The Pacific Coast Highway or PCH is one of the most famous road trip routes in the USA, right up there with Route 66 and Skyline Drive in terms of popularity.
While many people still think of the Pacific Coast Highway as just the California section, Highway 1 and the US. Route 101 offers an epic road trip along almost the entire West Coast of the United States, featuring everything from palm-fringed beaches to misty, rainforest-covered mountains.
More common than an end-to-end trip is to drive different sections of the road: Dana Point to Los Angeles, L.A. to San Francisco, San Francisco north to the Oregon border, or the Oregon and Washington coastal route north to Olympic National Park.
The rainforests of Washington's Olympic Peninsula are just one aspect of the natural beauty along the Pacific Coast Highway, which crosses the mighty Columbia River, runs through redwood forests and winds through California wine country from Sonoma to San Luis Obispo. Breathtaking views of cliffs, beaches and crashing ocean waves are almost constant companions, and journeys through picturesque coastal towns are paired with passages through San Francisco and Los Angeles, almost always in close proximity to the sea.