Published on : August 30, 2026
Northern California is one of those places that almost feels made for a road trip. Start in San Francisco and within 17 days you can follow the Pacific Coast Highway, stand beneath giant sequoias, explore three incredible national parks, cross the Sierra Nevada, spend time beside the clear alpine waters of Lake Tahoe and finish among the vineyards of Napa Valley.
And that’s before we mention Big Sur, Monterey, Sacramento, Muir Woods or some of the spectacular drives connecting them all.
For us, that’s the real appeal of a Northern California road trip. It’s not just the places you visit. It’s how dramatically the landscape changes along the way. One day you’re looking across the Golden Gate Bridge, a few days later you’re standing beneath some of the largest trees on earth, and not long after that you’re surrounded by Yosemite’s granite cliffs and waterfalls.
Our new 17-day Explore Northern California journey brings all of that together.
San Francisco is the natural place to start a Northern California road trip, with our Star Alliance partners Air New Zealand and United Airlines both operating direct services to San Francisco. And once you arrive, we’d give the city at least three nights before getting behind the wheel.
There are the landmarks everyone knows – the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, cable cars, Chinatown and those famous city streets – but San Francisco is one of those places that rewards a bit of time. Explore its different neighbourhoods, wander the waterfront, spend time in Golden Gate Park or simply jump aboard a cable car and see where it takes you.
And be sure to make time for Alcatraz Island. We’ve included an Alcatraz Island Tour and San Francisco Bay Cruise in our itinerary, along with a 2-day San Francisco Go City Pass, giving you plenty of options for exploring more of the city.
Then it’s time to pick up the car. Because this is where the road trip really begins.
Leave San Francisco behind and head south towards Santa Cruz and Monterey. You’re now entering a completely different side of California, where the city gives way to ocean views, coastal communities and one of America’s great road-trip regions.
Spend the night in Monterey, giving yourself time to explore Cannery Row and the renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium. Nearby Carmel-by-the-Sea is also well worth some time. It’s compact, easy to wander and full of galleries, shops, restaurants and those distinctive cottages that give the town so much character.
But the next part of the journey is one of the reasons you came.
The drive south from Monterey through Carmel and Big Sur is one of those stretches of road that reminds you why self-driving in the USA can be so rewarding.
The Pacific Ocean sits on one side; mountains rise on the other and the road twists its way along one of California’s most dramatic stretches of coastline. Stop at Bixby Creek Bridge, take your time at the viewpoints and resist the temptation to treat the drive simply as a way of getting to your next overnight stop. This is part of the holiday.
Continue south towards San Luis Obispo, with the option of adding Hearst Castle along the way. By now you’ve already experienced San Francisco and the California coast. Next, everything changes again.
Turn inland from San Luis Obispo and the ocean gradually disappears behind you as the journey heads towards the Sierra Nevada and California’s national parks.
First up is Sequoia National Park.
There are plenty of photographs of giant sequoias. None of them really prepare you for standing beside one.
The best-known is the General Sherman Tree, the largest living tree in the world by volume. But Sequoia National Park isn’t about one tree. Forests of these enormous giants, mountain scenery, granite outcrops and stops such as Moro Rock make this a completely different experience from the California you left behind on the coast.
And this is only the beginning …
Yosemite is one of the biggest names in American national parks, so it would be easy to make that your next target. We wouldn’t.
Instead, continue through Kings Canyon National Park, part of California’s Majestic Mountain Loop along with Sequoia and Yosemite. Kings Canyon receives a fraction of the attention Yosemite does, but that’s part of its appeal. Here you’ll find deep canyons, mountain scenery, forests and another of the world’s great trees – the General Grant Tree, second only to General Sherman by volume.
It’s a good example of why we love putting road trips together. Sometimes a place you may barely have heard of before planning your holiday becomes one of the places you’re happiest you included. Then comes Yosemite.
There are destinations that look exactly as you imagined when you finally see them. Yosemite National Park somehow manages to look even better.
Drive through the Wawona Tunnel and emerge at Tunnel View and suddenly Yosemite Valley opens up in front of you – El Capitan, Half Dome, waterfalls, forest and those enormous granite walls all in one view. It is genuinely hard to appreciate the scale until you’re standing there.
That’s why we’ve allowed three nights at Yosemite in our Northern California itinerary. This isn’t somewhere we think you should race through in a day. Explore Yosemite Valley, see Yosemite Falls and El Capitan, walk beside the Merced River or head out on one of the park’s many hiking trails. If conditions and seasonal access allow, there are also spectacular viewpoints and high-country areas to explore.
Give Yosemite time. We don’t think you’ll regret it.
If you’re travelling from New Zealand, there’s an important change to be aware of. From 2026, non-US residents visiting some of America’s most popular national parks, including Sequoia & Kings Canyon and Yosemite, pay an additional US$100 per person aged 16 and over, on top of the normal park entrance fee.
