🌴 Southern California with Kids: The Ultimate Family Road Trip Guide
Southern California will always be one of our forever favourite places, it’s somewhere that my husband and I spent a lot of time before having children, when I was pregnant with my first and then we’ve spent a month there twice with our kiddos to escape January in the UK. The first time was when my daughter was 2 and a half and my son was 6 months and it will always be one of our favourite memories of parenting! So much joy all spending time together, my son discovering the beach for the first time, sunsets, palm trees, amazing playgrounds for my toddler.
The second time around was when my daughter was 4 and a half and my son was 2 and a half. Again, we all just loved it so much. Southern California just has such a perfect climate year round that facilities us spending hours upon hours outside. There’s endless amounts of things to do there with kids, the drives are pretty short but California is just so varied so you get multiple different holidays in one road trip! There are the best fish tacos, cheeseburgers, frozen yogurt, children’s museums, LA, Palm Springs, big attractions, epic free playgrounds, huge beaches, bright blue skies. We’re always dreaming of going back, and definitely will for an Easter holidays or Christmas, we still also dream of home educating our kids and then we could spend longer there again.
I’ve been meaning to write these guides up for ages and still get messages from followers weekly asking for tips or saying that they’ve followed our story highlights and had the best time {particularly in San Clemente, more on that below} but I finally found some time to get on my laptop to note all of our favourites down:
Start here:
You can either fly to LAX or San Diego. There are often really competitive fares, even in school holidays to LAX in particular. I’d expect to pay a maximum of 2.5k for a family of 4. We’ve also used airmiles before and companion vouchers as it’s a great route for finding reward seats.
Make sure you sort your ESTAs out in advance
San Diego airport is a much calmer, quieter experience with only a fraction of the flights compared to chaotic LAX. But either works! We always pre hire a car {and top tip for this, book a cancellable one at the time of booking but then check a few weeks before your trip as car hire often goes up & down a lot. You can often save a few hundred pounds by rebooking}.
It’s around a 10-12 hour flight from the UK, we’ve always flown with our kids from a young age so it’s never put us off but I’ve got a big list of entertainment both here and here if you’re looking for inspiration.
With the time difference you will for sure be up at 4am for the first few days and absolutely shattered, unable to keep your eyes open tired by 8pm. Go with it, get out in the sunlight and know it’s just a few days! And we’ve always found it easier for small children who still nap to adjust quicker as you can just lengthen their nap for the first few days or make it later etc.
I’ll share sample itineraries at the end of the post but for now, here is a list of our favourite spots grouped by area if you’re planning a trip.
🌊 LOS ANGELES
It’s always worth spending a few days around LA and it’s surprisingly good with kids {just be aware of the traffic it’s notorious for, it’s huge and sprawling and not very well connected by public transport}. We always base ourselves on the coast and then drive in to LA for daytrips rather than staying in LA, but I know a lot of families do prefer to stay near Hollywood for that experience. {Hollywood itself isn’t as glam as you’d expect though, it’s very touristy! You’re better off seeing all the cute neighbourhoods for a better LA vibe}
🏖️ Venice & Santa Monica
We’ve always stayed around Venice Beach, and it’s hard to beat for a first stop in California. I really like the vibe around here, granted there will be some homelessness around the main beach, but I’m talking about the cool architecture, lush planting, on trend bakeries, Abbott Kinney Blvd, Venice canals, the epic sunsets and the great boardwalk that stretches all the way up to Santa Monica.
There’s something brilliant about waking up and that huge stretch of sand, cycling the boardwalk, and letting the kids jump between playgrounds all along the coast path.
From Venice, you can easily walk or cycle all the way up to Santa Monica Beach, which feels a little more polished and like a mini city by the beach but still very family-friendly. It’s flat, safe, and full of energy — ideal for scooters, bikes, and easy wandering.
Don’t miss Abbott Kinney Boulevard for boutiques and food especially Salt & Straw for ice cream.
A must-do here is Cayton Children’s Museum! One of our all time favourites.
We’ve always stayed in Airbnbs here or once booked a couple of nights in a hotel with a small pool. I think it really depends on your budget, I don’t have any specific recommendations.
