California/Las Vegas Roadtrip Honeymoon

[Craikeybaby]

Apparently I'm getting married this year, so while the future Mrs CB is worrying about the wedding, we also need to sort out the honeymoon.

The outline plan is a San Francisco, Los Angeles & Las Vegas roadtrip, ideally in a Mustang/Camaro.

Jen has been to LA before, but didn't go to the beach areas and wants to visit some wineries, I'm more keen on the road trip aspect and the national parks etc. We both want to go to San Francisco. I've had a play on Google maps and come up with the following itinerary:

Fly to San Francisco
2 nights Carmel/Monterey/Santa Cruz area
1 night Santa Barbara
2 nights Venice Beach/Santa Monica
2 nights Las Vegas
1 night Mammoth Lakes
2 nights Yosemite
3 nights San Francisco
Fly back to the UK/real life etc

I had wanted to visit Lake Tahoe and the Garnd Canyon, but I don't think we will have time, unless we do a tour from Las Vegas. Does that look like a sensible itinerary, or can anyone suggest any improvements?

I've chosen to start from San Francisco, but are there any benefits for flights/car hire if we start in Los Angeles?

Can anyone suggest places to stay, visit or avoid on the route?

Edited by Craikeybaby on Wednesday 14th January 15:58

[Craikeybaby]

Thanks, that's the sort of recommendation we're looking for.

[Craikeybaby]

Thanks, so it looks like 2 nights in Santa Barbara & 1 in Venice Beach. Is Monterey to Santa Barbara doable in a day with the odd sightseeing stop?

[Craikeybaby]

Shaoxter said:

Nice plan, we did LA/Vegas/Grand Canyon/Death Valley/Mammoth Lakes/Yosemite/San Fran in 9 days so yeah it is all do-able.

Loved the whole trip, but best thing was the helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon, simply stunning. Booked through Papillon.

In terms of cars, the Camaro SS we rented was pretty disappointing. Not enough room in the boot for a suitcase if you want the roof down either. I'd probably recommend a Challenger or something massive, American sports cars are really not anything to write home about especially if you're used to MR2 Roadster/MX5 handling. Would not recommend hiring a car from LAX unless you like 3 hour waits.

Hotel prices in Vegas vary massively, and counterintuitively, they sometimes get cheaper closer to the date of your stay. Individual hotels prices also change massively day to day (depending on the events they have on) so you may be better off staying in different hotels each night. Case in point: first 2 days at Mandalay Bay were £40/night, third was >£300!

Got a bit bored of San Fran after a day, too many freaking tourists. Queue for the cable car was like 2 hours.

Good to hear it is doable, I really fancied driving to the Grand Canyon, but didn't realise quite how far away it is, I keep hearing good things about the helicopter trips though - just need to convince the OH who is a bit of a wimp when it comes to these things.

I'm not too worried about luggage space, we're used to a Fiat 500 being our bigger practical car and pack accordingly. We'll be heading to the Highlands in my MR2 in the spring too. I'm surprised at how good the roads look, especially in the national parks, I'd love a little sports car for those, but hoping to go native with a V8!

[Craikeybaby]

HotJambalaya said:

It looks like you're starting and ending in SF?

I'd probably book an open jaw ticket, and fly into SF, drive to LA, drive to vegas, and fly home from there.

Only things I have to add, are go see the giant sequoia trees (general sherman) at Sequoia national park, if you feel like splashing out being the honey moon and all stay a couple of nights at the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur http://www.postranchinn.com/

On the drive, don't make the mistake I made and skip Hurst Castle, biggest mistake ever (apparently... since I didn't see it)

I didn't think that much of Santa Barbara, bit boring to be honest, same with Monterray, both worth a night at most.

Yes, flying into and out of SF, I'm actually looking forward to the drive from Las Vegas back to San francisc through Death Valley and Yosemite. I did look at Sequoia, but it looks like you can only access the park from the west, so it would mean a longer route and missing Death Valley, but it is still a possibility as I've heard a lot of good things about Sequoia.

Post Ranch looks stunning, will consider it when we get to booking hotels.

Do you mean visit Hearst Castle, or just take a look?

