🌲 Seattle → 🌊 → 🌴 Los Angeles

Pacific Coast Road Trip

Eight days down Highway 101 & Highway 1 — Mount Rainier, the Oregon coast, the Redwoods, Big Sur, and a full LA day. Three of us, one car, every night in a bed.

📅 Aug 8–15, 2026 🌙 8 days · 7 nights 🚗 ~1,900 miles 👥 3 travelers 💵 ≈ $1,680 / person
🗺️ Open the Interactive Map63 planned stops, real routes, plus your own saved places 📋 Day-by-Day ItineraryHour-by-hour plan, costs & booking list 🍽️ Food Along the WayVegetarian + chicken, shrimp & fish picks with prices 📖 Anudeep’s Master PlanThe full visual itinerary, maps, stops & trip triggers 🎬 Filming & Scenic SpotsEvery pullout, viewpoint, and valley drive worth recording — with drone rules, best light, and five hero shots

💰 The budget

8 days · 7 nights · 3 people · one room split three ways. Range: $4,700 frugal → $5,500.

≈ $5,040
Total, all three
≈ $1,680
Per person
~$1,060
Rental car (Hertz)
~$980
Lodging · 7 nights
~$1,320
Food · 8 days
~$290
Gas

🛣️ The route

One continuous southbound drive. Full timings on the itinerary page.

SAT1
Land SEA → Seattle → the Rainier gate
Land 2:50 PM · car ~3:45 · Pike Place, Great Wheel · Kerry Park sunset · sleep Ashford
~2.5 hr
100 mi
SUN2
🏔️ Mount Rainier → Kelso
Nisqually gate 6 AM · Paradise Skyline Trail · Reflection Lakes · actual night stop: Quality Inn, Kelso WA
~4 hr
130 mi
MON3
Oregon speed-run → Eureka, CA
Haystack ✅ · Tillamook Creamery ✅ · Thor's Well · Heceta · Coos Bay dinner · night push into California
~10 hr
490 mi
TUE4
Redwoods → Hwy 1 all the way → San Francisco
Avenue of the Giants · Leggett Hill · MacKerricher seals · Mendocino · Elk · Sea Ranch · Jenner · Bodega Bay sunset
~9 hr
430 mi
WED5
Pier 39 → Apple Park → Big Sur → LA
9 AM start · Pier 39 sea lions · Stanford · Apple Park · Point Lobos · Bixby · McWay · elephant seals · LA ~11:45 PM
~15 hr
450 mi
THU6
🌊 Swim · check in · Beverly Hills · Griffith · jazz
Santa Monica (only swim) · check in 4:15 · Rodeo Drive · Griffith sunset 7:45 · Lighthouse Cafe
~65 mi
FRI7
El Matador · The Getty · Tattoos · Din Tai Fung
El Matador 10:45 · Getty 1:30–4:30 full · tattoos 5 PM · car back 9 PM · DTF 10 PM
~90 mi
SAT8
Fly home
No car — hotel shuttle ~8:30 AM · DL2568 10:59 AM → SAT 3:59 PM
shuttle
—

🌊 Water safety — read before you get in anything

The northern half of this trip is not swimmable. August water: Oregon coast 52–59°F, San Francisco ~58°F, Big Sur ~59°F — wetsuit only. Sneaker waves on the Oregon/NorCal coast surge 150+ ft up the beach with no warning and have killed 24+ people on the West Coast since 2012.

  • Never turn your back on the ocean
  • Stay off and away from beach logs — they roll and pin people
  • Keep well up the sand at Cannon Beach, Boardman & the Redwood beaches — wading OK, swimming no
  • Swimming happens only in SoCal — Santa Monica/Malibu ~69°F, lifeguarded (Day 7)

✅ Before we go

Full checklist on the itinerary page. The time-sensitive ones:

🛏
TONIGHT: book the San Francisco room (South SF / Daly City / Millbrae) — you arrive ~9:45 PM
🌊
CONFIRM: Elkhorn Slough kayak, Wed Aug 12, 3–5 PM · Malibu surf lesson, Fri Aug 14, 10 AM
🚗
Car back at LAX FRIDAY Aug 14 by 9 PM — gas up before Griffith; Saturday is hotel-shuttle only
💵
Cash: Chandelier tree $15 (today), Pfeiffer Beach $12 (Thu, no cards)