One of the most iconic road trips in the world is the one up Highway 1 & 101 along the California coast, and in this post you’ll read about the best stops on Pacific Coast Highway. Although you can make it from Los Angeles to San Francisco in a day or two, I recommend taking your time!
There is so much to see along the drive that I even had to break this up into 2 blog posts!
These are my absolute best recommendations for the best stops on Pacific Coast Highway on a road trip from Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo.
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Santa Monica Pier
Start off your road trip at one of the best stops on Pacific Coast Highway, the famous (and fun) Santa Monica Pier.
Ride a couple of rides (including the world’s only solar-powered Ferris wheel), buy some greasy food, and enjoy the beachy carnival atmosphere.
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It’s a place even LA locals like to come and hang out, so don’t miss it!
I recommend parking right next to the Pier at 1550 Appian Way. It might be a little more expensive than some lots down the road ($15 for the whole day), but the convenience makes it well worth it.
Hot tip: The sign at the parking booth says ‘cash only’, but you can low key pay with a card. Just tell the parking attendant that you have a card and they’ll charge you on that.
El Matador Beach
El Matador is one of the most photographed beaches and is definitely one of the best stops on Pacific Coast Highway in Southern California.
The stunning cliffs and rock formations make for a beautiful backdrop to those photos, and you’ll probably see models getting photographed, wedding shoots, and a good old-fashioned Instagram photo shoot.
The waves can get intense so watch out for your little ones, but I still think that El Matador is a great beach for a family picnic or to watch the sun go down. The rocky coastline makes for a beautiful backdrop to end a fun day.
The parking lot is small, so try to get there early to snag a spot. It’s $10USD to park all day, and no cash is accepted at the pay stations. If you use this parking app, you can get $1 off!
Santa Barbara
There are so many things to do in Santa Barbara that it’s hard to define it as one stop, but you should definitely plan on spending some time here if you’re driving up the coast.
Santa Barbara’s climate is mild and is described as ‘Mediterranean’, so this stretch of the coast has been dubbed the American Riviera.
If you’re looking for a meal, head to State Street. There is excellent Mexican food at Santo Mezcal, diner classics at Joe’s Cafe, and delicious Italian at Pascucci Restaurant.
For family fun, Stearns Wharf is where you want to be. Take them to get some old-fashioned saltwater taffy at Mother Stearns Candy Company, for a cheeseburger at Longboards Grill, or to see the local sea creatures at the Sea Center.
If it’s a little sun and fun you’re after, Santa Barbara’s beaches are some of the best stops on Pacific Coast highway. East Beach is more than a mile and a half long, leaving tons of room for you to spread out and get some sun.
If you like to be a little more active, rent a bicycle or a Surrey bike to fit everyone and peddle along the Cabrillo Bikeway, which extends for miles along the ocean. Biking is a great way to enjoy the amazing California weather!
Stay: Hotel Californian
Eat: Santo Mezcal
Drink: Test Pilot Cocktail Bar
Coffee: Santa Barbara Roasting Company
Lompoc Flower Fields
Lompoc is a small farming town located about an hour north of Santa Barbara on Highway 1. It’s known for having quite a few wineries for its size, but more importantly it’s known for the flower fields.
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From around April to September every year, the town of Lompoc is littered with an array of rotating flower fields. The types of flowers change with the month, so even if you went more than once you could see different beautiful blooms.
You will see rows and rows of gorgeous flowers, as they are farmed for commercial purposes. A few species you’ll find are larkspur, delphinium, Queen Annes lace, bells of Ireland, and sweet pea.
The fields are scattered throughout town and rotate depending on the month, so you’ll just have to go on the hunt to find them. The farming areas are the best place to look, along Central Avenue between Floradale Ave to Union Sugar Ave.
Be aware that the fields are private property, so if you take any photos they have to be from the edge of the field or side of the road.
After you check out the pretty flowers, head to one of the dozens of wineries on the Lompoc Wine Trail to do a tasting. The region is known for Chardonnay and Pinor Noir, which was featured in the movie Sideways!
