Palm Springs to SanJose Ca
 

What is the best route to get through the mountains in December from Palm Springs to San Jose Ca?

Forgot to mention for this trip from Palm Springs to San Jose we are in an RV.

Hello Charleen,

What mountains? I'm not aware of any crossing in the drive you mention, unless you intend to go up Highway 395 on the back side of the Sierras and then cut over? That would be a really long, inefficient route, and not recommended in the winter.

The typical route would be on Interstate 10 from the PS area into downtown L.A. and then take US 101 all the way up to San Jose. No mountain pass crossings on that route and all high speed roadway, though there is some hilly terrain and grade along the way, most significant being the Cuesta Grade in San Luis Obispo. There are some shortcuts if you don't want to take the 10 into downtown, i.e. 10>210>118>23>101. Sounds tricky, but really isn't. You would leave I10 in Redlands and skirt the east side of the L.A. Basin, going through Pasadena, La Canada, Simi Valley, and a portion of the Santa Paula area before you join the 101 near Thousand Oaks, north of L.A. It's typically prettier, faster, and not as 'urban' as going through downtown L.A.

Permutations would be to take the Pacific Coast Highway/Highway 1 for stretches where it is scenic, or go up the ever-so-boring Interstate 5 and cut over on the 205. If you went up Hwy 1 through the Big Sur, you would have a crossing over the coastal mountains on Highway 17, which connects the Santa Cruz area to the San Jose metro area. If the weather is bad, I wouldn't recommend Hwy 1 through the Big Sur. Also, portions of Hwy 1 north of San Simeon to Carmel had been closed due to slides, not sure if that's all resolved.

I'm sure that's way more information than you probably wanted or needed! Happy trails.

Definitely suggest you take the 210 - as that is north of the 10 and parallels it - and usually has less traffic. Just look at a map and you will see how to loop around to get back to the 101 on the west side of 5. There is also the Ronald Regan library along the 118 if that interests you.

see: http://www.reaganfoundation.org/

BTW - I just drove from San Jose - well Half Moon Bay really - down the coast hiway (very beautiful) all the way to San Diego - in one day - and it was open - even if a couple of places are one way/possible delay as they are still working on repiring the road.

It is definitely faster to go up the 5 (boring) or up the 101 - more interesting and fairly quick.

Do note - the drive along the Coast Hiway takes a couple more hours (or even longer) - but it's very very beautiful. If you got a very early start from Palm Springs (say 5 AM to beat the traffic thru LA)- you could do it - even if it did make for a long day.

What do you mean when you say, "best route"? Fastest? Most scenic?