My initial thought was 1 night in Santa Barbara and 2 at Venice beach/Santa Monica, but will see. I may also ditch the first night in Monterey and stay at the airport, rather than driving all that way straight after a 12 hour flight.

[Craikeybaby]

Crossflow Kid said:

We did an almost identical route on a Harley last summer.
One thing I'm glad I did was check out the program at he Hollywood Bowl......got to see Steve Martin (he of Parenthood fame but also a very accomplished bluegrass banjo player along with his folk group) in concert with the LA Philharmonic.
Really great venue and a fantastic night out, pretty much regardless of who's on.
Mel's Drive-in in San Francisco is worth a look.
Laguna Seca is just outside Monterey but is monumentally boring unless something's going on.

That sounds like an awesome trip, how long did you spend over there?

Meals drive in sounds great, that's on the list now!

[Craikeybaby]

mike80 said:

Craikeybaby said:

Thanks, so it looks like 2 nights in Santa Barbara & 1 in Venice Beach. Is Monterey to Santa Barbara doable in a day with the odd sightseeing stop?

Yes, we stopped quite a lot, and took a couple of detours off the main route as well. In a normal car as well! I would say we left Santa Barbara at 9.30am, and were in Monterey by 5 at the latest.

Thanks, those pictures have made me even more excited. Just got to get this wedding out the way...

[Craikeybaby]

undred orse said:

We went to S F in April.Never again.Very disappointed.Full of addicts/homeless people acting in an aggressive/intimidating way.Generally a disappointing place apart from Alcatraz.I definitely wouldn't waste 3 days there which are much better spent elsewhere.The Hilton there is a bit of a dump.

Agree Santa Cruz hasn't much to do.Carmel is ok but quiet and full of fairly pretentious people.

Huntington Beach is great - very chilled.Further south San Clemente is quiet but chilled.

Further north than S F are some good vineyards to visit in the Napa and Sonoma valleys.Francis Ford Coppola has one with props from the Godfather films and a Tucker car on show.

In Vegas our favourite hotel is the Wynn/Encore.Steakhouse is superb and lunch at the Country Club highly recommended.

Hope you have a good trip.

Thanks for the warning - I'll avoid the Hilton! We weren't planning South of Los Angeles but Huntington beach does sound appealing, especially as we both surf. Las Vegas recommendations sound good!

[Craikeybaby]

Blib said:

Family Blib are doing something very similar this July. Although, we're flying to Las Vegas then driving to Death Valley for a couple of days, on to LA and then a meander up the PCH to San Francisco before we fly back to Vegas and thence to London.

Edited by Blib on Wednesday 14th January 22:03

Sounds like a good trip! We'll be a bit later in the year, so shouldn't be quite as warm in Death Valley, althoigh we will only be passing through. Hope you have a good trip!

[Craikeybaby]

That does look impressive - the sort of place my fiancé would like, not sure we'd be able to fit it in and get to Santa Barbara in one day, so will have to investigate further.

[Craikeybaby]

Blib said:

Doesn't take too long to get around Hearst castle.

Thanks, will add that to the list - we can't be in the car all day anyway!

[Craikeybaby]

Shaoxter said:

Keep in mind it's all relative... we managed to do GC as a day trip but then I'm ok with driving 12 hours a day (and more importantly so is my wife), on the other hand I know people can't even do 2 hours. Vegas to GC is 4 hours one way, 3-3.5 hours if you press on a little. Didn't see any coppers on the route, but it's so open that you could probably spot them from a mile off and slow down accordingly. Not that I condone speeding of course

Btw here's some pics to let you know what's in store! (in order)

Great pictures - thanks! I'm not too fussed about 12 hours in the car, but I know my wife wouldn't be, we may take a drive out to the Hoover Dam, as I understand that isn't too far from Las Vegas, but will try not to do too much driving on our "day off".

[Craikeybaby]

mike80 said:

I really liked San Francisco. As someone said there is quite a lot of homeless and beggars, and they seemed to approach you a lot more than in LA and other bits of California! However, they didn't really seem to be in the nicer areas of SF!