Solvang
Although *technically not one of the stops on Pacific Coast Highway, Solvang is well worth a short detour. Often called California’s “Little Denmark”, Solvang was founded by Danish immigrants in 1911 and has strongly retained its Danish heritage for over a hundred years.
Sunset Magazine named it one of the top 10 most beautiful small towns in the western united states, and it’s easy to see why. It’s traditional windmills, diet-busting bakeries, and thatched-roof buildings are dripping with charm.
I highly recommend making Solvang your base for at least one night, because after you do a couple of wine tastings, eat one (or three) raspberry Danishes, and check out the Hans Christian Andersen Museum, you’ll be too pooped to continue up the coast (or too tipsy).
There are a ton of things to do in town and just outside of it, so it even makes for a great destination on its own as a weekend away from Los Angeles.
Stay: Hadsten House
Eat: Copenhagen Sausage Garden
Drink: The Brander Vineyard
Ostrichland
Ostrichland is a kitschy and fun thing you can to break up a long drive, and it’s cheap! It’s definitely one of the best stops on Pacific Coast Highway if you have kids, or even if you just like wildlife.
For $5 per adult (or $2 for 12 and under), you can check out the giant birds, who are really just there to be fed and observed. Someone recognized that people love to feed ostriches and bam! A business was born.
You can just walk around the little farm to check out the birds (and the babies in the summer), or if you pay $1 you can grab a bowl of food and feed them yourself! It’s kind of a ridiculous thing to do, but when you have the opportunity to hand-feed an ostrich, you should probably do it!
Just don’t get your fingers too close to them…
Pismo Dunes
If you’re craving adventure, head to the Pismo Beach sand dunes. These huge dunes look completely out of place, but adrenaline junkies have discovered how to make the best of them.
Locals and visitors alike love to take advantage of the unique camping opportunities at the dunes. You can drive your car or RV onto the beach, set it up to camp, and ride ATV-type toys over the dunes all day and then jump into the Pacific to cool off after all that adventure.
This stretch of beach is the only place in Central (or Southern, for that matter) California where you can legally drive on the beach. It’s not for the faint of heart, however! It’s best to have a 4WD vehicle and at least a passing knowledge of the tide tables and really how to drive in the sand in the first place.
The towing bill can get really expensive if you bypass doing your research!
If you’re not lucky enough to have a killer adventure toy, you can rent one for a few hours easily enough, there are tones to choose from at Pismo Dunes Rentals!
Then when you’re done, head over to the famous Splash Café for a breadbowl filled with their amazing clam chowder! I can tell you from experience that it’s sooooo good, and I believe it when they say it’s the best in California!
Madonna Inn
Anyone who has done the drive from Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo has at least SEEN the famous Madonna Inn, not just because it’s right off of the highway but because you can’t miss it! It’s just that…interesting-looking.
If you want a place to stay that absolutely unique and your photos to be conversation starters, you NEED to stay at the Madonna. Even if you don’t care about that stuff…you should stay here, anyway.
It’s hard to describe the place…the exterior looks like an exquisite horse farm out of Anne of Green Gables, and the interior is, well…pink. VERY pink. The dining room, the lobby, the coffee shop, everything. It’s Instagram heaven!
Then you get to the rooms. Each one is different and though I wouldn’t exactly call them “themed”, I would say that the general mood of each is crazy and ridiculous.
Kevin and I stayed a night in the “What’s Left” room, which sported pink walls, colorful patched carpets, and sequins on the walls of the bathroom. It’s not even the craziest one, either.
Some of the rooms have cave rock showers, spiral staircases, and décor reminiscent of your uncle’s basement from 1974.
Don’t forget to try their famous pink Champagne cake when you have dinner in the (pink!) steakhouse.
Have more time? Continue your drive up the coast
You can honestly spend a week making the best stops on Pacific Coast Highway and only make it to San Luis Obispo, but if you have more time there’s a TON more to do even further along!
Make sure to sign up for my newsletter so you don’t miss when I release the second post in the series of Best Stops on Pacific Highway: SLO to San Francisco!
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