🌅 Marina del Rey
Just around the corner is Mother’s Beach, which is a bit of a hidden gem for families. The water here is calm (almost lake-like), there’s a playground right on the sand, and it’s just an easy, low-stress beach day when the waves at Venice feel a bit big.
🎡 Classic LA Days (Hollywood, Griffith, Museums)
Once you’re ready to leave the coast, LA turns into a brilliant mix of outdoors + culture.
We usually do a loop that includes:
Griffith Observatory – incredible views, space exhibits, and loads of grass for kids to run around. Free. Playgrounds on the drive or walk up worth stopping at.
Hollywood Sign viewpoints – easy hikes or drive-up spots depending on energy levels. I’d recommend the Lake Hollywood dog park for great views or driving to South Windsor Boulevard {it’s literally labelled as the palm lined street to see the hollywood sign on google}
Echo Park in Silverlake– pedal boats on the lake + playground time = always a win
The Broad Art gallery in Downtown LA, we haven’t personally been with kids but went pre!
Larchmont Village is very sweet as is Los Feliz. You’ll find that neighbourhoods in LA are actually often just one strip of a high street.
The Grove is a great shopping & restaurant area with always loads going on for kids. It’s next to the original LA Farmers Market which is open everyday unlike the cute new farmer’s markets mostly at weekends around the city.
Take a tour around Beverly Hills for star studded mansions. This would be wasted on our small children but I remember being amazed as a teenager! And stop at Rodeo Drive.
Then the museums:
Natural History Museum of LA – dinosaurs and huge open exhibits
California Science Center – brilliant, interactive, and free but book tickets in advance. It’s got a great mix of space and aquarium areas.
La Brea Tar Pits – bubbling tar + real excavation site with fossils
If you’re doing one big “treat” day, Universal Studios Hollywood is the obvious one. It’s a full sensory overload kind of day, but worth it if your kids are the right age. Our kids were too young last time but we’ll definitely go in the future.
Likewise, there’s a Warner Bros Studio Tour which we haven’t done but would be fun for movie enthusiasts!
LA has a Camps Store now which has fun family experiences and exhibitions for kids.
And in between everything, try and fit in a farmers’ market — LA does these so well and they’re perfect for easy lunch stops.
We always prioritise our favourite American food spots around LA too, Jon & Vinny’s pizza/Milk Bar/Sweet Green Salads/Chipotle/
🌅 Malibu Moments
One of our favourite simple LA drives is out to Malibu Pier. The café on the pier there is called Malibu Farm, owned by Daylesford and it’s glorious. There’s also beach access, and one of the best sunset spots around. It’s so fun to spot all of the Malibu houses and you can stop at Malibu country mart. It’s so iconic and just has such a nice feel. Although, again, I think a lot of people have big expectations of Malibu but in reality it is just a highway with different spots to eat {some amazing upmarket restaurants, we used to love going to Little Malibu Beach House when we were Soho House members}/get beach access and there are a lot of private beach areas. El Matador beach is a great spot if you want a beach day.
Grab fish tacos, let the kids run on the sand, and stay until the sky turns pink.
On the way down from LA to Orange County, we stopped at the Aquarium of the Pacific at Long Beach which was very impressive.
🌴 ORANGE COUNTY (Our Favourite Base)
After a few days in and around LA, we’re always ready for what to me feels like the real California. Orange Country. We’ve ended up basing ourselves here multiple times now for a few weeks at a time, especially around San Clemente, which is genuinely one of our favourite places in California. It’s somewhere we stumbled upon serendipitously and not really known by many tourists, it’s kind of a hidden secret locals from LA try to keep. Originally we were looking for accommodation around Laguna Beach since that’s somewhere we knew, everyone’s heard of Laguna right? But it was expensive & then we looked a few miles out and found a great place to stay in San Clemente and the rest is history. We fell head over heels for this Spanish City by the Sea. It’s got such a perfect feel about it, one of the best piers and sunsets in the world! It’s exactly half way between LA and San Diego and you can day trip to so many spots from here so it’s always somewhere I recommend to families to stay if they want a base.
