San francisco, Las Vegas and LA

[RemaL]

We have been lucky enough to have done Florida with the kids 4 or 5 times in the last 6 years. my daughters are 6 and 8 and we are thinking about san francisco, las vegas and LA

Just looking for tips on what to see, do and stay over on the west coast as non of us have been.

A few thoughts:

fly to San Francisco, stay a few days, either SUV, or camper and do Las Vegas for a few days , grand canyon, LA etc....

Another thought was to have a base somewhere like we do in florid and travel to these places for a day or 2? We don't mind the few hundred mile trips


So suggestions what may be best with you kids but who enjoy travelling? really just looking for more info before booking anything in the summer for next year

[Jazoli]

Hello from BB!

I'd be prepared to be fleeced at every opportunity at the Grand Canyon, the Canyon itself if mighty but the general price and rip-offness (new word!) left a sour taste.

Definitely take the kids to see The Lion King at Mandalay Bay in Vegas, it was by far the highlight of our trip, top tip, buy the best tickets you can, we paid about £250 (for 2) for full vip tickets and they were well worth the money as you get a goodie bag with lots of quality merchandising and the best seats, you could also spend an afternoon in Circus Circus, plenty for the kids in there.

I can't comment on the rest as I've not been but that's my 2p

Edited by Jazoli on Tuesday 18th January 18:53

[Herman Toothrot]

Found this website as i'm going somewhere in the area in September, loads of great info and suggesed routes /places to see :-

http://www.bon-voyage.co.uk/holidays/classic_journ...

[RemaL]

Hya Jazoli

cheers both for the info.

Anyone else

for the edit, looks great

http://www.mandalaybay.com/entertainment/lionking....

Edited by RemaL on Tuesday 18th January 19:43

[Rollin]

Yosemite is between SF and Las Vegas. Lots for the you and the kids to do. Death Valley is on the way too. Bear in mind that in the summer, the temperatures can be very high in Vegas.

http://www.yosemitepark.com/default.aspx

ETA Grand Canyon entrance fee is $25 per vehicle which is valid for 7 days. I don't think that is bad value personally.

Edited by Rollin on Tuesday 18th January 20:00

[Spudler]

Personally i'd base myself in Las Vegas and choose either San francisco OR LA.
Its a big area to cover, especially with children.
How long are you going for?

[anonymous-user]

I used to live in Palo Alto (south of San Fran) and did the trip myself.
If you are visiting I would spend at least a few days in San Fransisco as its a great city (IMHO the best in the US) and then drive down Highway 1 and get at least as far as Carmel.

Yosemite is breathtaking and is a definite must, depending on what time of year you go and if the mountain passes are open get to Las Vegas via Death Valley.

Have a few days in Vegas, seeing the sites and doing soem shows and then a visit to the Grand Canyon is worth a go.

IMHO I would leave LA out of your travel plans - its a horrible place !

[RemaL]

Spudler said:

Personally i'd base myself in Las Vegas and choose either San francisco OR LA.
Its a big area to cover, especially with children.
How long are you going for?

would be looking at 2 1/2 weeks and probably be the school hols in july onwards

[Spudler]

Would flying into SF and departing from LV be an option?
For this trip i'd forget LA and the Pacific Coast Highway and spend some time in SF then head to LV taking in Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Sequoia NP then on to Vegas, then you can base youself there. When going to The Grand Canyon you could overnight at Williams and make an early start to GC (advised) and be back in Vegas the same night. Actually explore Vegas in drips n drabs, that way you'll enjoy the place more.

[RemaL]

Spudler said:

Would flying into SF and departing from LV be an option?

hell why not. want to visit anything worth while. the wife would like to take the kids to Disney again and maybe universal while we are there

[Spudler]

RemaL said:

Spudler said:

Would flying into SF and departing from LV be an option?

hell why not. want to visit anything worth while. the wife would like to take the kids to Disney again and maybe universal while we are there

That would mean going to LA, and to be honest, whith children thats pretty much all there is for them.
LA is an OK place, but im allways glad to leave after a day or two. If it were i, i'd coinside that with another trip, but thats just my oponion.
If you like V8 power boats, Lake Mead is a MUST...


Stop off at Hackberry Stores on route to GC...


And of course you got to...

