Books

Books About the Pacific Coast Highway in California, Oregon and Washington including travel guidebooks, route guides, restaurant guides, and many more.

The cover of Moon's West Coast RV Camping Guidebook

Don't just take our word for what's good, as there are plenty of books to help you with your research into any Pacific Coast Highway trip, or any vacation anywhere along the way. There are several good guides that cover the entire route, for both drivers and cyclists, and you should pack at least one of these in your luggage.

There are also general guidebooks on the Pacific Coast, and on the individual states of California, Oregon and Washington. There are books about the wildlife, and the kinds of guides we most enjoy reading – restaurant guides.

Accommodation Guides

California Camping (Moon)

California Bed and Breakfast Inns

Camping

See under RV Parks and Campgrounds below

City Guides

San Francisco: 101 Free Things to Do in San Francisco (Kindle Guide)

San Francisco: Your Insider's Guide to San Francisco

Los Angeles: 111 Places in Hollywood That You Must Not Miss

Los Angeles: Soul of Los Angeles

Check out this Fodor's guide to Los Angeles, which also covers Santa Monica, Malibu, and Disneyland

Cycling Guides

Bicycling the Pacific Coast

Cycling the USA West Coast

Downhills Don't Come Free: One Man's Bike Ride from Alaska to Mexico

Two Wheels North: Bicycling the West Coast in 1909

Driving Guides

Backroads of the California Coast

The Best Coast: A Road Trip Atlas

Epic Drives of the World

Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip (Moon Handbooks)

Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip Guide

Pacific Coast Highway Road Trips (Lonely Planet)

Road Trip USA: Pacific Coast Highway

The Best PCH Guide

Our recommended guide for
driving the Pacific coast is
Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip
(Moon Handbooks).

Click on the cover image to see the latest edition for sale on Amazon.

Food, Drink, and Restaurant Guides

California Living and Eating

Good Beer Guide to the West Coast USA

Moon Handbooks’ Napa and Sonoma Guidebook

Northwest Wine Country: Wine's New Frontier

General Guides

Culture Trails: 52 Perfect Weekends

Greetings from California

A Journey into John Steinbeck's California

Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast

The Pacific Coast Highway in California (Images of America)

State, Regional, and USA Guides

California Coastal Access Guide

Coastal California (Lonely Planet)

Frommer's Guide to Oregon

Frommer's Washington State Travel Guide

Los Angeles, San Diego and Southern California (Lonely Planet)

Michelin Green Guide: California

Michelin Green Guide: USA West

Moon Handbooks: Santa Barbara and the Central Coast

Moon Spotlight Guide to the Olympic Peninsula

RV Parks and Campgrounds Guides

California Camping (Moon)

West Coast RV Camping (Moon Outdoors series)

Other books pages

Your Insider's Guide to San Francisco
Pacific Coast Highway Travel's book review of Insider's Guide to San Francisco guidebook by Jill Loeffler, publisher of the San Francisco Tourism Tips website.
California Backroads
Some of the best California Backroads are included in Backroads of the California Coast, with 24 highly recommended driving tours off the Pacific Coast Highway.
Coastal California Guidebook
Lonely Planet's Coastal California guidebook is the ideal travel guide for driving or cycling the Pacific Coast Highway from the Oregon border to Mexico.
Culture Trails
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the book Culture Trails by Lonely Planet, which has a section on Vintage Hollywood alongside 51 other perfect weekends.
Gardens Of the Pacific Coast Highway
Plant lovers can visit hundreds of gardens along or near the Pacific Coast Highway,ranging from lush gardens in the Pacific North-West to southern California.
Green Guide USA West
The Green Guide to the USA West from Michelin covers California, the Pacific North West, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, New Mexico, and even Kansas and Alaska.
Cannery Row in Monterey
To John Steinbeck Monterey's Cannery Row was a place of sardine canneries, bums and honky tonks, but today the Monterey Aquarium attracts visitors.
Pacific Coast Highway Moon Guide
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip guide from Moon covering California, Oregon and Washington
Road Food Guide
West Coast Road Eats is a road food guide covering the Pacific Coast from California through Oregon to Washington, giving the best road trip food stops.
Pacific Coast Highway Road Trips: Lonely Planet Guidebook Review
Review of the Pacific Coast Highway Road Trips book from Lonely Planet, which includes a California Driving Guide, by the Pacific Coast Highway Travel website.
Northwest Wine Country
Northwest Wine Country is a food and wine lover's guide to vineyards, fine dining, accommodation, restaurants in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia.
California Bed and Breakfast Inns
The guide to California Bed and Breakfast Inns lists over 250 boutique hotels, wine country cottages and more.
The Best Coast Book Review
The Best Coast is a west coast travel guide, sub-titled A Road Trip Atlas it doesn't use photos but instead has hundreds of beautiful illustrations.
Soul of Los Angeles
Soul of Los Angeles from French publishers Jonglez is a travel guide to 30 Exceptional Experiences in California's largest city.
Napa and Sonoma Guidebook
The Napa and Sonoma Guidebook to California Wine Country is from the Moon Handbooks’ travel guide series with reviews of wineries,vineyards, and wine tastings.
Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast
Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast, published by Voyageur Press, is a guide in words and pictures to historic lighthouses along the Pacific Coast Highway.
Free San Francisco Kindle Guide to Free Attractions
101 free San Francisco attractions and things to do are in the Kindle guide, 101 Free Things to Do in San Francisco, in the Travel Free eGuidebooks series.
Washington State Travel Guide
The Washington State travel guide from Frommer's covers hotels in Seattle, driving the Pacific Coast Highway, Olympic National Park, where to eat and more.
Frommer's Guide to Seattle
The Frommer's Guide to Seattle has good information about the city and side excursions to the Olympic National Park and elsewhere, plus free city and area map.
West Coast RV Parks
One of the best guides to West Coast RV Parks, covering campgrounds in California, Oregon, and Washington, is West Coast RV Camping from Moon Guides.
Greetings from California
Greetings from California is a beautiful coffee-table book which describes the legends, landmarks and lore of California, including the Pacific Coast Highway.
Santa Barbara Guidebook
The Santa Barbara Guidebook from Moon Handbooks also covers California’s Central Coast with Ventura, San Luis Obispo, wine country, and Hearst Castle.
Los Angeles Travel Guide
The Los Angeles travel guide book from Lonely Planet also covers San Diego and Southern California, including Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, and Disneyland.
John Steinbeck California Guide
This John Steinbeck California Guide, A Journey into Steinbeck's California, shows readers how towns like Monterey, Carmel and Salinas influenced the author.
California Camping Book Review
Pacific Coast Highway Travel's California Camping book review rates the 20th anniversary edition of Moon's complete guide to over 1400 tent and RV campgrounds.