Question:  Sharam asks:  I plan to drive from San Francisco to Vancouver, BC.  I have choice of Highway 5 & 101.  Which is a better scenic road?  Please advise and where to stop too.

Answer:  Judy Mest, travel planner at the AAA office in Portland, Ore. says:  Highway 101 is a beautiful scenic drive and is designated as a AAA Scenic Byway.  You’ll certainly enjoy the California redwoods on the first leg of your trip, with opportunities to visit the Redwood National Park and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.  Golf enthusiasts will love Bandon, Ore., where you’ll find Bandon Dunes, a golf course built on the dunes along the Pacific.  Reedsport is very scenic with lots of outdoor activities such as hiking and beachcombing.  Oregon Dunes National Recreation area (Siuslaw National Forest) is also nearby.

Another scenic area is near Florence, Ore. where you will find giant sand dunes and home of the sea lion caves.  We’ve used TripTik Travel Planner to plan this trip where you will also find in addition to the route, information from AAA TourBook guides on hotels, restaurants, what to see along the way and more.

You can cut over to Portland just north of Lincoln City (Lincoln city is popular for windsurfing and other water sports) via Oregon State Route 18, but depending on how much time you have, you can also continue north on Route 101 to the Washington state line and stop at Cannon Beach, famous for the world’s third largest monolith Haystack Rock.  Further north is Astoria, Oregon’s northernmost city and also very scenic.

However, I-5 is shorter, a more direct route and offers a shorter driving time.  I-5 has a variety of very scenic areas, especially the area around Shasta Lake, Calif. through the Siskiyou mountain pass into Oregon, north of Grants Pass, Ore. and a pretty drive through the Willamette Valley's agricultural area between Eugene and Portland.  In Washington state, the drive is equally pleasant, offering views of agricultural areas and of course views of both Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier to the east of I-5.  Even though traffic will be busy, the view of Seattle and the Space Needle from the interstate is terrific.  In all, the whole length of I-5 from San Francisco to Vancouver is a very pleasant drive, but not as highly scenic as Hwy. 101.

You can also check out the Portland and Seattle Travel Guides on AAA.com.  You can click AAA Picks and find a three-day itinerary outlined for each of these cities, as well as AAA editors’ selections for their favorite restaurants and attractions.