vg15

I'm thinking of doing the PCH drive down from SF to LA - has anyone done this? I was wondering if people had suggestions/tips they could share about good places to stop, to stay, to eat. Also, so far in my initial searches, it looks like it's pretty hard to rent a car one-way. Anyone have any tips on that? I'm especially interested in renting one of those luxury sports cars or convertibles (got to complete the whole driving down the coast with the wind in your hair look, right?). Any stories or help from fellow travel lovers would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

V

J_Correa

Yes, many people have done this drive - it's probably one of the most popular scenic drives in the country and one of my personal favorite. There have also been hundreds of posts on the subject on this board. Try doing a text search (at the top of the page) to find them. The text search isn't perfect, but with so many posts on the subject, I am sure you will get plenty.

Some basic info -

September is generally the best time to go if you are interested in sunshine and warm temperatures. Spring time is the best time for wild flowers. Generally the fog is minimal in the spring, but it could rain during your trip. Summertime is usually foggy and wintertime is usually rainy.

Popular towns to stop in are Santa Cruz, Monterey/Carmel, Cambria/Morro Bay/San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara. Good things to do in each place, just depends on what you are interested in. Also, Big Sur has some state parks and state beaches that are incredible.

curiousgeo

We rented a car with a downtown San Francisco pick up and drop off at LAX. We wanted a SUV but were told only sedans were available for one way rentals. Specialty cars had to be returned to the original rental site. It wasn't what we wanted but it didn't spoil the drive down the PCH which was beautiful in late September.

gypsy

we're flying into San Luis Obispo, renting a car at the airport, and returning it to SFO... in my search, the only rental companies that would rent one-way without a drop-off fee ($250!) was Hertz and Avis. you might be able to come up with something else at the larger airports. i understand that on 9-11 there were so many vehicles misplaced and companies had difficulty getting them back to original airport is why fewer rental companies do a one-way now...

like JC said, there are hundreds of posts with info for this area - you could do a search under J Correa alone and come up with over 300!

JC - thanks for all the help you've been to me on my plans!
d

J_Correa

Thanks gypsy, it's nice to know my posts have been helpful. I grew up in the Santa Cruz area, so I have a special place in my heart for the California coast.

SAB

To help in searching the board, many refer to the Coast drive as Highway 1, not PCH.