PCH drive

[starvenger]

We’re considering going to LA at end August to visit my brother as he’s got his 2nd coming along earlier in the summer.

Thinking of doing a trip up the PCH but wondering what time frame we should allow for it. I’m thinking 2-3 nights will be sufficient to sightsee and make it up to the Bay Area, but wanted to see what people think about that.

It would be myself, my wife and 2 girls - 11 and 8.

TIA!

 

[cruisehopeful]

That's plenty of time. It will depend on how many stops you want to make and what all you want to see, but I never think of staying more than one night doing something like that. Again, if you want to stop often and get out and of the car to do lots of stuff, you will probably be happy staying a couple nights.

What is it that you'd want to see on the way? Do you know where you'd want to sleep?

 

[theluckyrabbit]

There's interesting info in this thread:*** Things to Do When Visiting California & the West ***. Your girls (and you!) might enjoy the Monterey Bay Aquarium as one of your stops.

 

[starvenger]

That's plenty of time. It will depend on how many stops you want to make and what all you want to see, but I never think of staying more than one night doing something like that. Again, if you want to stop often and get out and of the car to do lots of stuff, you will probably be happy staying a couple nights.

What is it that you'd want to see on the way? Do you know where you'd want to sleep?

I’m still early in planning so haven’t gotten that far yet

 

[Douglas Dubh]

There’s not many places to stop along the main stretch. I’d probably recommend stopping in San Luis Obispo and Monterey. Drive it three days, which should give you plenty of time for stops. Hearst Castle is cool, and there’s lots of old Spanish missions along the route so you could stop at a couple of those. Lots of nice beaches too if the weather is good. Like someone suggested, the Aquarium in Monterey is a great stop but so is the Boardwalk at Santa Cruz, which also has redwood forests. Lots of cool downtowns too.

 

[bcla]

Just FYI, if you're in the part of California State Route 1 in Northern California, nobody would call it "Pacific Coast Highway". That's really a Southern California name, and I believe it only applies to sections of CA 1 from Ventura down to Orange County. There might be some official name for it around here, but we always call it "Highway 1". If you're asking for directions, that will be the name that most people will understand.

 

[DLfan4]

Driving the PCH is a great idea. We drove part of the PCH and had a great time. So much to see.
I just started working on my trip report, you can check out our report here:https://www.disboards.com/threads/c...-it-to-have-a-great-time-trip-report.3728523/

 

[cruisehopeful]

You may want to stop at the Madonna Inn which you can see from the freeway. https://www.madonnainn.com/
You can choose your specific room and get something cool like a rock shower, etc. I have only been there for a meal as a stop on an all day drive and I enjoyed my time there. We ate, bought some stuff and were told to take pictures of the men's restroom. I asked our waitress about it and she said everyone takes pictures of the men's restroom and it was fine if we went in there to do that (we didn't have any men with us).