West Coast Road Trip Itinerary
14 days, Seattle to LA and back. Every stop already timed.
The Oregon Coast Highway, the redwoods, Big Sur, Death Valley, Yosemite and Crater Lake, planned hour by hour. All you do is drive.
“Very impressed with the itinerary I got for Austin for a weekend with the kids. So convenient and easy to use. Highly recommend for people with busy schedules looking for an easy and best way to plan an adventure.”
57 stops on a real mapDays 1 to 3 free to explore→Every stop is a real pin, in order.
Not a suggested direction of travel. 57 pins with the drive legs between them, in the order you will hit them. Days 1 to 3 are live in this west coast road trip map right now.
These six are all on the route.
All 14 days, nothing hidden from view.
Click any day to see where you will be and what you will stand in front of. Days 4 to 14 show you the region, the drive and how much is in the day. Which stops, in what order, at what time and where you sleep stays behind the guide.
The full loop. Down Highway 101 to Los Angeles, back north through Death Valley, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe and Crater Lake. Ends where it started.14 days · 57 timed stops · 13 overnights
Seattle to the Oregon Coast
The rugged Oregon coast, chased all the way to a sunset. Clear Seattle early and spend the afternoon hopping headlands and lighthouses down Highway 101 to a stone shelter above the sea.
You’re not buying a blog post. You’re buying these four files.
Yours to keep
We drove this loop more than once before we sold it. You could piece it together from blogs, but it took us multiple trips to nail the timing, the parking and the tides. That is the version in the guide.
Yes, a chatbot will plan your California road trip itinerary for free.
It will also tell you the lighthouse is open until six when it closes at four, put you at the sea cave at high tide, and send you over a pass that has been shut since November.
- A list of place names in a paragraph. You retype each one into Google Maps yourself.
- Opening hours that were correct at some point.
- No tide windows, no sunset times, no parking notes.
- A route that reads well and has never been driven.
- The same confident tone whether it is right or wrong. You find out which at the trailhead.
- 57 pins already in Google Maps, in driving order. Tap one and go.
- Arrival times taken from real trips, not estimates.
- Tide windows for the stops that need one, sunset times for the ones that earn it.
- Which turnout still has parking at four in the afternoon.
- A person to email when a road closes and the plan has to change.
Indoors, a chatbot is fine. Restaurants have websites and their hours stay put. Outdoors, the answer changes with the tide, the season and the snowpack, and it is wrong more often than it is right. Free is the correct price for a list of names. The order, the timing and the parking are the actual work, and that is the part nothing can generate for you.
Take Days 1 to 3 with you, free.
Leave your email and we will send you Days 1 to 3 written out in full, every stop with its map link, the Google Maps route for those three days, and a link straight back to this page. No card, no payment.
The people who have already driven Highway 101 are the ones who missed things.
Yulia, who founded ExplorOFF and drove and built this route, posted these photos in a Seattle travel group. Most of the replies came from women who have driven the Pacific Coast Highway before, and every comment below is theirs.
Names are shortened to a first name and a last initial.
Wanted to share photos from our Highway 101 route all the way down to LA.
Amazing. We went last year too, and there were things we did not see. If only you captioned each photo as well.
Unbelievably beautiful places. We drove this road again this year and took Highway 1 as well, you cannot look away. Three times now, and every time some new little spots turn up.
We will be there soon. Can you send the beautiful places worth stopping at? Really beautiful photos.
Thank you so much for sharing. A very full travel program. Views so varied, each one beautiful in its own way.
Very beautiful places, and your photographs are gorgeous.
Love this route! Thanks for sharing!
Alcatraz, on your dates
Ferry tickets go weeks in advance and cannot be bought at the pier. Day 8 of this route is the San Francisco day, so book it before you set off, not when you arrive.
Booking Pacific Coast
Everything below is booked with the operators direct. We earn a commission on some of them, which is what keeps the itineraries free to read.
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Still deciding? These seven come up most.
Fourteen for the whole loop, Seattle to LA and back. It also splits cleanly at Day 7 in Los Angeles: fly home from LAX and you have driven the coast half, start there and you get the desert and Sierra half. Both halves are self-contained, and this itinerary includes the shorter cuts.
What adventurers say about us.
All reviews are from verified guests. ★★★★★ 5.0 average from 20+ bookings.
