When you think about California, the first thing that might come to mind is beaches and palm trees. And although it’s a great destination for this, California has a lot more to offer. We’ll take you on a two-week road trip starting in San Diego and ending in Los Angeles, passing through Joshua Tree and Yosemite National Park. It’s a beautiful trip to do as a couple, but also fun to bring some friends!
Day 1-3
San Diego
Flying into San Diego is an experience in itself. Located right next to the ocean and the harbor, it creates spectacular views from the plane, especially if you’re flying in around sunset!
Since you might be dealing with jet lag or flying in late, we recommend using this first day to just focus on getting your rental car (which always takes some time), getting familiar with it, and picking up some snacks and drinks for in the car for the upcoming days.
If you haven’t been to San Diego before, we definitely recommend using one of your days to visit Balboa Park. It’s home to stunning gardens, historic architecture, and some great museums (we loved the photography museum!). You can also find the San Diego Zoo here. We personally didn’t have time to visit it, but it gets a lot of great reviews. Afterwards, it’s nice to walk along the Embarcadero from the Maritime Museum to Seaport Village to see some impressive ships and enjoy the sunset.
On another day, we recommend taking a stroll through the Old Town and visiting some of the great beaches like La Jolla Cave (great for seal and sea lion spotting) and Sunset Cliffs (which, as the name reveals, is great for a stunning sunset). In the evening, it’s fun to explore the neighborhoods of Little Italy and the Gaslamp Quarter which are great for good restaurants and some fun bars.
P.S. If you need some last-minute shopping, the Mission Valley shopping mall is the place to go!
Day 4
Drive from San Diego to Joshua Tree National Park | 265 miles (426km), 4.5h
Stay for at least 3 nights at: Sol to Soul House
The best way to drive from San Diego to Joshua Tree National Park is via Highway I-8. It’s not the fastest, but it’s a more scenic route and gives you the opportunity to stop at Salvation Mountain and Slab City about halfway through the drive.
Salvation Mountain is a visionary artwork created by Leonard Knight back in 1989. It’s technically a man-made mountain, built from bricks, hay, discarded tires, automobile parts, and other scrap materials. All the debris was then covered in half a million gallons of latex paint, creating a large painted artwork in the middle of the desert.
Almost right next to Salvation Mountain, you’ll find Slab City. This town is known as an off-grid desert community where residents embrace an alternative lifestyle. It’s often called “the last free place in America” and is full of interesting art pieces made from just about anything you can imagine. While you’re out there, you should definitely visit the East Jesus art exhibition, which is free (but feel free to leave a donation).
After this brief stop, there’s a beautiful scenic drive along the Salton Sea before arriving at Sol to Soul House, our recommended stay for the next few nights.
Sol to Soul House has been named “the coolest Airbnb in California” by Condé Nast Traveler and is located in a beautiful spot on the edge of Joshua Tree National Park. Since this Airbnb is secluded, it’s smart to pick up some groceries for a BBQ-style dinner in Yucca Valley before you make your way over. Grilling food while watching the most insane sunset and sitting under a starry sky at this Airbnb will definitely be one of the highlights of the trip.
Day 5
Joshua Tree National Park
Since Sol to Soul House is located in the middle of the desert, you’ll already have a good idea of what to expect from Joshua Tree National Park—but visiting the park is still worth it. The entire park spans 1,235 square miles (3,196 km²) and offers tons of great hikes and sights. Since you’ll be entering the park from the northwestern side, we recommend doing a 1.5-hour loop from Joshua Tree to Twentynine Palms. Make a stop at either the Hidden Valley Nature Trail or Barker Dam Nature Trail (both are one-hour hikes), then snap a cool picture at Skull Rock. Due to the weather conditions, it’s best to do this trip early in the morning or later in the afternoon. The rest of the day, you can spend checking out some cute boutique stores in Yucca Valley and visiting the Glass Outhouse Art Gallery in Twentynine Palms.
Day 6
Palm Springs + Pioneertown
Pioneertown is absolutely a must-visit. It’s an 1880s-themed town developed for actors that were working on Western films and TV series. Some of the buildings are still in use as commercial stores, and there’s also a bowling alley, a bar, and two restaurants, Pappy & Harriet’s and The Red Door Saloon, that both offer saloon-style food. Thanks to the decor, it feels like you’re in a Western movie, which totally enhances the whole vibe.
From Pioneertown, it’s only a 45-minute drive to Palm Springs. This is where Golden Age movie stars once escaped to enjoy the year-round sunshine, natural hot springs, and luxury resorts. We personally loved driving through the winding residential streets of Palm Springs and spotting some of the coolest, most iconic mid-century architecture and houses with the most colorful doors. It really feels like you’re cruising through a retro-modern American dream.
Day 7
Drive from Joshua Tree National Park to Yosemite National Park | 265 miles (630km), 6.5h
Stay for at least 3 nights at: Lovers Nest
Today is going to be the longest drive of this road trip, with the landscape shifting from dry desert terrain into dense mountain forests. We recommend leaving early in the morning so you can make a few (photo) stops along the way. If you’re more of an explorer, consider leaving even earlier to take a detour through Sequoia National Park, perhaps to visit the General Sherman Tree or go on a short hike. Just keep in mind that this detour will add about three extra hours to your drive.
