California is one of our favorite US states to travel through. Why? Because it has everything we love in abundance – major cities, amazing national parks, scenic road trips, incredible hikes and stunning photo spots. There really is something for every type of traveler in California. It might be an expensive place to live, but after spending months exploring the Golden State, we have to say it’s a fantastic place to visit.
In this California travel guide we show you the cities, national parks, hikes and road trips to add to your bucket list, along with an example itinerary and when to visit.
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Driving California’s Pacific Coast Highway
Where to stop on one of our favorite road trips from San Francisco to San Diego.
Cities
Let’s kick things off with California’s most popular city break destinations – San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. After spending plenty of time in all three cities, we find it fascinating how different they are from one another in every way.
San Francisco
When planning our first California trip we were most excited about San Francisco because we have a soft spot for iconic attractions and SF has those true bucket list spots like the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. They were awesome experiences but the city also had great museums, it was easy to get around and we couldn’t stop eating sourdough bread.
There are some tacky touristy areas like Fisherman’s Wharf and some gritty areas like the Tenderloin, but overall we really like San Francisco as a weekend-break filled with things to do.
Los Angeles
For us, L.A. was all about Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. They were the places we liked walking around the most. We also took a tour of the Warner Bros studio, saw a tv show being filmed on the beach between Santa Monica and Venice, went in the audience for a game show, hiked to the Hollywood sign and visited the Griffith Observatory.
But we found Los Angeles hard to get around and some areas were pretty rough. Overall, we thought it was a fun place to visit but we wouldn’t go for more than a few days on a vacation.
San Diego
Finally, San Diego. The place we had no expectations for and the place we enjoyed the most. It doesn’t have the iconic bucket list attractions or nostalgic movie locations but it does have a chilled vibe, it’s easy to get around, there’s a ton of beaches and the food scene is immense.
We spent a few days exploring Balboa Park, Coronado, the Embarcadero, Old Town, the beaches and La Jolla. It’s a great place to take a relaxing weekend trip for food, drinks and taking it easy.
National Parks
Did you know that California is home to 9 of America’s 63 national parks? That’s more than any other state. Truth be told, they’re not all essential must-visit parks so there’s no need to try working them all into an itinerary. But we do highly recommend trying to figure out a way to see at least one or two along with the major cities.
Here are the 9 national parks:
So far we’ve been to Yosemite, Death Valley and Joshua Tree. We enjoyed Joshua Tree, it’s a cool and chilled place to spend a day or two. Death Valley surprised us with its vast, sheer and hostile beauty. And Yosemite? Well, Yosemite National Park is one of our favorite places in the US. It’s got hikes, photo spots and natural beauty galore.
Eventually we’ll visit all of California’s national parks, and we’ll definitely go back to Yosemite a few more times once our kids are older. Plus, we’d love to spend more time exploring national forests in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Finally, we did visit a great national monument in the far north of the state called Lava Beds, which we highly recommend if you’ll be driving through the area.
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Hiking
In a state this big with countless forests, mountains, desert areas and miles of coastline, it’s near impossible to cover all the hikes you can do. But we will walk you through the most famous and most amazing trails in the state, so you can fill your California hiking bucket list.
Starting with the most obvious, Yosemite’s flagship hike is called Half Dome. You’ll need to win a permit (we tried for 5 years and didn’t get lucky) and it’s a monster day hike so you must be in good shape. The backup is called Mist Trail, we’ve done it and it’s awesome.
Sticking with the Sierra’s, you can also apply for a permit to hike Mt Whitney, the tallest peak in the lower 48. Nearby in Lone Pine, there’s a great easy hike to Mobius Arch which we did for sunrise and highly recommend. Want something truly epic? Hike the full length of John Muir Trail.
Then there’s Lake Tahoe, which we absolutely adore as a travel destination for both hiking and photography. It’s a great place to hike for all levels with trails ranging from easy through very hard. Joshua Tree’s best hike is called Ryan Mountain and Death Valley’s top hike is the Golden Canyon Loop.
10 Fun Facts About California
- The California Republic was an independent nation for 25 days in 1846.
- Badwater Basin in Death Valley is the lowest point in North America.
- California’s state motto is “Eureka!”
- Hyperion, the world’s tallest tree is in Redwood National Park.
- After Texas, California has the second most ghost towns in America.
- San Francisco’s iconic cable cars are the only ones in operation in the US.
- California is the most populous US state (8 million more than Texas in second).
- More people live in California than all of Canada.
- Each year 100,000 earthquakes rumble underneath California.
- The fortune cookie was invented in California (LA and SF claim the credit!).
Road Trip Itinerary
If we wanted to road trip around the top highlights in California, this is how we’d plan an action packed 3-week itinerary:
San Francisco – Days 1 to 3
- Cycle to Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park
- Walk, eat and drink in the touristy neighborhoods
- Visit Alcatraz, Exploratorium and Coit Tower
Pacific Coast Highway – Days 4 to 6
- Drive SF to Carmel-by-the-Sea
- Explore Big Sur
- Spend the day in Solvang and Santa Barbara
Los Angeles – Days 7 to 9
- Take a movie tour, explore Hollywood and go to Griffith Observatory
- Spend the day around Beverly Hills
- Walk between Santa Monica and Venice
San Diego – Days 10 to 12
- Spend the day exploring Balboa Park
- Beaches, Old Town and La Jolla
Joshua Tree – Day 13
- Full day hitting the park’s highlights
Death Valley – Days 14 to 15
- Spend the day on Badwater Road
- See more of the park before visiting Mobius Arch later in the day
Lake Tahoe – Days 16 to 18
- Long drive up to South Lake Tahoe
- Spend 2 full days hiking and exploring around the lake
Yosemite – Days 19 to 20
- Drive Tioga Road and into Yosemite Valley
- Hike Mist Trail (or Half Dome with permit)
- Explore the park’s top highlights
San Francisco – Day 21
- Drive back to San Francisco to catch a flight
This awesome and efficient road trip itinerary stops at most of California’s touristy highlights in a nice loop from San Francisco. It’s exactly how we’d do it if we were visiting for the first time again.
When To Visit
One of our favorite things about California is its diversity of landscapes and terrains. In one day we’ve gone from the hottest and lowest place in North America to standing on top of gigantic snow capped mountains. Northern California is very different to SoCal, so it can be hard to plan a trip based on weather.
In winter you can ski around Lake Tahoe but Yosemite is closed. It’s a great time to visit L.A. and San Diego because it’s quieter, cheaper and not as hot. Spring and fall are fantastic times to visit most places in California when there’s a balance between costs, crowds and weather. We visited Lake Tahoe in November and it was awesome.
What about summer? Well, it’s busy, overcrowded and expensive to visit the cities, Lake Tahoe and the national parks. Plus, the Pacific Coast Highway is slammed. Personally we’d avoid visiting any touristy spots in California in July and August, maybe even June and September too.
Keep Exploring
Are you planning a longer trip with stops in more states? Once you’re finished reading our travel guides for California, keep exploring nearby areas by heading over to the following pages:
We hope our California travel guide helps with planning your vacation to the American southwest!
Happy Travels,
Mark and Kristen
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