Roadtrip: Vancouver to California
 

Hi, I'm looking for advice for a 9 - 14 day trip to drive down. We will be taking a sienna as we are only 21 and I heard there will be trouble getting a rental.

Currently I have only look at the following places to stop by. My geography is pretty bad at the moment. So I wanna plan the route on where to stay in order to visit the places I wanna visit efficiently.

Currently I wanna stop by
Portland
San Francisco
San Jose
Santa Cruz
Monterey - Big Sur Bridge
Pismo Beach
Santa Barbara
Malibu
Los Angeles
San Diego

Thanks guys

If you have time, take the coastal highway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_101

It's much more scenic, and a lot less stressful than I-5.

I kind of want to Turo a car and rip it around some good roads too.

Lol came here to make the same post..me and wifey were thinking of driving down to cali for a week

Portland - coastal highway - Disney land - San Fran

We want to rent a car drive it down and fly back though. Any recommendations for a rental car u can leave down there? Are any companies better than others for that?

I just drove from Van to Vegas this holidays.

Not sure if this will help but I took my own car and went straight to Portland.
Took a pit stop there, ate, and rested.
Portland then drove all the way to California. I reached Weed which is a very small town and right beside the Chervon there's an amazing chinese bbq smoked beef place.

Went over to San Jose, San Fran for a few days.
Then LA for a few days, Dana Point, Newport Beach, Napa Valley (definitely awesome), Laguna Beach.
Then I went over to Vegas; hookers and blow, Red Rock Canyon.
Then back to San Fran, did the touristy things
and back straight to Vancouver.

Sorry if I ain't much help about rental cars; 2 note of caution. North Cal has snow, a lot of snow so you have to be careful; when you are on a mountain on the high elevation area, you might be stranded for an hour with -6 degrees with snow.

I saw cars and truck turned over; I did this Dec and I've also done this trip in May when it was full summer and there was still snow. Make sure you have and dress warmly passing through Portland to North Cal.

Gas was cheap, and I did about 7000 km entire trip.

How are the road conditions despite the snow? You mentioned that there may be snow in the summer and I'm assuming everyone who drives down won't be doing so in winter tires.

I did a 7 days road trip to San Fran last December.

Vancouver - Portland
Portland - Redding
Redding - San Fran
San Fran x2 days
Then same way back.

The drive from Portland to Redding is rough because of the Cascade Mountains. The plows are pretty good but still snowy and steep hills. It was A LOT of sitting in the car so probably never again.

Rent it in WA. It's often cheaper.

If you like nature Yosemite is a must in the summer.

Did a roadtrip down to cali starting at washington>idaho>utah>arizona>california>oregon>wa shington
We rented a car from enterprise and at first we thought it was gonna be 13xx for 20 days, but they hit us with an extra $25 a day because we weren't 25.

Enterprise in BC?

^The one at the abby airport

rent state-side

I did a vegas to phoenix one way and it was 60USD total for 4 days...and they upgraded me to mustang convertible. I'm over 25 though but you should call and ask.

Couldn't agree more. Just be prepared.

I did this entire drive myself and I had audio books + stand up comedy to listen to which made it super awesome. Audio books are the bomb.

Van to Portland was solid 6 hrs. Had find food in Portland; was hungry as fuck and downtown ain't like ours in Van with tons of catcus club and shit.

I then did Portland straight to San Fran. It's a hella boring drive 11 hr drive just FYI.

* Make sure you pack a sleeping bag and a toque and lastly a shovel. I shut my X gf up real good a few yrs ago
"oh, you're such a pussy"
"why you gotta pack so much shit and be so worried"

Bitch wasn't laughing when we were there for 3 hours(semi tipped over) and gas was only 1/2 full and she was the one driving.

If you're stuck, you shovel ur way out and you use your floor mats to put in front of your ties.
I had a sleeping bag; warm but the toque was definitely the epic cherry on the sundae.

As for rental; 1) no US travel 2) limited mileage per day so you better be careful.

if you've got the time cut out to the coast once you hit Olympia and go through Aberdeen then Long Beach and Astoria. Beautiful roads that way but it'll add several hours to your trip - basically makes getting to Portland a full day.

Did it this past summer. Visited all the national parks along the way.
Went up the Coast over 10 days, Vancouver - Oregon - SanFran - Las Vegas - L.A to see Above & Beyond acoustics