If you are driving back there, and intending to spend a few days (or indeed spending a few days there to begin with), then I wouldn't bother with the car in the city. We bought a 3 day public transport pass which was far easier than trying to drive everywhere - and cost less than one nights parking near our hotel! This got us access to all of the buses, trams and cable cars. Train to the airport was extra, but only about $8. We ending up booking a transfer from the hotel though, as the day we left was when the local baseball team had their victory parade, meaning the stations would've been rammed! That was about $15 from memory.

I dropped the car off at a big car rental place near Union Square, but if I was doing it again I would just leave it at the airport and get a train into the city centre.

Thanks, that is good to know. I had heard of a tourist route around the town, but I guess we could do that on the way in before we drop the car off, then spend the next few days on public transport.

[Craikeybaby]

TEKNOPUG said:

I'm thinking of doing a similar trip this summer, as me and the OH both have about 3 months free after June. SF, Wine country, Yosemite, Vegas, Grand Canyon etc. Fly to SF drive to Vegas and then fly to NY for a few nights before returning home.

Haven't done anymore than thinking about it - have I left it a bit late to plan and book?

Sounds like a great trip! I'd love to have some more time over there, but will need to be back for work.

[Craikeybaby]

More great pictures! Thanks!

[Craikeybaby]

It looks like we have a date sorted now, so the trip planning can start in earnest! Should be out there end of September/beginning of October.

[Craikeybaby]

gf15 said:

Really excellent places to visit were:
Air Museum in Palm springs and Hearst Castle which are both en-route.


We hired a Vette which was the same price as a Mustang from Hertz, who guarantee that you will get what you order. Make sure that you join the Hertz Gold club which is free (this way you avoid the queue which would have been a couple of hours).
What you can fit in the boot of a Vette with the roof down:


Good tip is to head south on PCH so you are on the Pacific side of the road.

Thanks, it looks like your post will be useful, there's just a bit too much information to look at on a phone screen!

Hearst castle whilst driving South down PCH are already on our list, but thanks for the heads up about Palm Springs. I hadn't thought of stopping there between LA & Las Vegas.

[Craikeybaby]

yellowbentines said:

We are doing a similar route over 3 weeks in October, flying in and out of Vegas and going as far down as San Diego.

Re: leaving it 2 months before to book - if you want to stay in Death Valley (Furnace Creek), Mammoth Lakes or Yosemite, there isnt much choice by way of hotels so they do book up early and prices increase nearer the time, we booked those stops a year in advance and if we were to try and rebook today it would cost us more.

Thanks for the heads up - I'd noticed that accommodation in Yosemite looked limited, but didn't realise it would be in Mamouth too. Death Valley is just going to be a stop en-route between Las Vegas and Mamouth for us, as we'll be restricted on time.

I've managed to get the time booked off work now, which is a good start, hopefully we'll be able to start booking ASAP!

[Craikeybaby]

Shaoxter said:

We stayed at Mammoth Creek Inn, ~£80, very recommended.

Didn't seem to be busy in October, I think the number of tourists/demand for accommodation there is very seasonal.

That looks spot on - thanks!

shakotan said:

About halfway between LA and LV on I-15 is Peggy Sue's Diner.

I'd highly recommend it, its a timewarp back to the 60s and I always stop there for lunch.

That also sounds interesting!

[Craikeybaby]

yellowbentines said:

Craikeybaby said:

Thanks for the heads up - I'd noticed that accommodation in Yosemite looked limited, but didn't realise it would be in Mamouth too. Death Valley is just going to be a stop en-route between Las Vegas and Mamouth for us, as we'll be restricted on time.

Mammoth Lakes isn't too bad, Death Valley and Yosemite have more limited choice. We are staying at Furnace Creek in DV, then Mammoth Lakes, then we found the town of Oakhurst on the South West tip of Yosemite National Park had decent accommodation without paying the National Park premium of staying in Yosemite Village.

My tip - Enjoy the planning, we're all booked up for 12 locations over 21 nights, and have found some of the higher end inns and guest houses looked nicer and are better value than the lower end hotels (California is expensive!), but don't always come up if you search specifically for hotels in the likes of expedia/trivago/etc.

Thanks for the tip about staying outside of the national park - that could come in handy.