Food is one of the vital pipelines of a community and what makes each place unique. Not many people focus on the food while road tripping but I think this is a missed opportunity. I should warn you that both are extremely expensive in terms of Airbnbs and hotels. The only two bigger cities on our itinerary are Los Angeles and San Francisco. Airbnbs outside the cities also tend to get lower priced very quickly.įor bigger cities I recommend finishing up the sight seeing and then driving up to the next location to sleep for the night. In Los Angeles you can find car rentals as cheap as $250 dollars for 14 days up front. If you are a backpacker you can easily live in hostels and make your own food which is what I used to do in college. Your food, lodging and drinks can be as cheap as you like. If you already own a car then the cost comes down significantly. Your most expensive cost will be the rental car and gas. The average cost for a California road trip is $75 – $100 per person per day. Also pack some aspirin if you get headaches which I tend to do during car rides sometimes. Of course for those long car rides you want to keep hydrated and feeling good. Every single town on this drive is so picturesque and the views are so amazing that you will want to capture every moment. As a solo female traveler especially you don’t want to be making sketchy stops at night when your phone battery is dead.įor obvious reasons. You will be driving long stretches of road and its paramount your phone doesn’t shut down and leave you stranded on the side of the road. When we went to Hong Kong my mom bought us all new shoes and it was a great idea because we ended up walking so much.Ī portable charger is also very important. You will be doing a lot of walking in a short amount of time. One of the most important things is to get good shoes for the trip. You will also be more comfortable driving and hiking in Big Sur if you have a good warm jacket. It’s a good idea to take a rain jacket with you, you never know when the rain gods get angry especially on a coast.Įven on the hottest days, California mornings tend to start out chilly and jackets are necessary. On our trip we will be following Highway 1 from start to its end and then following Highway 101 for a little bit afterwards to venture into redwood forests.Ĭalifornia tends to be kinda foggy especially in the mountains and up towards the northern forests. The part of Highway 1 that runs from San Diego to Malibu is called Pacific Coast Highway. Highway 1 starts at Dana Point, an hour south of LA and runs all the way to Leggett which is 5 hours north of San Francisco. Pacific Coast Highway starts down south in San Diego and runs along the coast all the way through Malibu. Fog and landslides on the highway also causes closures which can last for hours and ruin your plans during winters. Winter isn’t recommended because you’ll miss out on some water fun. This time of the year is also the season for bioluminescent algae on the southern beaches of California (April), whale migration season near SoCal beaches (between January and April), elephant seal breeding season in Central California (December to March) and Monarch butterflies filled Eucalyptus groves (late October through February).Ĭalifornia has a late summer which starts in June and gradually develops into a hot dry fall which causes raging wildfires all over California that are extremely dangerous for driving and camping. Plus you will be driving through some stunning beaches and you want it to be warm enough to enjoy those. California has rains which last through December and January mostly and leave everything lush and gorgeous afterwards. The best time to do a California road trip is between the months of January to April preferably right when spring starts around March. From ski resorts to surf beaches to desert camping to hikes in the lush redwoods and getting boozy in wine farms, California has everything you can imagine. The winding farmlands below the rugged mountains produce some of the best wine in the country.ĭrive along the coast upwards and the terrain changes from hot arid coast to green pastures which then dive into tall Sequoia forests and finally reaches the mountains of San Francisco. The gorgeous hot desert regions to the south give way to Sierra Nevada mountains near Los Angeles which are plump with snow in the winters. It’s not surprising then that people are always looking to do the famous Pacific Coast Highway road trip.Īfter I talked to a friend that completed a road trip from Pennsylvania to California and visited some amazing places along the way like a waterfall trail in West Virginia and the Grand Canyon in Nevada, I was very excited to do a long road trip myself. The gorgeous Golden State of California draws backpackers and road trippers like moths to a fire.
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