Rarely is this megalopolis—renowned for its monotonous, traffic-clogged freeways—considered a great place to drive. But with a little guidance, the beauty of the storied city and the contrasting natural wonders of the desert and the Pacific coast are all within easy reach.

Day One: In the heart of the city (20 miles)

Start your drive in the middle of the entertainment capital, with a tram tour of the Warner Bros. lot. Afterward, head westward on the Ventura Freeway to Laurel Canyon Boulevard and then cruise up Laurel to Mulholland Drive.

Continue west and turn onto Benedict Canyon Drive, where the old Valentino place, Falcon’s Lair, shares its high hillside with nouveau riche newcomers. The estate of silent-film comedian Harold Lloyd, where once a house brooded among trees beyond a broad meadow and a creek, has been partly replaced by a row of gigantic mansions.

The road winds down the flanks of the hills, takes a hard right, and plunges into the bottom of the canyon. Deer, raccoons, foxes, possums, and quail roam these hills (with the roar of crickets all around you, it’s hard to imagine that you are in the center of one of the world’s largest cities). Finally, Benedict Canyon leads past lawns, flower beds, and ranch-style houses, ending at Sunset Boulevard, beside the legendary Beverly Hills Hotel.

Day Two: Los Angeles to Santa Barbara and back (300 miles)

Take the Ventura Freeway to the exit for Las Virgenes Road, which becomes Malibu Canyon Road. As soon as you start to feel settled into this sun-baked landscape of piñons, you round a bend and a huge, gleaming white Hindu temple rears up before you—one of those flashes of incongruous weirdness particular to Southern California. The road winds through the majestic canyon of Malibu Creek and soon emerges overlooking a sea shimmering under broken clouds. Turn right onto Route 1, and follow this coastal road for about an hour, at which point you’ll be on the wooded outskirts of Santa Barbara, a city with the world’s best Mexican food stand, La Super-Rica Taqueria, on the corner of North Milpas and Alphonse. If there’s a long line, lunch at Citronelle, the baby sister of L.A.’s trendy Citrus, improbably situated on the third floor of the Santa Barbara Inn. Try for a table by the window overlooking the beach so you can take in the ceaseless parade of skaters and cyclists.

Day Three: Los Angeles to the desert and back (340 miles)

The Angeles Crest Highway climbs through the foothills north of downtown, winding as if to shake off its riders, and then swings northward across the mountains. Keep the window open; the road is bordered with lupine, yucca flowers resembling ten-foot candle flames, and dense masses of Spanish broom, whose rich, sweet perfume, loosened by the sun’s heat, pours in. Atop the ridge, in an unpretentious domed building, is the Mount Wilson Observatory, which when it was completed in 1917 boasted the world’s most powerful telescope—all 100 inches of it. Today, the observatory is a sort of astrophysical holy place (although it’s open to worshipers only on weekends): It was here, 70 years ago, that Edwin Hubble made the observations that led him to conclude that there are multiple galaxies in the universe.

Backtrack a few miles and take the N3 north toward the desert. The few cars on this road teeter precariously on their springs as they tackle the endless broad bends. Continue on routes 138, 18, and 247—soon there’s no forest in sight, unless you count the Joshua trees covering the foothills like hordes of spike-haired, gesturing prophets. To the north, the Mojave Desert fades into a remote haze and the Joshua trees give way to low, thorny scrub that aliens apparently love—some are said to have set down their saucers here.

For the return trip to Los Angeles, take Route 62 to I-10, a straight shot back to the city and cocktails at the Beverly Hills Hotel. From here, it’s only about 100 miles, but you couldn’t be farther away in these mysterious wilds.

Pit Stops

Los Angeles

Beverly Hills Hotel (310-276-2251; beverlyhillshotel.com; doubles, $375–$445). Chadwick (310-205-9424; entrées, $20–$35). Polo Lounge (entrées, $18–$36). Tengu (310-209-0071; entrées, $13–$25).

Santa Barbara

Citronelle (805-966-2285; entrées, $23–$32). La Super-Rica Taqueria (805-963-4940; entrées, $3–$8).