One Week Beyond LA: An Offbeat Itinerary
A full week runs all eight of this cluster’s day trips off one Los Angeles base: coast, theme park, coast again, a full city, low desert twice over, an island, and finally the mountains. Days 1 through 6 run exactly as they do in the 6 day version ; day 7 swaps the ferry for pine trees and an alpine lake. Give the city itself its own separate trip if a week is not enough for both halves.
Book these before you go:
- Rental car at LAX , for six of the seven days
- Disneyland one-day ticket , dated ahead of the gate price
- Joshua Tree day tour , if you would rather not drive the desert roads
- Catalina Island day trip with Avalon tour , which bundles the ferry booking
| 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 6 | Catalina Island | 1 hour by ferry, no driving |
| Day 7 | Big Bear | about 1h50 to 2h30 one way |
Day 1: Malibu and the coast
North on Pacific Coast Highway out of Santa Monica, padding the drive for the 25 mph stretch through the old burn area. Getty Villa sits on this route, free to enter with a timed ticket and $25 to park regardless, followed by Zuma and Point Dume.
Day 2: Disneyland, a full day, not an add-on
Leave early for the 5 freeway south. One-day tickets run $104 to $224 depending on the date, with parking 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 possible. Mission architecture, a walkable State Street, and wine country a short detour inland; the official Santa Barbara visitor site has current tasting room hours.
Day 4: San Diego, a city rather than an attraction
Budget 2 to 3 hours each way, worse on a Friday or Sunday, the real argument for an overnight over a there-and-back day. Balboa Park’s free museum days rotate on a schedule the San Diego Tourism Authority site keeps current.
Day 5: Joshua Tree and Palm Springs, the low desert in one run
About 50 minutes apart from each other, which makes combining them the efficient move. Joshua Tree runs $30 for a 7-day vehicle pass, the park’s fee page worth checking before you go, while Palm Springs supplies the midcentury architecture and resort pools; skip the pairing from May through September when desert heat routinely passes 100F.
Day 6: Catalina Island, the day that needs no car
The ferry from Long Beach or San Pedro runs about an hour and lands you on an island with a herd of wild bison, descendants of a 1920s film shoot nobody bothered to collect. Round trip runs about $99 through Catalina Express , and a guided day trip bundling the ferry helps if the schedules feel fiddly to book yourself.
Day 7: Big Bear, pine trees two hours from the beach
By day 7, another beach day starts feeling redundant, so this one swaps the coast for an alpine lake sitting close to 7,000 feet, a genuinely strange contrast to have inside a two-hour drive from the Pacific. The Visit Big Bear site has current lake conditions and lift status; Highway 18 and 330 can close or require chains in winter storms. Walk the Village shops along the shore, rent a kayak if the weather holds, and check current conditions before a hike, since the surrounding San Bernardino forest carries real wildfire risk in dry months.
Do you need a car for all seven days?
Six of them. Malibu, Anaheim, Santa Barbara, San Diego, the desert day, and Big Bear all sit outside LA’s Metro rail corridors, so book the rental before you land rather than after. Catalina Island is the single exception, reached entirely by ferry.
Is a week enough to do all of this comfortably?
Yes, at one destination a day with no back-to-back long drives, though it is a full week, not a relaxed one. Pushing two of these into a single day, most commonly Joshua Tree and Palm Springs, is the only real compression this itinerary supports without turning it into a driving marathon.
Seven days, seven textures, coastal fog on day 1 and mountain chill by day 7, with desert heat and an island ferry crossing in between. Pack for all three climates, because Los Angeles will not warn you which one is coming next.