This Road Trip From Vancouver To LA Takes You Along The Coast & You'll Stop In 3 States
You'll get the most incredible views. ⛰️🌊
People sat by a lake in Oregon. Right: Venice Beach in California
Canada is famous for having so many incredible road trips but if you fancy travelling further afield, you can go on an epic road trip from Vancouver to Los Angeles that takes you down the coast and through three stunning states.
The drive from Vancouver to Los Angeles is just over 21 hours and 2,058 kilometres long but there are tons of incredible places to stop off as you drive so you can break the road trip up into more manageable chunks.
The best thing about taking a long road trip like this is that you can really make it a choose-your-own-adventure scenario, stopping off in a ton of different cities and towns and scenic points along the way to make the most of the drive.
From Vancouver, you can start with an easy three-hour drive on the BC-99 and once you cross the border, you'll join Interstate 5 which will take you to Seattle, Washington, a stunning city known for its coffee culture grunge music. While you're there, you can check out the iconic Space Needle and Pike Place market.
You can also take a detour out to the gorgeous Olympic National Park.
From Seattle, you can make your way through the gorgeous Pacific Northwest scenery to Oregon. In another three hours, you'll reach Portland, which is known as the "best foodie city" in America so it's well worth planning at least a night stop there to make the most of all of those delicious eats.
Once you leave Portland, there are several places to stop en route including the city of Eugene, which is around two hours away before continuing on to Medford, a city close to the border with California.
In another five hour's drive, you'll reach the Californian city of Sacramento, where you can spend some time checking out one of the city's many museums or the Old Sacramento Waterfront.
If San Francisco is on your travel bucket list, you can get there from Sacramento in around a two-hour drive west so you can head out and see the Golden Gate Bridge with your own eyes.
You could also travel two hours east out to the stunning Lake Tahoe or in three hours, you'll reach Yosemite National Park so it's well worth spending a few days in the area to check out the sights.
From Sacramento, it's another six-hour drive to Los Angeles or you could break up the trip even more with a trip to the coast which is just over a three-hour drive to Monterey before heading down to L.A.
While the stops will definitely use up a chunk of your vacation time, it's well worth it to see all the incredible places this road trip has to offer.
Before you get going, check out our Responsible Travel Guide so you can be informed, be safe, be smart, and most of all, be respectful on your adventure.