Vegas does not interest me.
 
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You have to visit WCC
 
There is a lot to see on such a trip. Depending on how long you have you might want to split the trip up so you get to see more of each area. Perhaps return from Portland etc.


I will leave someone else to fill in SoCal as I am not too keyed up on it, but NorCal northwards I know very well.

I see you have Yosemite bookmarked. Dont forget there is also sequoia national park south of Yosemite if you have time. I have been to Yosemite nearly a dozen times, if you have questions about hikes, viewpoints, camping, food etc fire away.
There is a lot to see in Yosemite, it is not just the main valley. Hetch Hetchy, Tioga meadows, the high alpine, the Mariposa sequoia grove. Leave plenty of time to explore. Yosemite is busy in the main valley but short hikes will see you by yourself in no time.

One thing I would absolutely definitely do is from Yosemite NP drive over the toga pass road (120) to the eastern sierras (route 395). At the bottom of the pass on the east side is mono lake which has cool rock structures and lots of wildlife.
Just north of mono lake is the abandoned gold mine town of bodie- check out photos on Google. It is an amazing piece of history and a photographers paradise.

From Bodie enjoy the scenic 395 and head north to Lake Tahoe. Beautiful huge alpine lake, check google for photos. I prefer south Lake Tahoe,plenty of cheap accommodation but a nice setting with big sandy beach and close to many of the main sites (emerald bay etc.) is is on the broader with Nevada which has casinos, if you want to get a small dose of how ugly a casino is then it is just the other end of town.

From Tahoe I would head NW to Lassen NP, very scenic and fun volcanoe with active geysers and mud pools, a bit liked mini Yellowstone.

From there it is difficult because there are great things on the coast and the mountains. Near Eureka on the CA coast is redwood NP and home of the tallest trees in the world. Also check out fern canyon (used in a scene of Jurassic park) and some of the state parks in the area you can drive through trees.

However, equally cool is crater lake NP in Oregon, just check the photos on google.

Across oregon you really don't want to drive up the I5, In fact no where do you really want to because it is ugly and boring. In oregon the coast is amazing, but so is the cascade mountains. It is not easy to do both and zig zagging between them is no fun.

However one route would be to go from Tahoe to Lassen, through town of redding to get to Eureka on the coast and see the redwoods. Then go NE to crater lake. From crater lake you can follow the cascades lakes highway north to the town of Bend. There are some great scenic byroads through the wilderness that pass hidden lakes, old lava flows, mini volcanoes etc. this is my backyard. Bend is a fun town an makes a good base camp. From bend you can take the famous Mckenzie pass back west passing through Eugene (home me) and go back to the coast near Florence or Reedsport. Then follow the oregon coast up north to Portland.

Portland is an ok city, not like SFO, but nice. Outside Portland is Mt hood, great hiking, summer snow and skiing, and timberline lodge as seen in the film the Shinning.

North of Portland is mt St. Helens, worthy a Visit to see the destruction.

Form here you have the same choice/issue, follow the cascade mountains (mt rainier NP is just north of St. Helens NP) or follow the coast.


Before arriving in Seattle on the coast is the very cool, and very wet, Olympus NP with the largest temperate rainforest in the world.


If you get a more finalized route then I can share a load of the small state parks that scatter the US.


I most likely won't be in Eugene next year though, otherwise I could hook you up with a room and some maps etc.
 
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I did California/Nevada/Arizona in 2010 and this week have just returned from doing the Pacific Northwest. Both areas are amazing and I enjoyed them greatly.

However, I really think your route is both ambitious and problematic and you'll have a more enjoyable trip if you make major changes.

Your biggest problem is going to be flights and car hire. No hire company wants people one-waying cars from San Diego to Seattle. Those which permit it are going to have large and punative one-way fees to discourage you from doing so. Paying enormous one-way fees is wasted money - you get nothing credible for the money. Secondly, Seattle is probably one of the most expensive US cities to fly to direct (or otherwise) from the UK. We are talking on average 50% more than Los Angeles. Which again is fine but it all adds up.

The next problem is that because of your intended route you can't go hugely far in-land. This is a shame because once you get up towards Seattle you are within distance of some of the most incredible scenery on the planet.

My advice is to completely change your plans - Do a loop starting and finishing in the same place.

Pick either Los Angeles or Seattle/Vancouver as start/finish points.

From LA go via San Diego and Las Vegas (You say it doesnt interest you, it didnt interest me either, use it for very cheap very nice hotels and to gain access to non Las Vegasy stuff nearby) and then through Death Valley up to Lake Tahoe, into Yosemite via Tioga Pass and then onto San Franciso. Then come down Highway 1 to LA again. This will be the best value for money - easy to get sensible flights etc.

Otherwise, fly to Vancouver or Seattle - take in the Canadian Rockies, the US Rockies, the Cascade Range, etc etc - this is what I did this year and it's awesome.

If its your first West Coast trip I'd probably recommend the California one first. It's cheaper and it has more variety - my last trip was all about mountains, California is all about everything. Rent a Convertible for hardly any money and have a great time.
 
