The idea of this California road trip started when I landed a reservation at one of my all-time, top of the bucket list restaurants, The French Laundry. Coming out of a long year of lockdown, my company offered us all a paid week of vacation, so I started to research cheap flights from Denver and (at the time, March 2021) domestic travel to California was fairly inexpensive. Many restaurants were still requiring outdoor dining and less people were traveling than usual which I think helped me secure the reservation (it’s notoriously hard to get a reservation at The French Laundry, so I was very lucky to land one on my first time trying).
The French Laundry is in Yountville, which is just north of Napa, so I invited some friends to come meet us for a few days to tour some wineries. But since I had a full week off of work, I decided to turn this into a road trip to cross another item off my bucket list, driving Highway 1 to Big Sur.
There’s a few ways you could structure a California road trip like this but if you want some extra adventure and to see more of the truly gorgeous landscapes, I think starting in Los Angeles and flying out of San Jose makes for a fun trip. I’ve also done the Highway 1 Big Sur drive with my mom by flying in & out of the Bay Area, which works well if you have less time to work with or want to focus more on NorCal.
6 Day Road Trip – Los Angeles to Napa Valley
Before we dive into the full agenda for each day, here’s a quick look at how we scheduled this trip. This was the first trip we took after the pandemic (late March 2021) and we were celebrating a 30th birthday, so we did splurge a little more than usual on certain meals and activities.
- Day 1 – Flight into LA > Malibu > Santa Barbera > Pismo Beach
- Day 2 – DAOU Winery (Paso Robles) > Santa Cruz > Highway 1/Big Sur
- Day 3 – Carmel by the Sea > 17 Mile Drive > Muir Woods
- Day 4 – Napa Valley > The French Laundry
- Day 5 – Wineries in Napa Valley & Ad Hoc
- Day 6 – John Anthony Mansion > Muir Woods Pt 2 > San Francisco
Day 1 – Flight into LA > Malibu > Santa Barbera > Pismo Beach
After an early morning flight into LAX and picking up our rental car, we grabbed a quick avocado toast & coffee from Blue Bottle before heading to downtown Santa Monica to meet up with some friends. We spent a few hours hanging out at Lake Balboa listening to a friend’s band and then got back on the road to head to Malibu. Though we didn’t spend a ton of time there, we did stop at Robert H. Meyer Memorial State Beach, which was beautiful and easy to access.
After leaving Malibu, our next stop was the Santa Barbara waterfront to have a late lunch at Santa Barbara Shellfish Company. The food was good (we had oysters & ceviche) and the view was great on the patio! We then continued on to Pismo Beach to check into our Airbnb for the night ($119/night).
I really loved the town of Pismo Beach! It felt like small town vibes, with such beautiful coastal views. I’m glad we chose to stop here for the night. We watched the sunset at Eldwayen Ocean Park before heading to dinner at SeaVenture near the Pismo Beach Pier.
Day 2 – DAOU Winery (Paso Robles) > Santa Cruz > Highway 1/Big Sur
On the morning of day 2, we grabbed breakfast and coffee from Steaming Bean (highly recommend!) and quickly stopped at Dinosaur Caves Park before continuing on with the road trip!
We drove about an hour north on the 101 to Paso Robles for our next stop, lunch and a wine flight at DAOU Family Estates. This was one of the highlights of the entire trip! It was one of the most beautiful drives, through mountaneous terrain, and the food & wine was fantastic. Because we were continuing on with the road trip, we shared a wine flight ($45) so we could each taste the different varietals while still being responsible about driving after! We also ordered an Onyx Mezze charcuterie board ($55). We spent about 2 hours there enjoying the food, wine and scenery before heading off to our next stop for the night, Carmel-by-the-Sea.
After 2 hours of driving, we made it to our hotel for the night, Svendsgaard’s Inn ($200/night) at around 3 pm. As is typical for Carmel-by-the-Sea, this was a charming German-influenced hotel which was walking distance from the downtown area.
We then started our journey down Highway 1 to Big Sur which was, frankly, the most beautiful drive I’ve ever taken in my life. This is something I think every American should see at least once in their lives. Though there are many stops along the way (Bixby Bridge being the most iconic), the journey really is the destination in this instance. You could not stop at all and still have an incredible experience!
We spent about 3 hours driving down to Big Sur, stopping at a few local shops, and then heading back up to Carmel. We also stopped at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve and did a quick walk along the sea. PS if you have time (and it’s open), I recommend stopping at the Henry Miller Memorial Library to browse the books and take in the scenery.
Finally, we watched the sunset at Carmel Beach before having dinner at Anton & Michel, which was delicious. The end to a perfect California road trip day along the coast!
Day 3 – Carmel by the Sea > 17 Mile Drive > Muir Woods
The morning started with breakfast at Stationæry, which is one of my favorite restaurants in Carmel-by-the-Sea, and walking around the charming downtown area through all of the shops and boutiques. After checking out of the hotel, we drove to the Carmel Gate entrance of the 17 mile drive. Note: this drive does cost $12/car, but this is reimbursed if you spend $35 at one of the Pebble Beach Resort restaurants.
The 17 mile drive is a well-known stretch of highway that passes through the famed Pebble Beach Hotel & Golf Resort. My brothers & grandfather love to golf, so this was a cool stop to take in the atmosphere and grab some souvenirs. Aside from Pebble Beach, some of my favorite stops were the Lone Cypress Tree, Fanshell Beach, Seal Rock, and Point Joe. The drive ends in Pacific Grove, which is a cute little town between Carmel & Monterey.
