Gorgeous trip. I would schedule it in winter or spring for maximum beauty of waterfalls. I cannot reconmend this route highly enough.

Don't drive it in the winter - you'll be driving through rain storms and you'll see nothing but grey. I did it years ago in early June from Vancouver (BC) to San Francisco and it was a very fun trip. The weather is (usually) pretty nice at that time of year. You can do it straight down the I-5 or the slow route down the coast 101 and then do side trips. The only part of the US west coast I haven't driven is between San Francisco and LA.

Oh do it! It's gorgeous! We only went as far as Grants Pass in Oregon, would love to go up further into Washington. Crater Lake is stunnng. It's so serene and SO quiet. We went in May, and there was still a LOT of snow there. About 6 feet. They did say that was rare. Oh now I want to go!

May or October. Go 101, not 5, which is farther inland in most areas. I love love love the far north of California, all the small towns. Ferndale, Fort Bragg, Mendocino, Mckinleyville, etc. I haven't been much farther north than when you cut over to Crater Lake. Magnificent.

Done it numerous times, both up the coast and down. Hiway 101 all the way (although known as Pacific Coast Highway in SoCal). I would pick late September or October as an ideal time for this trip. Weather is excellent and most summer traffic is over after Labor Day. The only caution would be risks of wildfires, which are becoming all too common.

Driven it many times. Highly recommend it. It is beautiful.

Our least favourite has become California, especially between SF and LA. Still nice, though.

Yep. Lived there. It's amazing!

I've wanted to do the Southern route though. I'd love to make it to the end of highway 1. And for some reason I'd love to do it on New Year's Eve, landing there on New Year's Day. Sunrise.

Done it as well more than once. You arent going to be anywhere near Crater lake which is two mountain ranges east. It is slow. I mean really slow but beautiful. It is wiggly. I-5 is just a truck infested corridor. Dont do that.

I only did a section of HW 101 from SF to San Diego and thoroughly enjoyed the drive during the spring time. But that was over 20 years ago.

I've done it many times, and I think the best time of year is August. Weather is still pleasant in September, but the days are significantly shorter. I've also driven it in October and November, and November was definitely too cold for me, but October was not bad.

Between San Francisco and Los Angeles, Pacific Coast Highway (highly recommended) is State Hwy 1, not U.S. 101. The speed limit on Hwy 1 is 20 MPH during much of it, and so it is very slow and windy but definitely worth it for the view, and you can stop at Hearst Castle on the way, as well as Big Sur.

Hwy 1, just south of Big Sur

If you want to see Hearst Castle, be sure to book tickets in advance.

After the first hundred miles south of the Oregon border (like to Eureka), Hwy 101 in California leaves the coast. While it is the highway of the "coastal region", it's often a good distance from the ocean itself. Peeks of SF Bay (not Pac Ocean) views are visible along the stretch from 30 miles north of to about 30 miles south of San Francisco, and it's then an inland freeway (no ocean views) until just before Santa Barbara. As lars describes, the actual coast road is Hwy 1 and it's mostly a 1 lane in each direction road with very slow going until SoCal. Where it gets wider once back in civilization but has more traffic.

I think of the coast area north of SF as being quite foggy and damp for much of the year.

"Summer" corresponds to late summer, early fall.

We once drove up to Portland, intending to come back driving down the coast. With all due respect to Oregonians, we didn't find the Oregon coast much different from the coast area from SF to Oregon that we were more familiar with and it was similarly damp. We wound up altering our plans and left the coast. We visited the two college towns in the Willamette Valley, went to Crater Lake, and then made a beeline down Hwy 5 (the inland freeway) so we could spend the extra time planned but unused for the trip at an unscheduled stop of several days in the Napa Valley. We liked that a lot better.

Edit to add - Yes, as Lars said, PCH (Pacific Coast Hwy) when so-named from its northernmost end I think beginning just south of Ventura, is numbered as Hwy 1, not 101. Hwy 101 in Ventura is a freeway and turns inland there toward LA's San Fernando Valley. It doesn't see the ocean again, staying inland thereafter until it combines with Interstate 5 in southern Orange County (near Irvine) and ends. Hwy 5 survives as the highway designation thereafter in the south direction to the border. Along many stretches before La Jolla and San Diego, it has ocean views. Some Bay and Harbor views after La Jolla enroute to the border.

Early to Mid Fall… stop at Toni’s #1 for a milkshake in Arcata, CA. Right off 101 south of the Mad River Bridge.

When we did the drive from Monterey to LA on our honeymoon, after awhile, I found all the ins and outs to be tedious...I think it was so long that I was getting on overload.

We did the OR coast decades ago...we actually did a loop starting in Portland, out to Ft Clatsop, then down the coast to the dunes, the caves, Crater Lake, headed north through the High Desert region, to Columbia River gorge and back to Portland. It was a fabulous trip. And I much preferred the coastline in a smaller dose.

Do it!!! We've taken several week-long trips to Washington/Oregon and I loved them all. The first was maybe 20 years ago, the most recent in 2018. I enjoy the planning process - get a big paper map, go to Fodors or Trip Advisor, use sticky notes to place the most interesting sites to visualize travel distances. You probably can't fit it all in, in one trip!

General advice -- May, or September -- and check your destinations for potential snow closures (especially Crater Lake). Unless you have a full 2 weeks, try to choose either Washington state, or Oregon, not both. As an east-coaster, I especially enjoyed going an hour or two inland from the coast, to the dry, desert side of the mountains -- we don't have that contrast in the Appalachians!

My favorites in Washington: Olympic National Park (stay in Port Townsend), Bellevue Botanic Gardens, Grand Coulee (fascinating inland scenery), Mt Rainer, and Mt St Helens.

My favorites in Oregon: Columbia River Gorge drive to The Dalles (Hood River Hotel), Crater Lake. We were surprised that on long stretches of highway around Crater Lake, there isn't much food, so regretted not ordering a pizza to go earlier that day (Whispering Pines Motel- quirky but clean and convenient). Of course I enjoyed driving 101 down the Oregon coast, but don't remember the name of the towns ... for the most part they were all places I'd like to linger.

With my parents, YES: several times. We used to go to California from Calgary and my dad always took one route south and another north. One of those routes always followed the coastline until we got to Washington State then into Montana and up into Alberta. Several years ago, I travelled from Abbotsford BC down to Anacourtis (spelling is wrong) then on a ferry to Friday Harbor and it took me back to my childhood and the long car rides down the coast. It's such a beautiful drive!

Anacortes Wa. It has the ferry terminal for the international ferry and the San Juans. Very pretty little town. It is supposedly named for a woman named Anna Curtis so you were close. There is a nearby town called Laconner. That one is named for a Louise Ann Conner. fun facts.