San Diego to San Franciso
10 Day Itinerary
Day 1: La Jolla
We flew in fairly early to the San Diego airport and picked up our rental car, traveling to La Jolla Beach to visit the tide pools and Children’s Pool, where the seals and sea lions sunbathe. Nearby is Ja Jolla Cove, a nature preserve, and a perfect place to take a swim or book a kayak tour to view the sea caves. After spending some time on the beach, we stopped nearby for lunch, before heading back to our hotel in San Diego for the night.
Day 2: San Diego
We started off our morning with donuts from Donut Bar. They are located conveniently downtown San Diego and have a huge variety of donuts and several vegan options. I had the strawberry split, which was a donut cut in half, stuffed with strawberries and a vegan whipped cream. It was delectable and I think about it all of the time. We stopped next in the neighborhood of North Park, which was our favorite neighborhood that we visited while in San Diego. We went to Modern Times Brewery, trying flight of their beers, which were served to us in an antique cigar box. This ended up being our favorite brewery in California during this visit, and we especially liked the coffee infused beer. For lunch in North Park, we went to The Taco Stand, where I ordered a nopales (cactus), and a bean taco.
After lunch we went to Balboa Park, which is something you cannot miss if you visit San Diego. It is a 1,200 acre park that has several gardens (some free), theaters, parks, museums, a botanical garden, restaurants and cafes, and the San Diego Zoo. You can spend a long time in this park just walking around. We really wanted to visit the Botanical Garden, but it was closed the day we were visiting. Instead, we went to the Japanese Friendship Garden. We camped that evening at South Carlsbad Beach Campground, which is north of San Diego, where we tent camped with views of the ocean. This campground is a bit more expensive than most for tent camping ($50 a night), due to amazing location. We felt it was well worth the price.
Day 3: Channel Islands
We woke up that morning and made our way to Ventura Harbor, to board our ferry to Santa Cruz Island. This is the largest of the eight Channel Islands, and the ferry ride is only one hour. Once we arrived, we had to walk a ways to Scorpion Canyon Campground, which has 31 sites. It is a primitive campground with pit toilets and no showers. We only had so half a day or so before sunset, so we decided to do some hiking instead of snorkeling (which is very popular on the island). We decided on the Cavern Point Loop and Smugglers Cove hikes. We definitely had better views on the first hike, but we enjoyed both trails. It started to get dark on our way back from Smugglers Cove (it is a strenuous 7.5 mile trail), and I tripped and skinned my knee. I had to walk back miles with a bloody swollen knee, but it was worth it.
Day 4: Arroyo Grande
We ferried out of Santa Cruz island the next morning and picked our car back up in Ventura. We continued up HWY 1 until we reached our next campsite in Arroyo Grande. We had booked this site through Hipcamp, which is basically like Airbnb for campers. They have everything from primitive camping to “glamping” sites. If you want to give it a try, use this link for $10 off your first booking. Our campsite that evening happened to be located in a garden within a commune. We had a wonderful host that invited us to a presentation with food and drinks that evening. Unfortunately, this host no longer exists, but it was our first taste of the unique campsites we would find through Hipcamp. Our campsite was described being in “wine country”, so we spent the afternoon visiting a local winery. There are several to choose from in the area if you enjoy wine tastings.
Day 5: Big Sur
We spent an extra hour driving to Big Sur, as part of HWY 1 was closed due to a rock slide, and we had to drive around on 101 and then south on 1, to Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, where we were camping that evening. We decided to start with a short hike to McWay Falls, which drops over a cliff of 80 feet into the ocean. You cannot hike any farther than the viewpoint, as it is closed off. The state park is $10 for an entry, but the pass will get you into all of the state parks for the day. Other trails were closed for the day, so we made our way to the nearby Limekiln State Park which contains lime kilns from the 1800s. We chose the Limekiln Falls Trail, the Limekiln Trail, and the Hare Creek Trail, which all split off from one trail. We hiked through redwoods and over a creek, viewing the old lime kilns and a waterfall. We stopped for dinner that evening at Big Sur Taphouse, and got tacos and beer (they have several on tap). There is also an attached connivence store, where we picked up snacks for the road. We ended that evening watching the sunset before arriving at our tent site at Pfeiffer Big Sur Campground. That evening we had reservations for public night bathing at the nearby Esalen Institute. We met a small group at the institute at 1AM and were guided with flashlights to the outside baths (hot springs), that overlooked the crashing ocean below. There were several communal baths and private baths, and we had two magical hours soaking in the warm waters, under the night sky. This was the highlight of our trip, and we have always wanted to go back. Unfortunately, it is currently closed to those who are not staying at the institute. At 3AM we headed back to our campsite and fell asleep immediately.