I haven't looked into costs much, but I do remember you mentioning about car hire charges out of state so the idea is to break them out to 3 hires. My friend had a quick look and mention its about $600 a week (not sure if she just did a 1 way from A to B without breaking it up)

I have actually mentioned to her the possibility of a loop and thus make things cheaper but the idea of the trip is start at A and end at B.

Having said all that, this is STILL in its infancy, I need to know the cost breakdown of both and see if it is feasible and difference. I know it would be more expensive going the intended route (perhaps a 1 way flight from Seattle to LA first on the way back) but will need to find out the difference are and see if we can afford it, I don't want to write it off before doing the numbers. The 1 way drive from San Diego to Seattle is a dream, not something I'd be doing again and if I can do it in 1 go, I would. Next time it would be a different part.
 
I just don't see the value of doing it all in one go, you don't really gain anything. You will have a much better time if you do one of the loops. I went down as far as Portland this time and as far east as Calgary and Missoula.

600 dollars a week for rental is madness and exactly my point. I paid half that for a luxury car.

They are not out of state charges they are one way charges, they apply within the same state too. California is an exception, one way inside California or into Nevada are typically free.
 
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Well, if car charges is the only thing that is the limiting factor, $600 a week vs $200 a week (halved), then I don't want to let £800 put a stop to a road trip of a life time to drive up the west coast. It would cost me that much to go back again in air fare so the way I see it, what the heck if it can be done.

More a concern is not enough time to see a place that vast, and enjoy it. Car hire/flight fare from Seattle are not top of the priorities.
 
I think your dream is arbitrary and is standing in the way of much better scenery and a much better trip. I don't get whats so important about driving from san Diego to Seattle that makes it worth both considerable extra expense and missing out on a load of stunning things off route.

How long do you have?
 
ive just got back from doing a trip similar.

stop in Monterey and Santa Babara.

i would advice to keep your driving to 2-4 hours per stop and stay more than 1 night in places.

our main gripe was because we tried to fit so many places in, we only stayed a night in them so we would arrive after dinner and be leaving the next day at 9am to get to the next place for dinner and we only had 8-10 hours in places.

we are already planning to go back and do cut out some places (LA, Death Valley) and stay longer in others.

in San Diego, if your going to the zoo and Sea World they take most of a day each. Go to Freds Mexican cafe on 5th ave it does awesome tacos.

In San Fransisco use the trams as much as you can, dont wait at the start points as you queue for hours, go a stop or two up and wait 20 mins.

i wold say go to Las Vagas as its awesome. you will gamble and lose money but it just a great place, we sat on our balcony every night at 2-3am drinking champagne watching the Bellagio fountains going off.

if you hire a convertable, dont get a mustang!

i had my heart set on one but the rental company didnt have any in when i arrived, they gave me a dodge charger instead and told me to come back in the morning to swap it. i got to my hotel and saw 4 mustangs in a 25 space car park. the next day when we went exploring i saw 10-15 of them. you will see them everywhere. i saw prob 200 on my whole trip. they dont feel as special when you have one in front and one behind you in the same colour doing the exact same as you. Camaros you see far less, i think i saw 4 chargers.


i cant say much more as im going to a wedding :p

Driving in America is great and everyone is so much nicer.

you will have an amazing time.
 
You will have an amazing time, the dream is road tripping in the USA not completing an arbitrary journey between two points on google maps so don't get sucked into that.

For example there is no way you should visit Seattle without driving another 120 miles up the road to Vancouver Canada which is one of the best cities I have ever visited. You can easily do this if you are not so focused on going from San Diego to Seattle.
 
utajoker said:
ive just got back from doing a trip similar.....

if you hire a convertable, dont get a mustang!

i had my heart set on one but the rental company didnt have any in when i arrived, they gave me a dodge charger instead and told me to come back in the morning to swap it. i got to my hotel and saw 4 mustangs in a 25 space car park. the next day when we went exploring i saw 10-15 of them. you will see them everywhere. i saw prob 200 on my whole trip. they dont feel as special when you have one in front and one behind you in the same colour doing the exact same as you. Camaros you see far less, i think i saw 4 chargers.


i cant say much more as im going to a wedding :p

Driving in America is great and everyone is so much nicer.

you will have an amazing time.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Haha, I already know about mustang's abundance there, they are like Ford Focus around here, but they have an image of being driven round by guys in wife beaters with a glock in the glove compartment, most Americans do not think it is that special.

Well, we plan to stay a couple of nights in the big places – San Francisco, San Diego, LA, Seattle. (I would put more nights into SF over LA)

Fox, I am planning for 2 to 3 weeks, like I said, trying to fit it all in is more a concern than car hire charges (might doing San Diego to San Fran, then head east and then down to San Diego again, who knows?!). I understand your concerns but I am not writing it off in day 1 of planning. I need to do some number crunching on it before writing it all off, right now I'd like to know some routes and interesting places to see, I will then make a short list of places that interest us and those that do not, that's all.
 
It depends on what you're comfortable with - I've returned from doing a looped trip in the area not too long ago, but I've also looped round the US from New York and back again, meaning that each coast I did was a one way trip.

