Driving
Road Trips and Driving Roads From Los Angeles
Los Angeles has a reputation for traffic and a secret cache of some of the best driving roads in the country, often within forty minutes of each other. The trick is knowing which one to drive, and at what hour.
Seven roads below: what each is actually like, roughly how long it takes, when to go so you are not stuck behind a cement truck, and the cautions that never make the highlight reel. None is more than two hours from the city.
Mulholland: the Drive and the Highway are two different roads
People conflate them constantly. Mulholland Drive runs along the ridge from Cahuenga Pass west to Encino, past the overlooks, with the Valley on one side and the basin on the other. It is beautiful and it is not a driving road: 35 mph limits, speed humps outside houses, blind crests, parked tourists at the overlooks, and a sheriff's presence that reflects all of that. Drive it at seven in the morning for the view, in something you do not mind being seen in. Allow forty-five minutes end to end.
West of Encino the pavement stops — Dirt Mulholland is closed to cars — and picks up again as Mulholland Highway out in the Santa Monica Mountains, a genuinely different animal running down to the coast near Leo Carrillo. The famous section is the set of switchbacks near Cornell Road by the Rock Store, universally called the Snake: tight, narrow, oddly cambered, with spectators on the banks every Sunday and a serious crash history. Go on a weekday morning, and treat it as a road to enjoy rather than a place to explore a car's limits.
Pacific Coast Highway: Santa Monica to Point Mugu
Roughly forty miles of CA-1, and the single most photographed drive in California for a reason. The first stretch through Malibu is 45 mph, heavily enforced, and clogged from mid-morning onwards at weekends — the section between Sunset and Cross Creek can take half an hour on its own on a Saturday.
The good part starts past Trancas: traffic thins, the road opens, and you get Leo Carrillo, County Line and finally Mugu Rock, where the highway is cut into the cliff with the Pacific directly below. That is the postcard. Leave at seven, be at Point Mugu by eight-fifteen, turn around before the world wakes up. One honest note for convertible drivers — the marine layer sits on the coast until late morning for much of the year, so the pretty version of PCH is a two-hour window, not a whole day. The National Weather Service's Los Angeles and Oxnard office is the forecast that actually covers this coastline, and it is the one to read the night before rather than a phone's city forecast, which is describing weather twenty miles inland.
Angeles Crest Highway (CA-2): the big one
The best pure driving road near the city, starting in La Cañada Flintridge twenty-five minutes from downtown. CA-2 climbs out of the basin and keeps climbing — nearly 7,900 feet near Dawson Saddle — through mile after mile of well-sighted, sweeping mountain corners. It is the one road here where a big, fast car makes sense, because the sightlines are long and the corners are not hairpins.
The cautions are real. The high section closes for snow and storm damage, sometimes for months, with gates that are not always where you expect — check Caltrans QuickMap for current closures before you set off. There is effectively nowhere to buy fuel once you leave La Cañada, so fill up first. Phone coverage is patchy. Weekends bring heavy motorcycle and cyclist traffic, and rockfall and gravel wash across the road after any weather. Budget two and a half to three hours for a proper out-and-back to the high country.
The Malibu canyons: Latigo and Decker
Latigo Canyon Road is the connoisseur's choice. It leaves PCH near Latigo Beach and climbs about ten miles of near-continuous switchbacks up to Kanan Dume Road, and the descent back toward the ocean gives you a view of the Pacific opening up between corners that is worth the entire drive. Twenty-five to thirty minutes if you are not rushing, which you should not be: it narrows to something close to one lane in places, the hairpins are blind, guardrails are optional, and there are a lot of cyclists.
Decker Canyon Road (CA-23) is Latigo's meaner sibling — it leaves PCH near Trancas and goes almost straight up in a series of extremely tight, steep turns. It is the narrowest road on this list by some margin. A wide car is genuinely a liability here; a Urus or a G 63 will have you holding your breath at every blind corner with a truck coming the other way. Seven miles, and it will feel longer.
Both roads run through the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, which is worth knowing for two practical reasons: the Park Service posts fire and road-condition notices for the whole range, and a great deal of what looks like open shoulder up there is park land you should not park on.
Both canyons share one hazard: sand and gravel washed across the apexes, particularly after rain, on a road where you cannot see far enough ahead to plan around it. Treat every blind corner as though a cyclist, a fallen rock or an oncoming car is over the crown, because sooner or later one is. Gravel is also what opens a sidewall, and almost nothing at this end of the market carries a spare — a cut tyre on Latigo ends the morning where it happens, and the fix is a fitter who comes to the car rather than a can of sealant. In your own car that means a mobile service, and West Coast Tire runs one out of West Los Angeles. In ours it means a phone call to us.
Two more worth the drive: Ortega and Palos Verdes
Ortega Highway (CA-74) runs about twenty-five miles from San Juan Capistrano to Lake Elsinore, an hour and a bit from downtown on a good day. It is a proper mountain road with a mix of fast sweepers and tight, technical sections. It also carries commuter and truck traffic, has a bad crash record and correspondingly heavy enforcement, and closes for weather and fire. Go very early or do not bother — midday Ortega is the least reward-per-risk drive on this list.
Palos Verdes Drive is the opposite proposition: a twenty-five mile loop around the peninsula with the ocean beside you the whole way and Catalina on the horizon when the air is clear. Speed limits are low and enforcement is real. This is not a road you attack — it is one you cruise, roof down, with lunch at the end. One caution: the Portuguese Bend stretch sits on active landslide ground, the surface genuinely moves, and repairs and lane restrictions are permanent.
