LA + California in 7 Days on a Budget
Seven days: car, train and boat, the full Southern California spread
Seven days runs the full spine: Griffith Park and Koreatown, Malibu, a rest day, Santa Barbara, Joshua Tree, Disneyland, and a Catalina Island ferry day to close it out. It is the 6-day itinerary with one more day added, and it is the only version of this plan that uses all three ways of getting around Southern California: car, train and boat. 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; a week-long rental covers both without paying for 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.
- Book a Catalina Island ferry and tour from LA if you want the crossing and a guided stop bundled together.
| 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 7 | Catalina Island | About 1h-1h15 by ferry | About $99 round trip |
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. With five more travel days ahead of you, this is the one to protect: laundry, groceries, an easy dinner, and nothing that requires the car. 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, as a recovery day
Disneyland sits in Anaheim, 30-45 miles and 45-90 minutes from a Koreatown or Culver City base. Coming the day after Joshua Tree, it works as a lower-effort recovery day despite all the walking. 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.
Day 7: Catalina Island, the ferry day
The last day trades the car for a boat. Ferries to Catalina Island run from Long Beach, San Pedro or Dana Point, about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes each way, with a round-trip adult fare around $99 through Catalina Express . Book the combined ferry-and-tour option linked above if you would rather not plan the island portion yourself. The whole day runs on the boat schedule rather than your own clock, so confirm the last sailing back before you plan a late lunch in Avalon.
Which of these seven days needs the earliest start?
Joshua Tree, without question. A 2h15-3h drive each way plus actual hiking time means leaving at first light, not after a leisurely breakfast; every other day trip in this plan tolerates a mid-morning start, this one does not.
Do you need a rental car for the full week?
No. Days two, five and part of six need one; day four runs by train and day seven runs by ferry. A four or five-day rental, timed around those two car-free days, covers the whole week without paying for a car you are not driving.
Is Catalina worth it if you are short on time?
If day seven is genuinely your last chance to add something, yes: it is the one day trip on this list that does not involve hours of highway driving, and a ferry crossing plus a few hours in Avalon is a lighter way to end a week than another long drive.
Confirm the last Catalina Express sailing back before you leave the dock in the morning; every other day on this plan ends when you decide, but this one ends when the boat does. If seven days in Southern California was not quite enough and you want to keep pushing east toward Nevada and the desert Southwest instead of home, the Los Angeles USA itinerary picks up from here.