Pacific Coast Highway Travel Guide for First-Timers

Planning your first drive down California's coast goes better when the decisions come in the right order. This guide starts with the choices that lock in everything else: which direction to drive, when to go, how many days to take, what the trip really costs including one-way rental fees, and how to book scarce rooms in Big Sur. It shows where fuel and charging run thin, how to check road status before a landslide spoils a day, and how to handle cliff roads and fog calmly. Then it lays out day-by-day 5-, 7- and 10-day itineraries from San Francisco to San Diego, each with stops in driving order, an overnight town and what to skip, plus an optional Oregon and Washington extension and checklists for children, an RV or an electric car.

Imad Muratspahic is an independent author of practical how-to guides, technical handbooks, history and fiction. The books aim to be clear, honest and useful from the first page.