Seattle is nowhere near the coast. It’s a several hour drive (or drive/ferry, depending on your route) and there’s only maybe one “city” between the airport & the highway and all the way down to Oregon. It’s a lovely drive, but it’s pretty much just scenery.
If that’s your thing, it’s truly gorgeous scenery.
Yes, I’m aware of the area. I meant that driving from Seattle to San Francisco, we would have a mix of scenery and some time in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco.
Cool. Sometimes we do get visitors who do want to just drive out to the ocean quickly and are disappointed at the time/distance to get there and then disappointed at the coast because it doesn’t look like “the beach.”
In most of California at least, Highways 1 and 101 are NOT the same, and there are east-west roads here and there connecting them. These roads can pass through some spectacular scenery too (typically mountainous and forested), and you might want to check some of them out. Hwy 101 passes through more sizeable cities than Hwy 1, so if you want some city time, consider doing at least parts of your trip on 101.
If you’re arriving in Seattle, doesn’t that pretty much already commit you to doing the northern Seattle-SF route rather than the southern SF-SanDiego route?
IMHO, the entire West Coast drive is fabulously beautiful, beginning around Santa Barbara and getting steadily more beautifuler as one heads northward from there.
Have you been to the West Coast before? If you’ve never been to San Francisco, you can easily spend a week or two just there and surrounding regions, and not run out of stuff to see and do.
If you decide to spend any amount of time (like, more than a day) in and around the San Francisco area, consider lodging in or around Santa Rosa (in Sonoma County, roughly an hour drive north of SF on 101) and making that your base of operations.
One other bit of advice, if you are going to make this drive in one direction, go from north to south - that way you will be on the ocean side of the road with the great views and numerous turn outs to stop (not that there are no great views going north). And you also have the benefit of it feeling like you are going downhill! Of course, your passenger will need strong nerves around some of the corners, but that is part of the fun.
And be sure your brakes are in good condition! (You’re going to be driving a rental car?)
The twistiest portion of Hwy 1 that I know of is probably a section between Ft. Ross and Jenner (and possibly not all that well-maintained). TBH, having driven that section once (many years ago), I would just as soon not go there again.
Another rather twisty section, but shorter, is just south of Stinson Beach. And then there’s parts of the Big Sur area south of Monterey, however much of that is open.
I’m really impressed.
I agree about doing a shorter section. I biked Davis to the coast and down to Santa Cruz (no vampires, fortunately) in two weeks and wish I’d done half the distance and twice the site-seeing.
Note also that it’s US Hwy 101 and California state Hwy 1. The signage is distinctly different.
Our air tickets are changeable. But since we are currently set to land in Seattle I thought one itinerary option would start there.
I, too, have driven the entire route several times, and agree that the “best” section for a road trip vacation is from Seattle to San Francisco. It’s less crowded and there’s more stuff to do. Besides the natural beauty of the forests and seashore, there are a bunch of roadside attraction-type places (Museum of Pop Culture, Marsh’s Free Museum, Sea Lion Caves, Newport Aquarium, Prehistoric Gardens, Tillamook Air Museum, Trees of Mystery…just to name a few).
If you’re into airplane museums this is near the coast in Oregon and not to be missed:
For those of you that have made this trip, criticize this rough try at an itinerary. I know there are some stretches with a lot of driving. Is this too ambitious, time-wise? Where am I going to hope I built in more time?
Day 1: Arrive Seattle 10:00 AM – Spend day/night
Day 2: Leave Seattle and drive to Olympia for lunch. Drive onto peninsula to Port Angeles. Stay overnight.
Day 3: Go to HoH Rainforest. Drive to Portland. Stay overnight.
Day 4: Portland. Stay overnight.
Day 5: Drive to Newport for lunch. Drive to Crescent City. Stay overnight.
Day 6: Drive through the giant redwoods. Drive to Mendecino. Stay overnight.
Day 7: Drive to San Francisco. Stay overnight.
Day 8. San Francisco. Stay overnight.
Day 9: Fly home.
Looks like you made a decision. I agree with your itinerary. What follows is what I composed as a response.
If you decide to take the Seattle-SF route (and travel north-to-south) make sure you drive the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt County. There is a north portion at Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park and a south portion (which is better IMHO) that begins a bit south of a place called Stafford. (A south-to-north trip would begin a few miles north of Garberville.) The biggest trees you’ve ever seen.
Thanks! Not set in stone, but leaning that way.
If it were me, I’d skip Olympia and take the ferry to Bainbridge. Or Bremerton if you want to drive up the west side of Hood Canal.
How come? I don’t know anything about those places.
That is going to be a long driving day (8-10 hours) without spending much time on the Olympic Peninsula and doing some dayhiking or going out to the western coast in somewhere like Copalis Beach. I’m not sure how to adjust your schedule to give more time there without losing either the day in Portland or San Francisco, but then that is the problem of a wealth of riches that is exploring the PNW. I would personally go from Portland to Tillamook instead of down to Corvallis and across to Newport because I really like Depot Bay and Otter Rock, but that will add another hour not counting stops.
Don’t expect much from Crescent City, CA, especially in summer where it’ll be fogged in but it is a logical stopping point. Agree with @ASGuy’s recommendation to drive the Avenue of the Giants, and plan on stopping and having a picnic lunch because it is amazing and should be pretty cool with all of the shade. Plan to stop at the Marin Headlands (literally just before you cross over the Golden Gate Bridge) and spend a couple of hours there; it is the best view of the bridge (skip walking the bridge unless it is a dream of yours) and spend the time exploring the remains of the Nike SF-88 missile site and WWII-era coastal defenses instead. If you can build more time into your schedule for day hikes and stopping you’ll get the best use of your travel, but again, there is a wealth of riches and you could easily spend a month exploring this section of the country without exhausting all of your options.
Stranger
The Evergreen Air Museum is fantastic. Another option, since you’re flying into Seattle, is the Museum of Flight–it’s right there at the airport. They’re opening next week.
And, another giant redwood option is driving Howland Hill Road just outside of Crescent City. For my money the drive and the hikes off it (Boy Scout Tree Trail and Stout Grove) is the best redwood experience in California.