Day trips, weekends, and the longer runs
Everything above is a road. What people usually mean by a road trip from Los Angeles is a destination with a good road attached to it, so here they are by how long the car is out.
A day trip from Los Angeles. Santa Barbara is about two hours up the coast and the drive is the reason to go: Pacific Coast Highway to Oxnard, then the 101 where the road meets the sea again at Carpinteria. Palm Springs is a similar two hours east on the 10, and the last half hour — open desert, windmills, mountains on three sides — is what the car is for. We built pages for both: Santa Barbara and Palm Springs.
A weekend trip from Los Angeles. Joshua Tree is two and a half hours and rewards an early start; the park roads are slow and the approach is not. Big Sur is the long one — five hours to the good part, and worth it only if you have two nights, because the point of Big Sur is stopping.
The Las Vegas run. Four hours on the 15, and the honest version is this: we rent the car here and you bring it back here. There is no one-way drop in Nevada. Interstate travel needs prior approval and only part of the fleet is permitted out of California — the exotic and ultra-high-value cars stay in the state. Tell us the plan when you book and we will say which cars can go.
A road trip is also where the daily rate stops mattering as much: the quote takes whichever combination of day, week and month blocks costs least across your dates, and the week block starts at five days.
Which car for which road
| Road | What it rewards | Wrong tool |
|---|---|---|
| PCH, Malibu → Point Mugu | An open roof and low speeds | Anything you booked for outright pace |
| Angeles Crest (CA-2) | Power, brakes, long-legged gearing | A car with no cooling headroom |
| Latigo & Decker canyons | Narrow, short, quick-steering | Wide super-SUVs and long flagships |
| Mulholland Drive | Presence and a view | A car that gets angry below 40 mph |
| Palos Verdes Drive | Comfort, a roof that drops | A stiff-riding track special |
The honest version: a Huracán is largely wasted in weekend canyon traffic, where it spends its life at 2,000 rpm behind a Prius, but it is transcendent on Angeles Crest on a Tuesday morning. A convertible earns its rate on PCH and Palos Verdes and nowhere else on this list. And a Corvette or a Mustang is a better canyon car than either, because you can actually use it.
Before you go
- Check Caltrans for closures — Angeles Crest, Ortega and the PCH corridor all get them.
- Fuel up first. There is nothing on the mountain and very little past Trancas.
- Go early. Every road here is better at 7am and worse after 11am, without exception.
- Assume gravel on every blind apex, especially in the canyons after rain.
- Watch for cyclists and motorcycles — they own these roads at weekends and they are faster than you expect.
- Know your mileage allowance and the overage rate before you commit to a 250-mile day.
If you only have one morning
Take Angeles Crest on a weekday, leaving La Cañada by seven. It is the most driving per mile within reach of the city and the least compromised by traffic. If the passenger matters more than the corners, do PCH to Point Mugu with the roof down instead, and be back before the coast fills up. Pick one, do it properly, and be back before the city notices you left.
For what these cars cost once insurance, deposits and delivery are counted, see what exotic car rental actually costs in Los Angeles.
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The roads are forty minutes away. The car is the part worth deciding.
Open-top for the coast, something with a V8 for the canyons — delivered the morning you leave.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the best driving road near Los Angeles?
Angeles Crest Highway (CA-2) is the best pure driving road — sustained, well-sighted mountain corners and 5,000 feet of climb, starting less than half an hour from downtown. For scenery rather than corners, Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica to Point Mugu is the one, but it only works early in the morning.
When should I drive these roads to avoid traffic?
Weekday mornings, first thing. PCH through Malibu is congested from mid-morning at weekends; the canyon roads fill with cyclists and motorcyclists on Saturday and Sunday; Mulholland Drive is quietest before eight. Late afternoon is the worst time on every road on this list.
Is Angeles Crest Highway open all year?
No. The high section closes for snow and storm damage, typically through the winter months, and Caltrans posts current closures and gate locations. Check before you commit to the drive, fill up in La Cañada Flintridge, and expect no fuel and patchy phone coverage once you are on the mountain.
Is a supercar a good choice for canyon roads?
Not always. A Huracán is wide, low and geared for open road, and in weekend canyon traffic behind a line of cars it is mostly a very expensive way to look at brake lights. Narrower, shorter cars — a Corvette, a Boxster, a Mustang — are more fun on Latigo and Decker. Save the big exotic for PCH and Angeles Crest.
Can I take a rental exotic out of California?
Not without approval. Select vehicles are permitted in Nevada and Arizona with prior notice, and exotic and ultra-high-value cars are restricted to California. Mileage allowances also matter on a driving day — a PCH and Angeles Crest loop can exceed 200 miles, so confirm your allowance and the overage rate at booking.
What are the best road trips from Los Angeles?
By how long the car is out: Santa Barbara and Palm Springs are two-hour day trips with the drive as the point, Joshua Tree is a comfortable weekend at two and a half hours, and Big Sur is five hours and needs two nights. All four are better in something with a roof that folds or an engine worth listening to, which is the whole argument for renting rather than driving your own.
Can I take the car on a road trip to Las Vegas?
You can drive there and back — four hours each way on the 15 — but not leave it there; we have no one-way drop in Nevada. Interstate travel is approved in advance and only part of the fleet may leave California, with the exotic and ultra-high-value cars staying in the state. Say where you are going when you book and we will tell you which cars can make the trip.