LA + California in 6 Days on a Budget
Six days: the coast, a rest day, a train, then two full car days
Six days keeps the same spine as the 4-day plan and adds the two trips that need a full day each: Joshua Tree on day five and Disneyland on day six. It nests into the 7-day version if you can spare one more day. 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 Malibu and Joshua Tree through Discover Cars; both days need one and a multi-day rental beats two separate bookings.
- 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.
- Buy dated Disneyland tickets on the official site; the $104-224 tiered pricing rewards booking a specific date ahead of time.
| 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 5 | Joshua Tree NP | 128-131 mi / 2h15-3h | $30/vehicle |
| Day 6 | Disneyland | 30-45 mi / 45-90 min | $104-224 + $30/day parking |
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. 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. Use it to do laundry, restock, and eat well without spending the day on the road, since two long driving days in a row is how this kind of trip turns into a string of tired afternoons instead of a good week. A few hours at Grand Central Market in Downtown covers the sightseeing itch if a full day off feels like too much.
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. 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. Book the wine-tasting day tour linked above if you would rather someone else handled both the driving and the tastings.
Day 5: Joshua Tree, the longest drive on this trip
This is the longest single drive in the plan: 128-131 miles and 2h15-3h each way, worse if you are driving back on a Friday when the weekend exodus doubles the return. Entrance runs $30 a vehicle for 7 days, and Joshua Tree National Park needs no timed-entry reservation for a day visit, though campground and backcountry permits book up to 6 months out. Fuel up and download offline maps before you go; gas stations and cell service both thin out once you are inside the park.
Day 6: Disneyland, on its own
Disneyland sits in Anaheim, 30-45 miles and 45-90 minutes from a Koreatown or Culver City base, and it deserves its own day rather than a tacked-on afternoon after Joshua Tree. Buy dated tickets before you go (linked above); single-day, single-park pricing is tiered $104-224 depending on the date, and parking is a separate $30-a-day charge on top of the ticket, budget it as its own line rather than an afterthought.
Do you need a rental car for all six days?
For four of them. Days two, three (if you drive anywhere), five and six need a car; day four works better by train. A four or five-day rental covers the trip if you time pickup around the Santa Barbara day.
Is Joshua Tree worth a rushed day trip?
It is worth the day, but “rushed” is the honest word for it: over five hours round trip on the road for a few hours of actual hiking. If your schedule can flex, an overnight in the area beats the day-trip version; this plan keeps it to one day because six days does not leave room for more.
Should Disneyland come before or after Joshua Tree?
After, as this plan has it. Joshua Tree is a physically demanding drive-and-hike day; Disneyland, for all its walking, is a lower-effort recovery day by comparison, so putting the desert day first and the theme park second gives you an easier day six instead of a harder one.
Book the Disneyland date before anything else on this list; the $104-224 tiered pricing means picking the right weekday can save more than the gas for every other day trip combined.