🌊 San Clemente (our happy place)
San Clemente is that rare mix of relaxed surf town + family-friendly base + easy access to everything. Think Spanish-style streets, golden beaches, long sunsets, and a really easy rhythm to life. It has cute independent shops, a gorgeous walking track the whole way along the beach and is walkable in general. I would say though that there’s a train line that runs right beside the beach so you do get the odd train blowing a horn as it goes past if that’s something which bothers you.
We love:
San Clemente Pier for sunset walks and ocean views. Always something going on around here & plenty of kids!
Courtney’s Sandcastle playground
Linda Lane Park for beach + play combo
Walking along the boardwalk and spotting dolphins & whales! Sometimes it gets shut due to land slides but if it’s open it’s a gorgeous walk along to a park & cafe.
Playing on the swings on the beach
Getting a firepit on the beach for s’mores at sunset {they get busy and reserved in advance at weekends}
Getting tacos {look out for taco tuesday} and eating at Cultured frozen yogurt & health food shop
Going to the library and farmer’s market
Seeing the Fire Truck at sunset by the beach, they give out hats to children!
It’s also perfectly placed — you can day trip everywhere without moving accommodation constantly, which makes life so much easier with kids.
🐚 Nearby beaches worth driving to:
Baby Beach (Dana Point)
This feels almost like an Australian bay — calm, sheltered, and perfect for little ones. You can hire paddle boards here.
The harbour is great too: seals in the water to spot, boats coming in and out, and easy walking paths for scooters or prams with plenty of cafes.
If you have time, book whale watching with Captain Dave from Dana Point, they have a board outside which shows you everything they’ve spotted. Always tonnes of dolphins and often whales {double check on the time of year though, I believe it’s typically November to April}
Laguna Beach
Laguna feels like a slightly more polished, tropical-looking coastline. The water is stunning & clear and has little bays lined with palm trees & bird of paradise plants compared to the wide typical Californian surf beaches. We love walking from Main Beach up along Heisler Park, stopping at different coves along the cliffs and just picking a bay for the day. There are also loads of healthy cafés and brunch spots, which makes it a very easy “slow morning” destination. I would note though that there are a lot of stairs if you’ve got a stroller/buggy.
There’s a free trolley service that will take you all around and stops at the different beach spots. Our kids loved the playground at the main Laguna beach along with Aliso Beach.
The Rivian store is worth a look, they sometimes have free kids classes. We adore these cars!
Crystal Cove
is always worth a visit. It’s got a shake shack at the top where we love getting the famous Californian date shakes to sit and look down onto the cove and then a very gorgeous, special beach right next to cliffs full of tide pools and historic cottages. It’s also got an underwater marine park where lots of people snorkel and dive.
Huntington Beach & Newport & Balboa
Classic surf town energy — long wide beaches, skate parks, and a more local Californian feel. We haven’t been back to Huntington with kids but spent a lot of time here growing up myself, it’s famous for it’s surfing and competitions.
🎢 DISNEY & FAMILY DAYS
If you’re staying in Orange County, Disney is an obvious add-on:
Disneyland Resort (Anaheim) – big bucket list day, this is the original Disney park! We’ve been to the one in Paris but not California. There are 2 parks next to each other.
Pretend City Children’s Museum (Irvine) – brilliant for role play and younger kids that’s definitely worth a visit. They even had staff members who constantly reset the areas ready for play for the next child. Children can pretend to work at a mini Trader Joe’s, drive UPS trucks, fix cars in the mechanics garage, play with water, cross mini roads, it’s incredible!
Irvine Adventure Playground – one of our favourite parks, a huge outdoor creative play space, think giant building with huge lego style bricks to build actual houses from + messy fun in mud. Free!
🌊 SAN DIEGO (Easy Road Trip Add-On)
San Diego always feels like the most relaxed version of a city break. Everything is spread out, coastal, and very family-friendly. San Diego downtown itself isn’t like you’d expect from an American city and not necessarily worth a trip but the areas around it are really lovely. Our absolute favourite place that you have to visit is
🏝️ Coronado Island
This place feels like a movie set. Golf carts everywhere, dreamy houses, wide open beaches, and skyline views back towards San Diego.
