California fly drive advice

ferf1223

truman_sparks wrote: »

I only had 1/2 a day in San diego but its the one place that stuck in my mind when i got home that i defnatley want to go back too, the gas lamp part of town in the evening is great, nice retaurants a real buzz,

Dinner in the gas lamp district was the highlights of our time in SD too.

tyson2

truman_sparks wrote: »

I only had 1/2 a day in San diego but its the one place that stuck in my mind when i got home that i defnatley want to go back too, the gas lamp part of town in the evening is great, nice retaurants a real buzz,

funny how opinions vary, i dont do zoos etc,I just thought it a very nice clean interesting city.

ts

I'm really not dissing SanDiego as a city, however on a flydrive holiday, with so much to fit in, in so little time, sometimes something has to go and for many Sandiego is the obvious choice, otherwise the holiday is too busy and you end hardly experieceing anything properly, thats all I meant

Miles16v

I thought San Diego would be a bit more of a relaxed place for a few quiet days with a good beach and more of a mexican feel. Although if I kept the same route but cut out San Diego I'd save 250 miles, and could then add 2 days in other places to make it a bit more relaxed.

By the same token I thought that LA would be worth the experience, but appreciate the magnitude of the place could be fraustrating.

I also thought that some time in Yosemite would add a bit of quiet time away from cities and some amazing natural beauty. How quiet is it between San Fran and LA down the coast?

I've just looked on Kayak and the cheapest flights London > San Fran, and LA > London are BA. But they also came up with a San Diego return leg, with 2 hour transfer in Pheonix for about the same price.

Also, having never done a long flight with such time difference, does it make sense to depart later in the evening, so you can sleep for most of the flight?

truman_sparks

having just looked at the itinery again 3 nights in vegas would be down to 2 for me, i was bored pretty quickly their (and i like the odd gamble), its all the same really and after looking around for 4-5 hours i was done with it. But some love it so...............

Miles16v

I thought with a trip out to the Grand Canyon a day will be gone before we've done anything else.

Its odd though, I looked a few of the pre arranged packages, and they have you staying in virtually a different place each night, so I've tried to calm things down a bit!

tyson2

See now I loved Vegas and could spend a day in each hotel marvelling at the Granduer of them, this is why it is difficult for anyone to give you a complete answer, you must think about what you and your future wife like to do and wether more city time or rural time is for you. FYI the pacific coast has some amazing little quaint towns and fab views and some nice beachs.
Whatever you decide the most important thing on a flydrive is to not try and do to much, or you'll feel rushed. Good luck:)

truman_sparks

tyson2 wrote: »

See now I loved Vegas and could spend a day in each hotel marvelling at the Granduer of them, this is why it is difficult for anyone to give you a complete answer, you must think about what you and your future wife like to do and wether more city time or rural time is for you. FYI the pacific coast has some amazing little quaint towns and fab views and some nice beachs.
Whatever you decide the most important thing on a flydrive is to not try and do to much, or you'll feel rushed. Good luck:)

agree 100%, horses for courses,
( i did virtually all the big strip hotels in about 6 hours walking, blooming hot work! but didnt really get too much out of it, impressive no doubt but interesting, not really for me beyond marvelling at the falseness of it all if you know what i mean! worth doing but felt like i was box ticking, make sense?)

what you like is the key, how old are you both out of interest? we like doing (ie get bored easily) and so like to be seeing different things all the time, i like to wander around an area get a feel for it and visit something ( art gallery, museum, market, monument or photo point, landmark etc) and then move on. maybe your the same or prefer to relax more using facilities in hotels etc or somewhere inbetween.

more importantly, what sort of attitude to holidays does your GF have?

papillon 2.5hrs $284 pp so only 1/2 day required

Miles16v

We're 26 / 27.

I'm more of a do'er who cant tollerate lying around for long. She likes lying around more, but still likes to get out and about, but I think she'd appreciate quieter parts. In saying that she'll be able to sit around in the car a lot!

We both like the great outdoors, and neither of us like London!

A new option, skipping LA?


Place Days Distance
San Francisco 3
South Lake Tahoe 2 189
Yosemite (Mammoth Lakes) 2 140
Las Vegas 3 312
San Diego 4 328
Total 14 969

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=from:San+Francisco,+CA,+USA+to:south+lake+tahoe+to:mammoth+lakes+to:Las+Vegas,+NV,+USA+to:San+Diego,+CA,+USA&sll=35.84825,-118.7884&sspn=8.205773,21.643066&gl=uk&ie=UTF8&z=6

What's San Francisco like? Worth 3 nights?

Or flying from San Diego

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=San+Francisco,+CA,+USA&daddr=south+lake+tahoe+to:mammoth+lakes+to:Las+Vegas,+NV,+USA+to:San+Diego,+CA,+USA+to:Los+Angeles,+CA,+USA&hl=en&geocode=&gl=uk&mra=ls&sll=33.67864,-119.421387&sspn=4.213891,10.821533&ie=UTF8&z=6

truman_sparks

San fran is nice, 2 full days is prob enough but depends on your flights in and tiredness etc 3 might be better for you, i did a four hour bus tour, showed all the sights from the comfort of a coach and info (stopped alot) my pal took a bike ride accross the gg bridge instead but only saw small part of SF. also book alcatraz well before you go, you cant just turn up! good night out at fishermans wharf, we did evening trip to alc and then FW as next to each other to save time.go to a SF giants game if in town, good atmoss and worth it,

one thing to note is in high season using the trams can be slow as you need to queue and can be their for ages, research to check when your going.

I think LA for atleast one night, maybe stay in the sunset boulevard area so your amongst it then but hollywood/bev hills etc most pople want to see, can then drive down to Santa monica on the pier for dinner, will also be real nice.

TS,

decisions, decisions. lucky you.

ferf1223

truman_sparks wrote: »

having just looked at the itinery again 3 nights in vegas would be down to 2 for me, i was bored pretty quickly their (and i like the odd gamble), its all the same really and after looking around for 4-5 hours i was done with it. But some love it so...............

And we've spent well over 100 nights over the last 8 1/2 years or so in Vegas and still aren't tired of it. I do agree that it's really down to personal preference - which is why the OP's plan of a few nights many places might be good as a bit of a taster of each...only potential problem I see is it's not likely to be a particularly relaxing honeymoon - but sounds like they will get to see a lot.