USA - Golden Triangle

ebbers

My partner, daughter and myself are off to sunny California in April for two weeks. Flying into Los Angeles (LAX) and flying out from San Francisco (SFO). So far the only thing that has been booked is the flights with the rest being still up in the air.

I've done a forum search for Los Angeles and trawelled through the Las Vegas sticky and the associated links including fatwallet.

We've decided after doing a lot of reading to hire a car in LA (after weighing up the costs of parking / petrol against public transport options it works out about the same), drive across to LV and then back along the I-5 to San Francisco. At the moment we've budgeted two days for the 2nd leg of the journey, possibly stopping off in Barstow but are not sure. We have looked at internal flights / shuttles but the price of the car is about £300 and the host of both trips is also about the same and I guess you get more freedom with the car.....shuttle to Disneyland and back is £50 by itself!

I've looked at a few car hire sites including Car3000 but in the end signed up for the Gold Membership with Hertz. The price seems to be the same as a standard search but I guess there may be a few extras chucked in. Possibly looking at the convertible or sports 4x4 but am unsure what actual model we will get. I'm going to take my own TomTom and uploaded the latest USA maps so should save a little bit there. The car will be hired so that both of us can drive it and as far as Hertz are concerned as the car will be remaining in California there is no extra charge for not returning it to the same location.

At the moment we're stopping 4 nights in LA with the other half having a preference for Santa Monica.
After a good deal of searching I thought we'd settled on the JDV Hotel Angeleno about 3 miles from the beach and right on the Santa Monica freeway but it now appears she wants something closer to the beach and has been trying to grab a bargain using priceline with no success at the moment.

I think we're sorted for Las Vegas (4 nights) stopping in the Excalibur mainly because it's cheap, gets decent reviews and apparently is one of the better pools getting quite a lot of sun all day. We've also looked at the MGM Grande but are not sure if the prices are worth it especially if you add on the resorts fees...

Last stop is San Francisco (4 nights) with my initial choice in Union Square of the JDV Hotel Rex whch again seems to get really good reviews and at a decent price for SF. Good transport links etc and round the corner from the Hertz drop off point.


So I suppose my questions for anyone are:

1. Can anyone recommend somewhere to stop off on the LV to SF journey other than Barstow? Assuming someone has done it rather than the Pacific Coast highway? Or should I drive back to this spot and then up to somewhere on the coast?

2. Has anyone had any problems using Hertz? What do people think of the convertibles for long haul journeys?

3. Can anyone recommend any hotels in the Santa Monica area or West Hollywood areas, if it's the latter are the transport links good?

4. Are people having much success with either Priceline or Wired and what sort of bids are people putting in, is £80 a night for a 4 star too low for

5. Which is the best and bang for buck Grand Canyon trip? I've been looking at Scenic which has their most popular listed as the Grand Canyon Deluxe. It only goes to the South Rim but for $190 aka £120pp it's about as much (up to £150) as we would want to pay.

5. Apart from the bad buffet recommendations has anyone had a bad stay at the Excalibur recently?

6. Anyone stopped at the Hotel Rex in SF or can offer a better alternative?

7. hat's the best method for currency in California? Should I just use my Mastercard for everything? Cash card for ATM withdrawls? My bank is RBS so I need to check what charges I would expect to receive I suppose. Have never used traveller's cheques and don't really want to start now.....

Any information or advice would be grealty appreciated.
Thanks for reading.

Ebbers

ceewash

We stayed at the Hotel Rex 2 years ago. It is a lovely boutique style hotel. Each evening they offered a free glass of wine at 5pm. The location is excellent for Union Square which is great for shopping, cable cars etc. Also the transport is excellent to take you to Fisherman's wharf and Pier 39. I recommend a trip to Alcatraz which was excellent. We booked from England before we left and it was a good job we did as all trips were full, although it was summer.
You won't need a car in SF as the public transport is so good.

ebbers

Thanks ceewash, yeah we're booking Alcatraz sometime this month.

