California

[SilverPhoenix]

Hi,

Apologies for yet another LA/Vegas thread...

We will be visiting some family in the summer, they live in Calabasas, LA - whilst we are in California, I'd also like to visit Las Vegas and maybe San Francisco. I'd like to make the most of the trip as we will not have the kids with us!

We will be be in the US of A for 2 weeks and 2 days (16 days) - do you think a multi-destination trip is possible, without feeling that we've spent the entire holiday on the move?

My plan was to use the hire car and drive between destinations. In my head, this seems quite 'roadtrip' cool, however, I've been told by some people that the drive to both Vegas ans SF is pretty boring once the novelty has worn off?

I am planning to hire a convertible Mustang, if that has a bearing on the type of roads etc.

Pretty much decided that in Vegas we will be staying in the Bellagio - main reason being because that is where I've always wanted to stay!

Any must see/do things in either San Francisco or LA?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice...

[Hedgeman]

16 days is plenty of time to take in both of those destinations and a great deal more, without feeling you are on the move all the time.

I would strongly recommend taking a few days to drive between San Fran and Vegas, taking the scenic route through Death Valley and Yosemite national park. We did that a few years ago, with stops at Mammoth Lakes and Visalia.

People rave about San Fran. I'm not a massive fan, not sure why. You should definitely book an Alcatraz tour in advance though - I would really recommend the evening landing tour which allows you to see more of the prison. Obviously The Golden Gate bridge, Fishermans Wharf (tat IMO) are essential visits too. I would spend a few days in the city and then drive north to Mendocino along route 1 which hugs the coast, for one of the most spectacular drives of your life. I have driven route 1 both north and south of San Fran and prefer the northern drive. It's much less busy and touristy, with more of a feeling of going back in time. There are some great state parks in the area too.

Vegas, you have the usual list of stuff - Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon. The latter I would book a flight or helicopter package as the drive there is quite long and uneventful. The valley of fire state park is well worth a drive out too though.

So in summary if I was going for 16 days I'd do:
5 days in Vegas
2 days drive to San Fran
4 days in San Fran
5 days in Mendocino

Hope this helps.

Gary.

[Matt..]

The drive between San Francisco and Las Vegas is anything but boring (well, if you go the right way...).

You could very easily do the standard loop. Eg:

LA > Las Vegas > Death Valley > ? (eg. Mammoth Lakes) > Yosemite > San Francisco > LA

For example:
1: Fly into LA
2: LA
3: LA
4: LA
5: Drive to Las Vegas
6: Las Vegas
7: Las Vegas
8: Drive to Death Valley NP
9: Drive to Mammoth Lakes
10: Drive to Yosemite NP (via Tioga Pass, if it's the right time of year and open!)
11: Yosemite NP
12: Drive to San Francisco
13: San Francisco
14: San Francisco
15: Drive to San Luis Obispo (or somewhere on the coast, so you can break up the drive back to LA, but see highway 1 and Big Sur)
16: Drive back to LA and fly out



But there are many, many options. So it's really up to you. Giving some more pointers on what you're interested in would help guide this a little more. eg. Cities/beaches/outdoors/no outdoors/etc...

There are a lot of options within a day of Las Vegas (well, if you want to see the outdoors!).

Edited by Matt.. on Wednesday 25th March 17:42

[Roo]

Fly into one city and fly out of another?

Done it several times that way.

[SilverPhoenix]

Hi,

Thanks for the info.

I'm really leaning towards doing the 'loop' - it seems the most logical & efficient way to see/go where we want, while taking in some amazing sights along the way.

While we are in Las Vegas, we'll do the usual stuff - gamble, shows, shop etc. I'll probably shoot some guns, while the Mrs. hits the spa.

In San Francisco I'd like to do an Alcatraz tour, I'm told the night tours are better and I really need to book in advance. I like the idea of hiring a bike and riding around some of the famous streets and across the bridge.

Also, I want to be in San Francisco on a Saturday to do the Crissy Field Parkrun - Has anyone else done this?

What's the best bet for a hotel in San Francisco? We're not hugely fussed on luxury, just somewhere clean and well located to use as a base.

