Moving from Arizona to Portland, Oregon in 2020 was the perfect excuse for a west coast road trip! In this post, you will find our stops, stays, eats, and more. I have also included a few detour options if you had more time on your road trip. So you have an idea of the weather and time of year, we did this trip near the end of August and the weather could not have been more perfect. Now let us kick it off – here is the perfect west coast road trip itinerary from Arizona to Oregon!
Road Trip Day 1: Phoenix to Santa Barbara
Drive time: 6 hours
Stay: Hotel Santa Barbara
We hit the road around 10 am with the goal to get to Santa Barbara by dinner time. Driving through Arizona and into California on the I-10 is honestly boring. There is not too much to look at or do along this part of the drive – the only part of the road trip that was not scenic.
Once we arrived, we drove through the town, admiring the Spanish Colonial architecture. It was then time to find our hotel and decide what we wanted to do for dinner! We chose to stay at the Hotel Santa Barbara for the night because it was affordable and centrally located in town while still being close to the beach.
We got into town around dinner time, antsy and hungry from 6 hours on the road. It was decided that pizza on the beach was exactly what we needed! We got pizza from Rusty’s Pizza right down the road from the hotel and had dinner looking over the ocean. It was delicious and hit the spot after driving our first leg.
Road Trip Day 2: Santa Barbara to Carmel
Drive time: 5 hours
Stay: Carmel Mission Inn
We started the day with breakfast at Boathouse – the perfect dining spot not only for the food but also for the views. This restaurant is right on the beach creating the perfect way to start a morning – sipping coffee listening to the crash of the surf.
Today was our highway 1 driving day – stopping at quite a few of our bucket list places! We took our time with this route but despite that, there were many places we did not stop – you can really make this stretch anything you want! For the first half of the drive, we stopped here and there at scenic overlooks bypassing places like San Luis Obispo Bay and Limekiln State Park. If you have time, both of these places were highly recommended as worth seeing!
Big Sur was where we did the majority of our early stops and hikes. We had wanted to see the McWay Falls waterfall coming off the cliff into the ocean since this trip became an idea. It lived up to the hype – an 80-foot waterfall cascading into the crystal blue ocean below was a beautiful and unique sight.
Since this trip, I have now driven the entire pacific coast and look back at this section of the drive as one of the most breathtaking parts. You are driving right along the cliffs for the majority of the trip with scenic views around each turn. It is hard to not stop at each and every pull out just to take it all in.
Another place I highly recommend stopping in is Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. This park has various walking trails that wind along the cliffside and dip into some forested areas along the ocean. We got out here and stretched our legs, wandering the many paths that this park had to offer.
Our next bucket list stop on our way to Carmel was the Bixby Bridge. It is one of the tallest single-span concrete bridges in the world spanning 714 feet in length. If you watched the TV series Big Little Lies you will know this bridge well so cue up the theme song – it really sets the mood!
We hit one more spot on our way up to Carmel and that was the Sea Otter Game Refuge. There are a few trails here as well that you can take to stretch your legs and find unique ocean views.
Once in town, we walked the cute streets of Carmel-By-The-Sea and popped in and out of shops and boutiques. We then went on a small beer crawl hitting Alvarado Street Brewery and Dust Bowl Brewing Co. Dust Bowl was especially nice at night with patio lights and a delicious food truck.
Our night at the Carmel Mission Inn was great. This cute retro-style hotel is located within walking distance from many restaurants. We really did not spend much time at this hotel other than to sleep but it was convenient and cheap – the ideal place to stay the night during a road trip!
Road Trip Day 3: Carmel to Redding
Drive time: 4 hours
Stay: House of Olives
We did not have much planned for Redding so we actually spent a good amount of time during the morning and early afternoon in Monterey. Starting the morning off – we had some coffee at a small coffee shop in Carmel-By-The-Sea before making our way to Monterey Old Fisherman’s Wharf. We laid out on the beach here for a while before visiting the wharf for some lunch. This wharf had a ton of eateries along it, making it hard to narrow down our selection, but we eventually decided on clam chowder bread bowls from one of the food stands.
After lunch, we started the drive to Redding. Looking back at this trip, the one place I wish we stopped at that we didn’t was Burney Falls. The hike to get to this magical place is only about a mile. We, unfortunately, did not have time to stop here but I would highly recommend making the detour here if you have time!
Before we got to Oregon, I HAD to have In and Out one more time so we stopped there in Redding for dinner before heading to our Airbnb. Now this stay was my favorite of the trip by far so I wanted to spend a bit more time highlighting it. The House of Olives is a guest house in a residential neighborhood of Redding. This stay features a lovely open downstairs kitchen and living area with small stairs leading up to a bedroom loft. It also has a patio to enjoy the fresh air after a long drive.
Road Trip Day 4: Redding to Bend
Drive time: Redding to Crater Lake 3 hours & Crater Lake to Bend 2 hours
Stay: Hilton Garden Inn
We left Redding at the crack of dawn because today we were stopping at the infamous Crater Lake National Park. No pictures or videos – I do not care who is taking them – will EVER do this place justice. You must see it in person once in your lifetime. From the top of the crater, you can appreciate the sheer size of this lake along with the crystal blue water.
There are quite a few “must-do’s” in the park. The Rim Drive is a great option for those not into hiking as you can drive the 33 miles around the lake and get out at pull-outs where you please. If you are a hiker, there are several small trails throughout the park that I recommend – Discovery Point (2 miles), The Watchman (1.5 miles), and Cleetwood Cove (2 miles).
Cleetwood Cove is the only trail in the park that gets you down to the water’s edge. There you can find cliff jumpers and sunbathers – cooling off in the freezing water. This trail however is very steep so you must be in shape enough to complete the 700 feet elevation gain in the 1 mile up to the parking lot.
Once we got our fix of swimming and sunshine, we completed the two-hour drive to Bend, Oregon. Bend is the perfect weekend getaway any time of year but there is something about summer – drinking beer at one of their many local breweries in the warm sun. A few of my favorite that I visit time and time again are Crux, Bend Brewing Company, and Deschutes.
Road Trip Day 5: Bend to Portland
Drive Time: 3 hours
Homestretch on this west coast road trip itinerary! The route from Bend to Portland used to be breathtaking as you would drive along Detroit Lake. In 2020, right after I moved, we had a horrendous fire season sadly destroying the lake and surrounding homes. Once in Portland, we headed out for a winery day to commemorate the last day of the trip. Furioso and Argyle were our stops to satisfy our Pinot Noir and Champagne fix.
After this trip – I could not wait to explore more of the Pacific Northwest, including more of northern California. Some other detour options for this trip depending on what you want to see could be foregoing Crater Lake and either driving up the Oregon Coast or driving through the Redwoods National Park. I hope you enjoyed reading the perfect west coast road trip itinerary and you are inspired to head out on this trip or a variation of it.
As always, comment below if you liked this post, how this post inspired your travels, or if you have something else you would like to see!