The Hotel del Coronado beach is especially beautiful, and there’s a really nice high street in between the beach and bay.
We also loved watching planes from the nearby naval base which fly over the beach — the kids found it fascinating.
You can either drive over the bridge or take the ferry across from downtown San Diego & then walk across the island to the beach area. Great mexican food & cute ice cream parlours here. You can also hire bikes & cycle around which is a really nice way to spend a day.
🐬 La Jolla
La Jolla is one of those places that just feels special. It’s upmarket but still relaxed, full of independent shops, and surrounded by coastline that’s often dotted with seals and marine life.
Don’t miss:
Seals on the beach, Saturday farmers’ market, Birch Aquarium (small but great for kids), Puesto tacos.
🦁 San Diego classics
San Diego Zoo – world-famous and known as one of the best. We went for half a day and then drove across to Coronado Island afterwards.
Balboa Park – museums, gardens, and endless green space. Don’t miss the cactus garden here.
Children’s Museums, San Diego has one plus there’s the San Diego Discovery Museum which we’ve always enjoyed - it’s a bit of a drive but really sweet with a lovely covered garden area.
We really like the shelter islands around San Diego, Shelter Island and Shoreline Park
And slightly further afield is Carlsbad with Legoland California {we haven’t ever been but we’re big fans of the UK version and this one has a water park!}, and the insta famous Flower Fields depending on the time of year that you’re visiting.
🌵 DESERT ADVENTURE (Palm Springs + Joshua Tree)
This part of the trip feels like a completely different world — desert landscapes, huge skies, and a slower pace. It’s just a two hour drive inland and great as it’s often a few degrees warmer in the winter so it’s great for resorts with swimming pools if it’s too chilly on the coast. Although this also means that in the summer months it’s sweltering. I’d avoid with small kids in the summer.
🌴 Palm Springs
Palm Springs is an oasis. We usually treat it as a few slow days of swimming, cycling, and exploring neighbourhoods lined with mid-century houses.
One of our favourite things to do is hire bikes and just explore.
Kid-friendly highlights:
Living Desert Zoo. An unreal setting for a zoo, it’s stunning, relaxed, opens early to beat the heat and has a miniature railway section my son loved. Great cactus gardens here too. Feeding giraffes is a highlight
Palm Springs Children’s Museum. This has just reopened at the time of writing so we haven’t been ourselves yet but on my list!
Aerial tramway into the mountains. A cable car that takes you to the top of the mountains, it’s snowy during the winter!
Palm Canyon hikes. Depending on the age of your children, they have some really unique trails through the palm canyons and you can often spot wildlife {on one visit they actually closed it for a day due to a mountain lion sighting!}.
Aviation museum
Palm Springs art gallery
We’ve stayed in a mix of Airbnbs with pools and on our last visit, stayed at the very family-friendly Omni Rancho resort which had a really fun kids mini water park to cool off in. The Ace Hotel is meant to be great for their swim club too.
You’ll find that Palm Springs has Palm Springs itself, the mid century valley surrounded by incredible mountains & palm trees but there’s not tonnes here to do with kids. So it’s better to stay somewhere near Palm Desert or Cathedral City which has a lot more going on unless you want the proper Palm Springs experience!
🌵 Joshua Tree National Park - see this full guide post
From Palm Springs, or even as a day trip from LA, Joshua Tree is absolutely worth it. It’s such an incredible national park that’s easy to do in a half day with kids and one of the most impressive places we’ve ever been.
It’s all giant rock formations, desert landscapes, and surreal trees that look like they belong somewhere else entirely. I’ve written this whole guide on visiting with kids with everything you need to know HERE
🌊 EXTRA STOPS WE’VE LOVED in the past (if you have time)
If you’re extending or mixing routes:
Carlsbad – relaxed coastal town north of San Diego and Oceanside are two towns we really like for a wander & beach visits. Slightly less well known but some great eateries, particularly Mexican!
FOOD
Across all of California you have to visit the West coast institution of In n Out burger. and there are so many great ice cream {Salt & Straw, Jeni’s or Handels are our favourites}/frozen yogurt/donut places. California has it all! We also really like Ruby’s Diner, a classic American diner with a good kids menu & little cars to collect. We love food shopping at Trader Joes the most! But Ralph’s and Von’s are other good supermarkets.
