Best Day Trips from Los Angeles

Los Angeles's position in Southern California places it within reach of some of the most spectacular natural and cultural destinations in North America. The beaches of Santa Barbara are just 90 minutes north on the Pacific Coast Highway, offering a genteel Spanish colonial downtown alongside excellent wine country restaurants and Riviera-style beaches. Joshua Tree National Park is a three-hour desert drive east, offering otherworldly boulder landscapes and night skies that are among the most spectacular in the continental USA. Palm Springs is two hours away for mid-century modern architecture and resort living, while San Diego's beaches and the Tijuana culinary scene are three hours south.