[Jazoli]

Rollin said:

ETA Grand Canyon entrance fee is $25 per vehicle which is valid for 7 days. I don't think that is bad value personally.

Not at the west rim it wasn't, there was a 'security checkpoint' and you were diverted into a carpark, you then had to get on a bus to go the mile to the canyon, the cost $50 dollars each, for one mile!

It would be like putting a gate at Kendal and charging people to visit the Lake District.

Then there was the overpriced rubbish they called food, and the jam packed coaches, and the Indians 'don't give a st about you' attitude the 10 miles of dirt tracks you had to drive down to get there and the overpriced monstrosity that is the 'Skywalk'

I would not visit that part again, ever, we were thoroughly underwhelmed and annoyed, maybe we were expecting too much, I think flying over it would have been great, and avoiding all the crap on the ground, its just not the option we took

Edited by Jazoli on Tuesday 18th January 21:29

[sawman]

As someone else pointed out the desert is seriously hot in the summer (I know that sounds obvious) we went to vegas in august (d'oh!) 2008 and it was unbearable outdoors for more than about 15 mins during the day (45 degreesish)My daughter kept getting nosebleeds, presumably due to lack of humidity

We were passing through having flown to phoenix, been up to the grand canyon (dont recall paying 25bucks, btw) via sedona, and williams/flagstaff. took in route 66 to LV then through the desert to LA (read disney) and spent a day or so on the beach at Newport & huntingdon, before returning to phoenix via palm springs. It was a great trip, met some italians in seligman who had a car full of kids, they said they regretted spending so much time in the desert/death valley cos the kids got bored after the first hour or so of sand, but that yosemite was very cool.

We didnt have long enough to get up to San fran, I wanted to do the coast highway - maybe next time. Make sure you get a decent sized car or truck with serious aircon

[Maxf]

Last year it was bearable in late August - maybe early 30 degrees. The lack of humidity is a killer though - I think it took about 3 months for my nose to get back to normal!

If you fly into Vegas, sit on the left side of the plane as you get a great view of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam.

I'm thinking of doing SF for a long weekend in March - maybe 3 or 4 nights.

[Project C]

I'm hoping to do a similar trip this autumn as my daughter has decided to get married in Vegas

Anyway our plan is start in Vegas, drive to SF via Death Valley National Park, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park & Yosemite National Park. Spend a few days in SF then down then down the coast road to LA and San Diego stopping at Monteray Bay for whale watching. And maybe nipping over the border to Tijuana for a few hours to buy some tourist tat. Not sure how long to spend on each national park or driving the coast road so any advice welcome!

[Mazdarese]

I hate these threads as they remind me of our superb honeymoon in September last year. I so wish I could do that again.

Los Angeles - pick up Escalade, then get out of there.
San Diego - fantastic city. USS Midway was brilliant, the Zoo was also good.
Palm Springs - great relaxing place, very hot
Mojave - Amazing. Just miles of nothing. And hot.
Las Vegas - Bellagio superb. Grand Canyon via helicopter equally so. Ka show at MGM was excellent too.
Death Valley - Like Mojave, miles of nothing. Ace.
Yosemite - Beautiful, wish we'd stayed longer but just passed through.
San Francisco - Hmm, not impressed. Alcatraz was great, the trams are fun, but there's not much else. Pier 39 is like Blackpool.
Monterey - actually stayed in Marine, very nice.
San Luis Obispo - great town, especially on a Thursday night (market night).
Santa Barbara - Not bad, last night before we went home so we were both grumpy.
Los Angeles - Lunch on Rodeo Drive was fun before we headed back off to the airport.

I want to go back!

[BigS]

Jazoli said:

Rollin said:

ETA Grand Canyon entrance fee is $25 per vehicle which is valid for 7 days. I don't think that is bad value personally.

Not at the west rim it wasn't, there was a 'security checkpoint' and you were diverted into a carpark, you then had to get on a bus to go the mile to the canyon, the cost $50 dollars each, for one mile!

It would be like putting a gate at Kendal and charging people to visit the Lake District.

