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I posted several months ago asking for recs on Colorado drives and got some awesome info that led to a fabulous trip in our GT3T, so I thought I'd ask about California drives. We are planning a week long trip to central and northern California March 28 to April 4 with a group of friends for my birthday. We will be picking up a 964 backdate car that is currently being built in Monterey and want to put it through its paces on some great drives and may try to get a DE day at Laguna Seca as well. We are debating heading down to central coast/Paso Robles area versus heading north to Napa/Sonoma. We love both areas but don't know much about which area has the better roads/drives and will probably choose one area over the other based on the drives. We would appreciate any drive recommendations as well as any restaurants/wineries/breweries that are must stops in those areas as well. Thanks in advance!
There are many many great roads in CA. My suggestions would depend on how long you want to travel and what roads (if any) you've done before. Further, suggestions might change if you're doing weekend for weekday.
Have you driven Highway 1 from San Luis Obispo to Carmel? That is epic but on the weekends, there's traffic.
If you are staring in LA, I'd recommend what I consider some of the greatest roads on earth:
23 - 126 - 150 to Ojai
From Ojai 33 - Lockwood Valley Rd - Cuddy Valley Rd becomes Hudson Ranch Rd. (this is top 5 roads I've ever driven). Just need to make sure there's no bad weather as 33 at the summit can have snow.
From there 166 - 33 again to 58. 58 will blow your mind.
From 58 you can cutoff at La Panaza Rd to 41 and then take 41 to 1.
In Norcal:
Pickup 1 just the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge and take it as far as you want. I'd cut East at Tomales Petaluma Rd.
From there take 116 towards the wine country.
There are many more so feel free to PM me after you've taken a look at those on the map.
I flew into SFO and rented a Porsche to drive down to Carmel
took Skyline ---Alice's--La Honda ---Pescadero -- PCH 1 --- past Santa Cruz (that part sucked--tons of traffic) to Monterrey and Carmel by the sea. (stayed at L'Auberge)
A few days later we took PCH south to Big Sur and had lunch at Sierra Mar (on the cliff overlooking the Pacific--highly recommended as is Napenthe)--spectacular beauty there!!
On the way back to SF we took Route 9 which was twisty but very congested.
There are many many great roads in CA. My suggestions would depend on how long you want to travel and what roads (if any) you've done before. Further, suggestions might change if you're doing weekend for weekday.
Have you driven Highway 1 from San Luis Obispo to Carmel? That is epic but on the weekends, there's traffic.
If you are staring in LA, I'd recommend what I consider some of the greatest roads on earth:
23 - 126 - 150 to Ojai
From Ojai 33 - Lockwood Valley Rd - Cuddy Valley Rd becomes Hudson Ranch Rd. (this is top 5 roads I've ever driven). Just need to make sure there's no bad weather as 33 at the summit can have snow.
From there 166 - 33 again to 58. 58 will blow your mind.
From 58 you can cutoff at La Panaza Rd to 41 and then take 41 to 1.
In Norcal:
Pickup 1 just the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge and take it as far as you want. I'd cut East at Tomales Petaluma Rd.
From there take 116 towards the wine country.
There are many more so feel free to PM me after you've taken a look at those on the map.
Thank ya much for the info!
Yes, have done HW1 from SLO to Carmel. It was awesome. Tons of traffic the day we did it.
I don't think we will make it down to LA this go around, but will definitely take the NOCAL rec you gave.
I flew into SFO and rented a Porsche to drive down to Carmel
took Skyline ---Alice's--La Honda ---Pescadero -- PCH 1 --- past Santa Cruz (that part sucked--tons of traffic) to Monterrey and Carmel by the sea. (stayed at L'Auberge)
A few days later we took PCH south to Big Sur and had lunch at Sierra Mar (on the cliff overlooking the Pacific--highly recommended as is Napenthe)--spectacular beauty there!!
On the way back to SF we took Route 9 which was twisty but very congested.
Take Hwy 58 to McKittrick, Hwy 33 to Blackwell's corner, Hwy 46/41 back to Atascadero.
At the start you can cut across from Paso Robles to 58 on a number of roads (O'Donovan, La Panza)
You can also continue up 33 from Blackwell's to 41 at Reef's station if you're enjoying the drive.
The last part of 41 between Atascadero and 46 has a lot of nice corners.
Highlights:
If you go in the spring, you will see wildflower "super blooms" on 58.
On a clear day, there are some amazing views of the Sierras across the central valley.
Blackwell's is a famous kitschy road side stop.
James Dean memorial Junction.
If you are driving between northern and central CA, any combination of
Hwy 33, Hwy 198, and Hwy 25 along the way is a great drive,
I flew into SFO and rented a Porsche to drive down to Carmel
took Skyline ---Alice's--La Honda ---Pescadero -- PCH 1 --- past Santa Cruz (that part sucked--tons of traffic) to Monterrey and Carmel by the sea. (stayed at L'Auberge)
A few days later we took PCH south to Big Sur and had lunch at Sierra Mar (on the cliff overlooking the Pacific--highly recommended as is Napenthe)--spectacular beauty there!!
On the way back to SF we took Route 9 which was twisty but very congested.
I recently drove Hwy 33 out of Ojai but didn't know about Lockwood Valley Rd - Cuddy Valley Rd becomes Hudson Ranch Rd. as well as Hwy 58. Looks like I missed out. Going to have to fix that soon.
10-19-2019, 01:50 PM
Central and Northern California Drives