"Felt like going out with a really knowledgeable friend who just happens to know everything about the area. No awkward tour-guide energy, just a magnificent day."
"Yulia is an incredible guide. She knew every trail, every viewpoint, and exactly how to pace the day for our group. The photos she took of us were stunning. 100% booking again."
"I was visiting Seattle solo and this was the best decision I made on the trip. Yulia picked me up, had snacks, and took us to a trail I never would have found on my own. Absolute must-do."
"We did this as a couple's trip and it was perfect. Yulia adapted everything to us, our pace, our interests, our photo obsession. The mountain views were unreal."
"Phenomenal experience. Yulia has deep local knowledge and a real passion for the outdoors. She went out of her way to show us the hidden gems tourists never see. Will remember this forever."
"I've done a few guided hikes and this was by far the best. Yulia is warm, funny, and genuinely expert. The trail she chose had the most insane wildflower bloom, we got so lucky."
Distances, timings and fees are planning estimates. Confirm hours, tide tables, road and pass status, and any reservations before you go.
You can't hike it if you can't get the permit.
The best hikes in America run on lotteries that open once a year and sell out in minutes. Every trail runs on its own calendar. Pick the ones you want and we do the watching.
Denali Road LotteryDenali NP · AKActivityReservationfair odds
El Tovar HotelGrand Canyon South Rim · ArizonaLodgeReservationbrutal odds
Grand Canyon BackcountryGrand Canyon NP · ArizonaBackcountryReservationfair odds
Grand Canyon raftingColorado River · ArizonaActivityLotterybrutal odds
Havasu FallsHavasu Canyon · ArizonaLodgeReservationbrutal odds
Phantom RanchGrand Canyon NP · ArizonaLodgeLotterybrutal odds
The WaveCoyote Buttes North · Arizona / UtahPermitLotterybrutal odds
Half Dome CablesYosemite NP · CaliforniaPermitOpens Mar 1fair odds
Lost Coast TrailKing Range NCA · CaliforniaBackcountryReservationtough odds
Mt. WhitneyInyo NF · CaliforniaPermitOpens Feb 1tough odds- The Ahwahnee, YosemiteYosemite NP · CaliforniaLodgeReservationbrutal odds
Conundrum Hot SpringsMaroon Bells-Snowmass · ColoradoBackcountryOpens Feb 15brutal odds
Kalalau TrailNa Pali Coast SWP · HIBackcountryReservationbrutal odds
Glacier NP BackcountryGlacier NP · MontanaBackcountryLotterytough odds
Lake McDonald LodgeGlacier NP · MontanaLodgeReservationbrutal odds
Many Glacier HotelGlacier NP · MontanaLodgeReservationbrutal odds
Sperry & Granite Park ChaletsGlacier NP · MontanaLodgeReservationbrutal odds
Crater Lake LodgeCrater Lake NP · ORLodgeReservationbrutal odds
LeConte LodgeGreat Smoky Mountains NP · TNLodgeOpens Oct 1brutal odds
Angels LandingZion NP · UtahPermitLotterytough odds
The Narrows Through-HikeZion NP · UtahBackcountryReservationtough odds
The SubwayZion NP · UtahPermitLotterytough odds- Zion LodgeZion Canyon · UtahLodgeReservationbrutal odds
Mount St. Helens Summit ClimbGifford Pinchot NF · WashingtonPermitReservationtough odds
Paradise InnMount Rainier NP · WashingtonLodgeReservationbrutal odds
The EnchantmentsAlpine Lakes Wilderness · WashingtonBackcountryOpens Feb 15brutal odds- Wonderland TrailMount Rainier NP · WashingtonBackcountryLotterybrutal odds
- Cougar Rock CampgroundWashington · WashingtonBackcountryOpens Jan 15tough odds
Old Faithful InnYellowstone NP · WYLodgeReservationbrutal odds
How it works
- An email the morning each window opens, never the day after.
- A 14-day heads-up so you can line up your group and dates.
- Win odds and a ranked backup plan for every trail you pick.
Didn't win? We keep watching. We check recreation.gov every day for The Enchantments, Half Dome and Angels Landing, and email you the moment a sold-out date frees up. Cancellations are the second chance most people never hear about.
Excellent itinerary planner! Detail oriented with thoughtful tips for my family's trip.