Highway 1, Uncovered: How to Plan the Ultimate California Family Road Trip

PHOTO: It's now easy to plan a family road trip along Highway 1. (Photo by Janeen Christoff)

It’s a secret no more. Finally, there’s an easy way for families to find resources and information on California’s iconic driving route, Highway 1. The Highway 1 Discovery website has unlocked the hidden treasures of the Pacific Coast in an easy-to-use, organized fashion, making planning trips easier and finding attractions, dining options and accommodation a breeze.

For many years, visitors had to dissect numerous websites and other resources to find information on traveling Highway 1, only to find that, when they started their trip, there was so much more to the destination than they had imagined.

Now, Highway 1 Discover Route's updated design provides families with visitor guides to each destination along the iconic highway. Each section has a simplified map, showing where along the highway it can be found and what is close by, as well as a brief description of the town or attraction and a history of the area.

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Subsections within each of the 10 cities that make up the route break down each spot with further details on where to stay, play, eat and even what events are happening.

A highlight of the new design is that it also provides visitors with easy access to information on the area’s Stewardship Travel Program and suggestions for what to do.

The program is designed to help the whole family connect with the region and each other. There are 70 brief activities offered through the program, such as contributing to a historic lighthouse, making new friends at a beach cleanup or becoming a "citizen scientist" at a nature center.

"The Stewardship Travel program has helped to promote and highlight the importance of science education and marine conservation by partnering with us at the Coastal Discovery Center at San Simeon Bay,” added Carolyn Skinder, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Director of the Coastal Discovery Center, San Simeon Bay. “We educate thousands of tourists visiting the central coast at the Center and include important wildlife viewing etiquette information."

READ MORE: Where Cowboys Meet Surfers: Best Towns of Cali’s Central Coast on Highway 1

The program, which is one of the first of its kind in the country, recently won the California Poppy Award for contribution to community.

“The Stewardship Travel Program, with its unique and committed regional Stewardship Travel Ambassadors and staff, help to deepen the connection between tourists, locals and nonprofits supporting conservation and/or preservation,” said Cheryl Cuming, administrator for unincorporated San Luis Obispo County Tourism Business Improvement District (CBID).

If you are packing up the family for a road trip and heading out along Highway 1 this summer, this website is definitely going to be a helpful tool in locating information on where to be and what to do along the way.

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