Dropping the car off as soon as we get there.

mcaulayr

I have done the same as u 3 times i use netflights for the carhire they always seem to be the best price and insurance is fully inclusive
excalibur is near the bottom of the strip if u are on fat wallet they sometimes give codes for cheaper hotels
I would recomend yosemite national park for an overnight stay the views are spectacular or even death valley
i am going for a month in june so planning lots if i can help drop me a message, good luck u will have a great time

mcaulayr

When we did the grand canyon we used
http://www.heliusa.com/ we did the ranch tour,out of this world it was our 25th wedding
anniversary and they gave us a bottle of champagne.
when in san fransisco look at putting ur car back to the hire company as u dont need a car as hotels charge to park and public transport is great
http://www.citypass.com/san-francisco/buy
this is a cheap way to get around also some attractions u can use great price at the moment

mcaulayr

alcatraz is a must but try to get an evening tour very spooky

neilbond007

1. Can anyone recommend somewhere to stop off on the LV to SF journey other than Barstow? Assuming someone has done it rather than the Pacific Coast highway? Or should I drive back to this spot and then up to somewhere on the coast?
I stopped at Oakhust, on the edge of Yosemite. It's a 440 mile drive but only took about 8 hours. Just flick on the cruise control and off you go!
Other than that drive to Santa Barbara (360 miles - 6 hours) and drive up the PCH. Santa Barbara is a very nice town. Very Mediterranean.

2. What do people think of the convertibles for long haul journeys?
I've done SF - LA - LV in a convertible. They're great. Just be warned that if there are 2 of you and you have 2 big cases one of those cases will probably have to go on the back seat. The boots are tiny

ebbers

Some good info.

Thanks! :cool:

ebbers

Just been informed that the drive between LV and SF maybe a bit cold during April so the convertible may not be such a good idea?

Also thinking perhaps we should stop at Santa Barbara instead of Barstow and then take the drive up the Pacific Coast highway..

Alan_Bowen

I don't think a convertible is a good idea at any time of the year, if its hot, you can suffer sunstroke if you are driving all day, it might look good in a film but its not practical and they tend to have a very small luggage capacity.

I would also recommend taking the PCH rather than I 5. we stopped south of Santa Barbara at Ventura for one night, since we had spent the day at Venice Beach, and a second night close to Carmel. We also spent time in Solvang, a Danish village on the coast and spent hours at Hearst Castle which was wonderful.

misa.blue

Hi guys!
Have very similar journey ahead and we are not fat wallets, we love good bargains!;)
We are flying with my hubby to LA on 21 April, because loads of people here advised that LA is not nice place we will stay there just one day to visit Universal Studios. I'm looking for nice cheap hotel in West Hollywood area.
We will also hire car at LA for 8 days, I'm really bit scared by all the horror stories about extra charges on hire..Might use Avis, will see, what will be best, want just mid range car for 2 people..
From LA we drive down to San Diego for 2 days as everybody advised it is beautiful city to see.:)
Then we will head back up towards San Francisco on the Pacific Highway, will take is easy, planning to do that in 3 days. Stopping overnight at
Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Carmel(or Monterey).

On Fri 29 April we arrive to San Francisco, planning to drive on Golden Gate Bridge before returning the hire car. taking the advice of money savers that you don't need car in SF as it is only 7 square miles, so easy to walk and use tram.
In SF we definitely want to visit Alcatraz and Golden gate park, the Chinese gardens, and off course the China town. Would love to find nice budget hotel in Union square/China town area..
After 4 days in SF we are flying to Vegas, where we stay for another 4 days before returning back to UK on 7th May.
We have decided to fly to Vegas rather then drive, as it will give us more time is cities and also I learned that you will need snow chains on car in Yosemite until 1 May!:eek:

At the moment we have only the flights booked, so now I'm going to spend my lunch breaks on search for hotels

I would be grateful for any tips for cities will are going to visit, hotels, food, etc :T