How friendly is Bug Sur for van life? EVERYTHING I wish I’d known about driving a campervan on the Pacific Coast Highway

When you’re driving a car, kitchen, and hotel all-in-one, you have so much power to choose. You’re not stuck anywhere longer than you want to be because of of pre-booked reservations, and never have to worry about finding a restaurant or leaving a cool spot to find a bathroom or take a nap. If you get bored looking at what’s outside your bedroom window, you can change the view whenever and wherever you want!

If you’re here, I’m guessing you’re already sold on the idea of van life and are considering driving a campervan on the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH). And I commend you on your brilliant choice! Big Sur is begging to be roadtripped with this kind of freedom, with its winding seaside cliffs and unending ocean expanses under that clear California sky.

But if you’re dreaming of picturesque pull offs, staggering back to the van after a sunny day of surfing or hiking or freediving to have a shower and a home-cooked meal while the other beachgoers leave for their expensive inland hotels, there are a few things you need to know before you go.

Driving a campervan on the Pacific Coast Highway: Mistakes I made, tips and tricks, and what I wish I knew

From construction disruptions to actual overnight camping laws (and EXPENSIVE fines!) to unexpected logistical challenges, this is everything I wish I’d know before I went. In this blog I won’t be going into detail on my PCH roadtrip itinerary, but you can check out my exact itinerary from San Francisco to Big Sur in painstaking detail here!

Campsite booking vs. freedom camping

If you’re taking a campervan on the Pacific Coast Highway, you should know that freedom camping is no more (if it ever was) in Big Sur or anywhere on the PCH.

If you’re new to van life, freedom camping (dispersed camping) is when you camp or park outside of designated/paid campgrounds. It usually means camping without amenities like running water, restrooms, or trash cans, but that kind of self-sufficiency is already inside your van in most cases—so why would you ever pay to stay at an RV park or campground? That’s kind of the point of the van!

Funny you should ask.

On my first day I was driving south from San Francisco toward Monterey and found a gorgeous pull off overlooking the ocean. I stopped, cooked dinner, and figured I’d double check that it was okay for me to park there overnight before I got too cozy. I’m a pretty strict rule follower, and I had no desire to be startled awake by police flash lights alone in the middle of the night with no where else to go. A quick Google later, I realized freedom camping is totally illegal on the PCH (aka Highway 1)!

I quickly searched “free camping California map” and “free camping California beach” and a bunch of other variations trying to find a free place to sleep in the van and found that any kind of roadside camping (sleeping in pullouts, trailheads, or on forest access roads) is against the law with hefty fines of up to $1,000.

Where can you camp on the PCH?

• State Parks: California has plenty of coastal State Parks that offer tent and RV camping, but reservations are competitive (book them on the ReserveCalifornia portal) and I was far too late to snag one of these.
• National Forest or BLM Land: True “free” camping is incredibly rare on the coast, but you can find dispersed camping if you detour slightly inland into Los Padres National Forest or Six Rivers National Forest. It’s past San Simeon at the south end of Big Sur, but not unreasonably far if you’re on too tight of a budget to stay in an RV park. If you decide to go to Los Padres, make sure you check out burn bans, fire danger, and other rules about dispersed camping so you’re not the next moron who starts a wildfire in California!
• RV Parks & Campgrounds: For guaranteed, legal spots, apps like iOverlander or The Dyrt can help you locate nearby RV parks or overflow lots that allow overnight stays. Because it was so last minute and I didn’t want to break any rules this is what I ended up doing for my entire trip.
• HarvestHosts: HarvestHosts is a membership platform that’s kind of like Airnbnb for RVs, vans, and roadtrippers looking for a place to park and stay overnight. People list their wineries, farms, yards, driveways, etc and you simple open the app and reserve it! I’m a member and love it, but by the time I realized I needed to get an “official” spot to camp, there was nothing available hear me. Plus, several places require at least 24s notice that you’re coming.

