USA itinerary, incl SF to LA road trip
USA itinerary, incl SF to LA road trip
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mcbook

Original Poster:

1,441 posts

191 months

Thursday 24th July
quotequote all
Hi everyone

I'm planning a family holiday to the US in summer 2026. Kids will be 9 and 11. Current plan is to fly into NY and spend some time there before heading over to San Francisco and driving to LA via Yosemite and then Big Sur coastline. Will fly back from LA.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on the plan... It'll be our first time in the US so maybe I'm being slightly ambitious with the ground I'm trying to cover.

Cheers




Truckosaurus

12,699 posts

300 months

Thursday 24th July
quotequote all
Looks good. Plenty of 'no travel' days which is what most people forget.

I think the main thing will be to keep an eye on Highway-1 as it has a habit of bits falling into the sea and you having to do huge detours to loop around the closures.

h0b0

8,714 posts

212 months

Thursday 24th July
quotequote all
Conventional wisdom is to do either East coast or West coast. Doing both is a lot and you be missing more that you get to see.

Shaoxter

4,411 posts

140 months

Thursday 24th July
quotequote all
h0b0 said:
Conventional wisdom is to do either East coast or West coast. Doing both is a lot and you be missing more that you get to see.
That's what I would recommend too, maybe replace NY with Vegas + Grand Canyon .
Or get a direct flight back from LA rather than wasting a day and faffing around at an airport in NY on the way back.

mcbook

Original Poster:

1,441 posts

191 months

Thursday 24th July
quotequote all
h0b0 said:
Conventional wisdom is to do either East coast or West coast. Doing both is a lot and you be missing more that you get to see.
Fair point. Although I don't really fancy the flight time across to the West coast so the NY section was partly to avoid that.

mcbook

Original Poster:

1,441 posts

191 months

Thursday 24th July
quotequote all
Truckosaurus said:
Looks good. Plenty of 'no travel' days which is what most people forget.

I think the main thing will be to keep an eye on Highway-1 as it has a habit of bits falling into the sea and you having to do huge detours to loop around the closures.
Yeh, i think there's actually a closure at the moment so you can't drive the route I'd like. I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks.

Voodoo Blue

1,031 posts

161 months

Thursday 24th July
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You'll probably waste half a day or more at each airport stop and you're not really saving any time in the air by breaking up the journey.

If you want to do New York on the way out fair enough but stopping there on the way back doesn't make sense. Your body will acclimatise to the West Coast time anyway so you'll still likely suffer the same level of jet lag if that's your concern and it'll feel worse changing planes.

If New York is a must, then personally I'd fly direct to SFO or LAX and do the West Coast stuff first. You'll likely get there late afternoon so get to your hotel have something to eat, jump in the pool and then crash. Then you'll be fairly fresh the next day (you'll likely be awake before 5:00) and crack on with your plans.

Then fly to New York and do the stuff there and fly home.


seiben

2,423 posts

150 months

Thursday 24th July
quotequote all
Another voice to say just fly direct. Jetlag is jetlag, all you're doing is adding cost, travel time and stress for no gain. Spend a few days in NY one way or another, but not in both directions.

Personally, my suggestion would be to do NY on the way there, then your long flight is coming home overnight. If you can sleep on planes you stand a chance of getting a few hours kip.

mcbook

Original Poster:

1,441 posts

191 months

Thursday 24th July
quotequote all
OK, I'm getting the feedback on the flights wink

Problem is, there are no direct flights from LA to Edinburgh so I'd be changing through London or Amsterdam. Not sure that's any better than going back via an East Coast US city but I take the point.

Truckosaurus

12,699 posts

300 months

Thursday 24th July
quotequote all
mcbook said:
OK, I'm getting the feedback on the flights wink

Problem is, there are no direct flights from LA to Edinburgh so I'd be changing through London or Amsterdam. Not sure that's any better than going back via an East Coast US city but I take the point.
West coast to Europe doesn't take much longer than east coast to Europe, and almost as long at west-east coast, so much quicker to do west coast to London/AMS and then an hour or so back up to Edinburgh.

The G Kid

1,172 posts

139 months

Thursday 24th July
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If you do go to NYC for 4th July, we were also there for the 4th a few years ago. Went on a great boat trip that took in all the sights and was perfect for watching the fireworks. Wasn't cheap but included food and alcohol. We really enjoyed it...kids were about 12 and 14 at the time.

fourstardan

5,648 posts

160 months

Thursday 24th July
quotequote all
I've done LA/San Fran/Vegas and my advice is to reverse LA and do it at the start, firstly it's a metropolis dump and secondly you can squeeze in most of it in 2 days, specially as you'll be up at 3AM on the first day.

