As a native Californian who has lived all over the state, I pretty much consider myself an expert on the golden state and have thoughtfully compiled a list of my personal favorite weekend getaways from Los Angeles. If you’re looking to escape the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles and just need a quick, easy getaway to somewhere peaceful and calm, you’ve come to the right place! Each of these destinations is within a 4 hour drive of LA and offers charm and serenity that you won’t find in the city. Read on for the BEST weekend getaways from Los Angeles.
1. Palm Springs
Located less than 2 hours from Los Angeles, Palm Springs is at the top of my list for weekend getaways from LA! Palm Springs is one of my favorite places not just in California, but in the whole world! The gorgeous and dramatic landscape, desert vibes, and luxury accommodations give Palm Springs a truly magical feeling.
Whether you’re interested in hiking, golfing, shopping & dining, or just indulging at the spa all day, Palm Springs definitely has something for everyone. It also boasts a rich cultural & art scene and is home to many festivals, including Coachella!
One thing to note is that Palm Springs has year-round sunshine, but the summer months get HOT (up to 120 degrees!), so I recommend visiting between October and May.
2. Santa Barbara
Another incredible destination at the top of my list for the best weekend getaways from Los Angeles is none other than Santa Barbara. Perfectly situated along California’s central coast, around 2 hours from LA, Santa Barbara is incredibly special and is where I would want to live if I ever move back to California.
During a weekend trip in Santa Barbara, you can bask in the most stunning beaches in California, taste some of the best wine in the state, participate in superb outdoor recreational activities, shop til you drop in the beautiful boutiques, take in the Spanish architecture, enjoy a vibrant art scene, and experience perfect weather year-round.
3. San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo is a very special place that has been my home-away-from-home since I was a kid. San Luis Obispo, located farther north along California’s central coast and around 3.5 hours from LA, makes for a fabulous weekend getaway from Los Angeles.
San Luis Obispo is known for its small-town charm and has been named the happiest city in America. San Luis Obispo is so unique because it boasts some of the best beauty in California but is not crowded or touristy like other destinations in the state. Visitors can enjoy soaking up the sunshine at Avila Beach, wine tasting in Paso Robles, indulging in the hot springs at the Avila Hot Springs, and hiking some of the most scenic trails in California.
4. Lake Arrowhead
One of the most uniquely awesome things about California is that you can go surfing and skiing in the same day. Lake Arrowhead is a beautiful winter wonderland that feels worlds away from the hustle and bustle of LA, but is only about an hour and a half drive away!
If you spend a weekend in Lake Arrowhead in the winter, you can enjoy skiing and snowboarding in a beautiful and picturesque mountain community. If you visit Lake Arrowhead in the summer, you can soak up the sunshine on the lake and go boating, fishing, or swimming. Lake Arrowhead is full of awesome outdoor recreational activities, offering something for everyone. I can’t think of a better way to escape LA than to curl up in a cozy cabin and watch the snow fall.
5. Solvang
Craving a trip to Europe but can’t swing the time or the expense right now? I gotchu– look no further than Solvang, California! Solvang is a charming and quaint Danish town in the Santa Ynez valley of California, located around 2.5 hours from LA. You can pretend you’re in Europe for the day and will feel like you’re literally across the world from LA!
Visitors of Solvang can indulge in the many delicious baked goods, enjoy wine country, soak up the lovely Danish architecture, participate in outdoor activities, or just enjoy the beautiful and relaxing atmosphere. Solvang is a truly delightful town and is a great way to escape LA for the day or for the weekend.
Takeaways
California has SO much to offer and these are just a few of my favorite weekend getaways from Los Angeles! I may do a part 2 of this series or provide more in-depth itineraries for the fabulous destinations I mentioned. If you enjoy the California content, you should read about our recent month-long stay in the golden state here! Stay tuned and as always, thank you for reading! 🙂
Xoxo
Jensen
Hello lovely readers! It’s been way too long since we last caught up. I’m here with a major life update. After spending nearly four years living in the peach state, we have decided to move on and have embarked on our next journey. We are staying with family in California at the moment. We don’t know exactly what the future holds, but we are excited for this next chapter in our lives and are trusting in the Lord to guide us through the uncertainty. But what I can say for certain is that we have finally left Georgia for good!
It has been a really tough year for our family full of lots of ups and downs and disappointments. We have been humbled, challenged, and tested beyond anything we could have anticipated. We have actually been trying to leave Georgia for a long time (more on that in a future blog post) but were struggling to do so due to our careers and all of the not-so-fun logistics that come with adulthood.
