Redwood Itinerary: What to See in 1, 2, or 3 Days

By Victoria Boissonade · Data: National Park Service · ← Complete guide Redwood

Redwood National and State Parks isn't one park. It's a corridor. Four separate parks, one federal and three state, stretch along nearly 62 miles of coast in far northern California, just a short distance from Oregon. Visiting is a linear experience. You travel north or south on US-101, sector by sector, taking time to get off the pavement. Plan on 2 days for the highlights and 3 days if you don't want to skip anything.

Our complete Redwood guide gives you the big picture. This page focuses on the order of the stops and a detailed day-by-day schedule.

How Long Do You Need to Visit Redwood?

1 day works if you're traveling between San Francisco and Oregon and are willing to focus on one area. Prairie Creek, with Fern Canyon and Elk Prairie, gives you the most memorable experience for the distance covered.

2 days is the classic format. Spend the first day in the southern sector, covering Prairie Creek and the Redwood National Park area around Orick, then spend the second day at Jedediah Smith. You won't feel rushed, but you won't be lingering either.

3 days gives you time to add Del Norte Coast, longer trails, and a few quiet mornings in the forest, when light filters between the trunks and the other visitors are still asleep. That's the right pace.

Beyond three days, you're moving beyond a single-park visit into a regional road trip that reaches Crater Lake to the north and Avenue of the Giants to the south.

Access, Gateway Towns, and Getting Around the Park

Redwood is about 323 miles north of San Francisco, a 6- to 7-hour drive on US-101. The federal side of the park has no entrance fee. Driving in from the main highway is free.

Two service towns anchor the visit.

• Crescent City (north): the area's main town, with hotels, supermarkets, and gas stations. It's the natural starting point if you're arriving from Oregon or staying in the northern part of the parks, including Jedediah Smith and Del Norte.
• Orick (south): a small rural town 5 miles from Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center. It's a good base for Prairie Creek and the federal section, with a few guesthouses and a nearby campground.

Four visitor centers, from north to south:

1. Hiouchi Visitor Center (Jedediah Smith)
2. Crescent City Information Center
3. Prairie Creek Visitor Center
4. Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center (Orick)

Each one provides the official park map for free and can give you an update on the day's conditions on secondary roads.

You need a car. There is no shuttle between sectors. Several roads, including Howland Hill Road in Jedediah Smith and Gold Bluffs Beach Road in Prairie Creek, are narrow dirt roads limited to smaller vehicles. Check with the nearest visitor center before taking an RV or trailer onto them. See our Getting Around page for practical details on transportation in the parks.

Redwood's Sectors

Four parks, four different moods. From north to south, this is the order in which you'll encounter them coming from Oregon.

Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

The most remote, the least visited, and, in our view, the most spellbinding. The Smith River winds between coastal redwoods, cedars, and wild rhododendrons. Howland Hill Road, a roughly 6-mile dirt road that ordinary cars can handle outside periods of heavy rain, cuts through old-growth forest in a silence that sets it apart from the rest of the parks.

Don't miss: Stout Grove, a short walk from the parking area with monumental trees and guaranteed shade; Boy Scout Tree Trail, a 10-mile round-trip hike that is remote and lightly signed but easy to follow; and the banks of the Smith River for a picnic.

Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park

Here, the forest drops toward the ocean. Damnation Creek Trail is a 4.3-mile round-trip hike with a steep elevation change. It descends from US-101 to a cobble beach battered by the surf. Few places make the transition from old-growth forest to wild coast so abruptly. Enderts Beach is accessible by car and worth the detour for its tide pools when the tide is going out.

Don't miss: Damnation Creek Trail, Enderts Beach, and the ocean viewpoints along the road.

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park

This is the signature sector, the one everyone mentions, and for good reason. Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway runs for 6 miles and is limited to light vehicles, with no trucks. It offers the best introduction to the forest without leaving your car. The central experience is Fern Canyon, a canyon with vertical walls completely covered in ferns, carved into sandstone and crossed by a trickle of water. Access is via Gold Bluffs Beach Road, which is limited to vehicles shorter than 20 feet. Plan on at least 1.5 hours there and bring shoes you don't mind getting wet.

Don't miss: Fern Canyon, Gold Bluffs Beach, with its wild beach and campground facing the Pacific; Elk Prairie, where Roosevelt elk are visible early and late in the day; and Prairie Creek Visitor Center.

Redwood National Park (Orick sector)

This is the federal section. It contains two sites that are often underestimated. Lady Bird Johnson Grove is an easy 1.2-mile loop dedicated to the former first lady who helped create the park. It's ideal for families and visitors short on time. Tall Trees Grove is harder to reach and contains some of the tallest trees in the world. Access requires a free permit, issued in limited quantities at Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center. Arrive when it opens because permits go quickly in summer.

Don't miss: Lady Bird Johnson Grove, Tall Trees Grove (permit required), and Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center, with its exhibit on the history of coastal redwoods.

