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The Ultimate California Scenic Loop
One week, one rental car, and pretty much every kind of landscape California does well — city skyline, granite cathedrals in Yosemite, the raw cliffs of Big Sur, and SoCal sun to finish. Keep the tank half-full in the mountains and pack a light jacket even in July; SF and Yosemite evenings bite.
7days
21stops
1156km
Day 1: Battery Spencer → Pier 39 → Lombard Street
30min · 13km3 stops
Battery Spencer
10:00
21min · 11km
Pier 39
13:30
9min · 1.9km
Lombard Street
16:00
Day 2: Tunnel View → Bridalveil Fall → Lower Yosemite Fall
3h 59min · 304km3 stops
Tunnel View
12:30
3h 55min · 302km
Bridalveil Fall
14:00
4min · 2.5km
Lower Yosemite Fall
17:00
Day 3: Glacier Point → Taft Point → Tuolumne Grove
3h 4min · 116km3 stops
Glacier Point
07:30
1h 20min · 50km
Taft Point
11:30
1h 44min · 66km
Tuolumne Grove
16:00
Day 4: Carmel-by-the-Sea → 17-Mile Drive → Cannery Row
4h 15min · 336km3 stops
Carmel-by-the-Sea
13:30
4h 8min · 332km
17-Mile Drive
15:30
7min · 3.9km
Cannery Row
17:45
Day 5: Bixby Creek Bridge → McWay Falls → Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal…
1h 8min · 69km3 stops
Bixby Creek Bridge
09:30
32min · 31km
McWay Falls
12:00
36min · 38km
Piedras Blancas Elephant Seal Rookery
15:30
Day 6: Solvang → Stearns Wharf → Malibu
2h 31min · 223km3 stops
Solvang
10:00
1h 47min · 168km
Stearns Wharf
13:00
44min · 55km
Malibu
17:30
Day 7: Griffith Observatory → Getty Center → Santa Monica Pier
1h 27min · 97km3 stops
Griffith Observatory
09:30
56min · 65km
Getty Center
12:30
31min · 32km
Santa Monica Pier
15:30
Heads Up
- 1. Book Yosemite lodging (and peak-season entry reservation) 2-5 months ahead — it's the single biggest logistical bottleneck
- 2. Download offline maps for Big Sur and the Yosemite high country; cell service is patchy to nonexistent