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 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.
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.
Other book pages
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Vintage Hollywood in Los Angeles is an extract from the Lonely Planets book Culture Trails.
-
Lonely Planet's Guide to Cycling the USA West Coast is a bicycling guidebook for anyone touring California, Oregon and Washington by bike.
-
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.
-
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 from French publishers Jonglez is a travel guide to 30 Exceptional Experiences in California's largest city.
-
The Santa Barbara Guidebook from Moon Handbooks also covers California’s Central Coast with Ventura, San Luis Obispo, wine country, and Hearst Castle.
-
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 in California, Oregon and Washington including travel guidebooks, route guides, restaurant guides, and many more.
-
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip Guide book covering the drive from Vancouver to San Diego.
-
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews the Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip guide from Moon covering California, Oregon and Washington
-
The Pacific Coast Highway in California book shows in historic photos the building of the Pacific Coast Highway from its earliest beginnings in 1911.
-
Pacific Coast Highway guides include our own printed book and ebook guides to the best hotels along the PCH, available in paperback, PDF and Kindle formats.
-
Pacific Coast Highway Travel reviews an Olympic Peninsula Travel Guide published by the Beautiful Pacific Northwest website.
-
Northwest Wine Country is a food and wine lover's guide to vineyards, fine dining, accommodation, restaurants in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia.
-
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.
-
The Michelin Guide to California is a gourmet's guide to the best restaurants along the Pacific Coast Highway and elsewhere in California.
-
The Michelin Green Guide to California covers the whole state and is good on maps, the sights, major cities and towns, less good on hotels and restaurants.
-
The Los Angeles travel guide book from Lonely Planet also covers San Diego and Southern California, including Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, and Disneyland.
-
Lighthouses of the Pacific Coast, published by Voyageur Press, is a guide in words and pictures to historic lighthouses along the Pacific Coast Highway.
-
This John Steinbeck California Guide, A Journey into Steinbeck's California, shows readers how towns like Monterey, Carmel and Salinas influenced the author.
-
Moon's Spotlight Guide to the Olympic Peninsula covers hotels, restaurants, and sights, including Forks, the Olympic National Park and other places.
-
Greetings from California is a beautiful coffee-table book which describes the legends, landmarks and lore of California, including the Pacific Coast Highway.
-
May 27, 22 03:40 AM
Laguna Niguel Trolley Starts Thursday May 26 2022. The Laguna Niguel Trolley runs on weekends from Memorial Day Weekend thru Labor Day Weekend. Explore Laguna Niguel from the hills to the sea with fre…
Read More
-
May 27, 22 03:40 AM
Coronado Beach is a top tourist attraction in San Diego - and not just because it is the most gorgeous beach. It is a perfect vacation destination for everyone - thanks to the miles-long shoreline, a…
Read More
-
May 12, 22 09:53 AM
The best things to do in Ventura include beaches and museums, seeing the mission, going to Ventura Pier, and a boat trip to the Channel Islands National Park.
Read More