Am I missing out any 'must see/do' places or activities?

[anonymous-user]

SilverPhoenix said:

In San Francisco I'd like to do an Alcatraz tour, I'm told the night tours are better and I really need to book in advance.

Agreed. The night tour is more atmospheric and less crowded BUT you have limited time on [Sean Connery]The Rock[/Sean Connery]. Also, get to the front of the queue to disembark otherwise you end up wasting time whilst those ahead are off loaded and processed in to the tour. I booked from the UK three months ahead via the NPS website.

SilverPhoenix said:

Am I missing out any 'must see/do' places or activities?

I always recommend checking the Hollywood Bowl to see what's on when in LA. Like Alcatraz, needs booking in advance but it's a really great night out and totally different to a lot of other LA stuff.
We saw the LA Philharmonic and Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers in concert on July 4th.....

[bint]

We did the traditional LA-Vegas-Yosemite-SF-LA over 2 weeks Sept/Oct 2011, highlights for me;

Fremont St, LV
Boulder City
Hoover Dam
Yosemite
Sacramento
Jamestown
Sonoma
Monterey Bay
San Luis Opisbo - farmers market Thursday night - proper BBQs
Ojai

It's the random back of nowhere places you remember!

[Sargeant Orange]

SilverPhoenix said:

Hi,

Thanks for the info.

I'm really leaning towards doing the 'loop' - it seems the most logical & efficient way to see/go where we want, while taking in some amazing sights along the way.

While we are in Las Vegas, we'll do the usual stuff - gamble, shows, shop etc. I'll probably shoot some guns, while the Mrs. hits the spa.

In San Francisco I'd like to do an Alcatraz tour, I'm told the night tours are better and I really need to book in advance. I like the idea of hiring a bike and riding around some of the famous streets and across the bridge.

Also, I want to be in San Francisco on a Saturday to do the Crissy Field Parkrun - Has anyone else done this?

What's the best bet for a hotel in San Francisco? We're not hugely fussed on luxury, just somewhere clean and well located to use as a base.

Am I missing out any 'must see/do' places or activities?

Hiring bikes & riding over to Sausalito, along with Alcatraz was probably the highlight of the stay in San Fran.

If it helps, we stayed in the Mystic hotel just up from union square which we found great as we could walk everywhere

[MrBig]

I recall from going years ago the Vegas to SF drive was a bit tedious, so last time we did the following:

Fly into LAX
3 nights in Anaheim/Buena Park for the theme parks
Drive to Vegas
4 nights in Vegas
Drive back to LA, staying in Pasadena for a few days visiting Hollywood, Beverley Hills etc.. (Pasadena turned out to be a lovely city and with a lot of culture and great social/music scenes.
Spend a day driving up the 101 do Monterey, stopping at Malibu and pismo beach for some awesome sunset pics.
Morning in Monterey, the aquarium there is awesome then up to SF in the afternoon.
Few days in SF doing the usual touristy stuff whilst hunting out some off the beaten track bars/restaurants.
Fly home from SF

Cry when you get the credit card bill.

Wish you could do it all over again. Every year. Twice.

[Craikeybaby]

I'll be doing this trip in September/October, taking about 16 days.

[bint]

Craikeybaby said:

I'll be doing this trip in September/October, taking about 16 days.

That's when we did ours, we had glorious weather and only a couple of days of rain on route 1.

It was the last time we'll be doing that sort of trip as our son was conceived then too!!

[Craivold]

We did a very similar trip (albeit more coastal) in September/October too - seems to be a popular time to do it! I think you'll have plenty of time to do some driving from place to place without feeling too rushed. We flew into SF, hired a horrendous auto Dodge Caliber (it was functional but a terrible drive) and proceeded to do SF > Santa Barbara (via Monterey) > Vegas > San Diego (flew home from there).

