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Visit San Francisco, Napa Valley, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite NP, Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur, Santa Barbara & Los Angeles
Classic California road trip highlights:
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We’ll suggest properties to match your preferred budget, be it low-cost, mid-range or high-end luxury that you’re looking for. We can also mix it up so you’ll experience a range of standards and experiences along your California road trip.
All of our California road trips can be tailored to meet your requirements. Do you have more or less than 14 days for your road trip? No problem, we can bolt on extra nights to allow more time to explore or shorten the number of destinations as required.
Fly directly to San Francisco for the beginning of this epic California road trip adventure. San Francisco is the perfect place to start most Californian road trips, as it’s the one city in California where you don’t need a car to explore. So, either take a convenient cab or the more budget-friendly BART train from the airport to find your hotel. You’ll avoid pricey rental and parking fees this way, and you can then zip around the city using the iconic cable cars, Ubers, or even driverless cabs! After arriving at your first hotel, why not enjoy an evening meal at one of the city’s wonderful restaurants before settling in for the night? You’ll then wake up ready and recharged for two full days of exploring this incredible city by the bay.
After the famous San Francisco mist has been burnt off by the morning California sunshine, California’s favourite city will be revealed. Start your visit by riding a cable car to the heart of the city – Union Square. Here you’ll find amazing shopping and enjoy great meals. Art lovers might want to visit the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, or as locals call it, MOMA. After lunch, swanky Nob Hill is well worth exploring, and visiting the iconic Painted Ladies in Alamo Square is high on many visitors’ lists. Finish off the day with a mouthwatering meal in America’s oldest Chinatown.
Spend today by the Bay. Alcatraz Island is a must-visit for most travellers visiting California. Not only will you enjoy the unique experience of exploring Alcatraz, but you’ll also be treated to breathtaking views of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge as you take the ferry across the Bay to this iconic tourist destination. Once you return to the mainland, grab a sourdough bread bowl of clam chowder at Fisherman’s Wharf or head up to the historic Ferry Building for local coffee and artisanal snacks. Next, consider renting a bike and riding over the Golden Gate Bridge, passing Crissy Fields Beach along the way. The views are epic, and the photo opportunities seem endless.
Collect your road trip wheels and cruise over the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, which spans the headlands between San Francisco and Marin County. This is one of the world’s most beautiful bridges, and it’s a delightful experience to cross it, especially if you opted for a convertible car for your California road trip. From the northern side, you can enjoy stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco beyond by driving up Conzelman Road. Next, you’ll drive through the rolling landscape of Marin County, where you’ll find road trip gems, like Tiburon, Sausalito and Muir Woods National Monument. You’ll then continue north until you reach Sonoma Valley and neighbouring Napa Valley.
You don’t have to enjoy wine to fall in love with this gorgeous region. Two neighbouring valleys, Sonoma and Napa, offer spectacular scenery of perfectly manicured vineyards blanketing rolling hills, which can be seen by car, on a wine train, or even on an early-morning hot-air balloon ride. Both Napa Valley & Sonoma Valley are also food utopias, with restaurants like Thomas Keller’s French Laundry and the more affordable Gott’s Roadside burger joint. Additionally, you can drive along one of our favourite roads in California: the Silverado Trail, which parallels the St. Helena Highway and passes through a particularly scenic area. Not a wine or food fan, no problem, just let us know, so we can remove or shorten this stop and add the time elsewhere on your California road trip.
Follow the speedy Interstate 80 and the iconic Lincoln Highway to find the beautiful blue waters of Lake Tahoe and the epic mountains that surround it. Spend the afternoon kayaking on the lake or relaxing on one of Tahoe’s lovely beaches. If you fancy a drive, you can circle Lake Tahoe along scenic highways in around two hours.
The third drive of this road trip around California has you cruising through endless orchards and over the rolling hills of Gold Rush Country. Highway 49, like San Francisco’s American Football team, is named after the 1849 Gold Rush, and it’s one of our favourite roads in California. Next, you’ll drive up gorgeous Sierra Nevada roads to find California’s premier natural wonder – Yosemite National Park. Our road trip experts, with their firsthand experience, will help you find the perfect Yosemite hotel for you and your budget, be it inside the National Park or just outside it.
Yosemite National Park is over 1180 square miles of nature at its most sublime. The most visited area of the National Park is Yosemite Valley, where vast rock faces, crystal-clear waters, staggering views, and spectacular waterfalls combine to make Yosemite a genuine national treasure. As the day comes to an end, head upto Glacier Point (pictured) to watch the sunset over the best view in Yosemite National Park.
