West Coast USA

blindman

northwest1965 wrote: »

We are outdoors people, live very close to peak District and walk quite a bit so we'll make Yosemite a must.

Thanks for the advice about SFO, we'll shorten that down.

While in LA I want to visit Disneyland

If you are into walking\hiking then minimum 3 nights in Yosemite, look for and book accomodation NOW for next year.

Stay in the park (expensive:eek:) but less driving.

No need to spend 6 days in LA. Traffic can be awful so no good as a base to get around (IMHO).
Stay near Disneyland for 2 nights then leave.


3 nights in SFO (Priceline hotel)

3 Nights Las Vegas (not at the weekend-too expensive)

Countless other places to stop\see depends what you like

C_Mababejive

By the way..we stayed at the narrow guage inn in fishcamp which is near one of the entrances to Yosemite and close to the town of Oakhurst. The narrow guage inn is to be recommended. Make sure you have plenty of fuel before entering the park at this location. Buy it in Oakhurst as the filling station in the park is a rip off.

photome

Dont miss out Yosemite, we stayed in the lodge at the base of the falls, fantastic to be able to see falls from your room. http://www.yosemitepark.com/Accommodations_YosemiteLodge.aspx, it gets booked up a year in advance .

Shorten LA to 3 maximum and increase Vegas to 4

Thats my opinion

dickydonkin

northwest1965 wrote: »

We are outdoors people, live very close to peak District and walk quite a bit so we'll make Yosemite a must.

Thanks for the advice about SFO, we'll shorten that down.

While in LA I want to visit Disneyland

Another thought to kill a day is a trip to Catalina Island from Long Beach, Dana Point or San Pedro although Long Beach would likely be your best departure point.

It is nice and quiet, no cars and I suspect there will be walking options. It is about a 1 hour boat trip on the Catalina Express from Long Beach (next to where the Queen Mary is Berthed).

BTW - irrespective of where you are based - if you are using your car, you WILL hit the traffic - even based in Anaheim as travelling North or South at peak times on the SD Freeway or I5 WILL be congested.

northwest1965

blindman wrote: »

Countless other places to stop\see depends what you like

Care to throw some other places into the mix. We like cities/country and beach!:D

PurpleSmile

In my opinion I'd spend more time in vegas and less in LA.
I never liked LA much. It is a dirty place.
In 2 full days we did Hollywood, berverly hills, rodeo drive, santa monica beach, and a baseball game and there was nothing else we wanted to see.
But it has disneyland and Universal studies which we never went to. so if you have kids, then you can spend some time here.

I spent less than $15 gambling in Vegas, and we still managed to find lots to keep us occupied.
Also it might be worth you having an extra day in vegas so you can book a grand canyon day trip. Well worth the money, you can do it by coach or helicopter. And never accept the first price you get offered.

Gloomendoom

I must be one of those odd people who thought that two nights in Las Vegas was long enough. I'm glad I went there, but I doubt I'll be hurrying back.

davetrousers

AFAIK you can't fly direct to San Francisco, you'll have a change at LAX. Happy to be corrected on this though.

Yosemite is great, highly recommended. Also Sequoia and Bryce Canyon are very good.

I also have happy memories from my childhood from Knott's Berry Farm (theme park) in LA

Vikki_74

davetrousers wrote: »

AFAIK you can't fly direct to San Francisco, you'll have a change at LAX. Happy to be corrected on this though.

Depends on which airline you're talking about, but Virgin definately fly direct to San Francisco from Heathrow.

trets77

northwest1965 wrote: »

Care to throw some other places into the mix. We like cities/country and beach!:D

The Pacific Coast highway is chock full of interesting places . Malibu in the south by LA and Monterey up towards SF.

Don't Skip Death Valley ,loads to see there . it's worth a night then a full day driving around . if you leave around 4pm for Vegas you will arrive in Vegas at about 7pm which is perfect time to check in and then get some dinner .

Grand Canyon , Hoover Damm , Red Rock Canyon all well worth doing around the Vegas area . Helicopter tour can take in all these , in a few hours . expect to pay $400 each though if you get tour from McCarren