For this journey, we recommend purchasing the America the Beautiful Non-Resident Annual Pass, currently US$250. When travelling by private vehicle, one pass covers the passholder and passengers in the vehicle, including the applicable non-resident fees at all of these parks.
With several national parks included in this road trip, the pass makes sense and takes away the need to pay the additional non-resident fee separately at each applicable park. It’s one of the things we’ll talk you through when planning your Northern California journey.
When seasonally open, the route across the Sierra Nevada via Tioga Pass is another of those drives where the journey becomes part of the experience.
The scenery changes again as you climb through Yosemite’s high country, passing alpine landscapes and Tuolumne Meadows before eventually continuing towards South Lake Tahoe.
And Lake Tahoe deserves more than a quick photo stop.
We include two nights in South Lake Tahoe, giving you a full day to enjoy one of North America’s great alpine lakes. Hike to Eagle Falls, get out on the water, take a scenic cruise through Emerald Bay or simply find somewhere beside the lake and take in the combination of clear blue water and surrounding mountains.
After the scale and drama of Yosemite, Tahoe brings a different pace to the journey.
From Lake Tahoe, the road heads west towards Sacramento, California’s state capital. Sacramento sometimes gets overlooked on California itineraries, but that’s exactly why we like including a night here. Explore the historic streets of Old Sacramento, visit the California State Railroad Museum or see the State Capitol before continuing west the following day.
It also provides a natural break between the mountains and what comes next.
Because after national parks, alpine lakes and mountain roads, Northern California has another very different landscape waiting … wine country!
By the time you reach Napa Valley, you’ve covered a lot of ground … so slow down!
We give you two nights in Napa, enough time to explore the valley without turning it into another place you simply drive through. Spend time in Downtown Napa, visit Oxbow Public Market, explore some of the region’s wineries or look at an organised wine experience so nobody has to worry about driving.
And Napa doesn’t have to be the limit. Nearby Sonoma Valley provides another side of California wine country, while Healdsburg can also be worked into a day exploring further north.
This is what makes a Northern California self-drive so interesting. Within the same journey you’ve gone from the Pacific coast to giant sequoias, high mountains and alpine lakes – and now you’re sitting among vineyards. And, there’s still one more great drive to come.
You could simply drive from Napa back to San Francisco. But there’s a better way to finish.
Head towards Muir Woods National Monument, where towering coastal redwoods provide one final encounter with Northern California’s extraordinary trees. Then continue to Sausalito, spend some time around its waterfront and enjoy the views across San Francisco Bay.
From there, cross the Golden Gate Bridge back into San Francisco for your final night. It’s a pretty cool way to bring the journey full circle.
Because the variety is extraordinary.
San Francisco. The Pacific Coast Highway. Big Sur. Giant sequoias. Kings Canyon. Yosemite. Lake Tahoe. Sacramento. Napa Valley. Muir Woods.
Individually, there are some pretty special places on that list.
Put them together and you begin to appreciate just how much Northern California can offer within one road trip. More importantly, the roads between them aren’t simply transfers. The Pacific coastline, Sierra Nevada and changing landscapes become part of the experience.
You don’t just arrive somewhere different each day – the journey itself keeps changing.
And that, for us, is what makes this such a great California road trip.
Our Explore Northern California itinerary is a 17-day / 16-night journey:
For us, that gets the balance right.
You have enough time to properly experience San Francisco and Yosemite, while places such as Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Lake Tahoe and Napa become genuine parts of the holiday rather than names you tick off along the way.
We’ve also included some of the things that make the journey easier – a 2-day San Francisco Go City Pass, Alcatraz Island Tour with San Francisco Bay Cruise and 13-day Alamo rental car, along with accommodation throughout the journey.
This is important.
Our itineraries are designed to give you a great starting point, not tell you exactly how you have to travel. Perhaps you want longer in San Francisco. Maybe you’re a keen hiker and three nights at Yosemite isn’t enough. You could spend longer on the coast, add another night at Lake Tahoe, give yourself more time in California wine country or turn this into one section of a much bigger USA road trip.
That’s where we come in.
As New Zealand’s only 100% dedicated USA travel specialist, we spend our time putting together USA holidays for Kiwi travellers. We can help with flights, accommodation, rental cars and experiences, but just as importantly, we can help make sure the journey actually works.
Our Explore Northern California itinerary can be booked as we’ve designed it or customised around the places and experiences that matter most to you.
There are plenty of ways to see California. But if spectacular coastlines, giant trees, national parks, mountain scenery, alpine lakes, wine country and some great American roads sound like your kind of holiday, Northern California is pretty hard to beat.
Our 17-day Explore Northern California road trip brings all of them together, starting and finishing in San Francisco with some remarkable places in between.
Check out our 17-day Explore Northern California itinerary or contact us to talk to our USA travel experts about creating your own Northern California self-drive adventure.
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