annetti

Hello. We're planning a car trip from LA to Victoria, BC where we have a home exchange for nine weeks. Our major reason for driving is to have a car on Vancouver Island. Although we would love scenic, our major interest is getting to Victoria easily and comfortably without too many traffic snarls. We don't want to drive for 10 hours at a stretch and are thinking 6-8 hours in the car each day. If you have suggestions for places/moderate priced motels to spend the night and favorite places for breaks and meals, it would be appreciated. Thanks very much.

boom_boom

LA to Santa Maria or Morro Bay via 101 and SR 1 depending on time you want to drive. In SM the Santa Maria Inn is nice, with a nice bar for the evening. The Inn at Morro Bay and Doran's for good for at MB.
Next day SR 1 to Monterey or Santa Crus.
Next day, to avoid Bay Area traffic cross over to I-5 via Gilroy and thence north as far as you want to drive for the, likely somewhere between Sacramento and Winters.
At Winters take SR 20 over to Clear Lake and then onto Ukiah.
At Ukiah rejoin the 101. Stay on 101 through Eureka, Crescent City and into Oregon. At Astoria turn toward Portland, but cross the Columbia River at Ranier into Longview and the take I-5 to Olympia where you rejoin the 101 all the way to Port Angeles and take the ferry to Victoria.
If you go to Nanaimo, please enjoy a Nanaimo Bar or two for me. Have fun!

annetti

boom_boom: Thanks very much for the quick response and all the details. How many nights overall on the road? Is Ukiah a stop for the evening? Where else should we stop at the end the day? I am not sure I understand your plan entirely. Thanks in advance for the clarification.

boom_boom

If you're not pushed for time, 4 nights on the road. I'd overnight somewhere between Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo, in Santa Cruz or Monterey, somewhere along Clear Lake or Ukiah, then again in southern Oregon, maybe Brandon, and final night near Portland.
If you want a simpler route, stay on the 101 all the way to Astoria, but that means you drive right through San Francisco, part if it on surface streets.
OR, slower route...take Highway 1 north from the Bay area and stop in Fort Bragg before rejoinin the 101 around Leggett.

Gardyloo

I drive between LA and Seattle at least once a year and my now-standard itinerary goes like this -

Northbound - LA to Bay Area using US 101. Where in the Bay Area depends on where you're leaving from in LA (could be a couple of hours' difference depending if it's Santa Clarita v. Newport Beach) and how traffic is on the 101, but I usually try to get north of SF if possible, in order to avoid morning traffic. If you can manage an early start from LA, then Ukiah is reasonable. There are scads of affordable motels in Ukiah, or, if you can't make it that far, around Santa Rosa or Healdsburg. (As an aside, the Russian River area around Cloverdale or Geyserville has a number of nice B&Bs that are convenient from US 101.)

An alternate, higher speed but more boring alternative is just to blast north through the valley on I-5, then cut over to the coast at the end of the day. It sort of gets the pain out of the way quickly. You can take I-5 to I-580 (the spur that goes toward SF) then north on the 680 to Napa, then cut over to the 101 the next morning.

The next day I plan to make it to Bandon on the south central Oregon coast. Because this day transits both the Redwoods and the southern Oregon coast it's not as fast as the previous day or the one after, but it's the scenic core of the drive. There are plenty of affordable and nice lodgings in Bandon.

If you're heading to Victoria the next day (3rd) is an uncomplicated one - north on 101 to the top of the Olympic Peninsula - either along the coast or via the eastern loop of 101 (it goes in a circle around the peninsula.) Spend that night at Crescent Lake or in Port Angeles. This is maybe a 9-hour day, but not taxing. Highlights include the bridge over the mouth of the Columbia at Astoria, plenty of scenic pull-offs in Oregon, and more great coastal scenery along the Olympic NP coast in Washington. If time permits, duck into either/both the Quinault or Hoh valleys, for some amazing rain-forest scenery and short walks. If you want to string things out, look at staying at Quinault Lodge or Kalaloch Lodge on the coast (tough to get space depending on your dates.)

The next morning (or afternoon if you spent the night on the coast) catch the Coho ferry from PA to Victoria and you're there.

There are literally dozens of threads here about favorite places along the Oregon coast, or recommended restaurants, side trips, accommodations etc. It's an embarrassment of riches, but a lot depends on your style, time of year, etc.

If you want to cover fewer road miles and go a bit faster, then using I-5 is fine - from LA I usually make Redding my first night, then Portland. From Portland you could go up to the border at Blaine (around 7 hours) then cross and take the very scenic BC ferry from Tsawwassen over to the island. Two nights en route is doable, or slow down and take 3. The route has several tedious parts, but it's certainly not without its scenic highlights - Mt. Shasta, the Siskiyous, Columbia Gorge, side trips into Mt. St. Helens, or maybe a night at the theater in Ashland for Shakespeare; Portland or Seattle, etc.

annetti

Thank you very much, boom and Gardyloo. Lots of helpful information!

Supercilious

The I-5 route that Gardyloo describes is the most direct route and will take you 4 days if you only drive 6-8 hours per day, 3 days if you add a couple of hours per day.

