How NOT to Hate a Road Trip from Texas to California (9 Days)
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Are you doing a road trip from California to Texas? It’s easy to think of that drive as nothing more than dirt, rocks and plants that are just barely surviving in the desert and badlands that make up most of the journey.
And you’d be right for the most part!
The key is to drive straight through the boring parts and make the right stops at some of the USA’s most underrated destinations.
This southwestern road trip itinerary between Texas and California covers:
- 3 awesome cities (Austin, Alamogordo & Tucson)
- 5 different national parks
- A great time in San Diego
I did this exact road trip in early 2025 while I was still living out of my SUV and traveling across America.
For a while, my goal was to just get to California quickly and then take my sweet time doing my west coast road trip all year. But I ended up taking a full month driving between Austin and San Diego because it was SO good!
This road trip is spectacular and absolutely unexpected, and I want to share my experience with you.
Let’s get straight to the itinerary!
And just FYI, this road trip works if you’re traveling to Northern California too – the fastest route follows this itinerary almost exactly, except for a few detours.
The only change comes once you get to Joshua Tree, where you’ll head north. The quick way takes you past Sequoia National Park and Yosemite Valley, where I definitely recommend spending at least 2 days.
Otherwise, you can take a slower route through Death Valley National Park and then do the Eastern Sierras road trip all the way to the bay area. That by itself is one of America’s best road trips.
Day 1: The Weird City
This road trip’s first stop is “the Weird City” of Austin.
I got a tour of Austin from a local friend, and it was amazing! Here’s what we did:
The day started downtown with breakfast tacos from a local food truck, Austin’s signature food. Try out Veracruz All Natural, which is where I ate.
Then, stroll around downtown Austin and get to know:
- Lady Bird Lake
- The Austin Public Library
- Texas State Capitol
- University of Texas Campus
After a good time downtown, spend the afternoon visiting Mount Bonnel to get the best view there is of the Austin skyline, go to The Oasis for great views and a drink, and finish off the night at Central Market with delicious food and (hopefully) some live music!
If you have the time, you could also check out the Barton Springs Pool. It’s a huge swimming pool with water from a natural spring, and it’s always 68 degrees for some reason.
If you’re spending 1 day in Austin, read my detailed itinerary for the full run-down on how to best take advantage of your time!
Day 2: Driving to the Guadalupe Mountains
The drive from Austin to the Guadalupe Mountains is about 7 and a half hours long (485 miles).
On days like this, I prefer to take it easy and make it a driving day – no tourism. If you have the ability to get exploring, kudos to you… you’re a superhero! Go to McKittrick Canyon and burn off some energy with a gorgeous hike (more on these hike later).
This drive is entirely through the desert, and I thought it was cool. But it can get boring. One thing’s for sure: there isn’t much to get out and do.
BUT, this is where you can take a 2-3 day detour to Big Bend National Park in southern Texas to see a total of 6 national parks on your road trip from Texas to California.
If you’re sticking to this itinerary, just make your way to Carlsbad, New Mexico and prepare for an awesome day 3.
Day 3: Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns National Park
The Guadalupe Mountains are a mountain range that’s home to 2 national parks within 45 minutes of each other – Carlsbad Caverns National Park and Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
The whole mountain range is actually an ancient coral reef!
And you can explore both national parks in one awesome day.
Start out in Guadalupe Mountains National Park for a morning of hiking, because that’s really the only thing to do there. I loved the Guadalupe Peak trail because you get to the highest point in Texas, but there are other amazing hikes too:
- Pine Springs Visitor Center: the Guadalupe Peak trail starts here, along with two other hikes you could try. The Devil’s Hall trail is a super fun 4.8-mile trail through a dried-up riverbed with weird, layered rock. Then there’s the El Capitan trail, which is 9 miles long, but mostly flat, and it takes you to the bottom of the imposing El Capitan formation.
- MicKittrick Canyon: there are two great hikes in this gorgeous canyon. The Pratt Cabin trail follows the canyon for 2.4 miles and ends at an old cabin, while Permian Reef takes you further up to the ridge if you walk the 4 miles there (I turned back less than halfway up because I was resting for the Guadalupe Peak hike the next day).
Whatever hike you do, get started early to beat the heat and to be done before 2:15, which is the last time slot to get into the Carlsbad Caverns.
Yes, you need a reservation to get into the caverns, but at least it’s easy.
Just make your reservation on the Recreation.gov site (for $1) and show your confirmation when you get there. Then, you pay the entrance fee to the park and you’re good to go!
