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Pacific Coast Highway
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3. Check gas prices ahead. You can use GasBuddy.com, or just ask around, to find out if gas is cheaper where you are, or in the next town along. There can be big differences for all kinds of reasons – crossing a county line, crossing a state line, more competition in bigger towns, or just a general trend. If you're filling a big tank, you can save the cost of a meal by filling up in the right place, and the right gas station.
4. Always have snacks and water in the car, and a cool-bag to put them in. It can get pretty hot in places in the summer, and water's essential. Snacks too. It's like gas (see below) – just when you assume there's got to be somewhere to buy something, that's when there isn't.
6. Allow plenty of time. There are lots of viewpoints, official and unofficial. Nature also has a habit of sucking you in, whether it's a sighting of a whale, a family of otters, or walking among the Giant Redwoods – give yourself time to enjoy the experience. And if nothing happens – so, you get to your destination early and can hang out and enjoy it.
7. Get off the Highway. There are some great beaches and seaside towns that require you to get off the highway and explore them. Likewise there are some state parks and gorgeous areas like Paso Robles wine country for which you need to head inland a little. Don't feel chained to the Pacific Coast Highway – veer off, explore, and come back to it.
8. Watch those speed limits. You're not cruising an Interstate. You can be zipping along the Highway one minute and then bam, you're in a town center. It's the joy of the Highway, the way it passes right through lots of towns along the way. So respect the folk that live there, and keep to the speed limit.
9. Take a break. 10 in 2 is a good motto. Every two hours, take a ten-minute break, even if you don't feel you need one. It stretches the muscles and freshens the mind a little.
10. Don't run out of gas. Say, what? Well, if you set off in Southern California it's easy to assume there are gas stations every few miles. They tend to get less frequent the further north you go. Even in one of the most famous and most beautiful stretches of the road, Big Sur, gas stations are pretty spread out. Don't take chances.
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Popular Pages
The most popular pages on Pacific Coast Highway Travel right now are:
Drive the Pacific Coast Highway
Whale Watching in California
Where to Stay on the PCH
Pacific Coast Highway Maps
PCH Hotels Guide
To help you in choosing your Pacific Coast Highway hotel, guesthouse, inn, bed-and-breakfast, resort, motel or other accommodations, we've prepared our Pacific Coast Highway Hotels Guide ebook. In it we do mini-reviews of accommodations along the Highway, from Seattle to San Diego, through Washington, Oregon, and California.
For the 2011 edition we added new hotels, including a special 50-hotel section covering California’s wine country of Napa, Sonoma, and Paso Robles - by far the most popular diversion from the PCH drive. In all there are over 200 hotels listed, complete with 8 pages of color maps showing the towns where our recommended hotels can be found. There are both alphabetical and geographical indexes, helping you plan your journey.
We also include color photos of all the hotels that are our Personal Favorites. Here's the link to
read more about our ebook guide to Pacific Coast Highway hotels
Or you can buy it here for $2.99:
KINDLE EDITION
The Hotels Guide is also available but without the maps and color photos in the US Kindle Store for $4.99 and in the UK Kindle Store at a price based on the US price.
NOOK EDITION
The guide is also available at Barnes and Noble for the Nook.
PAPERBACK EDITION
If you want a printed edition without color photos and with only black and white maps, it costs $8.99 at the Amazon US store.
We've also published our PCH Hotels Guide as an app in the Apple Store.
You can buy it here and
read about it here.
