LA + California in 4 Days on a Budget
Four days: the coast, a rest day, then a train north
Four days extends the same spine as the 2-day plan one stop further: Griffith Park and Koreatown on day one, Malibu and the PCH on day two, a deliberate rest day on day three, then Santa Barbara by Amtrak on day four. It nests into the 6-day and 7-day versions if you have more time to spend. See the LA base camp guide for the full distance and transit table behind this plan.
Book these before you go
- Rent a car for the Malibu drive through Discover Cars; days two and three need one, day four does not.
- Check Los Angeles hotel rates on Booking.com before your dates get more expensive.
- Book a Santa Barbara wine tasting day tour from LA if you would rather skip the train and let someone else drive the tasting-room route.
| Day | Focus | Distance / drive time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Griffith Park, Koreatown | Free admission | $30-50pp dinner |
| Day 2 | Malibu + PCH | 36 mi / about 1 hr | Free drive; $10-20+ parking |
| Day 3 | Rest day, optional Downtown | - | Free to low-cost |
| Day 4 | Santa Barbara | 96 mi / 1h40-2h drive, or Amtrak from $25 / 2.5-3h | $25-60pp |
Day 1: Griffith Park, then Koreatown
Land, settle into a Koreatown or Culver City base with free or cheap parking, since you will be driving most days on this trip, and spend the afternoon at Griffith Observatory. Admission and the parking lot are both free, but arrive before 10am or after 6pm since the lot fills fast; this is also the best Hollywood Sign view you will get, since there is no close-up visitor access to the sign itself. Skip the Walk of Fame unless you genuinely have time to spare. Dinner in Koreatown: all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue runs $30-50 a person, or Guelaguetza’s Oaxacan cooking beats most of what is marketed to tourists on Hollywood Blvd.
Day 2: Malibu and the Pacific Coast Highway
Pick up the rental car and drive Santa Monica Pier and the Venice boardwalk first, both free to walk with $10-20+ parking nearby, then push north on PCH into Malibu rather than turning back. Stretches near the Palisades and Malibu corridor are still recovering from the January 2025 fire, so check the Caltrans QuickMap for current road status before you commit to the full run. LA Metro’s rail map makes it obvious why this day needs a car: none of its corridors reach anywhere near Malibu.
Day 3: A rest day on purpose
No long drive today, on purpose. Use it to do laundry, restock, and eat well without spending the day on the road; back-to-back long freeway days is how a Southern California trip turns into a string of tired drives instead of a good one. If you want a few hours of sightseeing rather than true rest, Grand Central Market in Downtown is worth it for cheap, genuinely good food-hall eating. The Los Angeles 4-day itinerary covers a full Downtown day with The Broad and the Arts District if that is more your speed than a day off.
Day 4: Santa Barbara, by train
Skip the rental car today and take the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner from Los Angeles Union Station instead; fares start around $25 one-way and the ride runs roughly 2.5 to 3 hours up the coast, with no parking and no traffic to plan around. Walk State Street, budget $30-60 a person if you add a wine-tasting stop in the Santa Ynez Valley, and catch an evening train back rather than trying to also drive. If you would rather have someone else handle the driving and the tastings both, book the wine-tasting day tour linked above instead of the train.
Why put the rest day before Santa Barbara instead of after?
Because Malibu on day two is already a long day behind the wheel, and stacking Santa Barbara’s drive-or-train day directly on top of it is the wrong order. A day off in between means day four starts fresh instead of tired, which matters more on a longer travel day than it sounds.
Can you skip the rental car for any part of this four-day plan?
Yes, for day four specifically. The Amtrak Pacific Surfliner reaches Santa Barbara without a car at all; days two and three are the ones that actually need one, so a two-day rental covers this whole trip if you time the pickup and return around them.
Fill the tank the night before day four even if you are training it to Santa Barbara; you will still want the car for whatever you do once you are back in LA that evening, and stations get scarce once you are past Malibu.