Northern California defies all expectations! There are stunning waterfalls, rugged coastlines, ancient trees and plenty of national land – definitely not what you imagine when you think of California. That is because Northern California is like a land of its own. In this post we’re sharing all of the best stops for a Northern California road trip. Explore Redwoods National Park, Burney Falls, the Pacific Coast Highway, volcanoes and more as you follow this ten day Northern California road trip.
When To Visit Northern California
In order to complete this ten day northern California road trip, you have to visit in the summer time. The roads you’ll be traveling on days 6 and 7 close in the winter and don’t open until mid-summer. So July-August is the best time to do this northern California road trip.
Getting There And Around
This road trip starts and stops in San Francisco because it has a major airport and flights are cheap(er). You can find frequent flights into San Francisco from around the country and the world.
Since this is a road trip, you will need a car. And since we do recommend lots of camping, a camper van may be the best option for you. We really like tent camping but know that there are lots of things needed for camping so if you don’t want to pack all the supplies, you can pay more for a camper van instead.
You can find car and camper rentals near the airport. Car rentals are much cheaper than van rentals so if you have camping gear already, a car is the most economical option. If you do choose to rental a car instead of a camper, you do not need a 4WD car. All of the roads you’ll be traveling are paved (except for a few optional ones in Redwoods National Park).
If you do rent a car, consider renting it on day 3 of this northern California road trip. You do NOT want a car when you are in San Francisco. San Francisco is super walkable, despite all the hills, and parking is expensive. So if you can figure out a way to save your car rental for later – that is best.
Toll Roads
You will pass over toll bridges on this northern California road trip. All bridges going in to San Francisco charge a one-way fee as you enter town, they are free as you leave town. So ask your rental car company about a digital FastTrack pass or what the fees are if you don’t get a FastTrack. On this road trip, you only pay a toll on your final day when you return to San Francisco. Our rental company had a $15 unpaid toll fee which was cheaper than a 8-day rental of a pass. So compare prices and do what is best for you.
Top Things To Do
How to use this map: The map above has all of the attractions mentioned in this post. Click on each attraction to learn more about it. If you’d like to save this map, click on the square “View Larger Map” icon. This will open the map in your Google account (make sure you’re signed in). You can reference it in your account or you can create a copy to make your own edits.
Northern California Road Trip Itinerary
This northern California road trip itinerary starts and stops in San Francisco. It covers approximately 1,125 miles over ten days. The map above shows the complete route. We’ve highlighted our favorite stops below. And honestly this was still a very fast paced road trip. So while there are other stops that we’ve skipped over, if you want more time to stop when your heart tells you to, you may want to add some additional time into your itinerary.
Where To Stay
We’ll give you a recommendations on places to stay each night. We did a lot of camping but we get that that isn’t for everyone. We’ll tell you where we stayed each night so you can find somewhere geographically close to minimize driving and still find something that suits your needs.
Day 1 – San Francisco
Drive Time: none
First, spend one day exploring San Francisco. We loved hitting up all the touristy sections of San Francisco like the Golden Gate Bridge and Chinatown. Whatever you do, don’t forget to stop for lunch or dinner in Chinatown – that was our favorite stop.
Stay overnight in a San Francisco Hotel.
Here are a few options:
- Budget: Castle Inn
- Mid-Range: Club Quarters Hotel – we stayed here and it was nice
- Luxury: Hotel Zephyr
Day 2 – Alcatraz and San Francisco
Drive Time: none
Next, spend your second day visiting Alcatraz island and learning all about the history of the prison and the importance of the island to the history of San Francisco. Make sure to book these tickets ahead of time as tours of Alcatraz often book up.
Afterwards, spend the rest of your day exploring a few less touristy areas of San Francisco. Consider checking out the Mission District for some street art and burritos or Haight-Ashbury for some hippie vibes.
Stay overnight again in San Francisco.
Pro Tip: Consider going without a car these first two days – you won’t need it and it will save you some money. We took at ride share into San Francisco and then took one back to the airport area to pick up our rental car. It was about half the price of what the rental car would have cost for those two days but it did take extra time. Additionally, I’m sure we saved a ton on parking.
Day 3 – Muir Woods and Point Reyes
Drive Time: 2 hours
Start your morning with a drive over the Golden Gate bridge. No northern California road trip would be complete without the chance to drive over this gem.
Your first stop of the day will be at Muir Woods. This is a small redwood forest just outside of San Francisco (like 15 minutes away). You will need to get a timed entry ticket into Muir Woods. It’s such a popular stop that you have to have a timed ticket for entry or they will turn you away due to overcrowding of the parking area.
Next, head up the coast to Point Reyes National Seashore. This small peninsula juts out farther into the Pacific Ocean than any other point in California making it a popular place to spot birds, whales and other sea life that are not normally seen from shore. We enjoyed taking in the views of the Point Reyes Lighthouse and doing a bit of hiking along the coast.
Drive a bit farther north and camp overnight at one of the many state campgrounds in the area.
Day 4 – The Coast
Drive Time: 7 hours
This day has the most driving of this entire northern California road trip. We just took it slow and enjoyed pulling over and plenty of scenic vistas. While this drive seems to be short – this day really got away from us as we stopped for beautiful views so often. So be aware of time on this day.
Next, you’ll enter Humboldt Redwoods State Park, and you want to be here when it is still light out. The Avenue of the Giants was one of the most impressive sights for redwoods – the road was just so magical.
