Crescent City

From San Francisco or Portland, US Highway 101 makes a scenic but sometimes slow drive along the coast to Crescent City. Between San Francisco and Crescent City, there are only a few connector roads from the east (Hwy 20, Hwy 299) so if you want to drive along the coast, you can access Hwy 101 near San Francisco and follow it north.

From Grants Pass in Oregon, you can take US Highway 199 southwest to reach Crescent City.

Grants Pass is also a stop along Interstate 5, which is the major north-south highway on the west coast. Interstate 5 is known as fast and easy to drive and has good connections to further east, but it's often a boring road.

 In you are traveling on Interstate 5 and want to travel over to the coast, you can take Hwy 299 west where it intersects I-5 at Redding, Ca.

Hwy 299 west is a beautiful, highly scenic, curvy/winding route through the rugged mountains of Northern California. This route takes from Redding, through Weaverville and Willow Creek, along the Trinity and Klamath Rivers enroute to its juntion with Hwy 101 at Arcata, CA.

Depending on your speed and stops along the way, Hwy 299 will take you approximately two and a half to three hours driving time to reach the coast.

(If you take I-5 north to the Hwy 199 cutoff at Grants Pass, Oregon, and head over to the coast, you are looking at a Five plus hour trip.)

As a word of caution, Hwy 299 is not advisable during winter months due to Ice, snow and ppssibly slides that can cause long delays and/or road closures.

If you are not prone to motion sickness and enjoy scenic, country roads (mostly two lanes) you might want to give Hwy 299 a try.

• 🌍 Del Norte County Regional Airport (CEC  ^IATA). Is a small airport in Crescent City on the northwest side of town serving as a general aviation airport. Daily commercial flights with Contour Airlines from Oakland. Next nearest commercial airports are the Arcata-Eureka Airport (ACV) in McKinleyville at 70 mi (110 km) south on US 101, and the Rogue Valley Airport (MFR) in Medford, Oregon, 109 mi (175 km) NE of Crescent City via US 199. 

The 🌍 Cultural Center curbside bus stop on Front Street near K Street acts as the main transfer point for buses serving Crescent City.

• Redwood Coast Transit, ☏ +1 707 464-6400. Provides service in Del Norte County and limited service in Humboldt County. Route 20 comes all the way from Arcata in the south and terminates in Smith River, north via Crescent City. Route 20 is timed to connect with Curry Public Transit's Coastal Express (serves the southern Oregon Coast, all the way up to Coos Bay/North Bend) in Smith River. Connections to Greyhound, Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach, and the Redwood Transit System (Humboldt County public transit) services in Arcata. $1 local Crescent City routes, $1.50 within the rest of Del Norte County, $30 to travel between Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. (updated Jul 2015)
• Klamath Shuttle, ☏ +1 541 883-2609, toll-free: +1-888-900-2609. Inter-city bus service serving southwestern Oregon. The bus runs from Brookings and Smith River in the south to Cave Junction, Grants Pass, Medford, Ashland, and Klamath Falls in the northeast. Fares $8-45 based on distance. (updated Jul 2015)