Driving from Vancouver to California
 

Has anybody done this drive before? My girlfriend and I are making this trip in the middle of April, to go to Disneyland for a few days and likely go to the San Francisco pier as well. I'm sure there's not much too it, but if anybody here has done it before, can you offer up any advice? Good places to stop off, etc?

im about to drive down there myself.

my grandparents have driven down there many times.

if you want to take the scenic route, take the pacific coast highway.

tkaes a lot longer, but nice view.

Drove down to California with my family and a couple of friends before. Took the I-5 on the way to LA and stopped overnight in Redding,Ca the first night. Arrived in Anaheim the next day by 4 pm. The only reason we took so long was because my 10 year old sister needed 10000000 bathroom breaks.

We took the pacific coast hwy on the way back..VERY scenic route.stopped off in sanfran overnight..and also stopped in oregon the last night..a small coastal town..name starts with "y". I can't spell or pronounce the name if my life depended on it..sorry lol

whole trip took about 10 days.

I've done the Pacific Coast Highway drive before... it was awesome seeing the Oregon Coast. I'd like to come back up that way, as long as time permits, which I think it should.

I am thinking we drive down to San Fran first, stay there for a day, then head to Anaheim the next day. Then once we leave on Friday, head back up the Oregon coast. We don't really need to stop... just look at stuff, mabye take a few pics.

What kind of car you taking for the cruise? Are you going to do a minor tune up before your leave or atleast a thourough look over?

how long does it take from here to SF ?

about 14-16 hours

So it's do able in a day?

Not sure... either my Civic for the satellite radio/DVD player/PS2, or my gf's Grand Am for the size and space. Both cars have their plusses and minuses. My car has a small camber problem that needs to be taken care of, but overall mechanically, I think my car is much better.

I wanted to purchase a M3 down in San Deigo, Ca. So, I booked a flight to San Deigo that stops over in Las Vegas on a friday. Then, I arrived in SA on saturaday morning, then proceed to look at the car, after everything is done. I started to drive back from SA to Vancouver at aroudn 3pm. I drove all through the night with a 2 hr nap in the middle and couple stops. The longest drive would be after San Fran, as its pretty much empty and mountain ranges. Oregon sucked as its flat really plain looking. Finally, I arrive at Vancouver border at around 7 Pm on Sunday.

Pretty boring drive , but it was in a M3 , and around $200 USD worth of gas.

If you are going non-stop from Vancouver to SF, its about 14 hours. Try to avoid the horrible rush hours in Seattle, Portland and Eugene on I-5 by leaving in the midnite hours. If you are going to leave in morning, you will be hit by those horrible rush hours and crazy border waiting times.

Other than the I-101 scenic route, the most entertaining part of I-5 is the mountain crossing between Oregan and California border. Except for these, everything else is flat and typical America all along the way.

As you hit Redding, CA; you still have about 2 hours so go to go before heading into SF or SJ. When driven from SF to LA, take Pacific Coast Highway as a scenic route. But expect to see lots of RVs and Caravans blocking the single lane traffic.

easily, but it helps if you have another driver.

I want to do this sooooo badly. But I have no reason to go to Cali. Who wants to make a roadtrip next year to watch the canucks play the ducks kings & sharks?

i drove down to los angeles before in my integra.

me and my dad drove for 4 hours each, then took a eating break.

-make sure the seats of ur car are really comfortable, cuz in my teg i felt so unconfortable.
-make sure ur car as cruise control, cuz down cali, the roads are ENDLESS
-make sure ur car has A/C cuz its pretty hot (if u roll ur windows down, the wind makes ur ears wanna explode)
-even with a silencer my car was pretty DAMN loud(esp when we had to go up those crazy mountain hills, so i suggest going in a quiet car

besides those few points, u can pretty much get food/gas/slp anywhere. theres lots of rest areas to take breaks.

oh btw my trip was ~20(a bit more i think) hrs of driving (not including eating/slp breaks)

also try to slp early and leaveur hotel/motel early to get a fresh start. even the highways are congested at times.

We managed to max our my friends 7th gen civic on the way there and back. Make sure you hit up In N Out Burger!! People were really friendly in Oregon. Also in Oregon, there's no sales tax.

drove all the way down to LA in the summer in a day. rest stops in oregon are nice but i avoided filling up at the small towns cuz they definatley dont like people of color. oh and its one boring ass drive if ur goin down I-5. but its quick compared to the coast route.

In & Out burgers ftw !!!!

SF is more like 18h, but depends how fast you go. LA is about 6h from SF. I-5 is pretty boring (except between OR/CA as someone mentioned), just try not to speed near the urban areas unless you have a radar detector.

If it's your thing, after taking the Pacific Highway, stop by the Oregon Sand Dunes and go for a buggy ride (either get them to take you on a tour in a family buggy or go and rent 2 individual ones). That was a pile of fun. :D

OR has no sales tax, enjoy that. Obviously you wanna do that on the way back though, so your car doesn't get broken into.

I hear a lot of good things about In-N-Out. San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf is all right, but nothing too special. Alcatraz is cool though, and you MUST drive on Lombard Street!

If you wanna check out ghettos, Oakland (across the Bay Bridge from SF) has a pretty rough one. Just don't go there at night, even taxi drivers won't go there when it's dark!

Spend 2 days at Disneyland, one for Disneyland and one for California Adventures (water park across the street from Disneyland). Dunno if they have these "express passes" (Universal Studios had them) but sometimes you can pay some extra to skip the regular lines (which literally cuts your lineup time by 90+%)! If they have the pass you can probably clean out both parks in less than a day!

If you're down there, you may wanna take a 4h detour to Las Vegas, and maybe Grand Canyon/Hoover Dam if you have the time. Then on the way back you can hit up Area 51, as well as Reno, Death Valley, and Lake Tahoe.

You'll have a blast. :D

***update***

Yes A/C is a must, or you'll cook.

Also check out 6 Flags Magic Mountain, it's located off I-5 just north of LA.

I wanted to do that but seems to be the cost of fuel will be more expensive than flying. Depends on how many ppl you are going with, going with just gf for two persons? I would fly there, and rent a car to go around.

Some people are in it just for the drive.

I've been to Las Vegas, Reno, SF, LA.... etc on multiple differnt occasions and the drive there is amazing. I dont know exactly how many hours it took to go down to Las Vegas, but it was in a day. Make sure you have multiple drivers that dont fall asleep on the wheel.

My friend and I drove from Vancouver to Tijuana, Mexico in 2002 reading break. It was fun.
We took Highway 1 down, and man, sunset going down, with lots and lots of road, it was amazing.

BTW, stop off and take a break at Santa Monica. Ridiculously rich people there, and pretty nice people too. They gave directions to my friend and I.
They're TRUE rich people there, not like here. Not joking, every car on the street there was either a BMW, Benz, or Porsche. We were the only Civic there, hahahahah.

I think I've done it about 16 times now. The key is to have air conditioning and a quiet car.

just go down I5 and stop in either Redding or San Fran. Redding is a cheaper layover of course. hit up disneyland and take the pacific coast highway back. you'll have a good time driving slowly up the coast. lots of stuff to do in oregon's long beach stretch as well.

have fun.

Sounds like a fun trip. Just make sure you give yourself enough time and not rush things. There is lots of things to see and do. SF is a very beautiful city. Sort of reminds me of Vancouver. Do make sure you check out fishermen's wharf in SF!!! Shopping is insane too in SF. They have everything there!!