If you have time to spend in Monterey, which we didn’t on this trip, I highly recommend a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Not only is it one of the most scenic ocean-front aquariums in the world, the MBA has truly transformed the idea of ocean conservation & sustainability. Read more about their mission here.
Driving Highway 1 north for an hour lead us to Santa Cruz, and a quick stop at the iconic Santa Cruz Boardwalk, before continuing on for 2 hours to Muir Woods, through San Francisco. This route even allowed us to drive on the Golden Gate Bridge!
We arrived at Muir Woods around 5 pm, about two hours before sunset. We did book a reservation ($15pp + $10/car). The park closes 30 minutes before sunset, so arriving at 5 pm allowed us to have a quiet experience in an otherwise popular destination. There were even a few moments where we didn’t see any other park guests!
If you’ve never seen Redwood trees, there are several places you can experience them (including Big Sur State Park closer to Carmel) but Muir Woods definitely feels special. There’s a long history to the park that you can read more about here, if you’re interested. But I definitely think this is worth the money, and if you arrive first thing in the morning, you could easily spend a full day hiking & exploring amongst these giant beauties.
After sunset, we left Muir Woods to head to our Airbnb in Sonoma to meet our friends. Not going to lie, this was a long day of driving, but because we were able to get out and explore at several points, it didn’t feel as exhausting as you might think!
Day 4 – Napa Valley > The French Laundry
This was our first day in the Napa Valley region, and we were excited to finally meet up with our friends and explore wine country! There were 5 of us in the group, which was a great number of people to be able to share food & wine, all fit in one rental car, and share Airbnb costs.
We started the day by driving through the mountains from Sonoma to Napa to have lunch at Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch. This was a recommendation from a friend in Denver, and it was one of my favorite meals of the trip. We sat outdoors on the patio, but the inside is such a vibe, so I don’t think you can go wrong with either option. We had some grilled artichokes here that I still think about regularly.
After lunch, we went on our first winery tour to Amulet Estate. I randomly found this scrolling on Tock before the trip and it was free (!!) so I booked it immediately. Looking at their Tock page now, it looks like it’s a $100pp deposit. I do think it was worth it for the private tour and tasting, but I feel like we definitely lucked out by getting to do it for free.
We had to head back to the Airbnb fairly early to get ready for dinner at The French Laundry, but as we were heading back we passed the most beautiful field of wildflowers and couldn’t help but pull over for some photos! I encourage you to take in all of the natural beauty of California wine country however you can.
For dinner, my travel companion and I went to The French Laundry. I can’t even put into words how special of an experience this was. We even met Thomas Keller himself and got a tour of the kitchen at the end of the meal. There’s tons of information online about this experience, so I won’t take up too much time here, but I’ll just say if you enjoy fine dining and you get the opportunity to dine at this restaurant, don’t pass it up!
Side note: I’ve been to Napa on other trips and haven’t been able to get a reservation (or didn’t have the funds) so if you’re in the same boat, I encourage you to try one of Thomas Keller’s other restaurants, such as Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery, or Ad Hoc!
Day 5 – Wineries in Napa Valley & Ad Hoc
Day 5 was a day full of wine tours, and we had so much fun! As a general note, I do enjoy wine and the occasional cocktail, but I’m not big on drinking a ton of alcohol, so while I did taste many of the wines on these tours, I maintained a level of sobriety that allowed me to drive our rental car around. If you want to partake in the full wine-drinking experience, I’d suggest either hiring a driver for the day, taking Ubers, or booking a tour!
Our stops included Goosecross Cellars (11:30 am), Turnbull Wine Cellars (1:00 pm), Laird Family Estates (2:30 pm), and Domaine Carneros (4:30 pm). I would highly recommend all of these wineries! Most of them were geared more towards tasting than tours, but many have several different options so I encourage you to do some research based on the experiences you’d like most.
For lunch, we picked up some fried chicken from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc and brought it to Laird Family Estates to enjoy alongside their wine and one of their charcuterie boards. The fried chicken was amazing and eating it outside while drinking some delicious wine with views of the vines was just a perfect Napa experience!
For dinner, we picked up takeout from El Molino Central near our Airbnb. This felt like a hidden gem, and we actually ate here twice during the trip! It was the most delicious takeout mexican food. My favorite items were the tamales & beef brisket tacos.
Day 6 – John Anthony Mansion > Muir Woods Pt 2 > San Francisco
On our last full day of the trip, we had one wine tasting planned, and it was such a strange and wonderful experience! First, we had breakfast from Sunflower CaffΓ© in downtown Sonoma, which was delicious. Then, we drove over to Napa for our tasting at the John Anthony Mansion.
This tasting included several of the well known John Anthony Vinyard wines, some small bites, and time to play in this historic mansion that is now owned by the winery. Not gonna lie, this mansion was eclectic and we all caught some weird vibes touring the “party attic”… But still an amazing experience I’ll never forget. We even got to play pool on a table that was once owned (and is signed) by George Clooney!
After the wine tasting, we decided to drive the hour back to the San Francisco area because our friends really wanted to visit Muir Woods and downtown San Francisco! It’s a testiment to how much I loved Muir Woods that I was happy to visit twice in the course of one trip, but this time we did a bit longer of a hike and it was even more enjoyable to be able to show it to our friends.
We drove back over the Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco and made a quick stop at Baker Beach/Battery Crosby area, which provided us with some nice views of the bridge for sunset. This was the perfect end to an epic California road trip!
Hi! Did you have any trouble getting to Big Sur? Are the roads closed?
It’s reopen now! https://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/highway_conditions.html