The best way to see the variety that California has to offer is by taking a California road trip. Winding roads, National Parks, massive cities, amazing wineries; California has it all! However, California is the third biggest state in the USA, so it’s important to have a plan before setting off on your California road trip.
We’ve broken California into four different road trip regions: Southern, Northern, Central and Coastal. We think these are the best 1-ish week road trips in California. However, if you have lots of time, we’ve combined these 4 one-week road trips into the ultimate three-week California road trip that allows you to see everything California has to offer at the end of this post.
Central California Road Trip
- Distance: 1,000 miles
- Time: 8 Days
- When To Visit: May-October; roads in the mountains close in the winter with snow.
- Highlights: Yosemite National Park, Sequoia Forests, Lake Tahoe
This is a perfect California road trip for those that prefer the natural wonders to big towns. You’ll spend a week exploring National Parks and State Parks high in the mountain forests. This road trip visits the most National Parks (4) and is great for people trying to visit all of the National Parks in the USA.
This road trip runs in a circular route starting and ending in San Francisco. However, you could start and end this anywhere in Central California with a large airport, like San Jose or Sacramento.
Central California Road Trip Itinerary
- Day 1: San Francisco
- Day 2: Lake Tahoe
- Day 3: Yosemite National Park
- Day 4: Yosemite National Park
- Day 5: Yosemite National Park
- Day 6: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park
- Day 7: Pinnacles National Park
- Day 8 : Return home
However, when Yosemite is fully open, Death Valley is at its hottest. So we think it’s a better idea to add Death Valley as a side trip from Las Vegas rather than added on to a California road trip.
Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip
- Distance: 600 miles
- Time: 7 days
- When To Visit: Spring and Fall
- Highlights: Monterey, Hearst Castle, San Diego, Hollywood
This is one of the most beautiful road trips in the USA! It is iconic – from the seaside bridges to the famous cities. While the road trip starts in a densely populated area, it ends in a very natural area, so it’s great for everyone. The things you’ll see on this California road trip are all of the things you see in the movies. It’s a Hollywood worthy road trip that actually takes you to Hollywood.
This is a point to point California road trip that starts in San Diego and ends in San Fransisco (or in the opposite direction). The first few days are short spurts of driving. However, the last days include huge stretches of driving the most beautiful road in the country, Highway 1. So while you’re driving a lot, you really won’t mind hitting the road.
Pacific Coast Road Trip Itinerary
- Day 1: San Diego
- Day 2: San Diego
- Day 3: Los Angeles
- Day 4: Los Angeles
- Day 5: Santa Barbara
- Day 6: Big Sur
- Day 7: San Francisco
If, like us, you are planning on visiting all of the National Parks in the USA, add one extra day to this California road trip to take a trip to the Channel Islands from the docks in Santa Barbara.
Southern California Road Trip
- Distance: 450 miles
- Time: 7 days
- When To Visit: Spring and Fall
- Highlights: San Diego, Hollywood, Joshua Tree National Park
SoCal, or Southern California, is a place like no other. Where the people watching is as good as the weather, you’ll find plenty of entertaining things to do in this small area in Southern California. And while this California road trip focuses on larger metropolitan areas, it also includes a visit to a great National Park. Joshua Tree National Park is home of real life truffula trees (or at least that’s what they look like to us). So get your inner Lorax on and go exploring these unique dessert trees between visits to two huge cities.
This California road trip is a loop that you can start and end either in Los Angeles or San Diego, whichever city works best for you – or has cheaper plane tickets.
Southern California Road Trip Itinerary
- Day 1: Los Angeles
- Day 2: Los Angeles
- Day 3: Palm Springs
- Day 4: Joshua Tree
- Day 5: San Diego
- Day 6: San Diego
- Day 7: Orange County
Northern California Road Trip
- Distance: 1,200 miles
- Time: 10 days
- When To Visit: June-October; roads in the mountains close in the winter with snow.
- Highlights: Redwood National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, McArthur-Burney State Park
This road trip is a big week that covers a lot of remote California territory. This California road trip starts and ends in San Francisco, which is an easy starting point due to the frequent and inexpensive flights. From there, you follow the coast all the way up to the mighty redwoods before detouring inland to Lassen Volcanic National Park and some amazing waterfalls. Don’t skip the stop in Napa Valley for wine tasting before making your way home.
Northern California Road Trip Itinerary
- Day 1: San Francisco
- Day 2: San Francisco
- Day 3: Point Reyes
- Day 4: Coastal towns
- Day 5: Redwoods National Park
- Day 6: McCloud & Burney Falls
- Day 7: Lassen Volcanic National Park
- Day 8: Driving
- Day 9: Napa
- Day 10: Flight home
3 Weeks in California
- Distance: 2,300 miles
- Time: 21 days
- When To Visit: July-October; roads in the mountains close in the winter with snow.
Do you have three weeks and want to see EVERYTHING California has to offer? Combine all of these California road trips into one ultimate trip.
While this road trip takes a massive amount of time, it is also is a very efficient road trip. You see every mainland National Park California has to offer, plus the three biggest cities. This is definitely a California dream trip. While we’ve had to break it into four one week road trips to avoid using up all our vacation time, if you’re visiting from overseas, this is a great way to see everything California has to offer with fewer plane tickets involved.
3 Weeks In California Itinerary
- Day 1: San Francisco
- Day 2: San Francisco
- Day 3: Napa Valley
- Day 4: Point Reyes National Seashore
- Day 5: Coastal towns
- Day 6: Redwoods National Park
- Day 7: Burney & McCloud Falls
- Day 8: Lassen Volcanic National Park
- Day 9: Driving
- Day 10: Yosemite National Park
- Day 11: Yosemite National Park
- Day 12: Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park
- Day 13: Driving
- Day 14: Joshua Tree National Park
- Day 15: San Diego
- Day 16: San Diego
- Day 17: Los Angeles
- Day 18: Los Angeles
- Day 19: Santa Barbara & Santa Monica
- Day 20: Big Sur & Monterey
- Day 21: Pinnacles National Park
We hope this has helped to break down all the best places to visit in California into the best California road trips. We think these road trips give you the best tastes of California while minimizing your driving time. If you have any questions or comments, check out our section below.