Day 6: Big Sur
We had already another night booked that evening at Julia Pfeiffer, so we took off down the road to the Henry Miller Memorial Library. This is a nonprofit bookstore, art center, and performance center. It had a lot of books written by Henry Miller, but also books centering around Big Sur. It was lovely inside and definitely worth the visit. It has limited hours, so make sure to check online before you plan your visit. We then went to Andrew Molera State Park, which has lots of trails for hiking, access to the beach, and a hike-in campground. After paying the parking fee of $10 for the day, we decided on the Bluffs Trail, Creamery Meadow Trail, and Ridge Trail. These all intersect with one another. All of these trails offer amazing views of the coast with access to the beach. This was our favorite hike of the trip. After we were done with our hike, we drove north on HWY 1 to Point Lobas, which is a nature reserve. On the way we drove across Bixby Creek Bridge, where we stopped over at a parking area to get a better view. This viewing area was closed off when I recently visited again a few months ago. When you arrive at Point Lobos, you have to pay $10 to park. The reserve has some easy hiking paths with views that lead out to dramatic views of the coast. You can hike out to a place called Bird Island, where you will see hundreds of birds, and also some seals and sea lions basking in the sun on the beach. We had dinner at our campsite that evening, picking up some groceries from Big Sur Taphouse.
Day 7: San Francisco
The next morning we continued up the coast to San Francisco and went to the neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury, which is an artsy neighborhood with record stores, vintage boutiques, breweries, bookstores, and unique restaurants. We started at Magnolia Brewing, which is actually located on the corner of Haight and Ashbury. We had a beer at the bar and then wandered in and out of bookstores and vintage clothing stores, before finding lunch at VeganBurg (a vegan fast food restaurant). After spending the day in San Francisco, we continued driving to our next Hipcamp in Bolinas, California (just north of San Francisco). It was in a very charming town, and our host was a painter who had her work displayed in a local gallery. We were able to set up our tent in their backyard garden, and then walked down to the nearby beach for sunset, where people were surfing.
Day 8: Mount Tamalpais + Berkely
The next morning we checked out a local farm stand on our way to go hike at Mount Tamalpais State Park, and picked up some fresh produce for the road.
We spent that morning hiking Mount Tamalpais, through the moss covered trees and mist. Muir Woods National Monument was on our way out, but it is way more popular. We drove down to park, but were told we had to pay first. This would usually be an issue, however, they only accepted online payment, and we did not have any reception where we were. We were pretty disappointed, but we plan to go back someday, and pay in advance.
Instead, we drove to Berkeley to find something to eat. Berkeley is a college town and super vegan friendly. I found myself at a vegan delicatessen called The Butcher’s Son, where I ate a plant-based buffalo fried chicken (it was amazing). For dessert, we walked down the road to go to Cinnaholic (vegan cinnamon rolls). We both were in love with our caramel pumpkin cheesecake roll. Because we were not yet feeling sick, we went to get a beer at Triple Rock Brewing where we had the Monkey Head Beer. That evening we stayed at another Hipcamp in Livermore, which was on the way back down to Santa Monica and LA, which is where we were heading next. This Hipcamp was another unique camping experience. We stayed in an open field, complete with grazing bulls nearby. We had the option to stay in a bus, or pitch our tent. We woke up in the middle of the night to a giant grazing bull outside our window, and I nearly had a heart attack.
Day 9: Santa Monica + LA
The next morning we headed to Santa Monica, where we checked out muscle beach and I discovered that I lacked any upper body strength. We ended up renting bikes and scooters and rode around the beach for a while, before visiting the pier.
After spending the afternoon in Santa Monica, we drove to Central Station in LA for dinner. I decided to try Ramen Hood (a vegan ramen restaurant), where the ramen comes with faux boiled eggs. We then made our way to Donut Friend in LA, an insanely popular donut shop for vegans and non-vegans alike. We stood in line outside in the Highland Park neighborhood for about thirty minutes, before it was our turn to be overwhelmed by the insane variety of donuts. After tasting the most delicious donuts I have ever tasted, we made our way to our Airbnb in LA.
Day 10: LA + San Diego
On our final morning in in California, we went to the Griffith Observatory. The parking gets more expensive the closer you get, so we parked at the bottom of the hill and walked to the observatory. We spent time looking at the Tesla coil and space exhibitions before going out on one of the terraces, where you can get some pretty amazing views of the city. We spent the rest of the day driving back to San Diego and exploring some of the other neighborhoods such as Coronado Island and the Gaslight District before having a final beer at Ballast Point Brewery. We flew out late that evening.