It's going to be more expensive going from point A to B, but then again it also depends on how much impetus you're putting on the financial aspect of the trip. I preferred not having to loop back again, as it gave us an awesome amount of flexibility knowing that we could allow of variations in our plan. But at the same time, we didn't have a definite return date, which I imagine you will with your trip.

When I was back in California last month, our journey plan was a great deal more rigid, and it can have relative knock-on issues if you decide to deviate from your schedule - It depends on how much of a planner you are.

I can't really add too much of what people have recommended seeing above, but I'd certainly sing the praises of Tartine (the restaurant, not the bakery), Brenda's Soul Food for breakfast (I had pulled pork eggs benedict!?), Little Star Pizza was decent and Maverick was pretty decent too.

If you're after a bit of wine drinking, I'd advise on skipping Napa and heading to Sonoma instead, and maybe have a little stop off in Healdsburg. In Sonoma we went to Glen Ellen as it's slightly off the beaten track and really enjoyed ourselves - stayed at a charming little hotel called The Gaige House. Also, we really enjoyed going to Point Reyes Station for cheese, and then heading out to Tomales Bay State Park - Drakes Beach has miles upon miles of beautiful deserted beach.
 
When I had a mustang I was amazed by the interest it got. People took photos and walked up to me in the street to compliment it. It was bizarre. They are very much not like the equivalent of a focus over there, the American people love them, it's an iconic car. They are very common rental cars in California but it's still a bit of a laugh. I wouldn't rent one again but I am glad to have had one for California.
 
[TW]Fox;25013897 said:
When I had a mustang I was amazed by the interest it got. People took photos and walked up to me in the street to compliment it. It was bizarre. They are very much not like the equivalent of a focus over there, the American people love them, it's an iconic car. They are very common rental cars in California but it's still a bit of a laugh. I wouldn't rent one again but I am glad to have had one for California.
Click to expand...

I was in the South, Georgia :p
 
[TW]Fox;25013082 said:
I did California/Nevada/Arizona in 2010 and this week have just returned from doing the Pacific Northwest. Both areas are amazing and I enjoyed them greatly.

However, I really think your route is both ambitious and problematic and you'll have a more enjoyable trip if you make major changes.

Your biggest problem is going to be flights and car hire. No hire company wants people one-waying cars from San Diego to Seattle. Those which permit it are going to have large and punative one-way fees to discourage you from doing so. Paying enormous one-way fees is wasted money - you get nothing credible for the money. Secondly, Seattle is probably one of the most expensive US cities to fly to direct (or otherwise) from the UK. We are talking on average 50% more than Los Angeles. Which again is fine but it all adds up.

The next problem is that because of your intended route you can't go hugely far in-land. This is a shame because once you get up towards Seattle you are within distance of some of the most incredible scenery on the planet.

My advice is to completely change your plans - Do a loop starting and finishing in the same place.

Pick either Los Angeles or Seattle/Vancouver as start/finish points.

From LA go via San Diego and Las Vegas (You say it doesnt interest you, it didnt interest me either, use it for very cheap very nice hotels and to gain access to non Las Vegasy stuff nearby) and then through Death Valley up to Lake Tahoe, into Yosemite via Tioga Pass and then onto San Franciso. Then come down Highway 1 to LA again. This will be the best value for money - easy to get sensible flights etc.

Otherwise, fly to Vancouver or Seattle - take in the Canadian Rockies, the US Rockies, the Cascade Range, etc etc - this is what I did this year and it's awesome.

If its your first West Coast trip I'd probably recommend the California one first. It's cheaper and it has more variety - my last trip was all about mountains, California is all about everything. Rent a Convertible for hardly any money and have a great time.
Click to expand...


I agree with this. The one-way car hire costs can be astronomical.
And as I mentioned in my post above on the west coast you get stuck between choosing the actual coast of the sierra-cascade mountains. A circular trip lets you drive up the coast and then back down the mountains.

I've done several such road trips and always started with the idea of doing a one-way trip but quickly end up designing a loop. At the very least you can race back home on a fast road like the i5 but normally you can add a lot more to see on a loop.
 
twoblacklines said:
I think the biggest dilemma is not what to do and see (because you will be on the PCH anyway) but which car to do so in.

Can you afford to hire an F430 Spider? If not atleast make it a convertible Mustang!
http://www.bwrentacar.com/convertible-car-rental/ford-mustang-gt-convertible.html


I have not read the whole thread.
Click to expand...

The famous and iconic part of the PCH that's an experience to drive is between Los Angeles and San Francisco, so only a part of his route. I agree that if he's focusing on the PCH a Mustang Cabrio is the way forward - fortunately there is no need to pay $1k a week as per that site - all the standard rental agencies have huge fleets of Mustang Cabs which are typically rented at £200ish a week fully inclusive of all insurance :)

If he does a loop he can go up the coast and down the mountains, which is great.
 
I would not have a convertible for the PCH, it is nearly always freezing cold and foggy!
Plus thee is no where to go very fast. Something that corners nicely with stiff suspension is a bonus, some american cars feel like monster trucks.
 
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