You can also just show up at the park and see if they have open slots, but there’s a risk of the park being full for the day.
The Carlsbad Caverns are AMAZING, and there’s 3 things you just can’t miss when you go:
- The Main Corridor: you could take the elevator down to the caverns, but don’t. The walk through the enormous mouth of the cave and down into its depths is incredible (do take the elevator up, though!)
- The Big Room: this is the main attraction, which is a 1.2-mile loop through the biggest cavern. Take your time marveling at everything in there.
- Bat flight: if you visit the Carlsbad Caverns from May to October, you can go to the mouth of the cave at sunset to see bats fly out of the caverns. They do it every day.
And that is an amazing day in two VERY different national parks!
It’s also a long day, so save the drive to White Sands National Park for the morning of day 4.
Day 4-5: White Sands National Park & Alamogordo
The drive from the Carlsbad Caverns to White Sands National Park is about 3 and a half hours long (188 miles). That gives you time to drive in the morning and then enjoy the park the best way possible: watching the sunset on top of a dune.
Take it easy on Day 5. Just go to the visitor center, watch the park film (which is amazing) and have a picnic.
But if you have lots of energy, these are the things you just HAVE to do while visiting White Sands and Alamogordo:
- Hike the Alkali Flat Trail: this 5-mile hike takes you through the tallest dunes, all the way to where the dune field starts, and can be done barefoot because the white sand doesn’t get hot! It’s the most immersive experience in White Sands National Park.
- Visit the world’s largest pistachio: Alamogordo, the city right next to White Sands is pretty awesome. My favorite thing was visiting McGinn’s PistachioLand, where I had pistachio ice cream, got a free wine tasting and tried lots of roasted pistachios.
- Go to space museums: Alamogordo is where the first atomic bomb was detonated, and there are two really cool museums about space and missiles – the Museum of Space History and White Sands Missile Range Museum.
By itself, the road trip with White Sands, Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Park is one of the most underrated in the USA! It usually starts from El Paso, and it’s worth doing.
Finish day 5 with another sunset on the dunes or get a head start on the 5-hour drive to Tucson.
Day 6-7: Saguaro National Park & Tucson
You can explore Saguaro National Park and Tucson in a day, but it’s worth taking it slow because the drive here is about 5 hours long.
That means you have a day and a half to explore the park and this awesome city.
Saguaro National Park is divided into two parts (east and west) by the city of Tucson. And each part of the park is pretty different. Saguaro West has a denser saguaro forest (saguaros are those enormous cacti), while Saguaro East has more expansive landscapes.
My recommendation for any trip to Tucson is to spend some time hiking in both Saguaro West and East and to get to know Tucson.
The Best Hikes in Saguaro National Park
- Sendero Esperanza: a 1.7-mile hike to an amazing view of Saguaro West!
- King’s Canyon: a 4.4-mile hike through a gorgeous canyon in Saguaro West, with the option to make it a 7-mile hike to the highest point in the park.
- Loma Verde to Pink Hill: a nice 3.8-mile hike through the best of Saguaro East.
- Tanque Verde Ridge Trail: a strenuous 11.2-mile hike along the ridge that looks over Saguaro East.
You can read all about these hikes and spending a day in Tucson in my guide to one day in Saguaro National Park!
What to Do in Tucson
The best thing to do in Tucson is eat food. The city is known for it’s Sonoran-style Mexican food. It’s a combination of traditional Mexican and Native American food and it’s amazing!
My favorite restaurant was Tania 33, but Tucson is full of incredible places to eat.
Tucson is also a gorgeous city. Definitely make time to go downtown and walk around or take a guided tour.
Then, a sort of random thing that piqued my curiosity while I was there was an enormous property with airplanes. I drove by it a few times and was just wondering what it was. The place is called The Boneyard, and it’s home to 4,400 airplanes – the largest aircraft storage facility in the world! The tour of the Boneyard also includes 2 museums about missiles, nuclear weapons and space.
After enjoying this gorgeous desert landscape, get a head start on the 6-hour trip to Joshua Tree National Park.
Day 8: Joshua Tree National Park
The long drive (6 hours) to this park is absolutely worth it to take in the surreal landscape that is Joshua Tree National Park.
Oh, and welcome to California! Make sure you gas up before crossing the state line.
This national park looks like someone just dumped piles of gigantic boulders randomly all over the place. And the Joshua trees add to the weirdness of the landscape. I’ve never seen trees like them.
