California Road Trip Itinerary

What started out being planned as 10 days on the road camping and driving past beautiful views turned into more of a lowkey, variety of a vacation. My original plan was to rent a camper van or something similar and spend 10 days camping and driving down Highway 1. After a little more research about the types of raods we would be on and the price of camper vans, we opted for a more lowkey city-hopping adventure with a few saught out coastal views.

I am writing this partially as a journal of sorts to remember our trip by and also to share our experience for anyone looking to do something similar – I know I read many blog posts while we were planning our trip.

Here is a quick run down of our schedule for our trip:

San Fransisco
In SF we staying in an airbnb close to Golden Gate Park. We stayed in a private room in someone’s townhouse. It was a great way to explore the city while feeling like a local, and our host was super nice! Private rooms in someone’s home isn’t for everyone; it wasn’t very private, but we just needed a place to sleep and it was affordable, so it was perfect for us!

Some of our favorite sights to see were the Fisherman’s Wharf, The Pink Ladies, and the Exploratorium. The Fisherman’s Wharf is a well known area of San Fransisco with lots of touristy shops and lots of bread bowls and chowder. We spent the afternoon here exploring the bay and nearby streets. The Exploratorium – an interactive science museum – is also nearby. We spent the afternoon tinkering and feeling like kids again. We would highly recommend! Just be sure to check the current guidelines as we had to be masked and show proof of vaccination before entering!

Our favorite restaurant we visited in SF (and arguably our favorite of the whole trip) was nestled in the streets of Chinatown. Z & Y Restaurant has fed “presidents and several Foreign Ministers of People’s Republic of China” and has been recognized by the Michelin Guide.

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Big Sur, Santa Cruz, Montana de Oro State Park
In between SF and LA, we just stayed in roadside hotels. However, we still had a blast because we love hotels and one of them had a hottub!

Montaña de Oro State Park was one of my favorite places we visited the whole trip – the views are stunning! Honestly though, the whole section of Hightway 1 that we were on, especially through Big Sur, was amazing and the views were incredible.

We also stopped in Santa Cruz briefly to eat at a taco restaurant for lunch. Just like all of the other smaller towns we were in – I would love to come back and spend time exploring around Santa Cruz.

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Los Angeles
In LA we stayed in another airbnb. This one was lowkey like a hostel, but it was perfect (and affordable) for us! We had our own private room in a three or four bedroom house, and then there was a shared bathroom, patio, and kitchen. Our host was super kind and gave us great recommendations.

Here in LA, we explored Hollywood Boulevard, the Hollywood sign, Venice Beach, and the LA County Museum of Art. My favorite part was hiking the trails to the Hollywood sign; such a cool thing to see in person! We did some other touristy things that are fun to do once, but if we went back I think we’d spend more time exploring around Venice Beach!

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San Diego
We only stayed for a couple of nights in San Diego, so we chose to stay in a camper van by the beach! We stayed in La Jolla at Windansea beach. It was definitley an experience, but I think we’re both glad we only stayed in the Van for two nights. Our host was awesome though. He met us when we “checked in” to the van and messaged us an extensive list of restaurants and bars to check out in the area.

This was the last leg of the trip, so we mostly just relaxed by the ocean. We would love to come back some day and explore more of San Diego!

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M