California Summer Trip Ideas

With over 170,000 travelable miles available in the Golden State, we appreciate how difficult it can be to choose a route and destination. Let us help you make up your mind with the suggestions below.

California is a nature lover’s paradise. Wherever you are in California, within the span of just a few hours, you can go from the beach to the mountains to the desert. If you wish to be dayyled by nature this summer, you cannot go wrong with the Yosemite National park. It is just a 4-hour drive from San Francisco. You just need to make sure you prepare well: make sure your car is ready, check local weatehr and road conditions, and rest well for the drive over. The park itself is easily accessible by car and on foot. Many trail options are available, offering you the chance to enjoy the granite cliffs, giant sequoias and awe-inspiring waterfalls up close. A popular trail is to Vernal Falls and Nevada Falls , or you could climb to the top of Half Dome, towering over Yosemite Valley. You are bound to be tired from hiking all day, so make sure you do not drive when you are exhausted or sleepy. The park has many lodges and campsites,  and with so much to see and cover, you will want to stay here a few days at least.

Prefer a more photographical road trip, here are two commonly known American routes

California State Route 1, designated as an All-American Road for running along America’s most beautiful coastlines. It is 655 miles long (over 1,000 kilometres), running north-south from Leggett in Mendocino County to Dana Point in Orange County. Its portions include the Pacific Coast Highway, Cabrillo Highway, Shoreline Highway. If you do not have time to cover its entire length, we recommend the section of the road that opened first, in the 1930s - the Big Sur. This section, designated a National Scenic Byway and All American Road for its scenic and natural qualities runs from San Luis Obispo to Carmel and is sure not to disappoint. It offers 90 miles (140km) of winding through and hugging the cliffs of Big Sur, crossing several historic bridges, like the Bixby Creek Bridge, and several coastal parks.

Finally, road trips simply cannot get any more archetypal than Route 66, also referred to as the Mother Road or the Main Street of America. It is a historic west-to-east route 2,451 miles long (3,945km), stretching from California to Illinois. Once a major thoroughfare for westward migration, it was immortalized in Americal literary classics and songs like Route 66, first recorded by Nat King Cole. If you do not want to go completely ’on the road’ for the whole length of the route, we recommend the 316 miles of it that are in the state of California. While portions of the route running through Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico and Arizona have been deisgnated National Scenic Byways for their natural beauty, and the route’s historical significance is kept alive both by locals and by travelers.