So if you take anything away from this blog, let it be that if you’re planning a PCH trip, it is critical to secure your campsite in advance! I spent probably $100 a night on totally necessary holiday parks 🙁

Apparently this is a huge misconception by people doing road trips on the PCH and unfortunately, I got got on this one. I know that some people choose to stealth camp, but I simply don’t like the idea of risking the ticket, and the anxiety I would have overnight about getting caught just isn’t worth it. I was very silly to assume dispersed camping was okay (I’ve taken several magical campervan trips without issue, like this one in New Zealand!) and had no idea how restricted it is in California.

Closures on the Pacific Coast Highway

Check the PCH highway conditions here if you’re taking a campervan on the Pacific Coast Highway to make sure you’ve accounted for any closures along your route! I wish I’d taken a look at this in the weeks and days before I arrived, but it never occurred to me that parts of it would be closed for construction from the recent California wildfires.

I really wanted to go to San Simeon and the Point Piedras Blancas to see the elephant seal rookery, but I didn’t know about the partial closure so I wasn’t able to see it! That stretch has reopened now, but I recommend checking before you go because wildfires happen often in SoCal. There are ways around the PCH, but I ran out of time to backtrack and go around, so unfortunately, I missed out on the rookery.

Cell phone service and maps

This is my #1 non-negotiable tip for a PCH road trip that passes through Big Sur: download offline maps before you get near Big Sur, and take care of whatever email/calls/texts you need to take care of before you get close to it. You don’t want to be in a campervan on the Pacific Coast Highway without knowing where you’re going!

I was kind of winging it on this trip and didn’t know that there isn’t any cell service in Big Sur. And I don’t mean “dang, the service is slow!” I mean a total blackout where nothing works.

I was almost to Big Sur campground using my navigation by the time I realized this (but because I was mid-navigation, it never cut out)! I tried to make a call and quickly realized everything was toast. When I arrived at the campground, they told me it’s like this in the entire stretch of Big Sur.

I had to pay $20 for crappy wifi at the campground that only works if you’re sitting outside the tiny camp store, and that’s where I called my boyfriend and family to let them know I was alright and downloaded my offline maps. If you’ve never downloaded an offline map for your iPhone before, here’s exactly how to do it!

Winding roads & bridges

If you’re scared of driving windy roads, bridges over the ocean, or twists and turns, taking campervan on the Pacific Coast Highway may not be for you. As a moderately experienced van lifer I didn’t find it to be a difficult drive, but if you’re an anxious driver or it’s your first time in the van, I recommend looking up some videos of it before you commit to going!

Access to grocery stores and restaurants

To be fair I wasn’t exactly looking for these (I stocked up on all my groceries for this trip at Trader Joes in San Jose), but I only saw a couple of restaurants in Big Sur.

I think part of the magic of the van is the home cooking (who doesn’t love picnics?!) and I didn’t want to pay Southern California tourist restaurant prices. But if you’re looking for a meal out here’s a great list of what to eat in Big Sur!

Gas prices

Gas was $5-6 dollars a gallon when I was there, which is no joke when you’re filling up a huge tank on a massive van that doesn’t get good mileage to begin with. It was especially expensive because of the current war with Iran, but in case you live under a rock and don’t know, gas prices in California are particularly high in the United States. That’s the “sunshine” tax and it just comes with a trip to SoCal.

Safety (solo female travel)

I never felt unsafe on this trip, but creeps and weirdos can be anywhere. I don’t think RV parks are necessarily any safer than dispersed camping, but I personally felt a little more secure knowing that there were other people around me, plus park staff and security cameras. I typically feel a lot safer in a van abroad than I do in the United States, but I had 0 issues on this trip!

Still (as with anywhere) it’s important to be aware of your surroundings. Keep an eye on anyone acting weird, make sure friends and family have your location and an idea of your itinerary, and follow your gut. If a person or situation feels off, I always say better safe than sorry.