Visiting all the California missions is a rewarding goal. They are all unique and I really enjoyed seeing them all. But it’s a lot of driving so you’ll want to be as efficient as possible and make sure that each mission, museum and giftshop is open to visitors when you arrive. For example, you don’t want to drive all the way out to Mission San Antonio and find it closed or not be able to see everything due to a mass or wedding or funeral. Here are some tips I learned the hard way:
Put together a plan based on each mission’s visitor hours and days when they are open; this widely differs. Some are opened everyday and some are closed one or two or three days a week. Look at each mission’s website just before each visit.
The mission’s website might also let you know if some special event (a wedding, funeral, holiday) will close the mission on a particular day. Note – The missions and mission stores are often staffed by volunteers and may not open exactly at the posted times.
If the mission is an active parish church (and most are), make sure you plan around the mass schedule so you can avoid visiting during these hours – unless, of course, you want to worship.
How much time should you allow for your visit? I would plan to spend at least 2 hours at most missions, but one hour is all you’ll need for some of the smaller sites: San Rafael, Soledad, Buenaventura, Santa Cruz, Santa Ines, Sonoma.
Allow time to visit the museums which showcase mission-era artifacts and exhibits. Some offer self-guided tours and some offer docent guided group tours. See each mission’s website for museum hours and other details.
Due to all the above, trying to visit all 21 missions in a single road trip would be logistically very challenging. Instead, chunk it out and maybe visit 3 or 4 at a time and, of course, plan around the commute traffic in Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
Alta California Missions 