Then there was the overpriced rubbish they called food, and the jam packed coaches, and the Indians 'don't give a st about you' attitude the 10 miles of dirt tracks you had to drive down to get there and the overpriced monstrosity that is the 'Skywalk'

I would not visit that part again, ever, we were thoroughly underwhelmed and annoyed, maybe we were expecting too much, I think flying over it would have been great, and avoiding all the crap on the ground, its just not the option we took

Edited by Jazoli on Tuesday 18th January 21:29

That's because the West Rim is on an Indian Reservation and appears to be run as a tourist trap, while the South Rim is within the National Park and I found it quite low key when I went there, just a visitors centre and the canyon pretty much, there seemed to be a few McDonalds type places and hotels around the airport though, but all I saw of those was from the bus taking me from the airport to the canyon rim.

[Jazoli]

BigS said:

Jazoli said:

Rollin said:

ETA Grand Canyon entrance fee is $25 per vehicle which is valid for 7 days. I don't think that is bad value personally.

Not at the west rim it wasn't, there was a 'security checkpoint' and you were diverted into a carpark, you then had to get on a bus to go the mile to the canyon, the cost $50 dollars each, for one mile!

It would be like putting a gate at Kendal and charging people to visit the Lake District.

Then there was the overpriced rubbish they called food, and the jam packed coaches, and the Indians 'don't give a st about you' attitude the 10 miles of dirt tracks you had to drive down to get there and the overpriced monstrosity that is the 'Skywalk'

I would not visit that part again, ever, we were thoroughly underwhelmed and annoyed, maybe we were expecting too much, I think flying over it would have been great, and avoiding all the crap on the ground, its just not the option we took

Edited by Jazoli on Tuesday 18th January 21:29

That's because the West Rim is on an Indian Reservation and appears to be run as a tourist trap, while the South Rim is within the National Park and I found it quite low key when I went there, just a visitors centre and the canyon pretty much, there seemed to be a few McDonalds type places and hotels around the airport though, but all I saw of those was from the bus taking me from the airport to the canyon rim.

It is most definitely a tourist trap! we just didn't have the time to drive to the South Rim, unfortunately

[sawman]

BigS said:

Jazoli said:

Rollin said:

ETA Grand Canyon entrance fee is $25 per vehicle which is valid for 7 days. I don't think that is bad value personally.

Not at the west rim it wasn't, there was a 'security checkpoint' and you were diverted into a carpark, you then had to get on a bus to go the mile to the canyon, the cost $50 dollars each, for one mile!

It would be like putting a gate at Kendal and charging people to visit the Lake District.

Then there was the overpriced rubbish they called food, and the jam packed coaches, and the Indians 'don't give a st about you' attitude the 10 miles of dirt tracks you had to drive down to get there and the overpriced monstrosity that is the 'Skywalk'

I would not visit that part again, ever, we were thoroughly underwhelmed and annoyed, maybe we were expecting too much, I think flying over it would have been great, and avoiding all the crap on the ground, its just not the option we took

Edited by Jazoli on Tuesday 18th January 21:29

That's because the West Rim is on an Indian Reservation and appears to be run as a tourist trap, while the South Rim is within the National Park and I found it quite low key when I went there, just a visitors centre and the canyon pretty much, there seemed to be a few McDonalds type places and hotels around the airport though, but all I saw of those was from the bus taking me from the airport to the canyon rim.

The south rim is pretty low key, it has just occurred to me that we stayed at the canyon railway hotel in Williams, and I'm pretty certain they did a deal with park entrance - the train trips they do look good, but we were on a schedule so didnt take one.

[CO2000]

RemaL said:

We have been lucky enough to have done Florida with the kids 4 or 5 times in the last 6 years. my daughters are 6 and 8 and we are thinking about san francisco, las vegas and LA

Just looking for tips on what to see, do and stay over on the west coast as non of us have been.

A few thoughts:

fly to San Francisco, stay a few days, either SUV, or camper and do Las Vegas for a few days , grand canyon, LA etc....

Another thought was to have a base somewhere like we do in florid and travel to these places for a day or 2? We don't mind the few hundred mile trips


So suggestions what may be best with you kids but who enjoy travelling? really just looking for more info before booking anything in the summer for next year

We flew into SF & then straight to LV, after 5 nights flew to LA for 5 nights & finally back to SF to fly home after 5 nights there (& 2 in Monterey)

This was the cheapest flight option (in & out of the same place)

I wouldn't have changed a thing (well apart from the fog at Big Sur but a good reason to have to go back to see there)