Las Vegas & San Francisco August 2007

stephenadarglas

Hi all

I'm 50 on August 23rd 2007 and would like to take my family of four (including me) to the above destinations for about 10 days (5 in each city) - nothing concrete yet.

Could I have advice on:

1. Best time to book flights - Gatwick to SF, SF to LV then LV to Gatwick.
2. Suggested hotels - 3* or 4*.
3. Good companies to deal with - flights, accommodation etc..
4. Things to do and visit.
5. Anything else the forum deems relevant or important.


Many thanks

Steve

blindman

Do a search on keywords like vegas and fransisco. I find if you use lower case then the threads are found.

Loads of info on this forum.

1 Best time to book. Difficult to say as this is High season so I'd say earlier the better but some airlines may discount if they're not selling seats closer to the date.

Tip.
Look at getting a FREE stopover on the way Out\back which ever is best with someone like AA or United etc.

2 In San Fran you could use pricleline to get a decent 4* at a 2* price.
IMHO hotels near Fishermans wharf are tacky (as is the Wharf!).

Vegas hotels can have some good deals (especially in August - it will be HOT) so look in the threads for vegas web-sites giving info.

3 Trailfinders, or DIY it's fairly easy to these twO major US cities.

4 Search this forum for loads of info.

melancholly

it's well worth having a look at death valley if you're in vegas - it's a really amazing place, and such a contrast to the casinos. i went 3 years ago but did it on a budget so was in cheap motels - can't help you there!
if you have time to day trip up to the napa or somona valley to do wine tasting, that's kind of fun. depends on whether the whole family would be up for that kind of day out.
there are other great places south of san francisco like monteray bay (amazing aquarium). personally, i'd split it so that more time was near san francisco than in las vegas - after a couple of days i'd seen all that i wanted to, and i'm not really a gambler, but it really depends on what you enjoy.

waster_2

If you are going to Vegas for 5 days try and make them mid week. The hotel prices Sunday to Thursday nights are about 75% cheaper than Friday and Saturday nights. This is becuse Vegas is a weekend destination for may in the States and especially from LA. Also the flights are often more expensive on Fridays and Sundays to and from respectively Vegas for the same reason. Do not pay premium rates for hotels, look up the various discount sites for excellent deals as well as checking the hotel's own web sites for what they have on offer.

Five days is a long time in Vegas, especially in the hot summer weather - expect 100 degrees and hotter every day. Rather than fly as you suggest you may want to drive from SF and take in Death Valley.

Vegas is a great place but as I say 5 days can often be a long time.

Other things to in and around Vegas include the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Red Rock Canyon and if you have time the Grand Canyon. And if shoping is your thing there are two outlet Malls in Vegas - on south on the strip just past the Airport and the other north of the strip. Great bargains to be had if you do not mind chancing going over your Duty Free allowances.

enjoy.

Call_Centre_Guru

Went to LA / SF & Vegas in Jan can recommend the Pan Pacific in SF, pure luxury, centrally located, paid $147 inc tax per night (about £90) check out their web site for deals. I agree with waster about mid week in Vegas except when there are a large number of conventions or special events, they really do work on supply and demand pricing, it's worth getting onto some of the big hotel websites (MGM Grand / Hilton etc) before you arrange your schedule to see some advanced pricing.

Have a great 50th

coolblonde

Hi Steve

I went to San Fransisco and Las vagas last summer and had a fantastic time.For activities in San fransisco i would highly recomend getting a Go San Francisco card it saved me a fortune and cost roughly £40 per adult for a three day pass. The pass allowed us to take a tour to Monterey & Carmel which usually cost about £30 without the pass. We hired bikes and went over the Golden Gate bridge and over into Sausalito which is very pretty town and got the ferrie back to San Fransisco. We also had several cable car rides, a tour of San fransisco and did loads more activities the card also came with discount vouchers for dining out and several other activities. Sorry i'm going on a bit just have a look at the site http://www.gosanfranciscocard.com/freeadmissions.html. The only thing that wasn't included in the card was the Alcatraz island tour which i would strongly advise that you book several weeks in advance as this is a very popular tour. Alcatraz was good we took the evening tour which made it creepier.

stephenadarglas

Thanks Coolblonde - this is very helpful as all the other quotes.

Again thanks

Steve LL

nelly_2

The Blueman group in Vegas is a cracking show.

Sheel

nelly wrote:

The Blueman group in Vegas is a cracking show.

Wish we'd gone to see that instead of Penn and Teller , that was pants

nelly_2

Sheel wrote:

Wish we'd gone to see that instead of Penn and Teller , that was pants

We also did Le Reve and it was utter sh*t.

The 1st ten minutes you are like wow this is ace then the next hour and half its exctly the same I nodded off at one point, and it was over 100 dollars a piece I wanted to demand my money back but the wife wouldnt let me.

loonygooner

We spent 3 weeks, travelling with hire car. We spent 3 days in San Diego, followed by 2 nights in Palm Springs, then 4 nights in Vegas (Circus, Circus midweek), then back to LA for the rest and can throughly recommend doing everyhting through Expedia.
All hiring, booking of hotels and flights was done through them, it was cheap, good and everybody was expecting us which had beem a concern.
Thoroughly enjoyed it, had my 9 year old boy, wife and we renewed our vows in Vegas (without Elvis), followed by dinner in the Stratosphere, a holiday of a lifetime.
Orlando this year with 12 year old son and 15 month twin girls:eek:
Have a great time