California

California holds nine national parks. They cover everything from the granite of Yosemite to the salt flats of Death Valley. The best things to do in California are split between those parks, the coast road through Big Sur and the lakes of the Sierra Nevada. The distances between them are long: Los Angeles to San Francisco alone is about 380 miles.

Our California guide covers what each park is, what it costs a visitor from abroad, when each region is at its best and how to get around. Every figure is from the Park Service, Caltrans, the state's tax office or NOAA, checked on 26 October 2026. Drive times marked approximate are from our own routing.

Which are California's nine national parks?

California's nine national parks run from the redwood coast near the Oregon border to the deserts east of Los Angeles. Only two of them charge the non-resident surcharge. The visit counts are the Park Service's for 2025.

Sequoia and Kings Canyon sit side by side and are run as one unit with one fee. Pinnacles has no road between its east and west entrances, so pick one side. Channel Islands is reached on the concessioner's boats, from Ventura Harbor, and from Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard on some dates. The park has no transport on the islands.

What do California's parks cost a visitor from abroad?

California's parks cost a visitor from abroad very different amounts, because only two of the nine add the $100 non-resident surcharge. At Yosemite and at Sequoia and Kings Canyon, two adults from abroad in one car pay $35 for the car plus $200, so $235. At Death Valley, Joshua Tree and Pinnacles they pay $30 for the car, the same as US residents.

Lassen charges $30 from 16 April to 30 November and $10 from 1 December to 15 April. Redwood has no entrance fee. Only the state parks' developed areas inside it charge day use, such as the Davison Road kiosk on the way to Fern Canyon. The kiosk charges $12 a car, cash or cheque, on the Park Service's 2026 pages. The state parks' own fee table still prints $8.

Channel Islands has no entrance fee either. The boat fare is the cost: $72 for an adult day trip to Santa Cruz Island on Island Packers' own fare page, and $15 a night to camp. The $250 non-resident America the Beautiful pass covers every one of them. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors shows when it pays for itself.

Most California park entrances take cards only. Yosemite and Pinnacles take no cash at all, and neither do Death Valley and Lassen.

Which California parks need a booking in 2026?

California's parks need no timed entry booking in 2026. Yosemite dropped its reservation system for the year, and Sequoia and Kings Canyon neither accept nor require one. The bookings that remain are for beds and a few trails.

• Yosemite: campgrounds up to five months ahead, lodges 366 days ahead, and a lottery permit for Half Dome while its cables are up.
• Sequoia and Kings Canyon: campgrounds by reservation in season; Azalea, in Grant Grove, turns first-come, first-served from 1 November.
• Redwood: the Tall Trees Trail needs a reservation all year, and the road to Fern Canyon needs a vehicle reservation from 15 May to 15 September.
• Channel Islands: book the boat with Island Packers, and for camping also a Recreation.gov campsite, up to six months ahead, on matching dates.

Is Highway 1 through Big Sur open in 2026?

Highway 1 through Big Sur is open end to end in 2026. Caltrans reopened it at Regent's Slide at noon on 14 January 2026, earlier than estimated. It was the first uninterrupted drive between Carmel and Cambria in almost three years. Paul's Slide had closed the road in 2023 and Regent's Slide in 2024, and the Timber and Plaskett fires closed stretches of it again in August 2026.

On 5 November 2026 Caltrans listed no full closure on Highway 1 through Big Sur, and standing one-way traffic control at three places. Its lane-closure data adds daytime work on other stretches, which changes by the day. At Mud Creek it runs on weekday mornings until 13 November, and at Rocky Creek Bridge, 15.7 miles south of Monterey, around the clock until 30 November.

Between Point Sur Lighthouse and 8.4 miles north of Big Sur it runs around the clock until 31 December. Caltrans warns of occasional full closures after storms while crews clear debris. The US Geological Survey counts over 1,500 mapped landslides along this coast.

Bixby Creek Bridge, on the cover of this guide, is about 18 miles south of Monterey. McWay Falls, an 80-foot waterfall onto a beach in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, lies 37 miles south of Carmel, at $10 a car for day use.

What else is worth the drive in California?

Lake Tahoe and Mono Lake are the two Sierra lakes most visitors build into a California trip. Each state park sets its own day-use fee.

• Lake Tahoe: a deep lake shared with Nevada, 72 miles around, with its surface at about 6,224 feet. At Emerald Bay State Park a one-mile trail drops 500 feet to Vikingsholm, and day use is $10 a car.
• Mono Lake: the tufa towers of Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve, on Highway 395 near Lee Vining, 13 miles east of Yosemite. Day use is $3 a car, and South Tufa is the best single stop. The boardwalk at the County Park is closed until further notice after the 2025 Inn Fire.

Mono Lake and Yosemite are joined by Tioga Road only while it is open, from about late May or June to November. In winter the drive between them is more than six hours around the mountains.

When is each part of California at its best?

California is at its best at different times in each region: late summer and autumn on the coast, October to May in the deserts, and summer in the high Sierra. The table gives NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals.

San Francisco's warmest month is September, not July, and its rain falls from November to March. Death Valley averages 147 days a year at or above 100°F, and Tahoe City 179 inches of snow. Yosemite's waterfalls peak in May and June and are often dry by late summer.

Wildfire smoke is the other variable. Lassen's own page says wildfires often occur from July to October, and Yosemite warns that hazy or smoky conditions are always possible. Sequoia's summer ozone often exceeds federal health standards.

What taxes appear on a California bill?

California's sales tax starts at a statewide 7.25 percent, and local district taxes push it higher. From 1 October 2026 the combined rate is 10.25 percent in Los Angeles, 8.625 percent in San Francisco and 7.75 percent in San Diego. Prices on tags exclude it, so it is added at the till.

Hotel tax is set by each city, not the state, as a percentage of the room rate. Los Angeles charges 14 percent on stays of 30 days or less. San Diego charges 11.75 to 13.75 percent by zone, and larger hotels may add a 2 percent tourism assessment. Our guide to sales tax in the USA explains how both appear on a bill.

How far apart are California's cities and parks?

California's cities and parks are far apart. Most trips are road trips from one of its big airports. The main airports are San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, San José, Oakland and Palm Springs, the nearest to Joshua Tree. Las Vegas, in Nevada, is about 118 miles from Death Valley.

California is on Pacific time and keeps daylight saving time, from 8 March to 1 November in 2026. Arizona does not, so in summer the two states show the same time and in winter Arizona is an hour ahead. Our guide to Arizona covers the Grand Canyon, the other half of most Southwest road trips.

In the mountains Caltrans sets chain controls in three levels: R1, R2 and R3, where R3 means chains on every vehicle. Yosemite warns that chains may be required from about October to April. Sequoia and Kings Canyon have no petrol station inside either park. Our driving guide for visitors has the rules of the road.