Day Trip Ideas

At The Catholic Local we want to make it easier to enjoy the beauty of the Catholic faith close to home. These are day trips from Los Angeles, by train or by car, each one a way to spend a day together and grow closer to Jesus. Every time is checked, and each trip says when.

Day trip · Coast Starlight

Union Station to Mission Santa Barbara

The lounge car along the ocean, the mission and its gardens, and the Saturday Vigil Mass. Back in LA by 9:11 PM.

See the day →Day trip · Pacific Surfliner

Union Station to Mission San Juan Capistrano

An hour and a quarter by train, the Serra Chapel where St. Junípero Serra said Mass, lunch on the old street by the station, and the Saturday Vigil at the basilica next door. Back in LA by 8:04 PM.

See the day →Day trip · By car

A Saturday of the Hours at St. Michael's Abbey

Drive out for Sext at noon, take the tour that follows it, lunch at the Silverado Cafe, confession in the afternoon, then None, the Rosary and Vespers. Stay on for Benediction and Compline if you can.

See the day →Day trip · By car

Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas, then the Punch Bowl Hike

The early Mass in Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel, then about three miles up Santa Paula Canyon to the Punch Bowls while the canyon is still cool, with a swim. Lunch in Santa Paula and home by mid-afternoon.

See the day →Day trip · By car

A Day with the Benedictines at St. Andrew's Abbey

Drive up for the noon Conventual Mass and a lunch you brought, then an afternoon of the Stations of the Cross, silence and spiritual reading on the grounds, Lectio Divina the monks' way, and Vespers at 5:30. Back in LA by 8.

See the day →