1896.7 Miles, 32 Cities,10 Days, 3 States, 1 Highway

Fasten your seat belt World Citizens, this will be the ride of your life! We drove the length of the Pacific Coast Highway over a ten day span and it was the best road trip ever! We drove from Los Angeles, CA to Seattle, WA with an itinerary sure to please any type of traveler and we’re going to break down the entire trip from top to bottom so you too can have the experience of a life time.

What is the Pacific Coast Highway?

Why the Pacific Coast Highway you ask? The Pacific Coast Highway road trip has been nicknamed the “original road trip” for good reason. The PCH is a prestigious highway that stretches from the Southern California coast all the way up to the Washington coast through Highway 1 in California and US 101 in Oregon and Washington. Named the All-American road, it’s still a major transportation route for the Greater Los Angeles area, San Francisco, and the coastal communities it slices through. It offers a scenic path with breathtaking views of the coastline that connects a variety of interest points to be enjoyed along the route.

What Type of Transportation Do You Need for this Road Trip?

Let’s start with the most important part of the trip and honestly the unexpected MVP, transportation. We rented a camper van from Escape Campervans that turned into our magic school bus for the trip. It was a standard 15 passenger van turned into a camper that included a kitchen nook, a queen size bed, a refrigerator, a sink, and propane stove burner. Literally luxury on wheels, we had a majority of the essentials at the tip of our fingers the entire trip. For some it may be intimidating to think about driving such a large vehicle, but it didn’t take a lot of time to get comfortable and be hugging curves on coastal mountains and enjoying that view. These vans are tried and true and the staff was extremely nice and helpful during our pick up and drop off appointments (tell them we sent you when you rent). We decided to start our trip in LA because the one way trip was less expensive to pick up there and drop in Seattle. Simple math, and the coast is the coast so it did not dramatically affect our itinerary. One thing we did like about our route was the stops per day decreased as we got closer to the end, allowing us to spend more time at each point of interest and wind down as the trip came to a close. We actually added a day to the beginning and the end to ease in and out of the trip and hang with friends in a few different cities. The total for the van rental, all 10 days, plus fees was about $1400, gas for the entire trip was about $350.

How Do You Plan the Itinerary?

Our itinerary, as always, was the driver of the trip. And thanks to our friend Austin who had just completed a PCH trip and shared his itinerary, we had a heads up on how to be efficient. Our base itinerary included about 50 stops and with those stops you can arrange to drive about 3-4 hours a day, spending each night in a different city. As you can guess, while we were driving we added some stops and decided to skip some. That is why organization is key! We used an app called RoadTrippers that was our saving grace. It organized our stops by location and even estimated travel time between each. This really helped us to develop schedules daily. Every morning we reviewed our itinerary in the app to make sure we gave ourselves enough time at each location and made sure we both were ok with the stops of the day. The app itself is free but limits you to only entering a few stops. To enter the entire trip at once there is a $30 monthly subscription fee (you can delete the subscription when you’re done with it….you didn’t hear that from us though lol). From our opinions the app was totally worth the $30. Knowing how much time you have to spend at each stop and how long it takes to get to the next stop is critical to the success of your itinerary. Here’s a tip for your trip! Not every destination, and even between some stops, will have cellular service. So having the next destinations listed and also entered into your GPS when you do have service is very helpful for a seamless trip! For some locations, especially during the pandemic, hours of operation can be limited so you’ll need to plan ahead for that.

This trip packs a lot of spunk, so you should too. The stops vary from beaches, to overlooks, nature trails, and even a couple city explorations. With that being said you’ll want to make sure you’re prepared for it physically and mentally. For example, the best secluded beaches or views you have to work for! Beaches like Davenport and Shark Fin Cove require you to hike/scale down to the shore and Natural Bridges requires a steep hike to actually get to the bridges and cross, if you’re up to the challenge. There were times we personally felt our lives flashed before our eyes but the views were totally worth it!

50 stops sounds like a lot, but once you hit that road your antennas will be tingling and you’ll have happy feet motivated by all the beautiful scenery along the coast. There will be plenty of time to stop at all the places you want, even ones not on the itinerary because you’ll only need to drive about 3-4 hours a day. We do suggest planning to be in your overnight destination by dawn so that driving is easier. Remember you are on the coast and the roads wind up and down mountains and get tight. You’ll want to do all your driving in the daytime as this will allow you to get to sleep at a decent hour to wake up and conquer the next day. Also, there will be activities and things to explore in the cities you stay in so just because you get to the parking spot early doesn’t mean the day is completely over, it’s up to you!

