So you want to plan a trip to California? It’s not surprising. After all, we’re known as the Golden State and are a highly coveted vacation spot for a reason! But if this is your first time visiting, then you may be wondering about how to plan the details and what you might need to know along the way.
So if you’re wondering how to plan a trip to California or need a little inspiration on some of the top spots to explore, you’ve come to the right place. Those of us who live here proudly say it’s the #westcoastbestcoast, and today I’m here to share everything you need to know to plan the perfect California vacation that will leave you in no doubt of the Golden State’s magic!
Best Time to Visit California
When planning a trip to California, one of the first things you’ll want to decide is when to go. The weather in California is quite nice throughout the year but can vary depending on the terrain where you are visiting (coast, inland, mountains). There really isn’t a time that you shouldn’t visit California…but knowing what you want to see and do can help you plan for the most ideal time for you.
Summer is, of course, one of the most popular months. It is classic California at its best if you want to experience all the beachside excitement and soak up the sun. But with everyone on summer vacation from school, this also means it’s one of the most crowded times of year…so you’ll be jostling with a lot of other people to enjoy all that California has to offer. Plus, prices for anything from flights to car rentals to hotels can become quite high during this season.
Fall, meanwhile, is one of my favorite times to be in California. The weather is usually still quite warm and perfect for the beach for much of the autumn months, but with schools and colleges starting back up in the early fall there are far fewer people milling around. Prices for flights, etc., are likely to have dropped some, and you’ll find that our shoulder season is quite enchanting. This is one of my most highly recommended times to visit!
Winters can be cold and rainy or snowy in the mountains, but you can still likely enjoy some time on the beach (although you’ll likely not wish to brave the water most days unless you’re very committed to swimming or surfing or have an excellent wetsuit!) But winter brings its own delights, with lots of holiday cheer (and in some places, even skating on the beach!) The later winter months also make an excellent time to go whale watching along the coast and there are plenty of good places to go skiing in the mountains, so you will still find plenty to enjoy during this season.
Lastly, spring is another of my favorite times to be in California as the weather begins to warm again. This makes it an excellent time, like fall, to enjoy all of the benefits of California without dealing with the summer crowds. You’ll find it’s also a particularly lovely time to visit places like Joshua Tree National Park, where the desert comes to life with beautiful blooms!
As you can see, every season in California brings something to be desired and each one has a unique reason you might wish to visit. Ultimately, it comes down to when is convenient for you and what particular activities you wish to partake in (although I do still strongly recommend fall and spring as excellent times to visit!)
How Long To Spend in California
Now that you’ve decided when to come to California, it’s time to decide how long you should stay. California is quite a big place (did you know it takes nearly 13 hours to drive from one end to the other without traffic and without stopping anywhere?) Plus there are so many amazing places to explore! You really could spend years here. But that’s a very long vacation and quite impractical. 😉
Luckily, depending on what you want to see and where you’re coming from, your vacation could easily be as short as a weekend if you don’t have much time and just want to visit one city like San Diego, Los Angeles, or San Francisco. Or, if you want to see a little more of California or do the ionic coastal road trip then you may wish to plan for 1-2 weeks. And of course, if you wish to see big cities and also go hiking around and exploring some of California’s most beautiful destinations, then you may wish to plan for a month or so if you can swing it. You’ll simply have to prioritize what you wish to see the most if you have limited time!
California Destinations You Should Visit
Next in the planning stage is deciding where you want to visit! With so many places to go, it may be hard to decide…but I’ve compiled a quick list of some of my favorite places in California to help you out.
If you like cities, then San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco should be high on your list. There’s no shortage of things to do in these cities and they also have reasonably good public transportation (by American standards) so if you can’t or don’t want to drive then these could be good choices.
Nature wise, there are so many beautiful national and state parks! Some of the highlights are Yosemite, Joshua Tree, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Muir Woods. Whether you like short or long hikes or simply driving through beautiful scenery, the great outdoors in California is sure to take your breath away.
I’m also partial to the central coast of California (Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Paso Robles for wine country). And if you’re interested in seeing this part of California alongside some of the larger cities, you may wish to take all or part of the Pacific Coast/Highway 101 road trip from San Diego to San Francisco.
At this stage in your planning, continue to do a little exploration and think about what you wish to see the most. But once you know how long you plan to spend in California and know some of your options of where to go, you can start to narrow down your itinerary.
Getting to California
Now that you know when to visit, how long you’re visiting, and some of the things you may want to see, it’s time to start making the practical arrangements. Like…how to get to California?