Also, SF>Yosemite then out again is some drive, don't underestimate the concentration you'll need, it's not straight motorway 4 hour driving.

I'd want to spend more time in Yosemite myself but each to their own. Monterey probably is nice and I'd love to play Pebble Beach but I get the impression it's expensive around that area.

I've flown Washington to SF and it wasn't exactly easy flying even after being in Washington for a few days, it was in a 737 for 4 hours and crossing three (I think) time zones.

Enjoy the trip, very jealous.

Mortarboard

10,188 posts

71 months

Thursday 24th July
quotequote all
Vegas is down in tourist numbers and I believe there are direct flights from dublin/London.

Vegas is close (ish) to Yosemite, grand canyon. SF and LA about a 5 hour drive. Might make sense to fly into Vegas and rent car from there?

Just a suggestion

M.

mikef

5,699 posts

267 months

Thursday 24th July
quotequote all
fourstardan said:
Also, SF>Yosemite then out again is some drive, don't underestimate the concentration you'll need, it's not straight motorway 4 hour driving.
Having lived a few years in San Fran and driven several times to Yosemite, I’d say it’s do-able. We always used to stop off for lunch in a diner in Oakdale and be in the park early afternoon. Have you thought about accommodation? It’s much cheaper to stay outside the NP. We love Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Pass should be open in July. You could stay on the East side of the park in Lee Vining (and maybe sightsee Mono Lake), then visit the valley on the next day

I assume you’re looking at one-way car rental? That can work out quite expensive


fourstardan

5,648 posts

160 months

Thursday 24th July
quotequote all
Mono Lake was HUGE, we went October and just getting cold.

Drove from LV to Yosemite with a night over in Mammoth Lakes, it was like something out of twin peaks but fantastic and will go back one day.

All I remember between Yosemite and SF was the drive over the western foothills and a friendly trucker flashing me as there was a copper/trooper waiting. We went I think through the Mariposa Exit.


Truckosaurus

12,699 posts

300 months

Friday 25th July
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mikef said:
I assume you re looking at one-way car rental? That can work out quite expensive
The west coast tourist airport locations (eg. LA, SF and LV) seem to charge nothing extra for one-way trips. (East coast will sting you - I've priced up a DC to Atlanta trip to do the Blue Ridge Parkway and it is cheaper to drive 2 days extra back to DC to return the car than leave it Atlanta).

TwigtheWonderkid

46,566 posts

166 months

Friday 25th July
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OP, pop your initial question into AI and see what it says.

I often spend 48 hours in a city at short notice. I tell Google Gemini where I'm staying and ask it for a 48 hour itinerary. Absolutely brilliant.

COLONEL_SMITH

270 posts

253 months

Friday 25th July
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Got back on wednesday from a road trip around California and Nevada although we flew in and out of Houston.
As some have already said you wont do much on your travel days other than travel. NY to LA is almost 6 hours from what I remember add in travel to and from airports and you have pretty much wasted a day.
Drives can be interesting sometimes but generally they are a bore fest especially when the interstate turns into a 6 lane highway.. Its just noisy concrete for miles and the nearer the bigger cities traffic is awful and so is the standard of driving.
Yosemite is huge, work out what you want to see and do and then plan where to stay once you have done that. To stay in the park itself costs alot more and needs to be booked early. We stayed in Mariposa for Yosemite and Exeter for Sequoia. Was about an hours drive each way from the hotel. You also need to make sure you have a park permit for each park. Costs $35 for a car and you can buy in when entering the park, you also need a entry ticket thats cost $2 but you can only buy that on the website, for summer 2025 they didnt release the tickets til about the start of June.
Despite all that it is worth the trip and I would say you need at least 2 full days in Yosemite and 1 in sequoia and also start getting fit and used to walking uphill. There are some flatish trails but most are not and can be very long.

worsy

6,232 posts

191 months

Friday 25th July
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I was advised that LA is a dump. Have you considered taking in San Diego?

Truckosaurus

12,699 posts

300 months

Friday 25th July
quotequote all
worsy said:
I was advised that LA is a dump. Have you considered taking in San Diego?
The problem with LA is that it is so big that you have to drive through all the dumpy bits to get to any of the agreeable bits, which are all spread out across the city so there's never one single place that is convenient to stay.

The only part that I've found that approaches a 'normal' city is Pasadena which has a walkable town centre area where you can wander around from bar to bar.

For a couple of days to visit The Getty and the Petersen museum it is tolerable.