Where Do You Sleep and Did You Shower?

We scouted RV parks and campgrounds prior to the trip to make reservations to secure places to park for the night. Because we decided to rent a camper van, this is very important as it will be the only way to access showers and restrooms overnight. To be totally honest, there were some nights were we didn’t have access to showers but no more than one day going without a shower. This is a judgement free zone! Also cities in California don’t allow you to overnight camp at the beaches/sites you’ll be visiting so it’s best to have a spot at a RV park reserved for parking. They’re a little more lenient in Oregon and Washington with camping so keep that in mind. We also used state park campgrounds in some cities, which in some places are hard to book because everyone on the west coast camps, or at least it seemed like it. The availability was scarce so if that’s your preference for camping, plan that well in advance! We’ll include the places we camped in our itinerary breakdown and you can also research places and find the best match for your schedule.

Some campgrounds will have checkin later in the evenings while some don’t so a good rule of thumb would be to get to your campground by 9:00pm every night. We got in late one night a little after 10pm and had to park our van outside of the campground because they blocked off the entrance. Another helpful app to use is Hipcamp, the Airbnb for camping. You can search for people that rent their private property for parking and camping just as you would with a public business. Embrace the options and make the best of the amenities you can find. The average price to stay at RV parks or State Parks were about $60/night. Right now, due to the pandemic, many of the showers at the campsites are closed so make sure to do thorough research when booking.

You may not believe us but all in all, the camper van had a queen size pull out bed that was very comfortable. We did not miss a regular bed at all on this trip! But if that’s not your thing we understand. There are plenty of Airbnb’s, hotels, motels, and everything in between along the coast.

What Do You Pack For the PCH Road Trip?

You’ll want to make sure you pack for hot and cold weather as the night and day temperature changes are significant enough to call for more layers. There were major temperature changes between California, Oregon, and Washington. Don’t make the mistake of packing a ton of tank tops and shorts because the wind chills and temperature drops at night call for a bit more clothes.

Pack a couple of jeans that you can use throughout the trip when you’re in the mountains experiencing the wind chills or walking around during the cooler evenings. We brought a lot of shorts and tank tops for California but after day 3 there was more use for longer sleeve shirts and pants. Ladies, leggings are your friend! Super comfortable when riding in the van and will keep you warm on the trails. Bring sweatshirts and light jackets to change into when you get cool. Did you know the Olympic National Forest has a rainforest inside it??? We had raincoats and that came in handy for the random showers we experienced when hiking through the forest.

Would You Do The PCH Road Trip Again?

This trip was thoroughly pleasing on so many levels from the relaxation on beaches, to the solitude and peace of nature, and just the pure excitement of exploring new places. We enjoyed the variety of scenery we were able to view and explore. We hiked several miles of trails from National state parks in California to the majestic Red Woods forests, to Olympic National park. On top of that we camped at a few campgrounds in the state parks really immersing ourselves in nature and enjoying the serenity and bonding time it brought us. We also hiked to many amazing views of natural rock formations and cliffs, like Natural bridges and Mendocino state parks, two of our favorites not to exclude sand boarding at Sand Master Dunes in Oregon which receives honorable mention. The views literally took our breath away as we were mesmerized by God’s creations. Indulging in local culinary favorites and town enterprises and favorites like Tillamook Creamery, where we did a self guided tour of the cheese factory and tasted some of the best ice cream and cheese we’ve had to date, was a highlight! We tried a plethora of seafood places and we even got a chance to stop by a winery in Oregon. We could literally go on about the endless possibilities of how to make this trip a success. We highly recommend this trip, 10 out of 10. So go ahead and start planning and as always connect with us so we can help!

Annnnnnnd just a heads up if you’re not completely confident in executing yourself we are planning to lead a caravan on this exact trip. If you’re interested in taking this trip with us in 2021 send us an email or connect with us via this post and social media to get more details on how to reserve your spot!

Have you done the PCH road trip?? What were your favorite stops? Let us know in the comments! If you’re interested in doing the trip, contact us for the full itinerary!