As I am sitting here writing to you today, I am looking out at the Pacific Ocean and enjoying the lovely 73 degree breeze that is so specific to Southern California. It has been a few weeks since we left Georgia and while I can’t say for sure where we’re headed, right now, in this moment, I am just so grateful to be home in California. After spending the last four years as a transplant in a state I had never been to or had any prior connections to, the familiarity of being back in California feels like a warm hug from a long lost best friend. The smog, LA traffic, and insane gas prices don’t even phase me right now because I’m just so happy to be here!
While it can feel scary at moments to not know where we’re headed, we’re embracing this very unique season of being so untethered. For the first time since graduating from college, we have no lease or mortgage tying us down and no commitment that we have to be somewhere for. We are able to just be and take a moment to regroup and be nomads for a while. We have the rest of our lives to settle down, take on responsibilities, and establish roots, but right now we have the privilege of being able to dream and make a home out of wherever we lay our heads down at night. It feels good to be free.
I can’t tell you how fulfilling it feels to be writing again and allowing myself to dream about what I truly want out of life and my career. I have spent the year hustling and bustling in corporate America, and unfortunately that meant that my writing and my website have taken a backseat role, but I’m back and am committed to building this into something beautiful and meaningful. I also created a new instagram account @jetsetjeni that will be fully dedicated to all things travel and lifestyle. I am excited to grow that account and see where we end up!
If you’re still here, I appreciate you and can’t wait to venture into this next step together.
Xoxo,
Jensen
My husband and I recently took a somewhat spontaneous roadtrip to Nashville. The weekend was incredibly seamless and special, and it was one of those rare trips where nothing goes wrong and almost everything goes your way. Anyone who travels can attest to how uncommon that is, so I figured it was definitely worth writing a blog about! In this blog, I will be sharing with you the story behind our impromptu decision to go to Nashville, what we did while we were there, and what made this weekend so exceptional.
We are based in Atlanta, so Nashville is only about a four-hour drive from us and is one of our favorite destinations for a weekend getaway. Although Nashville’s lively honky-tonk bars and delicious southern comfort food are always reason enough to make the trip out there, we actually had another incentive this time.
A few weeks prior, one of my loved ones had a serious health scare and was hospitalized for a week. My husband and I were at the hospital every single day, but it was incredibly terrifying, stressful, and traumatic to see my beloved family member in pain. Most importantly, this person is recovering and doing much, much better now, but the stress and anxiety from such an event can linger for a long time.
It was in the wake of my fear and sleepless nights that I decided to look up the tour schedule for my favorite comedian, John Mulaney. I have been a huge Mulaney fan since 2018 and he has been a source of light and laughter for me during some very dark times in my life. Laughter really is the best medicine, and I couldn’t think of a more perfect stress relief than getting to see my favorite comedian live. To my disappointment, Mulaney had zero shows scheduled in the entire state of Georgia, but, -ah ha! – he was playing in Nashville in just two weeks! I looked over at my sleeping husband who, admittedly, is the more practical of the two of us. I feared that if I ran my idea by him, he wouldn’t be thrilled about us taking an expensive, unexpected trip to Nashville when our main focus right now is saving to buy a house. Normally we sit down and talk about these decisions and weigh the pros and cons. But after what my family had been through, I knew that I needed to just do this!
I quickly bought us tickets to see John Mulaney at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville –one of the most famous and historical venues in the country– and I even opted for excellent seats (normally we’re in the nosebleeds.) I then booked us a hotel room in the heart of downtown Nashville and my husband woke up just as I was clicking “confirm.” “What are you doing?” he asked me groggily, still half asleep. Knowing it was too late to back out now, I boldly answered, “I just booked us a trip to Nashville in two weeks. We’re seeing John Mulaney.” I mentally prepared myself for some pushback, but to my surprise, my husband replied, “Really?! That sounds so fun!” I felt instant relief and was even more excited now that he was on board!
Two weeks went by and the day was finally here—we were going to Nashville! We both felt particularly excited because we hadn’t taken a trip just the two of us since our honeymoon. After the stress of the last few weeks, it felt nice to be able to do something frivolous and indulgent, and get some much-needed alone time. We embarked on our four-hour drive that was filled with beautiful green, mountain views and no traffic. Our trip was already off to a great start!
