We drove up from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 6 days! Here’s a roundup of the places we stopped at along the way.

Santa Barbara

Our first stop up the coast was Santa Barbara, about an hour or two (depending on traffic) from LA. We stopped at the Old Mission Monastery and walked along the State Street Promenade in the centre, a long pedestrianised road filled with shops and restaurants. Our favourite area was East Beach and Stearns Wharf, the road was lined with palm trees and there was a great view of Santa Barbara and the mountains beyond.

Montana de Oro State Park

We stopped here for a hike along the bluff trail and despite the fog we saw a huge amount of wildlife, including seals, pelicans, squirrels, herons and plenty of other birds. I would definitely recommend this stop for anyone interested in nature or wildlife!

Morro Rock

We only stopped here briefly but it’s worth making a quick detour to see the rock looming out of the ocean. There are also plenty of seals around the dock area and you can hire a kayak to get a bit closer to them.

Cambria

A historic Californian town, Cambria has a small town centre with a few shops and restaurants. The most famous place to stop is Linn’s Easy as Pie Cafe to get a slice of ollalieberry pie. We also tried the peach and blueberry and they were both nice but didn’t come cheap at $7 for a slice.

Also located in the town and worth a stop is the interesting house named Nitt Witt Ridge, a California Registered Historical Landmark. Reclusive artist Arthur “Art” Harold Beal originally bought his hillside lot in 1928 and spent most of the next 50 years carving out the terraces with only a pick and shovel and creating his own “castle on a hill.” Some parts of the house are from Hearst Castle, where he reportedly worked for a time. Other building materials he used for his house include beer cans, abalone shells, concrete, washer drums, car rims, tile, car parts, and old stoves. The unique home was sold in 2022 and is no longer open to the public but it is still possible to drive by!

Fiscalini Ranch Preserve

Just outside of Cambria you can find Fiscalini Ranch Preserve, a great place for a hike. There are amazing views of the Pacific coastline as well as the opportunity to see plenty of wildlife again. We saw seals, sea otters, birds and even deer. For another shorter trail there’s also the Moonstone boardwalk that follows the coastline just outside the town of Cambria.

San Simeon/Hearst

William Randolph Hearst memorial beach is a nice place for a quick stop with a pier stretching far out into the ocean. Although we didn’t spot any apparently it’s a great area to spot whales migrating, which is why it was originally a spot for whale hunting.

Hearst Castle sits on top of the hill, and in the village of Hearst is Hearst Ranch Winery, which offers wine tasting for a pretty reasonable price – a good opportunity to try some Californian wine!

Las Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery

One of my favourite stops! Just off the pacific highway is this elephant seal vista point where you can view thousands of elephant seals on the beach! Definitely not one to miss.

Big Sur

The Pacific Highway was closed after Ragged Point for a few miles when we were here so we had to take a different route and then come back to Big Sur from the northern side. It was still a beautiful road and had so many incredible views of the Pacific Coast. We also stopped at Big Sur State Park for a hike to the Pfeiffer falls, where we also saw our first redwoods!

Point Lobos State Park

Another amazing park for a walk, Point Lobos is just outside Carmel by the Sea. We parked just outside the entrance to avoid the $10 parking fee and walked in from here, we then took the path to sea lion cove and also ended up walking the Cypress Point Trail, which had incredible trees and once again incredible views!

Carmel by the Sea

Another very pretty town with ‘fairytale houses’ everywhere. Everything in the town is very expensive but there is at least a lovely beach with very white sand that you can walk along for free! At the end of the beach on a rocky bluff is a house built by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, which is known as the “Cabin on the Rocks.” Another building worth visiting is Carmel Mission, a beautiful monastery dating back to 1770. We also drove along the 17 mile drive, a road between Monterey & Carmel with lots of scenic viewpoints. However, to enter the road you have to pay $11.75 per car, and the road is actually less impressive than some of the other amazing roads we drove along for free so I wouldn’t do this again.

Garland Ranch Regional Park

Another great park for hiking just outside Monterey and Carmel. This one is slightly more inland so rather than views of the ocean there are views of Carmel valley, which is also incredibly beautiful. We followed the waterfall trail, which climbed up into the hills, however there was unfortunately no waterfall as there hadn’t been any rain recently! We still saw lots of wildflowers and views over the valley, which made the climb worthwhile.

Monterey

Monterey is about a 15 minute drive from Carmel by the Sea and is a slightly cheaper area to stay which is why it’s filled with motels. Otherwise the Old Fisherman’s wharf is worth checking out which has lots of places selling Clam Chowder and is also where you can board a boat doing whale watching tours.

Santa Cruz

One of my favourite stops on the route, Santa Cruz is famous for surfing and the point of Steamer Lane draws top surfers and huge crowds when the big waves arrive. At the point is also the surf museum which has some of the original surfboards first surfed and lots of photos of surfing throughout the years. Other than surfing there is a great amusement park with rollercoasters, arcade games, food stalls and other attractions alongside the main beach. The wharf is also a great place to check out as it’s home to so many seals and sea lions! Downtown Santa Cruz also offers the usual shops and restaurants and every third Sunday a ‘makers’ market has plenty of interesting handmade products for sale.

Redwood Forests

Between Santa Cruz and San Francisco you have the chance to see plenty of redwood trees in one of the forests. There is the famous Big Basin Redwoods State Park but as we were short on time we stopped at Purisima Creek Redwood Open Reserve and took the Redwood Trail to view some of the famous trees!

Summary: Despite the road closure on the Pacific Highway meaning a major detour we had an incredible time exploring the towns, state parks and beaches along the coast. The scenic views around Big Sur were definitely a highlight of the road trip.