Updated October 2019
Today marks 2 years since the day I set foot in California. Visiting Los Angeles (and California in general) has always been on my wish list! The palm trees, endless beaches, the Hollywood Sign, Beverly Hills and many more! My friends and I spent 9 full days in the Golden State visiting places, walking, dining and taking it all in. I’ve wanted to write down our itinerary, the places we dined and the hotels we stayed for a long time, so here it is! A compact California road trip itinerary which you can use as an inspiration to plan your own trip.
Day 1: Arrival in Los Angeles, Venice Beach, Santa Monica
First stop on our trip: The Kinney Venice Beach hotel (was going by another name back then). It is located on Venice beach. On the first afternoon, we explored Abbot Kinney Blvd and all its cute stores. Then we walked along the beach all the way to Santa Monica.
Depending on the time of the day you can explore the Pier and Third Street Promenade, which is a pedestrian street full of stores or have dinner! As a general tip, I suggest that you always book in advance in restaurants and Open Table became my best friend in LA.
Day 2: Getty Center, Malibu, LACMA, The Grove
We started the day by visiting the Getty Center. Entrance is free, you just pay for the parking. The view is amazing and there are lots to explore. After exploring for a while, drive north to Malibu. There are many beaches to explore and we chose Zuma beach, where we kicked off our shoes and dipped our toes in the Ocean. It was freezing, as it was March after all!
Early in the evening, we stopped by LACMA were we took photos with the Urban Light sculpture. We got enough photos to last us a lifetime and then headed to The Grove for dessert. The Grove is an outdoor mall with stores and restaurants, which celebrities sometimes frequent. We ended the day with 3 cheesecake slices at the Cheesecake Factory!
Related: 12 fun things I did in Los Angeles
Day 3: Hollywood Sign, Hollywood Boulevard, Beverly Hills, The Griffith Observatory
This day was all about Hollywood and views. We started off with a hike to the Hollywood sign. It took us about 2 hours to walk up and then down from the sign. The trail isn’t steep but you must wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen, and a hat! Next, we drove down towards Hollywood Boulevard were we spotted our favorite stars.
It wouldn’t be a proper visit in LA if we skipped Beverly Hills (Rodeo Drive included) would it? The last stor for the day was Griffith Observatory! We got there after sundown and the view was amazing nonetheless, but it’s better to be there at sunset/dusk.
Day 4: Paramount Studios, Downtown Los Angeles, Venice
A true visit in LA wouldn’t be complete without visiting an old-school Hollywood studio, right? We decided on Paramount because it’s one of the oldest studios and the only one in the Hollywood area! Next up we visited the up and coming area of Downtown LA, where we saw the Walt Disney Music Hall and tried Bottega Louie’s delicious desserts.
Upon returning to Venice beach, we explored the canals and it’s an area I absolutely loved. It is a residential area, but it was very quiet so I guess, these are summer houses mostly. After the walk (and a little bit of shopping) in Abbot Kinney yet again we called it a day.
Related: A walk in Downtown Los Angeles
Day 5: Sequoia National Park
Next up on our California road trip itinerary was a visit to the Sequoia National Park. We saw the largest tree on earth (in trunk volume): General Sherman. The drive up there lasted 5 hours with a small break in Lindsay. We spent about an hour around the General Sherman trail before driving back towards the coast. We spent the night at Cayucos Beach Inn, which was very nice and has large and well-equipped rooms.
Related: Visiting the Sequoia National Park
Day 6: Pacific Coast Highway
We spent the 6th day of our trip driving north towards San Francisco along the Pacific Coast Highway making stops along the way. This part of our California road trip itinerary is documented on my post: Road Trip along the Pacific Coast Highway.
Day 7: Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito, Sutro baths/Cliff House, Twin Peaks, Chinatown, Ferry building Market Place, City Lights bookstore
On our first full day in San Francisco, we covered a lot of ground. We crossed the Golden Gate bridge, had ice cream in Sausalito, and marveled at the views from the Cliff House and Twin Peaks. the city is relatively small and you can get around by public transport. We kept the car only for the first day and then dropped it off.
The rental company was near Chinatown, so that’s was the area we explored just after leaving the car. We then walked toward the Ferry Building Marketplace where we had lunch. The Embarcadero area was so beautiful at dusk so we explored it while waking north and then took Broadway street so as to reach the City Lights Bookstore.
Book a room for your stay in San Francisco!
Related: 15 Things you shouldn’t miss in San Francisco
Day 8: Painted Ladies, Golden Gate Park, Mission District
We started the day with a hearty breakfast at Golo cafe before walking up to see the Painted Ladies. We continued our walk to the Golden Gate Park where we visited the Japanese Tea Garden and had some ice green tea! A visit to San Francisco isn’t complete without checking out the Mission District, which is where the original San Francisco settlement was actually located. The area is famous for its murals, especially those on Balmy street.
Related: Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
Day 9: Filbert Steps, Fillmore street, Union Square, Pier 39, Ghirardelli square
We started our day by walking towards Filbert steps in search of a view that I’ve seen on Pinterest. A few photos later we took the trolley to Fillmore street for some window shopping. Our next stop was Union Square and weended our walk at Pier 39 and dined at Fog Harbor Fish House. To cap off our visit to San Francisco we stopped for dessert at the Ghirardelli store on the namesake square!