When we arrived at our Downtown Nashville hotel—which I booked for free using Hilton credit card points!—we were extremely impressed. This hotel was much nicer than either of us expected it to be and it was in an upscale and trendy part of Nashville called The Gulch that neither of us had ever been to before. We even got a free room upgrade to a top-floor corner suite for having Hilton Gold status. Not bad considering we didn’t even have to pay for the room! This was by far our favorite hotel that we’ve stayed in Nashville and this is where we will be staying from now on.
We unpacked and went up to the hotel’s rooftop pool and bar and had a few drinks before beginning our night. At this point, we were both feeling famished so we went to a Mexican restaurant across the street from our hotel called Condado Tacos. We honestly had low expectations because we’re so used to less-than-stellar Mexican food in Atlanta, but it was actually delicious and affordable, and the margaritas hit the spot after a long drive!
A few hours later, it was time to head out for the night. I was all dressed up in my cutest country attire and was ready to dance til dawn on Broadway Street. We called a Lyft and ended up having one of our most memorable rideshare experiences to date. Our driver was hosting a gameshow and had turned his whole car into a studio. He filmed us, asked us trivia questions, and gave us prizes for every correct answer. It felt like we were in an episode of Cash Cab! I didn’t think this was the type of thing that ever happened in real life. The experience instantly lifted our spirits and got us pumped for our big night out.
We got dropped off at one of my favorite bars in Nashville, called Luke’s 32 Bridge, owned by country singer Luke Bryan. We somehow skipped the dauntingly long line (don’t ask me how; it just happened!) and stepped inside of a nightlife lover’s paradise. We were dancing, drinking, and having a great time. At one point in the night, we both told each other that we had a feeling we would run into someone we knew that night. Lo and behold, about 30 minutes later, we ran into a group of ten people that we knew from California! We got to spend the next hour or so catching up with old friends and meeting new people.
More time went by and we ventured upstairs to a more private section of the club. We ended up befriending a couple who had bought a table and bottle service. They insisted that we join them, and they proceeded to hook us up with free alcohol and VIP service for the rest of the night. This was truly unexpected, and we hate to be mooches, but this couple insisted—their friend group had backed out on them and they just wanted to hang out with more people! We stayed here until about 2 AM before getting some late-night food and heading back to our hotel.
The next day, we slept in before heading downstairs to indulge in the free hotel breakfast. This was the one part of the trip that left something to be desired, but we don’t expect much from hotel breakfasts anyways so we weren’t disappointed. We spend the next few hours driving around and exploring the areas of Nashville that we hadn’t been to before and might like to live in someday. Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for the big show.
We had a dinner reservation at one of my favorite restaurants, The Hampton Social. If you’ve ever been there before, you know that this is one of the girliest restaurants on earth. Matt was one of the few men in the whole establishment, but we had a great time. We got seated at a table with amazing views, we had a friendly server, and the drinks and food were exceptional. We finished our dinner with some incredible southern-style beignets. Feeling satisfied, we left to go do the thing we came to Nashville for in the first place!
We got to Mulaney’s show about an hour early so that we could take in the whole experience and not feel rushed. It was really special to get to be in such an old-fashioned theater with so much history. The Ryman Auditorium is 130 years old, and I couldn’t help but think about all the generations that had sat in my exact seat before me, and all the generations that will be there after me. I imagined what people wore and the different types of shows they had come to see and what getting to be entertained meant to them. I felt humbled to have been a part of this collective human experience. One of the best parts of the event is that it was phones-free, so not a single person in the venue had their cell phone on them. This made it feel even more historical, and I can’t even think of another time that I’ve witnessed a whole group of people without their phones. Everyone was engaged and talking to each other, and I got the sense that it was a relief for most people to have this break.
The show finally started and it was everything we could have dreamed for it to be. We laughed so hard our cheeks hurt, and it felt so good to just forget about what had been going on for the last few weeks. The human condition is hard and inevitably full of stress, sorrow, pain, and anxiety. As such, I think it is so important to set time and money aside for entertainment and frivolity. We were both so appreciative that we were able to do this and just get fully lost in the hilarity of the evening.
After the show, we returned to our hotel room and drove back home the next morning. This trip really showed us that sometimes the most spur-of-the-moment and low-key travels can end up being the most spectacular. This trip wasn’t anything particularly extravagant or fancy and yet it was one of the best trips we have taken in years. I think we went into the weekend with few expectations, so we ended up being so pleasantly surprised by everything. We grew closer as a couple and our appreciation for Nashville flourished as well. If you’ve made it this far, I sincerely thank you for reading and I hope this encourages you to simply just go on that next adventure you’ve been dreaming of!
Until next time,
Jeni