USA - Golden Triangle

jackieblack

misa.blue wrote: »

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:

Yosemite is so spectacular that it would a shame to miss it, IMO.

You could need snow chains, it depends on the weather at the time, we went in April last year and we didn't need them.

misa.blue

jackieblack wrote: »

Yosemite is so spectacular that it would a shame to miss it, IMO.

I'm sure Jackie, just it would be too much time spent driving out of our 2.5 weeks holiday..And my hubby is not big on nature's beauty

jackieblack

misa.blue wrote: »

I'm sure Jackie, just it would be too much time spent driving out of our 2.5 weeks holiday..And my hubby is not big on nature's beauty

Fair enough - just wanted to make sure the reason for not going wasn't because you thought snow chains would be compulsory

Alan_Bowen

In San Diego check out Humphreys Half Moon Inn on Shelter Island, lovely hotel, great staff and great views.If you are there over Easter it might not be too moneysaving however. Avoid the hotels in an area called Hotel Circle, that is exactly what it is but they fail to tell you that Interstate 8 goes right through the middle of the Circle. Old Town has some decent hotels too. For the drive north, it should be possible to find accommodation as you travel, if you stay outside the main tourist traps you can better accommdoation for less money, Ventura just south of Santa Barbara was fine for a night, only a short drive the following morning to SB, Pacific Grove was much cheaper than Carmel which we stayed in once, lovely town but the hotels are overpriced.

Very sensible to get rid of the car in SF, completely pointless and no where to park. Make sure you agree a drop off in the centre of SF not at the airport which is south of the city, if you want to drive across the GG Bridge which is north of the city. Last time we stayed in Union Square the area was populated by a lot of homeless which slightly freaked the boss, better to stay nearer Fishermans Wharf, that everyone will tell you is a real tourist trap, which it is but there are plenty of hotels close by, we stayed on Columbus Avenue in a great motel surrounded by the Italian restaurants of North Beach. Do take the ferry across the Bay to Sausalito, it passes Alcatraz, if you want to visit the prison itself book at least 48 hours ahead, not my idea of fun at all but it is very popular

ebbers

Thanks Alan.

We're booking Alacatraz sometime before we leave the UK so hopefully in plenty of time. I do fancy Sausalito so the ferry sounds like a good option.

You can drop the car off a block away from Union Square so we should be OK there. The only thing I'd like to do with the car in SF is go up to Muir Woods but it's not the end of the world if we don't make it.

I'm hoping that although Union Square can get a lot of homeless it's not too bad during the day. The hotels down at the Pier seem a lot more expensive and not as good according to the tripadvisor reviews.

Apparently you can bike across the GG bridge and get the ferry back so that too may be on the cards.

prettypig

We did a similar trip a few years ago. We stayed at Hotel Rex in SF as well. It is very close to the Hertz drop off but make sure you look at Google maps first because the one way streets in SF mean getting from A to B is not always as easy as it looks! Also if you are going to stay in a JDV hotel make sure you join the Joy of Life club - links on their website. The say they will try to upgrade members if possible. They also ask for a special date - I'm not sure if this has any bearing on your upgrade success but it worked for us. We stayed on our first wedding anniversary and we upgraded from their cheapest room to a suite. :j And very nice it was too!

We drove from Vegas up through Death Valley and Yosemite and then over to SF. Death Valley and Yosemite were both amazing and I would defintely recommend them.

Have a good trip.

kaznelson

We did a similar route going from LA through Yosemite, headed towards Vegas via Death Valley.

I'd agree if you are in that area you must visit Yosemite, it's fantastic. There will be plenty of notice before hand if the roads are open. Oakhurst & Mammoth Lakes are both very nice places to stay over.

Don't expect to stay long in Hollywood, not very nice! Beverley Hills is the highlight of this area. Santa Barbara & Santa Monica are very nice as is the Pacific Highway Coast road.

We went in October & hired a convertible which we found to be really good & plenty of room for 2 of us.

Very jealous :j

misa.blue

Many thanks about warning about the circle area in San Diego! Was just looking at hotels there!
Had looked at Humphreys Half Moon Inn, it looks very nice, but $200 per night is over our budget..
We are looking more at £50 per night kind of place..

Vikki_74

Have you tried looking on Travelzoo for hotel deals? We got a couple of good ones off there last year...

They have two deals pages for California, covering the north (San Francisco, Monterey, Carmel etc) and the south (LA, San Diego, Santa Barbara etc) of the state:

http://www.travelzoo.com/hotels/los-angeles/
http://www.travelzoo.com/hotels/san-francisco/


They actually have a deal on Humphreys Half Moon Inn at the moment for $85 a night but only up until 10 March - deals do change all the time though.

FYI, there's another couple of hotels right next to Humphreys on Shelter Island which have a similar kind of vibe - we stayed at the Best Western Island Palms last year and loved it.

tingtong

misa.blue wrote: »

Many thanks about warning about the circle area in San Diego! Was just looking at hotels there!
Had looked at Humphreys Half Moon Inn, it looks very nice, but $200 per night is over our budget..
We are looking more at £50 per night kind of place..

Keep an eye on Expedia - most of the time they are more expensive but now and again you can get some great deals on there. Sign up for emails and you will get 10% discount offers as well.

Last year we managed to stay 5 nights in the Best Western Island Palms on Shelter Island for £238, then I got about £17 back off Quidco so just over £44 a night for a really decent hotel.