The arrangements, of course, depend on where you are. Within the US, you can consider driving to California on an extended road trip (like my Texas to California road trip earlier this year!) or you can fly. If you’re flying domestically, you may want to monitor Kayak or Skyscanner for good deals…and you may also want to check out Southwest. Southwest is one of my favorite airlines to fly within the US, as they are quite comfortable and have excellent luggage allowances. They also offer deals for low cost fare quite frequently! The only downside is that they don’t allow their deals to be seen on flight aggregators like Kayak, Skyscanner, etc. so you have to search their website manually.
If you’re traveling internationally, your best bet is to keep an eye on sites like Kayak and Skyscanner and pounce when you see a good deal. You’ll want to fly into one of the major California airports for the best deals, which likely means Los Angeles (LAX) or San Francisco (SFO). A few other major airport possibilities you can check include San Diego (SAN), San Jose (SJC), and Sacramento (SMF). And if you can keep your dates flexible you’ll have an even greater chance of scoring an excellent deal!
Transportation in California
It’s no secret that public transportation in the US leaves a lot to be desired. But saying that, there’s still no reason to worry if you want to visit California’s larger cities. Some have fairly reliable bus, trolley, etc. systems, while others like San Diego may even have free ride systems in place. If all else fails, you should be okay doing some walking combined with taking an Uber every now and then. But this non-car method is only if you plan to stay within the city.
If you plan to leave the city, want to travel to multiple cities, want to explore more out-of-the-way places, or want to explore the famous Pacific Coast Highway, then you’re absolutely going to need a car. Luckily, renting a car is easy enough…and I recommend using Hertz or Enterprise to make your booking.
Be sure to play around with the dates you want the car for, as sometimes renting for longer (like a week at a time) can be cheaper than renting for just a few days. However, you’ll also have to factor in the cost of parking the car if you have it rented while in one of the big California cities. It can be quite expensive to park a car in the city, even when you’re staying at a hotel!
Note that if you’re visiting from outside the US or even out of state, then you may wish to give a quick look over the laws and rules of the road in the California Driver Handbook. Also, according to the California DMV, you do not need an International Driving Permit (IDP) to drive in California but may simply use your valid license from home. However, some other states have different requirements so if you plan to explore other areas of the US you may still require one. You can check out more information on foreign visitors driving in the US here.
Activities in California
Once you have your general itinerary set and are booking your transportation, don’t forget about booking any activities you may want to do! There are so many awesome things to do in California and you won’t want to miss out.
You could take surf lessons in San Diego, go whale watching in Newport Beach, visit a castle and go wine tasting in Napa, take a cruise near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francsico, or any number of other exciting adventures! If you’re looking to search for and book activities, both Get Your Guide and Viator offer some excellent options to make your trip a blast.
What to Pack for California
Finally, you may be wondering what you should pack for your California vacation. California style is quite laid back, but depending on the season you visit and the activities you plan you will have to adjust your wardrobe accordingly.
I’ve written up a full packing guide that you can check out here, but there are a few essentials I should note here as well. California weather always gets chillier in the evening, so you will want a jacket just in case even if it is summer. You’ll also want to have a reusable water bottle with you, some good sunscreen, and sunglasses. Be sure to check out my California packing list to see all the other essentials you’ll want to have on hand!
If you’re traveling from somewhere outside of the United States, you’ll also want to make sure you get and bring a visitor visa or ESTA as may be required. It’s also a good idea to have a credit card with you on your vacation, as you’ll find it’s the most prevalent method of payment in California, as well as exchanging for/withdrawing some cash to have on hand in case. And of course don’t forget other essentials like a plug adapter for your electronic devices!
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are a few frequently asked questions about planning a California vacation. Have one that’s not answered here? Ask away in the comments!
1. How expensive is a trip to California?
How much will a trip to California cost? That’s a difficult question to answer without knowing the details of your stay. How long is your trip? How many people are going? Do you like to stay in budget hotels or luxury hotels? Will you be in large cities the whole time or will you be camping in a national park?
All of these factors will determine how much your California vacation will cost. But as a general guideline to help you plan your trip, hotels and accommodation will be your most expensive part. For most city stays, if you choose to stay in a mid-level/nice-ish hotel you can expect to pay at least $100-200 per night. Meanwhile, if you decide to stay at campsites or budget accommodation or places further from the cities then you can certainly bring this figure down. And of course, if you decide to go luxury you could likely be looking at anywhere from $300-600 per night depending on the season and other factors.
Other costs to consider include the rental car and gas for your route. Gas is expensive in California, so this is something you won’t want to overlook when planning your vacation budget! (You can use a gas estimator like this one from GasBuddy that can help you determine a rough estimate of how much your trip will cost).
