California road trip - pacific coast highway

[mummarunner]

Looking to hear from anyone who has done the drive from San Francisco to LA via the Pacific Coast highway and can share their experience of what it is really like from a motion sickness, ability to stop and danger point of view!

We are lucky enough to be going on the holiday of a lifetime, starting in San Fran and driving over 2 weeks to LA via stopovers at Yosemite, Monterey and Pismo Beach. From Monterey to LA we are following the coastal highway and I was really looking forward to this until I started to hear horror stories of how bad it is for motion sickness. Is it really that bad? Should we all just pop a Kwells before getting in the car just in case? We have a 10 and 8 yo with us who are not normally prone to car sickness, but I have visions of us all feeling poorly and not able to enjoy the ride. What's the reality?

And is it true that once you're on the highway there are limited points to stop and get out the car? I also keep hearing how close to the cliff edge the road is. Are people generally careful and considerate drivers, or is there pressure from tailgaters?

I know we are so fortunate to be going on this trip and this feels very "first world problems" but it is making me anxious so I just want to know what to expect from someone who has done it before so that I can be prepared and we can all enjoy ourselves.

Thank you!

I’ve done it and don’t remember feeling remotely car sick or nervous about dangerous edges (and I have on other roads, in, for example, the Alps). It is fabulous, enjoy!

We did it over the space of a week (opposite direction).
I don't remember ever feeling car sick, if you are looking out of the window, as you should be, at the view it will be fine. A standard French road or road in the Lakes is more windy

There are designated stopping points but not that many. It's a small, single lane windy road that hugs the cliff. Stopping points are clearly marked though

Road speed is pretty low (see windy above). Main users of the main part of the PCH are tourists so tailgaters are unlikely UNLESS you are deriving stupidly slowly or stopping in ridiculous places.

Did it a few years ago but without children. Fabulous, and I don't remember struggling for stops along the way. I didn't drive and DH is a blue light driver but I don't remember feeling any pressure from tailgaters. Remember, this is the USA in 2022 and it's a tourist route, the roads are wide and safe and the speed limit is low. Its spectacular. Highly recommend Rocky Point restaurant.

Sorry should have also said our overnighters were LA (couldn't get out fast enough), Santa Barbara, Solvang/Los Olivos, Pismo (not the best so we carried on to) Paso Robles, Big Sur, Carmel/Monterey (not great so we moved onto) Big Basin Redwoods State park and then SFO.

We did it too and it was fabulous. No feeling of danger and no one was travel sick.

I did it a couple of years ago (well DP drove, I just say there looking at the scenery!)

Dont recall it being particularly dangerous or winding, certainly no more so than any coastal road here or elsewhere. However the big bridge was closed due to bad weather so we had to go inland a small way, so may have missed the worst bits.

only downside for us was having the car broken into at a shopping outlet place. I guess because there’s a lot of tourists they target hire cars so make sure you don’t leave any valuables in the car when you stop.

it was beautiful, even in a blustery February.

I did this a few years ago in a 30ft RV and we didn't have any problems. As mentioned, it's a tourist route. As with most of America the roads are wide and there are a reasonable number of view points and passing places.

I was worried because on the RV forums there were a lot of people who said how narrow and bendy the roads are. This may be true for people used to wide American highways that are largely straight. For someone who comes from the UK and has done any rural driving at all it's actually fine - no single track bits or anything. I found the freeways much more stressful!

It is high up looking over the ocean but I found it less scary than similar roads in Italy or Croatia. Certainly less scary than the alps or other European roads. You'll have a great time.

I’ve done it roof down in a convertible. No motion sickness, no danger, and plenty of places to stop.

Done it twice and never had any motion sickness or felt too close to the edge

Visit Solvang - it's a fun stop and a bit different! www.solvangusa.com/

I have driven the pacific highway and there were lots of hills and curves between Monterrey and Santa Barbara. We were absolutely fine but had to be fully focused on the driving as we were not used to driving so near the cliff edge.

We did it in 2015 SF to San Diego stopping off at Monterey, San Luis Obispo (Hearst Castle is amazing) LA then San Diego. DS who was then 15 used to get quite badly car sick (The Pyrenees being a memorable trip for all the wrong reasons!) was absolutely fine.

We also got the biggest slice of chocolate cake ever at The Madonna Inn, a recommendation from here!

From personal experience involving children and chocolate milk, Lake District roads are definitely worse for motion sickness.

We did PCH pre-kids and like others have said I don't remember it being scary or hard to stop. Unfortunate their were fires that year so we had to detour round a big section of it. However I do remember being terrified as a passenger driving around Yosemite in the convertible, on the outside of bends 🙈.

Ive done the PCH from Laguna Beach all the way up to Olympic National Park in Washington. I had more problems with feeling kinda car sick in the northern California/Oregon portions than anything south of Carmel. However - be aware that the twists and turns mean you will have to drive slower, so allow for extra time! And check CalTrans for up to date information if there are any slides on the highway - the year we did Carmel to Santa Barbara we had to detour inland and go via Paso Robles to Cambria (back on the coast, near Hearst Castle).

