advise on travelling around California

fionarooney

Next May for our honeymoon, me and my partner are planning on travelling around California. Basically we have 3 weeks and want to spend 4 nights in Vegas, 3 nights in San Fran, 4 nights in a national park cabin type place and a week on a beach. Can any1 recommend which order this should be done in and what is the best method of travelling around?

getmore4less

Just got back from a business trip to the south bay areas so my thoughts for a holiday are,

Fly to Vegas do a couple of nights, pick up a car do some touring,grand canyon death valley, Hoover dam etc and then drive up through the parks, kings canyon,yosemiti, hit a coast location for the few days(not beach people so less than 7), then drop the car and stay in central SFO, or keep the car and stay somewhere cheaper in the bay area and travel into SFO for a couple of days to do the sights.

Alcatras and Angel Island(if still open next year) can take a full day on their own so staying out of the city in a cheaper hotel will cover the cost of parking and a days car hire. Parking at hotels in SFO is expensive and can be done on foot/public.

Fly back from SFO ore a reverse and start central SFO.

Beenie

I think 4 nights in LV is too much -- I thought it a horrible place and couldn't wait to be off. Getmore 4less is right about the hotels out of SF being cheaper and solving the car parking problem -- we stayed in a motel that was clean, basic and cheap. Make time to see San Simeon (Hearst's Castle) and the Pacific Highway drive through Monterey, Carmel and the Big Sur. La Jolla is meant to be nice - I've not been but OH had a business trip there a few years ago.

DKLS

La jolla, I enjoyed and has some great restaurants, the deep fried oysters were delicious, it was the only part of San diego that I enjoyed, For me 1 day would be adequate in LV I couldnt stand the place, I prefer northern california.

Best way of getting around, hire any car that has a V8 Hemi engine, and you will be just fine.

jackieblack

Beenie wrote: »

I think 4 nights in LV is too much -- I thought it a horrible place and couldn't wait to be off. Getmore 4less is right about the hotels out of SF being cheaper and solving the car parking problem -- we stayed in a motel that was clean, basic and cheap. Make time to see San Simeon (Hearst's Castle) and the Pacific Highway drive through Monterey, Carmel and the Big Sur. La Jolla is meant to be nice - I've not been but OH had a business trip there a few years ago.

La Jolla is beautiful but much further south, near San Diego, not in the area OP is looking at.

old_motters

I think getmore4less is about right except i would do Las Vegas last. It's a night owl city and you won't be out and about late when you're waking at 5am with jetlag. I would start in SFO where things are easy and no car is needed initiallly while you're recovering from jetlag.

Have you also considered Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Napa (for wine tasting?). All amazing places and as worthy of your time as any beach.

For hotels, use priceline or hotwire except in Vegas where you should go to the hotel website direct for their best offers.

Volcano

I think you've got the balance of time spent in each place about right. See this thread: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1790615 for things to do in LV, it's a crazy place you'll either love or hate (and I love it!). If you don't want to hire a car then day trips to to Grand Canyon and surrounding areas are easily booked.

You could also look at coach trips as a way of getting from one area to another, a bit more interesting than Greyhound.