So that pretty much sums up our (epic, tiring but so amazing) road trip in California! I hope it inspired you to add Golden State to your to-visit list!
Have you visited California? If yes, which was the best part of your trip?
I'm Anna and this is my lifestyle and travel blog! 
Wow – I did a REALLY similar trip a few years ago, LA to SF!! I love Cali 🙂 It’s unlike any other state!
I haven’t been to many states but I absolutely loved it and would like to re-visit one day!!
Oh now you’ve made me homesick for Cali! And excited at the same time because I’m currently planning a 3 week trip home for 2018 and doing a road trip from South to North! #WanderfulWednesday
You come from a very beautiful state!! I loved both the cities and the road trip along the ocean!
what an amazing trip! I can only dream of a trip like this:)
It was amazing indeed, a dream come true!
That’s an impressive itinerary! The Pacific Coast Highway sounds wonderful, just read your other post about it too, all those sea lions!!
PCH is a very beautiful indeed and the timing was very good for us, as we saw the sea lions as well! They also have a web cam to check them out live and that’s what I did when writing this post!
Thanks for sharing a fabulous road trip with #WanderfulWednesdays. I have done the trip the other way round but we didn’t much any time in LA which I regret. A reason to return!
I wish I had an extra day in LA. It has so many things to see!
This is great Anna! I love road trips and California is probably one of the best states to do one! I need to visit CA again soon!
It is indeed! your posts about Malibu and the Hollywood sign helped me with the planning a lot!
This is such a great itinerary for a road trip through California! I feel like you really hit the highlights in both Los Angeles and San Francisco! And of course you can’t pass up driving the PCH!
Indeed we went after the highlights! i wish we had a couple of extra days to explore LA more and have more time when driving along the coast!
The Pacific Coast Highway seems amazing! I’d love to visit the Paramount Studios too but overall I think I might enjoy San Franciso even more than LA!
SF is more compact and more interesting than LA to be honest (architecture and sightseeing wise). LA is all about popular culture, Instagrammable places and the lot. Is more about the present than the past!
What an amazing trip! Great post
Thank you very much! It was an epic trip indeed!
This is a fantastic itinerary! I love variety of nature and city that you’ve included and I really, really love that mural – those colours are great!
SF has a ton of murals! I believe you were going to love Mission District a lot!
Oh wow! You and your friends did ALOT in 9 days. My husband and I are thinking about making a trip out to the West Coast in the Fall and after reading your post, we may have to consider doing a road trip too. Having a car while traveling is so great because you get to see soooo much more. 🙂
Well we flew all the way from Greece and we had to include so many things in those 9 days. Renting a car in California is non negotiable I think. Its the only way to explore places like LA (it’s vast), the Pacific Coast Highway and places around SF (if we had an extra day we’d visit Napa valley too)!
Your photos are AMAZING!!!!! I love all of them!! I love how you really stretched out this adventure into so many days!! I’d love to retrace your steps!
we could also make use of a couple more days!! It needed a lot of planning but thankfully everything went on smoothly!
I loved reading this post because I’m from LA! I’ve done the Los Angeles – San Francisco road trip a couple of times with friends. You did stuff Ive never even done, haha! I’ve never eaten at Bottega Louie or been to Paramount Studios. And I’ve never been to Mission District in San Francisco. It sounds awesome! I”ll definitely need to check that out if I go there again.
I guess when coming from so far a way you want to cover as much as possible! Bottega Louie was a suggestion I got on Trippy and we visited Paramount because we wanted to visit a studio!
I’ve never been to California, but I’ll be going in a few months with my husband. I’m excited! Looks like you got to see a lot of the state during your trip!
I’m sure you are going to love it! California is so pretty!
I’ve seen a lot of California, but I’ve never done the typical coastal road trip! It’s definitely on my bucket list. This is such a great itinerary hitting so many of the best places! Will have to bookmark this for when I finally get the chance to do it myself 😀
the coastal trip was one of the best parts of the trip (we were lucky with the weather too)! You can add a couple more days along the coast and check out more places!
Oh I love this it is my dream itinerary, and is most definitely on our travel wish list x
it’s a fully packed itinerary but covers all the best spots in LA, SF and the Pacific Coast Highway
Seems like a great itinerary. There are so many things here that I haven’t seen yet!
I know right, so many places to visit!
I used to live in San Francisco (in the Mission!) and one of my favorite things was driving down to L.A. to visit friends. There is nothing like the Pacific Coast Highway. It’s just something everyone has to do! Along with Big Sur. My girls have been asking to go out to Cali for the first time so I’m hoping to do it in the next few years. Pinning this..#mondayescapes
It’s a very beautiful trip isn’t it? I’ve traveled to many places, but California truly captured my heart!
Wow what an incredible 9 days! You managed to fit so much in. I worked in Marin County just across the Golden Gate bridge for a summer before uni so this post brought back some great memories for me! This road trip is at the very top of my wish list of things to do with my boys now that they are old enough to appreciate it;) Great idea to summarise here and have as a download too. Thanks for linking to #MondayEscapes, I’ll tweet and pin now;)
We carefully planned the trip and though exhausting, we saw so many things! Make sure to visit during the season that the sea lions are on shore, it’s such a beautiful sight!
You’ve traveled to the most amazing places, Anna! I’m so jealous! I’d love to travel to California one day! 🙂
You should add it to your wishlist…it’s so beautiful!