I did it years ago without children and it was fabulous! My mum drove though as she was nervous about my driving. But she wasn't the most confident either and I don't remember it being particularly an issue.

One thing I would say is that the drive to Yosemite took forever and was far longer than anticipated. We had forgotten American distances. So whilst Yosemite was amazing it was a big detour.

I wonder with children if I would be better to concentrate on the PCH and have an extra stop or two along there?

Monterey Bay and Santa Barbara were my favourite places. The beaches at Big Sur were beautiful too. We went in September so it was quite empty.

Did it with a 5yo no issues. We didn't like Prismo Beach but we might have been at the cheap end of the beach.

And we surprised him with Disneyland at the end😀brilliant holiday, I'd love to do it again.

Did it in 2008, spent a month starting in Vegas ending in LA. Hated LA, was sorry we went anywhere near it. Loved driving the route, had a mustang convertible and don't ever recall feeling sick or nervous. I loved Death Valley and Yosemite, I loved the hot spring fed swimming pool where we stayed in Death Valley, also stopped at a steam train museum for lunch and a trip on an old logging steam train, when the people running it realised we were Irish they spoilt us, insisted on giving us lunch and a beautiful blanket to remind us of the day. Planning another road trip for next year but don't know what part of America to hit that will be as memorable.

We did LA to SF a few years ago and I'm surprised to hear your concerns. It was awesome and at no point did it feel unsafe or did we have any problems finding places to stop.

I defintiely recommend Ragged Point and Hearst Castle as places worth visting along the way, along with the Elephant Seals at San Simeon. We also loved Santa Barbara and Big Sur. (Santa Cruz was a bit of a wierd!).

I've done it four times. It's utterly brilliant and will make you fall in love with coastal California.

I've never experienced motion sickness, but then I'm not susceptible to it anyway. But the roads aren't terribly windy. It's not like crawling along the Amalfi Coast, for example, or some roads in the Highlands. The road follows the coast but it isn't perched crumbling right on the edge. There are plenty of stopping places, and you'll see lots of people doing the same.

The nicest bit is the part immediately south of Monterey and Carmel and down towards Morro Bay, IMO. Sea, sand, rocks, beaches, mountains, the Bixby Creek Bridge... it's just gorgeous. As you get closer to LA, it flattens out and gets gradually less scenic. Once you've gone past Santa Barbara it's much less pretty.

I would say tailgating is generally not an issue. My experience is that American driving is generally more relaxed and less pressured, especially outside the cities.

If it lines up with your journey, and you don't mind spending the $$$$, the Sierra Mar restaurant at Post Ranch Inn is terrific. Non-residents can book in for lunch (or certainly used to be able to).

My one practical tip would be — don't do it in a convertible if you're doing it in the summer. You'll burn if you have the roof down, but then if you have the roof up it misses the point. We spent a lot of money on renting a convertible Mustang the first time we did it, and it was a bit of a shit experience (although the car itself was really cool). On subsequent trips we hired big SpongeCar SUVs or coupe sports cars and it was much better.

DH & I did it for our honeymoon in 2005. We did Newport, Las Vegas, LA, Santa Barbara, Carmel & San Fran. We did the coast but over 3 days & detoured off once to San Jose to the Winchester Mystery House.
Never felt car sick or that it was dangerous. I've stood on a bus driving round the Amalfi coast, it's nothing like that!
Agree LA itself is disappointing; too spread out, run down in lots of places, so we mostly used it as a base to go to Disney & Universal & the beach.
Would love to do it again, but would include San Diego too - went there in 2009 & loved it - such a nice city & lots to do.

Wow, so many of you have done this trip! Thank you so much, I have loved reading your responses and I feel very reassured. So much better than reading the scaremongering posts on Tripadvisor 😱I think as a lot of you mentioned coming from the UK we have a very different view to people who live in the US and drive those roads all the time. I'm feeling a lot better about it, thank you!

I should have mentioned we are only using LA as a base for Disney and Universal, no plans to spend a lot of time in LA itself other than maybe the Griffith observatory.

Regarding Yosemite, our plans are fluid due to the fires there at the moment (we leave in 3 weeks!) and what happens in the aftermath of that - we have a backup plan just in case, which basically involves spending more time on the coast.

Really great to hear some recommendations too - a few stop offs and eateries I hadn't yet heard of so will be adding to the list.

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond.

Have a wonderful time. Honestly the road up to the observatory is significantly more challenging than the coast road! That might be because I was driving a large RV with lots of parked cars at the side of the road, but nevertheless that was the scariest bit of our whole trip!

I should add we did the whole Pacific Coast (Seattle to San Diego) in 2 weeks with a 13 year old and a 10 year old in tow and had a fantastic time. No sickness.

Remember we had a 5yo, we ditched the car at Anahinm, sorry spelling, picked somewhere near the DL Park and walked for the last 4 days.
We managed to get LO into The Park without telling him he thought he was going to a normal Park, was so excited to see the Toy Story Buses. 😆

Oh and we got the Disney Bus back to the airport.

OP remember that Yosemite accomodation gets booked up a year in advance! It's a MASSIVE detour for a road trip too.