Beyond LA Off Beaten Path: 5 Day Itinerary
Five days trades a fifth beach or city day for the desert. Malibu, Disneyland, Santa Barbara and San Diego fill the first four days exactly as they do in the 4 day version ; day 5 turns east instead of south or north, covering Joshua Tree National Park and Palm Springs in one desert run. 6 and 7 day versions add Catalina Island and Big Bear on top of this.
Book these before you go:
- Rental car at LAX , for all five drives
- Disneyland one-day ticket , dated ahead of the gate price
- Getty Villa timed entry , free but reservation-only
- Joshua Tree day tour , if you would rather not drive the desert roads yourself
- Palm Springs stay , if the desert day becomes an overnight
| Day | Focus | Distance/drive time from LA |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Malibu and Getty Villa via PCH | about 1 hour one way |
| Day 2 | Disneyland, Anaheim | 45 to 90 minutes one way |
| Day 3 | Santa Barbara | about 1h40 to 2 hours one way |
| Day 4 | San Diego | 2 to 3 hours one way |
| Day 5 | Joshua Tree and Palm Springs | 1h45 to 3 hours one way |
Day 1: Malibu and the coast that makes the rental worth it
Point the car north out of Santa Monica on Pacific Coast Highway and keep going, padding the driving estimate for the 25 mph stretch through the old burn area. Getty Villa sits right on this route, free to enter with a timed ticket and $25 to park regardless. Keep driving past it for Zuma and Point Dume.
Day 2: Disneyland, a full day, not an add-on
Leave early to beat the southbound crawl on the 5 freeway. One-day, one-park tickets run $104 to $224 depending on the calendar date, and parking is a separate $30 plus. Split the day between Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
Day 3: Santa Barbara, the coast at a slower speed
Leave before 9am if you can manage it. Santa Barbara does mission architecture and a walkable State Street at a pace Malibu never quite manages; the official Santa Barbara visitor site has current tasting room hours.
Day 4: San Diego, a city rather than an attraction
The drive runs 2 to 3 hours each way, worse on a Friday or Sunday, which is the honest argument for staying the night rather than doing it there-and-back. Balboa Park runs free museum days the San Diego Tourism Authority site keeps current.
Day 5: Joshua Tree and Palm Springs, the low desert in one run
These two sit about 50 minutes apart from each other, which makes combining them into a single desert day, or a desert overnight, the efficient move rather than treating them as separate trips. Joshua Tree runs $30 for a 7-day vehicle pass, no timed-entry reservation required as of 2026 though the park’s fee page is worth checking before you go. Cell service is minimal and gas is scarce past the entrance, so fuel up in Yucca Valley or Palm Springs first. Palm Springs itself is the midcentury-modern half of the day, resort pools and glass-walled architecture instead of boulders; the Palm Springs visitor site lists current pool day-pass rates, typically $40 to 75. Skip the combination entirely from May through September, when desert heat past 100F makes either stop miserable rather than scenic.
Should Joshua Tree and Palm Springs be one day or two?
One day works for a highlights pass through both, using the roughly 50 minute gap between them as the connector rather than a second drive from LA. Two days, with a Palm Springs overnight, works better if the golden-hour light in Joshua Tree matters more than efficiency, since that light only shows up at the edges of the day.
Do all five of these days need a car?
Yes, every one. Malibu, Anaheim, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Joshua Tree and Palm Springs all sit outside LA’s Metro rail corridors. Book the rental before you land rather than after, since every day on this list assumes the keys are already in hand.
Five days, five drives, coastal fog on day 1 and desert heat by day 5. Pack for both, because Los Angeles will not remind you which climate is coming next.