The only placed we felt rushed at was Vegas really as we only had 2 nights there - could have done with more to explore a bit more but we had 4 nights in the other places and that was enough I reckon, although I'd love to go back #jealous. We stayed in the Bellagio too and loved it, awesome hotel. I didn't think much of their swanky/young funky bar/steak grill though. A meal for two, just mains (I would have got better steak at the local Fullers pub) with a couple of drinks each, came out at £120. I think they expect you to pay more as all the waitresses have their cleavages on show, they probably hope you won't notice the food isn't great. The noodle bar at the Bellagio was top notch however - definitely give it a go if you like Chinese. Also, depending on shows you want to see etc... try to make the Vegas leg during the week if you can - hotel prices are way cheaper than over a weekend (usually).

I didn't think much of SF personally but there were plenty of Brits out there that loved it. Santa Barbara was really nice and as Big says above Monterey Aquarium is amazing, not more than a couple of hours from SF I think? When we were there they had the only captive Great White in the world, was cool to see that cruising around.

Any excuse for some snaps;

Sea Lions at Pier 39 SF


Bit of Golden Gate love


Horseback trek through the Santa Barbara hills


Leadbitter beach SB


Bellagio


Trestles


This was the mall at San Diego on a hot Sunday (it's always hot there :-). I couldn't believe how quiet it was, free parking too. If this was West Quay in Southampton there'd be a million people there and parking would be hundreds of pounds:


Enjoy your trip OP!

[bad company]

We got back from California on Tuesday, we love the area.

I would allow more time in Death Valley and get yourself a 4x4 for some of the off road drives, they are superb. You could rent a Jeep from one of the normal rental firms OR rent a normal/cheaper car and get yourself one of the real heavy duty Jeeps available to rent at DV. They have heavy duty tyres and gps specially for the job.

[Misaps]

I have been researching for our trip in Sept/Oct and was surprised by how much there is to see/do in Death Valley, now wishing we had more than two nights in that location. Have set my heart on hiring a jeep and doing Titus Canyon though.

Heard so many good things about Monterey Aquarium and initially thought I wasn't interested (have one locally and also dived quite a bit in the Maldives which I'm unsure if it could be surpassed!) but the more I read the more I am interested. Also cannot make my mind up about Hearst Castle off of H1....seems like an Americans idea of how a traditional European Castle should look; am I doing it an injustice?

[bad company]

Misaps said:

I have been researching for our trip in Sept/Oct and was surprised by how much there is to see/do in Death Valley, now wishing we had more than two nights in that location. Have set my heart on hiring a jeep and doing Titus Canyon though.

Heard so many good things about Monterey Aquarium and initially thought I wasn't interested (have one locally and also dived quite a bit in the Maldives which I'm unsure if it could be surpassed!) but the more I read the more I am interested. Also cannot make my mind up about Hearst Castle off of H1....seems like an Americans idea of how a traditional European Castle should look; am I doing it an injustice?

I drove Titus Canyon last week in a 'Hertz Jeep'. It is a fantastic drive and can be done in any SUV with decent ground clearance. Some of the other drives such as the Racetrack need heavy duty tyres.

I have driven past Hearst Castle several times and have never been in for the reasons you say. Scotty's castle at Death Valley is another. It looks a bit wierd from the outside so did not bother with a tour.

[Craikeybaby]

It sounds like our plan to see Death Valley in one afternoon on the way from Las Vegas to Mammoth Springs has vastly underestimated Death Valley.

[smack]

Craivold said:

This was the mall at San Diego on a hot Sunday (it's always hot there :-). I couldn't believe how quiet it was, free parking too. If this was West Quay in Southampton there'd be a million people there and parking would be hundreds of pounds:

That would be Mission Valley Center

[David Beer]

I have done the region many many times. Will be there in June for 23 days, taking in Zion Moab Vegas San diego and back to San Fran. Then back again for Xmas. In the summer I half camp in nat parks and nice hotels, in the winter motorhome. I have done most states but really love the area, never boring even having camped in Joshua tree maybe forty separate times !!

[Matt..]

Craikeybaby said:

It sounds like our plan to see Death Valley in one afternoon on the way from Las Vegas to Mammoth Springs has vastly underestimated Death Valley.

That all depends on what you want to see. Death Valley is big (eg. Twice the size of Devon!). Everything is far apart. It can be several hours drive to get to some locations. I'd get the map out and see where what you want to see is, and how long it will actually take.