Road trip from Portland, OR to San Francisco, CA

My boyfriend and I are planning a week long road trip from Portland to San Fran. We want to drive along the coast taking Rt 1 and see as many sites as possible!

Any recommendations on where to stop, what to see, where to stay/eat or any good routes?

Thanks!

Road trip from Portland, OR to San Francisco, CA

Hi welcome to TripAdvisor. Well, once you get to the coast in Oregon, there is only one route, so that is easy LOL :-)

You%26#39;ll be on Hwy 101 as there is no ';Rt 1'; in Oregon. In California, you%26#39;ll be on Hwy 101 until Leggett, then you can take Hwy 1 if you choose.

This website will help you with your itnerary:

http://www.oregoncoasttravel.net/

What is your budget for lodging? When are you planning to visit? The coast is very busy in summer.

Here are some websites for northern CA:

http://www.exploredelnorte.com/

shannontech.com/ParkVision/…Redwood.html

http://redwoods.info/showrecord.asp?id=2464

http://avenueofthegiants.net/

Road trip from Portland, OR to San Francisco, CA

Thank you! And thank you for the correction - highway 101!

As for the budget- as cheap as possible. We are trying to be thrifty college students. I was thinking we could possibly camp out one night in the red woods/beach? What are your thoughts on that?

Any suggestions for low budget lodging?

We are budget travelers on road trips-usually mixing camping or cabins in with a night in a decent motel as needed. A few years ago we did the trip from San Francisco to Portland. It took us 1 1/2 days to drive the north coast of California. We made stops but it could have been more leisurely.

If you are interested in camping, check the California State Parks website- www.parks.ca.gov/parkindex/region_info.asp…

Also try KOA.com to check for private KOA campgrounds along your route. Many have small cabins available-all you need are sleeping bags. It’s more expensive than a tent spot but less expensive than a motel.

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park (Crescent City) has a nice campground and Stout Grove, a nearby trail through the redwoods, is lovely. The Crescent City KOA has cabins.

This link provides a nice list of camping along the Mendicino coast

http://www.mendocinofun.com/camping/. I would have liked to have this list on my trip…our plans changed and we were “winging it” without reservations as we drove north. It was suppertime and I had no clue where we were going to stop for the night, and with two children in the car this is stressful! We happened upon the Rollerville Café/Lighthouse Point Resort (Point Arena) and were so glad to see their cabins. My children loved the place, mostly because our cabin had a TV and cable!

We also stayed at the Olema Ranch campground near Point Reyes National Seashore. http://www.olemaranch.com/. It wasn’t our favorite place but it was close to where we going, and the local state parks were full. It was really busy on the weekend-I recommend viewing your campspot before paying for it! (OK-I didn’t like this place, the reason we were traveling north without reservations was that I didn’t want to stay at Olema another night!).

Good luck and have fun. The Oregon and north California coasts are beautiful. Route 1 took longer than I expected but it was well worth it.