If you go the coastal route, plan on spending a week or more to see all the sights in California and longer if you see the sights in Oregon and Washington too. But, in your first post, I did not see any stated interest in sightseeing off the main highways. In fact you stated that you were interested "in getting to Victoria easily and comfortably". That would be I-5.

annetti

Supercilious: If we take the 1-5 route, are there plenty of motels and restaurants along the way? It has been a long time since I have driven on the 5 and all I remember is long stretches with nothing in between. Thanks for your answer.

suze

I'm really surprised to see the recommendations for taking a coastal route for someone whose primary goal is getting their car from point A to point B. Won't that take a lot longer?

When I did the Seattle/LA drive (similar reason, wanted my car in LA on a 3-month work assignment). I just drove straight up/down the main freeways the entire way.

Gardyloo

Supercilious: If we take the 1-5 route, are there plenty of motels and restaurants along the way? It has been a long time since I have driven on the 5 and all I remember is long stretches with nothing in between. Thanks for your answer.

I'll butt in with an answer - There are numerous motels/restaurants all along the way. The biggest relatively empty stretches are between the Grapevine and around Modesto on I-5, but you'd be through that in the first 5 hours or so of the drive. Then there are some relatively empty bits between Redding and Ashland, between Grants Pass and Roseburg, and everywhere else there are motels or restaurants at many if not most exits; you're seldom more than maybe 20 or 30 min. between acceptable places to pull off, if "acceptable" means a chain motel and chain restaurant (Dennies, etc.)

Actually the coast has more relatively sparsely provided areas, in particular the long stretch between Eureka/Arcata and Crescent City, and a couple of stretches along the central Oregon and especially the central Washington coasts. That said, you're never really out of civilization for more than an hour or so on either/any route.

Supercilious

Thanks Gardyloo. Yes. There's hundreds if not thousands of places to stay and eat. If you have a favorite chain such as Best Western, get one of their lodging guides and plan out your route. Or, if you are a AAA member, get their maps and guides.

Where you stay really depends on how many hours you drive each day. When we drive up north on I-5 from the Bay Area, we like to leave at 6 or 7 in the morning. This gets us to Ashland by noon. That's too early to stop. So, we will usually stay in Salem about a 9 hour drive. For us, anything less than 9 hours is a wasted day. But, everyone has their limits.

annetti

Thank you, Suze, Supercilious and Gardyloo. Your information has been very helpful. My husband and I have gone back and forth over this, 5 vs the 101. Currently the 101 route is winning the discussion for our trip northward and the 5 for the return home. I do not look forward to driving through SF or dealing with all the fwy congestion around the city, but my husband considered that the 101 route will probably be cooler than the 5. Anyway, nothing in stone yet, but thanks again.

Gardyloo

I had the occasion a few years ago to drive both round trips (I-5 and US 101) in fairly short succession, taking one route southbound and the other northbound, then reversing the order on the second trip. For the coast route, since I was starting in the Huntington Beach area, I take the 405 north to the valley then the Ventura Fwy from there, so the usual 405 congestion-from-hell applies to west LA and Sepulveda Pass. In the case of I-5, I take the 405 to the 605 to I-5, so I end up transiting downtown LA as well as the crud around So. Pasadena/Glendale/Burbank, so probably a wash in time between exiting the Valley to the west as opposed to the north. If I take the coast, I cut back from 101 over to I-5 at Reedsport as mentioned above, then up I-5 into Seattle.

Anyway, in terms of total driving hours, the 101 alternative described - from the outer edge of the San Fernando Valley to Seattle - ends up being between four and six driving hours slower than pushing the right pedal hard on I-5. Now of course because I've driven the route so many times (guessing somewhere pushing 80+ NB or SB trips) I don't stop to gawk at the scenery very much, so travelers who haven't been through the Redwoods or the southern Oregon coast shouldn't use my example as too much of a guideline, but nonetheless I regard six hours or so spread over three days as a completely acceptable trade for more enjoyable driving, way, way better scenery, and cool temperatures. By comparison, the stretch of I-5 between the Grapevine and Modesto reminds me of a NASCAR race somewhere in the tornado belt - flat, hot, smelly (especially the big feed lots at Kettleman City) and with the other cars (and big rigs) slip-streaming each other at 80+ mph. Pretty hair-raising, and there's no escape for something like 250 miles. From Sacramento on north, traffic isn't an issue but boredom is, especially in the northern Sacramento Valley and then later in the Willamette Valley from Cottage Grove to Portland, then really boring from Kalama to around Olympia, then it's Seattle-Tacoma traffic the rest of the way.

Transiting San Francisco on the coast is quite easy - take SR 85/I-280 from San Jose northbound; 280 runs along the ridge of the peninsula then drops you on 19th Ave. in SF (CA SR 1) which shoots straight north through Golden Gate Park and right onto the GG Bridge. It's way faster than staying on 101 (the Bayshore Fwy) past the airport then wiggling through the city to get to the bridge. Once over the bridge and through San Rafael it's clear sailing until you get to Eureka, where the city fathers have decided it's best for you to crawl through their burg so you can stop at one of the many convenient schlunk motels or chain stores. Uh huh.

I just learned last night that I'll be driving this trip again in about 3 weeks, so I'm going to do as you could - blast down I-5 (one overnight for me, around Redding) then enjoy the coolth on the way back a few days later. Best to check the AC before heading to the Rogue Valley or the CA Central Valley.