The Best One Day Road Trips From Los Angeles

The Best One-day road trips from Los Angeles

Casino & Resort  Rides and Stays

I started blogging in July 2019 to have a journal of our trip to Europe. What I have discovered during this time blogging is that I have an inordinate amount of knowledge from living in California all my life. David and I have been on every road trip in So Cal unless there is a secret one we have yet to discover.  I can’t begin to count the number of motorcycle trips we have taken since our first motorcycle rental from Eaglerider in Los Angeles, California. I think that was around 2010 when I first got on the back of the motorcycle. David had to practically yell at me as I was in so much fear and I kept my eyes closed the first 20 minutes on it.

The Good News – The Good Rides

Once you get out of the city the options for road trips are numerous. You can go North and in two hours be in Santa Barbara, Solvang or Ojai.  You can go East from Los Angeles and end up in Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Big Bear Mountain, Lake Arrowhead. You can go South from Los Angeles and in two hours be in Oceanside, La Jolla, San Diego or even Tijuana, Mexico. Tijuana was so much fun when we were in high school unfortunately it is not really safe at this time to visit. 

Lets Ride North

Highway 1 is beautiful especially riding from Malibu through Ventura and into Santa Barbara county. Stop in Carpinteria and take a walkout to the pier. State Street in Santa Barbara is where it is happening with all the shops and restaurants galore. There are some great fish restaurants at the end of the pier and it is fun to see if the fishermen have caught any fish.

Past Santa Barbara heading east is the Santa Ynez mountains are breathtaking and the ride along the coast from Malibu through Ventura and Santa Barbara county is dreamy.  There are a lot of beautiful rides through the mountains around Ojai to take. My favorite town when riding North is Solvang.

Solvang is where David proposed marriage to me so it has so many good memories for me. I love Danish food. The town is so quaint and some really unique stores. 15 minutes down the road from Solvang is Chumash Casino. This is another Indian Casino I get to gamble at while David gets his motorcycle riding fix.  The casino actually has two hotels one that is attached to it and another that is right in the center of Solvang. The sister property provides you with a shuttle service for free from the hotel to the casino. Chumash is the best of all worlds, great riding roads, a cute fun town to walk around and a casino for me! If you stay at the hotel at the casino be sure to ask for a room with a balcony that has beautiful views. Don’t forget to try some of the Danish sausage and bakery treats. Wow, I almost forgot that there is this really cool vintage motorcycle museum right in town.

                                                                    Let’s Ride South

My favorite casino this way is Harrah’s Rincon which is all the way east in San Diego. It is quite a distance however once you are there the roads are beautiful. You can ride to Julian and cute little town and have their famous apple ? pie. The best place to have apple pie is The Julian Pie Company My favorite is the caramel dutch apple with a scoop of ice cream!

After salivating over your apple pie you can ride up Palomar Mountain, or take Highway 78 to Barona Resort and Casino which has windy scenic roads that David loves to ride on. Or you can take Highway 79 down to Highway 8 that runs along the Mexican border. Another route is through Anza-Borrego which is in the San Bernardino National Forest. Any way you ride or drive from Julian is just gorgeous. Remember it gets very cold in winter and some of these mountain elevations get snow!

You can ride up to Palomar mountain to ride around and then down to Borrego Springs. Palomar mountain is not too far from Harrah’s Southern California either. We like to hit all the casinos in the area when we ride these roads. You can too! You could start at Pechanga in Temecula, then ride to Pala, stop at Pauma Casino off Highway 76 before hitting Harrah’s or continue on to Valley View Hotel and Casino.  Then if you want to get really crazy hit Barona Casino and take Highway 8 to Sycuan Casino Resort. The roads in East San Diego are some of the best scenic jaunts to ride.

To be honest riding down the 5 freeway is scenic through Camp Pendleton but after Oceanside its just freeway with lots of traffic. There are so many places to hang out in San Diego County. La Jolla is beautiful along with Pacific Beach. Downtown San Diego and the harbor are amazing. You have San Diego Zoo, San Diego Safari Park and Sea World which are must-dos with the kids. Skip the zoo and do the Safari and take the tram is my suggestion. The Safari Park is off Highway 78 but if you pass it and keep riding you will be surprised at the beautiful gorges you ride through. I love riding all over San Diego as you never know what you will get to see and experience on the back of a motorcycle.

Let’s Ride East

San Manuel Casino is at the bottom of Highway 330 that takes you up the mountain to Big Bear. Unfortunately, San Manuel does not have a hotel or resort attached to the casino. San Manuel plans to expand adding a hotel! I always find this casino to be very crowded due to the fact that it is the closest one to civilization. There is Soboba Casino in the San Jacinto Mountains and they just built a brand new hotel attached to the casino. I loved staying there and they also have a golf course on the premises. Pechanga in Temecula (wine country) has recently expanded its hotel and redone their pool area. Pechanga has a fancy golf course “Journey” on its premises along with an RV Park. About 2o miles from Pechanga through the mountains is Pala Casino and Resort and 20 miles further is Harrah’s Southern California which is close to Escondido in San Diego County. 

More Rides East (Where we Live)

The best East ride is to Palm Springs and Palm Desert. On the way, you can stop at Monrongo Casino and the Cabazon outlet stores. The band of Agua Caliente Indians has two casinos in my backyard. The Spa Casino in downtown Palm Springs. They tore down the hippy fun hotel connected to it several years ago. However, I hear now they are building a brand new casino in Cathedral City which is right in between Palm Springs and Palm Desert. My local casino here in Palm Desert where I’m headed too after writing this post is Agua Caliente Casino and Resort.

This is a 4-star hotel and we usually spend $75.00 to upgrade to their spacious suite with a jacuzzi tub and rainforest shower that has I think 9 showerheads in it! We go so often I know which video poker machines are hot and pay off most of the time. No, I’m not sharing the best video poker machines on this blog but if you ever see me there I will point them out to you. LOL. 

Let’s Head West? 

Nope, that’s the Pacific Ocean! As you can see there are a lot of exciting experiences you can drive to from Los Angeles on a day’s road trip or even better stay the night at one of these great destinations to really have time to explore the town. 

Other Resources for LA Day Trips on the internet

The Travel Channel Best Day Trips From Los Angeles

2 Hour Road Trips From Los Angeles

10 Weekend Trips from Los Angeles

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