We personally chose a more relaxed journey, which also gave us time to do some grocery shopping at the large supermarket in Oakhurst, a town near Lovers Nest, our next recommended stay.
Lovers Nest is a romantic, treehouse-style loft perfectly situated near Bass Lake, the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, and Yosemite National Park. This two-story private home sits beside a peaceful pond and is surrounded by over 40 acres of forest with exclusive hiking trails. It’s the perfect place to relax after a long drive or one of the many hikes in the area.
Day 8
Yosemite Valley + Glacier Point
With about 1,200 square miles (3,027 km²), Yosemite National Park is roughly the same size as Joshua Tree National Park, so you could easily spend a full week, or even longer, here. Thanks to the perfect location of Lovers Nest, you’ll still have the opportunity to explore some of the highlights even if you don’t have that much time, like we did.
Unless you’re adventurous and love a good hike (in which case we’d recommend the 8-hour Valley Loop Trail), you can definitely take it easy this morning and sleep in a little, since you had a long drive the day before. Today, we recommend heading to Yosemite Valley and driving the small loop while stopping for some pictures. From Lovers Nest, it only takes about an hour to get there, and the loop (without stops) takes about an hour as well. Then, have an early dinner at one of the food places at Curry Village (not the greatest food, but good enough) before making your way to Glacier Point to experience a stunning sunset.
Tip: If you want to avoid the crowds, stop one turn before the parking lot—it’s technically the same view, just much quieter.
Day 9
Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias + Tanaya Lake
We recommend spending the next day driving to the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias and doing the Grizzly Giant Loop Trail, a 2-hour, easy-to-moderate hike through a beautiful forest, passing the Grizzly Giant and the Wawona Tunnel Tree. Along the way, you’ll learn a lot about the park while enjoying some spectacular scenery.
After the hike, drive to Tenaya Lake, making a stop at Tunnel View, where you’ll get a beautiful (and famous) view of El Capitan and Half Dome and at Olmsted Point, which also offers spectacular views.
Tenaya Lake is by far the most beautiful lake in the entire park and is an absolute must-see. You can do a hike that loops around the lake, which takes about 1 to 2 hours, or just sit down and enjoy the view at the Tenaya Lake Picnic Area. If you don’t mind cold water, you can even take a swim in the crystal-clear lake.
Important: Since you won’t be driving past any stores or towns, we recommend bringing some lunch and snacks with you.
Day 11 – 14
Los Angeles
If it’s your first time in Los Angeles, then three days might be a bit on the short side, and if you have the opportunity, you should definitely add a few more days. But it’s still enough time to see all the highlights this city has to offer.
We dedicated one of our days to visiting the Santa Monica Pier and walking along the boardwalk by the ocean toward Venice Beach. There, you can explore some quirky gift shops, grab a bite at one of the food spots, soak up the sun on the beach, and watch some incredible skateboarding at the famous Venice Skatepark. Don’t forget to take a picture at the Venice sign, stroll through the iconic Venice canal district, and do some boutique shopping on Abbot Kinney Blvd before heading back.
The next day, we grabbed our car and visited Rodeo Drive, then explored some of the palm tree-lined streets with the biggest mansions in Beverly Hills. After that, we drove to West Hollywood (tip: it’s nicer to take a side road like Melrose Ave instead of the main road) to tick the Hollywood stars on the Walk of Fame off our list.
In the distance, you’ve probably already seen the Hollywood sign in the hills, but if you want a good photo spot, we recommend visiting Lake Hollywood Park. It can get really crowded, so have a bit of patient finding a good parking spot but you can have some fun pictures here.
As mentioned before, three days is probably too short to enjoy everything this city has to offer. For our last full day, we decided to take it slow, but if you want to get the most out of it, there are a couple of great options: visiting Downtown Los Angeles, checking out some of the famous museums like LACMA and The Getty, or heading to one of the many theme parks like Universal Studios or Disneyland. Of course, it’s also a great idea to just relax on the beach for the day.
Due to the nature of this trip (we got engaged!), we stayed at the Proper Hotel in Santa Monica, a beautiful hotel located close to the beach, with tastefully decorated rooms, stylish public spaces, and a rooftop swimming pool. It’s definitely on the more expensive side, but worth it if you’re looking for a little bit of luxury after all those days on the road.
We absolutely had the best trip, it was a great way to explore most of California’s highlights in a short amount of time. Just keep in mind that you’ll be spending a lot of time in the car (which makes sense for a road trip), so make sure you have plenty of drinks, snacks, and some fun podcasts or music saved on your phone. There may be times when you won’t have access to mobile data while driving through more remote areas.
Ps. Keep in mind that we started in San Diego and ended in Los Angeles, this might affect your flight and car rental prices. With good traffic, it takes a little over two hours to drive from LA to San Diego, so you could also decide to make a final stop there.