You’ll be entering the park from the southeast, and most of its attractions are in the northwestern part of the park.
Fortunately, you can explore the park really well in one busy day. You get to see SO many cool things, in this order as you drive through the park:
- Arch Rock and Heart Rock: an amazing hike to see two very weird rocks.
- Live Oak: a picnic area with an oak tree, which tends to need a lot of water. A rare sight in the desert!
- Skull Rock, Split Rock and Face Rock: park and see a rock that looks like a skull right by the road. Then, you can hike to Face Rock (which, yep… looks like a face) and split rock.
- Cap Rock & Ryan Ranch: two fun hikes through classic Joshua Tree landscapes
- Barker Dam: a great loop to a dam. You can also find some of Joshua Tree’s best bouldering here.
- Hidden Valley: my favorite hike of the day, it’s a loop through a valley surrounded by the biggest piles of rock you’ve ever seen.
For a full, detailed run down on this 1-day itinerary for Joshua Tree, check out my guide to Joshua Tree!
Then, only a 2-and-a-half-hour drive stands between you and the beaches of San Diego.
Bonus destination: a great stop between Joshua Tree and San Diego is Whitewater Preserve in Sand to Snow National Monument.
It’s like an oasis in the desert. I stopped here and hiked part of the Pacific Crest Trail, and it was a refreshing hike after so much time immersed in the desert.
Day 9+: San Diego
My road trip ended in San Diego, 2 and a half hours from Joshua Tree… and I LOVED San Diego.
There’s so much to do in the city, from outdoorsy escapes to typical city activities, all in a vibing beach city.
When I visited San Diego, I got the local tour from a friend and these were my favorite things to do:
- Torrey Pines: rolling hills right next to the ocean, ending in sheer cliffs down to a rocky beach. There’s nothing quite like smelling the salt in the air and listening to the cries of sea gulls.
- Sunset Cliffs: my favorite place to watch the sunset, right in the city.
- Downtown, the Marina and Balboa Park: now this was a fun day! We walked around downtown and ate great food, walked to San Diego’s iconic Marina and finished off the afternoon with a long walk through Balboa Park and all its museums and gardens.
- Amazing restaurants: check out Sabores Colombianos, Tacos el Gordo, ASA Bakery, do a food tour in Old Town San Diego or enjoy the amazing restaurants downtown.
- USS Midway Museum: this is the #1 thing to do in San Diego according to all the tourism websites! I only saw it from outside in the Marina, but I do love me some WWII history.
For even more inspiration, read my detailed guide to spending 1, 2 or 3 days in San Diego!
And just like that, what could be a really boring drive becomes an incredible road trip across half of the USA.
People think of New Mexico and Texas as places that have nothing to offer, but the truth is that you just have to know where to go and what to do. This road trip from California to Texas has been one of my favorites!
Not only do you get to explore 4 different awesome cities, but you also get to know 5 incredible American national parks.
I hope this guide has inspired you to get out there and travel!
Know Before you Go
Now that you have all the itinerary details, let’s take a look at some tips and resources you might need before you go.
- Rental car: a rental car is a must unless you’re driving your own (like I did). Find the best prices by using Discover Cars.
- The only place that requires a reservation on this itinerary is Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Make your reservation here.
- Here are all the museums and things to do in Balboa Park in San Diego. Some are free and others require a ticket.
- The entire area from Joshua Tree to White Sands is really sandy and windy, and there can be dust storms that reduce visibility to ZERO. I experienced a dust storm outside of Las Cruces and it lengthened my drive by 2 hours, so be ready for anything!
How to Spend Less (or Nothing) on Hotels
When I did this road trip, I didn’t spend any money on hotels because I car camped for free in my SUV. Here are the general locations I car camped for this entire road trip to Texas:
- Joshua Tree: North Joshua Tree BLM (Coyote Lake)
- Tucson: “BLM Camp” in western Tucson
- White Sands: Raptor Lake
- Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains: Pine Springs Safety Rest Area or Sunset Reef Campground.
But there are lots, probably hundreds, of other free car camping options on the way!
If you’re planning any sort of trip in the Southwest, I actually made a free map with 70+ free car camping spots I found and vetted during my 2 years on the road. It’s my go-to resource whenever I’m planning where to sleep for the night.
👉 Grab the map for free below – I’ll email it to you right away!
When it comes to cheap or free lodging in San Diego and Austin, it’s nearly impossible to find, but both cities have wonderful hotel options.
I was able to stay with local friends, though, so I don’t know about any specific hotels.
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