California to Cabo

Arrive in Los Angeles to start your Southern Californian break.

Use our Los Angeles City Guide #1 (Hikes & Beach Days) for Days 1-3 of this trip.

Use our Los Angeles City Guide #1 (Hikes & Beach Days) for Days 1-3 of this trip.

Use our Los Angeles City Guide #1 (Hikes & Beach Days) for Days 1-3 of this trip.

Leave LA anytime.

Head down the coast to Laguna Beach.

Depending on what time you leave, and which route you decide to take, you may have time to make some extra stops before reach Laguna.

🚗 The quickest route from LA to Laguna takes ~1 hour (dependent on traffic) and uses freeways. The scenic route along Pacific Coast Highway might takes closer to 2 hours but is recommended by us!

Note that Los Angeles City Guide #1 (Hikes & Beach Days) visits a couple of beaches to the south of LA e.g. Redondo, Hermosa, and Manhattan Beaches so you may have already visited them, but if not, you can stop at all or some of these on the way down to Laguna Beach.

Next stop: Long Beach. Once a pretty rough place, certainly during the crack epidemic in the 80s and 90s, today Long Beach offers a hipster, laid-back, yet gritty scene of cultural diversity, bike-friendly streets, arts, coffee, and craft breweries.

Long Beach morning coffee stop:

☕ Rose Parks Roasters

☕ The Library Coffee House

☕ Steelhead Coffee

Next, stop at Huntington Beach (also known as Surf City USA). Situated in Orange County, HB boasts a rich surf culture which is over a century old and considered one of the first places that surfing was brought over from Hawaii to mainland US. For this reason, you can visit the Surf Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach, admire the surfers catching a wave down at Huntington Pier, or visit one of the famous surf shops and get yourself a cool souvenir: Huntington Surf and Sport, Jack's Surfboards, Rockin Fig's Surf Headquarters.

After HB, continue down the PCH before stopping at Newport Beach. Things to do in Newport Beach:

⭐ Newport Beach Balboa Pier

⭐ Fashion Island Shopping

⭐ Bluff Top Multiuse Trail in Crystal Cove State Park

Finally, end the evening with dinner at The Beachcomber at Crystal Cove State Beach. Its a great spot for sunset before you retire at your accommodation in Laguna Beach for the night.

Laguna Beach accommodation options:

🏠 Casa Laguna Hotel & Spa

🏠 Laguna Beach House

🏠 Airbnb

Wake up in the beautiful town of Laguna Beach.

Morning coffee:

☕ Jedidiah Coffee

☕ Endless Quest Roasters

☕ Thorne Brothers Coffee

After coffee, hike along the bluffs of Heisler Park with incredible views of the ocean and beaches down below.

Next, wander along Forest Avenue for shops and art galleries.

Spend some time this afternoon relaxing at one of Laguna's many beaches. Before you do, head to a grocery store to grab some water and snacks. Here are some of our favourite beaches:

🏖️ Goff Cove

🏖️ Treasure Island Beach

🏖️ Emerald Bay

🏖️ Thalia Street Beach

Alternatively, try one of these activities:

⭐ Yoga and Champagne Airbnb Experience

⭐ Learn to Surf Airbnb Experience

⭐ Whale Watching

This evening, have a slow paced dinner at:

🍴 The Deck

🍴The Cliff Restaurant

You'll need to make a booking at these restaurants as they do get busy in the evening. Arrive well ahead of sunset and stay after the sun has gone down so you have enough time to witness the changing colours for the sky.

If you want to continue the night, try one of the bars below:

🍸 The Sandpiper Lounge

🍸 Marine Room Tavern

🍸 The Saloon

Morning coffee:

☕ Equator Coffee

☕ Urth Cafe Laguna

☕ MoonGoat Coffee

As you have Southern California on your doorstep, take a short (~30 min) drive down the coast to visit some nearby towns - Dana Point and San Clemente.

On your way down, stop at Ruby's Diner - a classic 50s style diner in the South Laguna area. If you're not hungry enough for this stop, save it for the way back.

In Dana Point, check out:

⭐ Dana Point Harbor

⭐ Baby Beach

⭐ Kayaking/ Paddleboarding

Drive on down to San Clemente, where you can visit:

⭐ San Clemente Pier

⭐ Casa Romantica

⭐ San Clemente Beach Trail

⭐ Annual SC Home Tour

Afterwards, head back up to Laguna.

This evening, you'll have a rustic dinner and sunset experience instead of a restaurant.

Option 1:

🍔 Grab dinner from Shake Shack Crystal Cove.You can either eat there at their outdoor seating or drive a few mins away and park up at Crystal Cove Parking Lot to eat in your car and watch the sunset. You can also walk along the short trail down to Crystal Cove State Park Vista Point.

Option 2:

🌮 Get tacos from the Taco Stand (be sure to get there early - well ahead of sunset) and walk down Cleo St right next to the Taco Stand, where you can set up camp for a beach dinner at Cleo St Beach/ St Ann's Beach/ Sleepy Hollow Beach.

Today, take a flight to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

When you arrive in Cabo, head to your accommodation. This itinerary is based on staying at:

🏠 ME Cabo by Meliá

However, you can also choose from other options, but may need to get taxis between places mentioned:

🏠 Hotel Riu Palace

🏠 Airbnb

Note: Whilst Uber is available to book in Cabo, it is technically not allowed so you may run into issues if booking from the airport e.g. driver accepting the ride but then cancelling when they are close by, or asking you to walk down the road to a nearby gas station where the airport patrol aren't monitoring them. So if you choose uber, put the pick up point as a nearby gas station and be prepared to walk down a highway road. Alternatively, go with the on-site taxis for ease.

After you have settled into your accommodation, head out to explore the local area.

From ME Cabo by Meliá you can walk to The Marina where you'll find tour companies with stands selling tours. You can negotiate prices and sign up to tours of your choice over the next few days. Its good to get these booked in on the first night to give your vacation some structure.

Recommended tour:

⭐ Cactus Tours - Sky Bikes and Beach ATV

After getting your tours booked in, head for dinner along the marina:

🍴 La Galería

🍴 La Casa Country CSL

Morning coffee:

☕ Bar Esquina

☕ Chia Cafecito

Spend the day doing your tours/ relaxing at your accommodation.

Dinner:

🍴 Mother Flower

🍴 Edith's

🍴 La Lupita Taco & Mezcal