Monterey was once California’s capital and remains a must-stop for any California road trip. Monterey Bay was famous for its whaling and sardine industries; today, it focuses on marine education and conservation through its world-class Monterey Bay Aquarium and California’s best whale-watching. In the early evening, leave Monterey for the short drive to Carmel-by-the-Sea, simply cruise along the renowned “17-Mile Drive” to find gorgeous Carmel, passing millionaire mansions, Pebble Beach Golf Club, and a beautiful, rugged coastline as you complete the day’s drive.
If it’s good enough for Clint Eastwood and Dorris Day, it’s good enough for us. Carmel offers two world-class beaches, backed by a small town of beautiful cottages, quaint streets and incredible restaurants. The wild and wonderful Point Lobos is just a few miles south of Carmel. Here, you can watch Seal Lions give birth to pups on exquisite beaches, sea otters frolic in the ocean, and whales slowly migrate through the 750-acre underwater State Natural Reserve. Point Lobos offers pure coastal beauty, accessible through its many short hikes.
There are so many amazing drives on this California road trip, but the most scenic 90 miles is certainly found along Highway 1, through an area known as Big Sur. This stunning road curves along the coastline and passes by some of California’s best State Parks, taking in one spectacular vista point after another that look out over the vast Pacific Ocean. Further down the coast, you can opt to visit Hearst Castle, which perches on “The Enchanted Hill”. If you wish to visit here, please request an extra overnight stop in Cambria when we build your road trip for you. Next up is Santa Barbara, further down the coast, built in a charming Mediterranean style; this upmarket town is another highlight of this road trip.
Spend the morning exploring upscale Santa Barbara, and after lunch, you’ll hit the road for one last drive. Head south on the Pacific Coast Highway and pass by Malibu’s beaches and coastal homes, before entering Los Angeles in Santa Monica. Santa Monica is a worthy finishing point for any California road trip. Complete the day by hiring a bike and cruising the boardwalk between the iconic Santa Monica Pier and neighbouring Venice Beach, shop your heart out along 3rd Street Promenade or relax on the famous “Baywatch” beaches that stretch for miles.
Beverly Hills offers the chance to see movie-star homes on palm tree lined streets. Shopping at The Grove and Rodeo Drive, where you can shop alongside the rich and famous. Alternatively, spend the day at a theme park like Disneyland or Universal Studios, or visit one of the city’s world-class museums, including The Getty, Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts, The Petersen Automotive Museum and The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, to name just four. The choice is yours.
Hollywood is synonymous with glitz and glamour, and although many of the film studios have now moved to other parts of Los Angeles, it’s still fun to visit the home of the Oscars and walk Hollywood Boulevard looking for the handprints of your favourite movie stars. The Griffith Observatory is just next door, too, perched high on a hill; it offers superb views over “The City of Angels” and out-of-this-world exhibits. and the Hollywood Sign behind it. If you want to hike up to the Hollywood sign, then Griffith Park is the perfect starting point. Your road trip pack or app will advise you exactly where to begin this moderate hike.
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You’ll find answers to most of your questions right here. If you still need assistance, Feel free to get in touch, and we’ll be sure to get back to you promptly!
Not a problem. If you are lucky enough to have extra time to explore more places or add more rest days, then just let us know and we’ll adjust your trip to match your preferred timescale.
We strongly advise that you purchase travel insurance for your holiday to cover you against medical expenses, theft and other financial costs. Should you need to cancel before travelling, some insurance policies may pay out for any loss of funds that have been paid to us and which cannot be refunded under our cancellation policy.
Many of our trips have a different end destination than the starting point, so this is not a problem. Please note a fee sometimes applies for one-way rentals between other regions or states, which will be paid to the supplier directly when collecting the vehicle. We’ll endeavour to inform you of this charge within your quote.
No, far from it. We work with a range of properties from 3* to 5*, so we can adapt the trip to match most budgets. We have access to rooms in more than 800 hotels, motels, lodges and B&Bs across North America.
The minimum age to rent a car is 21 in the United States or Canada, although, in addition, any drivers under 25 years of age will generally incur a surcharge.
Please use the form below to request a quote from our team. Fields marked with an * are mandatory. Please note that we currently only serve customers based in the UK & The EU.
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ARTCo customers can be confident that we only work with the very best service providers, such as Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and Alamo. Any payments made to us are fully protected via the government’s ATOL scheme (Flight packages) or Financial Failure Insurance (Non-Flight Packages).