Don’t miss a Target trip and malls & outlet malls across the state too for shopping!
Where to stay
This depends on the type of trip you’re looking for. Hotels can be a great base for a few days but if they don’t include breakfast/any food in general then it can get pricey to eat out all of the time. Plus a lot of American hotels add on resort fees on top of the rate you pay. We typically stay in a hotel for a couple of days if it’s got some great facilities but mostly use Airbnb so that we can self cater/have more space/get more value for money.
I’ve put together this list of San Clemente options.
And can personally recommend The Seahorse suites in San Clemente if you want an apart hotel.
Our Suggested 14-Day Southern California Road Trip
in the past we’ve always gone for 3-4 weeks and taken things really slow but now my children are in school we’d have to condense our trip down!
Days 1-4: Fly into LA. Stay in Venice to visit LA & an afternoon/ evening driving to Malibu.
Days 5-9: Orange County (San Clemente base) and visit Laguna/Children’s Museums/Crystal Cove/Dana Point
Day 9: Disneyland if doing
Days 10-12: Palm Springs & Joshua Tree on way back to San Diego airport if flying back from there, or back up to LA.
Days 12-14: San Diego/Coronado Island
OR you could solely base yourselves somewhere in the middle like Laguna or San Clemente for beach days and then just day trip out from there, even LA or San Diego is doable from there and then drive to Palm Springs/Joshua Tree for a couple of days if you fancied.
🌴 FINAL THOUGHTS
Southern California works so well with kids because you don’t have to over-plan it and everything there is so stunning & pleases both us and the kids.
It’s really just:
beach → playground → short drive → sunset → repeat.
Our ideal route usually looks like:
LA → Orange County (San Clemente base) → San Diego from there → Palm Springs → Joshua Tree → back to LA
Slow it down, pick fewer places, and let the coastline do the work.
We really want to go north of LA, I went a few times growing up to Yosemite/San Francisco and Santa Barbara and would love to take the kids up that way and my dream is Lake Tahoe! The drives up North are a lot further distance wise though and you’d need to go in summer really. I wouldn’t go in the Winter.
FAQ
Is Southern California good for a family road trip? Can’t recommend it more! Everywhere is so family friendly and the shops/restaurants are open all day long, the distances are never huge {max 2 hours} and it feels really safe and has amazing medical care {although make sure you have insurance!}
How many days do you need in Southern California? A minimum of 2 weeks really.
What is the best base in Southern California for families? San Clemente is half way between LA & San Diego and such a gorgeous destination in it’s own right.
Is Disneyland worth including? Hard to say, we skipped it as it would have cost more for one day there compared to a whole trip to Disneyland Paris! Although it is the iconic, original one, for us we just love being at the beaches etc when in California
Do you need a car in Southern California? Almost definitely. There is a surf liner train
When is the best time to visit Southern California with kids? We’ve always gone in January/February and plan to go one Christmas as it’s typically 20c and beautiful sunny days. You do get the odd rainy time. Otherwise, Easter is a great time when it’s warmer & less likely to rain. Summer can be good but be aware of May Grey & June Gloom on the coast where the sun doesn’t burn off for most of the day! And I personally wouldn’t go to Palm Springs in the summer. September is a glorious time for warm weather and October would be so much fun for Halloween!
Is it expensive? Unfortunately it does feel expensive compared to places in Europe or Asia. Whilst flights are pretty reasonable to get there, car hire & accommodation isn’t cheap and eating out/groceries are really pricey. The cost of living is high! Don’t forget that Americans love to tip so service charge is typically 20% on top of eating out and in most shops there’s a state tax of 7.25% added on top of prices.
See these story highlights here and here for more! And follow along on Instagram here <3
Let me know if you have any questions at all or if you think there’s anywhere I’ve missed that should be included!
*I’ve previously worked with the Visit California & Greater Palm Springs tourist board but not in exchange for this blog post. All opinions are my own. Some Airbnb links are ad affiliate links.
