The Ultimate Pacific Coast Highway RV Travel Guide: Washington to San Diego in 11 Stops (Digital ebook)
You Have Dreamed About Driving the Pacific Coast Highway. Here Is Everything You Need to Actually Do It Right.
The Pacific Coast Highway is one of the greatest road trips in North America. This guide makes sure you do it right.
Spanning Washington, Oregon, and California across 11 carefully planned stops, the RV Lifestyle Pacific Coast Highway Guide takes you from the moss-draped rainforests of Olympic National Park all the way to the sun-drenched shores of San Diego. It is a bucket-list route. It is also a route that demands respect.
Big Sur has sections that will rattle an unprepared RVer. San Francisco requires a plan. Malibu's PCH has hazards that catch large rigs off guard. Campgrounds along the California coast fill months in advance. And the sheer length of the route - across three states and hundreds of miles of coastal highway - means the difference between a dream trip and an exhausting one comes down almost entirely to preparation.
This 97-page digital guide handles all of it so you can focus on the view.
Who wrote this guide
Mike and Jennifer Wendland are Emmy Award-winning journalists who have spent more than 15 years traveling North America by RV. As hosts of the longest-running RV lifestyle podcast in the US and authors of more than two dozen RV travel guides, they write from real road experience - not a desk. Every campground in this guide has been vetted. Every driving warning is real. Every bypass strategy has been thought through with your rig in mind.
What is inside this 97-page digital guide
- Complete 11-stop itinerary with realistic RV driving distances from Olympic National Park, WA to San Diego, CA
- Two campground options at every stop - one private, one public - with booking windows, pricing tiers, and RV-specific arrival details
- Detailed safety and driving guidance for the route's most challenging sections: Mendocino Shoreline Highway, Big Sur, and Malibu's PCH
- Size restrictions and route warnings for large rigs throughout, including which segments to avoid and how to route around them
- Complete Los Angeles bypass strategy for RVers who want to skip metro stress entirely
- San Francisco navigation advice and a stress-free base camp recommendation in Pacifica
- Food recommendations with real RV parking guidance at every stop
- Highlights tailored for families, solo travelers, retired couples, and budget-conscious adventurers
- Iconic stops: Jedediah Smith redwood camping, Glass Beach, Point Reyes, Cannery Row, Bixby Bridge, Pismo Beach sand dunes, and the Santa Barbara waterfront
The 11 stops
- Olympic National Park to Ocean Shores, WA
- Ocean Shores to Cannon Beach, OR
- Cannon Beach to Newport, OR
- Newport to Crescent City, CA
- Crescent City to Mendocino, CA
- Mendocino to San Francisco, CA
- San Francisco to Monterey and Carmel, CA
- Monterey to Pismo Beach, CA
- Pismo Beach to Santa Barbara, CA
- Santa Barbara to Malibu, CA
- Malibu to San Diego, CA
Best for
RVers of any experience level planning a West Coast road trip. Especially valuable for anyone tackling Big Sur, San Francisco, or the Los Angeles corridor by RV for the first time. Suitable for Class A, Class C, fifth wheels, and travel trailers. Large rig owners will find the size restriction notes and bypass strategies particularly useful.
Customer Reviews
We used the RV Travel Guide for our fall road trip and it honestly saved us weeks of planning. The daily routes were laid out so clearly that we never had to wonder what came next. We avoided backtracking, saved on fuel, and loved the campground suggestions. Every stop felt intentional and easy. It took the stress right out of the trip.
As a solo traveler, I used to worry about choosing the wrong route or
missing something important. This guide completely removed that
stress. I just followed the plan and enjoyed the ride. I saw places I
would have driven right past. It gave me confidence and peace of
mind.
The campground recommendations alone were worth the price. Easy access, big-rig friendly, and close to the attractions. We did not waste time driving around searching for a place to stay, and we avoided overpriced tourist parks. That saved us both time and money.
We saved more money than we expected because the routes were
efficient and the overnight stops were well thought out. No
unnecessary detours, no expensive last-minute campground decisions. We
felt like we were traveling with an expert who had already done the
research.
I cannot believe how many hidden gems we would have missed without
this guide. Scenic overlooks, charming small towns, local attractions
we never would have found on our own. It made our trip feel curated
and intentional rather than random.
"We are relatively new to RV travel and this guide removed all the anxiety. The daily driving distances were realistic, the stops made sense, and the campground tips were extremely helpful. We spent more time enjoying and less time worrying."
It felt like having someone experienced guiding me the entire way.
The routes were scenic and logical, and I did not have to spend hours
on Google trying to piece together a plan. I saw more, drove smarter,
and stayed in great campgrounds.
For what you get, these RV eBooks are an incredible value. They saved
us countless hours of research and helped us avoid mistakes that can
get expensive fast. We followed the route exactly and it turned into
one of our best RV adventures ever.