Next up is food. You can eat at less expensive places or splurge on more expensive options, but your total for eating out at mid-level places might usually be from $10-20 per person for food at a lunch or dinner meal (not including drinks). Don’t forget that tips are expected at restaurants in California, so you also need to add in this cost to the total!
And last, you’ll want to factor in any additional costs for activities and entertainment along the way. Do you plan to rent a kayak one day? Are you going on a winery tour? Do you plan to go on a harbor cruise? If you plan to do any of these or other activities, then your cost will go up as well.
So how much does a trip to California cost? On the low end, if you travel with someone sharing your accommodation costs and are frugal and/or don’t need a rental car, you could probably get away with $80-100 per person per day. But for a more comfortable budget with some wiggle room in case of emergencies, I’d suggest planning for at least $150-200 per person per day (when sharing accommodation between two people and getting a rental car).
Of course, all of these costs are quite subjective depending on the season you go, whether you go over a holiday, and how you like to travel. This is simply to try to give some idea of the costs you may incur, since California is not always the cheapest place to explore!
2. How much is a trip to California for a week?
You can check out the question and answer above to see an estimated breakdown of possible costs for a trip to California to help you answer this question more fully, but if you’re planning to visit California for a week then I’d suggest you plan for a budget at least $1000-1500 per person. This is especially true if you plan to drive the Pacific Coast Highway and need to get a rental car, although it may also be a good (or slightly low) budget for staying in a major city depending on your spending habits.
3. How can I visit California on a budget?
Now that you have a basic idea of the possible costs of a California vacation, you may be wondering how to plan a trip to California on a budget. And luckily, there are a few options you may want to consider!
If you plan to spend time in major cities and want to do lots of activities, you might want to consider purchasing a city pass. These passes offer admission to around 30+ of the biggest attractions in each city for a lower price than you would pay if you bought admission to each place, which is great for those with limited time who would still like to do a lot of activities. You can choose how many days the pass is good for as well, which offers the ultimate flexibility. Some good city passes include the Go San Diego Card, the Go San Francisco Card, and the Go Los Angeles Card. And if you’re looking for only 4-5 activities but want to do them in places across California anywhere from San Francisco to San Diego, then you may want to check out the Go California Explorer Pass for savings.
Another big way to save is to look for less expensive places to stay. If camping’s your thing, then there are lots of good campgrounds across California that you can use. Or another great option is to use Airbnb. (If you haven’t used Airbnb before, you can use this link to get $30 off your first stay).
By saving on accommodation and activity costs, you can definitely help yourself see more of California on a better budget!
4. I don’t have time to plan everything. What should I do?
Feeling a little overwhelmed now that you know all about planning a trip to California? If this is the case and you are concerned about the logistics of how to book a trip to California or just don’t have the time, you may want to consider an option such as booking a pre-planned tour.
While pre-planned tours don’t offer as much flexibility as planning a trip on your own, you can still see some of the biggest highlights of this gorgeous state when you take a tour. And it will save you a lot of time in the planning stage as all you have to do is figure out which tour to take! Most tours include accommodation, transportation, entrance fees to any attractions, and dinners, although you’ll want to check the specific terms before you book.
Some good options include:
- Western Express Southbound: This 8 day tour takes you from San Francisco to Los Angeles, visiting highlights including Yosemite National Park, the Sierra Nevada, Death Valley National Park, and more! It also takes you outside of California to visit a few highlights including Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, so if you’re looking for the best in the west, then this is the perfect choice for you. Click here to learn more about this tour or make a booking now!
- California Sierras and the Coast: This 7 day California tour takes you from San Francisco to Los Angeles by way of Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Santa Cruz, and Morro Bay…which makes it the perfect tour for those who love the ocean and love water! Plus, the views along this route are stellar…from panoramic mountain views to the dramatic coastline! Click here to book the California Sierras and the Coast tour now!
- Pacific Coast to Las Vegas: This tour is a 21-day experience of the west coast of the United States, from Seattle to San Diego to Las Vegas. You’ll visit places including Portland, Redwood National Park, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and lots more. It’s perfect for those in their 18-30s who love camping and exploring. Check out the Pacific Coast to Las Vegas tour now!
- Natural Highlights of California: Interested purely in the natural wonders across California? Then this is the tour for you! It’s part of the Natural Geographic Journeys and takes you from San Francisco to Las Vegas with stops in some of the best outdoor places in California, including Sequoia National Park, Yosemite, and Death Valley. It’s definitely California icons at their best, so click here to check out this tour or book it now!
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