Day-by-Day Itinerary

Day 1: The Southern Sector, from Prairie Creek to Orick

Start early at Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center, when it opens, to pick up a Tall Trees permit if you want to include it in your day. Then head to Lady Bird Johnson Grove. Allow about an hour there. The parking area is 6 miles north of Orick on Bald Hills Road.

Late in the morning, take US-101 north to Prairie Creek. Drive along Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, stopping at Elk Prairie, Prairie Creek Visitor Center, and for a short walk through the old-growth forest.

Spend the afternoon at Fern Canyon. Take Gold Bluffs Beach Road from US-101, checking that your vehicle is allowed, drive down to the beach, then continue to the canyon entrance. Bring sandals or shoes that can get wet. You'll cross the creek several times. Return in the late afternoon.

Spend the night in Crescent City, 37 miles north, or at Gold Bluffs Beach Campground if you've booked ahead.

Day 2: Del Norte, Then Jedediah Smith

Leave Crescent City heading south. Stop at Enderts Beach for a quiet start to the morning if the tide is low, with tide pools and coastal views. Then drive north on US-101 and stop at the Damnation Creek Trail trailhead in Del Norte Coast. Allow 2.5 to 3 hours for the descent to the beach and the return hike.

In the early afternoon, head to Howland Hill Road to cross Jedediah Smith. Traveling west to east gives you better light on the uphill drive. Make the essential stop at Stout Grove, then take an unstructured walk along the Smith River.

If your legs are up for it, you can start Boy Scout Tree Trail, a 10-mile round-trip hike that takes about 4 hours, in the middle of the afternoon during the longer days of the season. Otherwise, a short sunset walk through the old-growth forest at Jedediah Smith is enough to make the day memorable.

Spend the night in Crescent City.

Day 3: Go Deeper or Extend the Trip

Choose between two options based on your energy and interests.

Option A (a deeper Redwood visit): Go back to Prairie Creek for the trails you left for later. James Irvine Trail is an 8.1-mile round-trip hike connecting the inland forest to Fern Canyon by another route. Rhododendron Trail puts on a spectacular bloom in May and June. Finish in Eureka, 37 miles south of Orick, to see its Victorian district and markets.

Option B (a regional extension): Cross into Oregon. Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor, 1.5 hours from Crescent City, strings together sea cliffs and coastal arches that few travelers coming from the south reach. We cover this kind of interstate circuit in our Regional and Road Trip guides.

Variations Based on Your Schedule

Express 1 day: Focus on Prairie Creek. Fern Canyon, Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway, and Elk Prairie make a full, coherent day from Crescent City or Eureka. You won't see everything, but you'll leave with a genuine sense of the place.

Classic 2 to 3 days: Follow the day-by-day itinerary above. Don't skip Jedediah Smith. It's the most remote sector, the least visited, and often the one visitors mention first when you ask what they liked best.

Regional road trip (5 days or more): Fit Redwood into the grand coastal Northern California loop. Start with San Francisco and Mendocino, continue to Avenue of the Giants, with giant sequoias of the species Sequoiadendron giganteum, which differs from the park's coastal redwoods, then Redwood, and finally Oregon. This type of trip is covered in our Road Trip guides.

Itinerary Map

The NPS publishes an official park map for free, available at all four visitor centers. It shows which roads are passable for each type of vehicle, along with campgrounds, major trails, and distances between sectors. Download the PDF from nps.gov before you leave and print a copy. Cell service is nearly nonexistent in the forested areas.

Our Redwood map page highlights the key points in the parks on a marked map designed for visitors.

Where to Stay Along the Itinerary

Crescent City has most of the lodging, including chain hotels, motels, and a few B&Bs. Orick and the immediate area around Elk Prairie have fewer options, mostly campgrounds. Lodges in the forest are almost nonexistent, unlike in some other national parks.

Our Where to Stay in Redwood guide breaks things down by sector, with recommended booking lead times for each season and alternatives for RV travelers.

Extend the Trip: What to See Around Redwood

North (Oregon, less than 2 hours away): Brookings and Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor for the coast. Crater Lake National Park, about 3.5 hours from Crescent City, for a high-mountain volcanic experience.

South (California, 1.5 to 3 hours away): Humboldt Redwoods State Park and its Avenue of the Giants, where giant redwoods stand alongside 31 miles of beautiful road. Farther south, the Lost Coast, accessible by car from Eureka, remains one of the wildest and least visited stretches of California coast.

These extensions go beyond a single-park trip. We cover them in our Regional and Road Trip guides.

The Ideal Itinerary for Your Time

One final word about the weather. The redwood coast is cool and damp year-round, ranging from 45 to 64°F depending on the season. Summer brings fog, while October through April brings sustained rain, with roughly 59 to 79 inches over the period. When we visited in August, we put on a windbreaker at the entrance to Fern Canyon while a family in swimsuits searched the trunk for a sweatshirt. Always bring a waterproof layer, whatever the season. For month-by-month climate details, see our Weather page and our When to Visit Redwood guide.

Frequently Asked Questions