Next, head into Redwood National park and camp overnight in the southern section of the park. If you do not want to camp, stay in or near Eureka.
Day 5 – Redwoods National Park
Drive Time: 3 hours
Spend the entire day enjoying Redwood National Park. This was our favorite stop on this northern California road trip. It is just such a unique park and with the fog that is common each morning, it’s also a very moody park – and we liked that.
Our favorite stops in Redwood were the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, Howland Hill Road and Stout Grove.
Throughout the course of the day, you’ll drive all the way to the Oregon border but then you’ll backtrack to the Eureka area to put you in the correct spot for starting your next day.
Stay overnight again in Redwood National Park.
Day 6 – Waterfalls
Drive Time: 5.5 hours
First, head inland towards Mt. Shasta. While this northern California road trip doesn’t include a stop in Mt. Shasta, make sure you still check out the beautiful sights of the mountain in the backdrop as you head to McCloud Falls. Stop at McCloud Falls and explore all THREE waterfalls at this stop.
Next, continue heading west and stop at Burney Falls to explore the best waterfall in northern California! This was one of our favorite stops along this northern California road trip which really surprised us because we hadn’t heard of it before going on this trip.
Camp overnight in the state park. If you choose not to camp, be warned that this area has very limited accommodations. So if you want to stay indoors in this area, make sure to book your accommodations far in advance before they all book up.
Day 7 – Lassen Volcanic National Park
Drive Time: 2 hours
Next, make your way into Lassen Volcanic National Park. This park has a little bit of a lot of things – there are 4 different types of volcanoes, geothermal areas, snowcapped mountains, waterfalls, glacial lakes and more! It’s like a little version of Yellowstone National Park. Spending the entire day driving through Lassen will give you plenty of time to see all of the most popular stops. Definitely, don’t miss Manzanita Lake or the Bumpass Hell Trail.
Camp overnight in the southern section of Lassen or near the town of Chester. If you do not want to camp, stay overnight in Chester.
Here are some hotel options nearby:
- Budget: Camping – link above
- Mid-range: Bidwell House – we stayed here and the breakfast was great!
- Luxury: Private Log Cabin
Day 8 – Driving
Drive Time: 4 hours
Unfortunately this day is full of lots of driving. We detoured into Chico so we could include a stop at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company to break up the driving. But really this day is just making your way from Chester to Napa. And there is lots of farm land in this area. So for my father it would be interesting, but for us it was a boring section of driving.
Fortunately, this driving day ends with some nice relaxing time in Napa. You should be able to get to Napa in time for one winery tour and tasting. We visited V. Sattui which is our absolute favorite Napa winery.
Stay overnight in Napa. This was a very expensive stay for us. Hotels in this area are very expensive and campgrounds are limited. So if you are looking to save money on accommodations like we are, make sure to make your reservations long in advance as the cheaper options tend to book up very quickly.
Here are a few options:
- Budget: Chardonnay Lodge
- Mid-Range: Archer Hotel
- Luxury: The Estate Yountville
Day 9 – Napa
Drive Time: none – just exploring
Next, spend one full day exploring Napa and Sonoma. We did a Napa Valley wine tour and then visited Sonoma in the evening. While the Napa Valley is famous for wine, it also is just a really interesting farming region with lots of focus on good natural ingredients, which makes dining in Napa another spectacular experience. There are several Michelin starred restaurants in the area so if you want a dinner that spectacular, make sure to make your reservations ahead of time – like months ahead of time.
Stay another night in your Napa accommodations.
Day 10 – Return Home
Drive Time: 1.5 hours
On your final day of this northern California road trip, make your way back to San Francisco to return your rental and head home.
Want To Adjust The Itinerary?
For a nine day northern California road trip, cut out day 3. Muir woods is great, but you’ll see better redwoods on day 5. And you can pack a short stop to Point Reyes into day 4 instead.
For an eight day northern California road trip, you can further eliminate day 9 from the road trip. Napa was really fun but it was also really expensive. Eliminating it will save you time and money.
For a seven day northern California road trip, you can reduce your days in San Francisco from 2 days to 1 day. You’ll have to cram things in but it’s possible.
If you have less than 7-days in northern California, you really should choose a few things to do rather than attempting this very big road trip loop.
If you have more time, consider extending your time in Redwoods National Park. This was our favorite section of this road trip so we may be a bit biased here. Additionally, there is a lot of potential hiking that you could do in Lassen Volcanic National Park that would be fun to do if you had an extra day.
What To Budget For A Northern California Road Trip
With the exception of a day in Napa, this can be a super cheap road trip. Okay, maybe not as cheap as other US destinations, but way cheaper than other California road trips.
We spent $5300 in 10 days in Norther California for two people. We mainly camped, but we stayed in hotels in larger cities. Here is a breakdown of the costs:
- $1865 on accommodations
- $900 on food
- $1670 on transportation, including flights
- $900 on activities
We could have saved a ton of money if we camped rather than stayed in hotels in Napa and San Francisco. However, that would have meant more time spent driving. We also would have saved money if we would have booked hotels farther in advance – we booked this trip a few weeks out and paid far more than we normally would have on hotels because cheaper ones were booked up.
Well that covers everything we needed to plan a northern California road trip so we hope it has helped you to plan your own. If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave them in the comments sections below.
