Pacific Coast Highway Road Trips

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.

Lonely Planet Pacific Coast Highway Road Trips

The Pacific Coast Highway is in the new Road Trips series of guides from Lonely Planet, which also include Route 66 (natch), The Chateaux of the Loire Valley, and Provence and Southeast France.

Highway or Highways?

What's the name of the book we're reviewing, though? On the cover of our review copy the title is Pacific Coast Highways, in the plural. That's also the title used throughout the book, as in Pacific Coast Highways Highlights. It's an odd choice as the road is known as the Pacific Coast Highway.

But on Amazon, the book cover shows Pacific Coast Highway, in the singular, even though the written description says Pacific Coast Highways. From what it says inside the book, it seems the plan was to range 'From backcountry lanes to beachside highways'. But apart from veering inland to include Disneyland, which is hardly a backcountry lane, and a few small detours, the book sticks to the coast. Very strange.

Lonely Planet Pacific Coast Highway Road Trips travel guide contents

Lonely Planet Pacific Coast Highway Road Trips Contents

The PCH Driving Guide

The book covers the entire California coast, from near the Oregon border down to San Diego, just short of the Mexico border.

It's very oddly organized, and gives the impression of having been put together in a cut-and-paste job from other Lonely Planet guides. There's an initial Plan Your Trip section, which is then followed by four Road Trips. The first is the entire coast, and this is then followed by three more trip ideas, each of which is part of the main drive but the three together don't join up to make the first drive. The other three are:

Northern Redwood Coast, from the Redwoods State Parks to the Samoa Peninsula.
Big Sur, from Bixby Bridge to Ragged Point.
Disneyland and Orange County Beaches, from Disneyland to Dana Point.

For some reason the first two drives are described south to north and the second two are north to south.

Lonely Planet Pacific Coast Highway Road Trips travel guide sample map

It gets more confusing. The Road Trips are then followed by a Destinations section, which describes in more detail the stops on the way. This is also done north to south although it starts with San Francisco, then jumps north to the Northern Coast and the Redwoods, and then works its way south to San Diego. So Mendocino, for example, appears on page 26 as part of the main Pacific Coast Highways drive, but if you want to read about Mendocino in more detail you have to turn to page 66 to find the Activities, Eating, Sleeping, and Drinking & Nightlife recommendations.

California Driving Guide

One very useful section of the book is right at the back: A California Driving Guide. This 5-page spread covers everything you'll need to know about driving in California. This includes road rules, parking, the border crossing and possibility of an agricultural inspection (better eat those apples before you enter California!), and a host of other good practical information. There's even a California coast playlist – headed by The Beach Boys, of course.

The Verdict

We had hoped this would be the guide to the PCH that we could really recommend, and while there is a lot of information in its 128 pages, it's confusing to use. Also, it seems to be put together from other guides, which is what a lot of guidebook publishers do in order to repackage existing material.

At a cover price of $12.99 (£7.99 in the UK) it won't break the bank and is probably the most up-to-date guide you'll find, but a bigger guide to the whole of California would probably serve you better. You can buy it on Amazon.

Other book pages

California Bed and Breakfast Inns
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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.
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.
Books About the Pacific Coast Highway
Books About the Pacific Coast Highway in California, Oregon and Washington including travel guidebooks, route guides, restaurant guides, and many more.
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.
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Vintage Hollywood in Los Angeles is an extract from the Lonely Planets book Culture Trails.
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Northwest Wine Country is a food and wine lover's guide to vineyards, fine dining, accommodation, restaurants in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia.
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California Living and Eating
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Frommer's Guide to Seattle
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California Coast Guide
One of the best California coast guides is the California Coastal Access Guide, describing the coast’s beaches, National Parks, State Parks, with many maps.
California Camping Book Review
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Epic Drives of the World
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Your Insider's Guide to San Francisco
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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.
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.
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.
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