Explore the Best Weekend Trips from Orange County

As awesome as it is to live in Orange County, California, you sometimes have to go somewhere else on the weekend. With the right vehicle from a Beach Boulevard of Cars dealer in Huntington Beach, you can easily relish the following getaways for a mini-vacation.

A Solo Escape

When you’re single, you can jump into your car any time you feel like it and head to a solo escape like Dana Point. This coastal community has the surfing and shops that HB does, but its more relaxed beach vibe helps you decompress more quickly. You can look cool getting there on PCH in two-seaters like the spunky Mazda MX-5 Miata, with its convertible top down, or the sleek Nissan Z that revs its 3.0-liter Twin-Turbo up to 400 horsepower.

Other options include the Honda Civic Type-R, which plants its high-performance chassis on the freeway with the track-tested rear spoiler, or the exciting 700-horsepower Ram 1500 TRX, which rushes from 0 to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds. Use either one from December to April to watch gray whales or from May to November to spy blue whales.

Family Friendly

If you want to take the family on your weekend jaunts, Carlsbad offers such delights as LEGOLAND California with rides and attractions devoted to our favorite Danish building blocks, and SEA LIFE Aquarium, also within LEGOLAND, which interactively entertains with over 5,000 creatures and 350 different species. You’ll need a bigger vehicle, such as the Chevrolet Suburban, which seats up to nine on three rows, or the eight-seat Chrysler Pacifica that lets you keep an eye on the kids through the available interior FamCAM™.

Come in the spring in the seven-seat Hyundai Palisade, which has a massage function for the driver, to marvel at the colorful ranunculus flowers in the Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch. You can rent kayaks and paddleboards for water sports at Carlsbad Lagoon, where the Volkswagen Atlas can accommodate up to seven, while protecting everyone with intelligent driver assists.

Off-Road Nature

Combine visits to Mother Nature and off-road challenges on trails like the Main Divide Road, which offers superb views of Orange, Los Angeles, and Riverside Counties, or Modjeska Peak via Maple Spring Trail in the Cleveland National Forest, which challenges with steep and rocky climbs.

Both the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco can get you closer to the trees and animals with their removable doors and tops. The Wrangler traverses higher obstacles with ground clearance ranging from 9.7 to 12.9 inches, while the Bronco features a Terrain Management System that adapts the drive to various surfaces, including sand, mud, rocks, and snow.

Any trim of the Subaru Outback boosts handling on any surface with standard all-wheel drive. Opt for the Wilderness trim and you upgrade ground clearance, tires, and suspension for maximizing off-road

MPG for Wine

When you think of wine country, Paso Robles may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but this locale invites tasting at over 200 wineries, with over 90 percent that are family-run. Couple that with a Distillery Trail that serves craft whiskey, rum, and vodka, and you can enjoy a weekend that pleases your beverage palate.

Since it takes over four hours to reach Paso Robles from the OC, mileage becomes a priority for your getaways. The Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid tops the field with an EPA-estimated 127 MPGe, while the Kia Niro Plug-in Hybrid provides 108 MPGe, and the Dodge Hornet Plug-in Hybrid delivers 77 MPGe.

Come see one of the dealers associated with Beach Boulevard of Cars today, and check out your next vehicle.