West Coast USA

northwest1965

Vikki_74 wrote: »

As a route I think it makes sense in that you're now going in kind of a big loop. Are you planning to drive it all or take any internal flights? I don't have time to map it right now but I think Santa Barbara to Monterey is a long day's driving - have you worked out the distances and timings?

I personally would split the nights up differently as 2 nights in San Francisco wouldn't be enough for me (I love it there ) but it depends on what you're into and where you'd rather spend your time - all down to personal preference.

The problem with the west coast is that there's so much to do you just want to squeeze it all in, which is difficult with only 2 weeks. We had 3 as it was our honeymoon and still ended up feeling rushed! In theory I'd highly recommend you try and fit San Diego in somehow as it's one of the nicest places I've ever visited, but I don't see how you can

I know a million others on here (on the Vegas board in particular!) will disagree with me, but if I planned our trip again I would miss out Vegas altogether and take more time to spend just in California. Not because I didn't like Vegas, I did, but with hindsight I'd rather go as part of a completely different trip doing say San Diego/Palm Springs/Las Vegas/Grand Canyon/Arizona instead of trying to squeeze it in along with everything else that California has to offer.

If you're happy that all the places you've listed are where you want to spend your time, then I think it's a decent itinerary. If you still have any doubts or questions about it, keep posting and I'm sure the folks on here will be happy to help!

Thanks Vikki. Yes we've worked out all the timings. SF to Monterey is 350.
We did have San Diego down as an original plan, maybe on our next trip!!

misa.blue

Wow, great plans for amazing time!! Nortwest, we are doing similar trip :j
We are leaving London Thur 21 April, arriving back 8th May (overnight flight on 7May). Utilizing 4 bank holidays in this period!:rotfl:
Our plan is:
2 nights LA - going to Universal Studios next day after arrival
2 nights San Diego
1 night Laguna or Long Beach
1 night Santa Barbara
1 night San Luis Obispo
1 night Monterey or Carmel
4 nights San Francisco
Internal flight to Las Vegas
4 nights Las Vegas, fly back to UK

We planned it so we don't spend more then 3 hours per day in car, obviously if we don't hit bad traffic..Will have hire car from LA and return in San Franscisco as people here advised me that you don't need car in SF:)

So far have only flights booked and looking for hotels and hire car now..

tarkytarks

My first post here, but I wanted to reply!

We did the same sort of trip last Easter but did:
4 nights in SF,
2 nights in Montery,
2 nights at Yosemite (stayed in Oakhurst - we did a tour from Discover Yosemite who picked us up from the hotel and did a full day tour which was really good and we saw everything that was important there and didn't have to worry about driving ourselves up to the park) then drove down towards Vegas with
1 night stopped off in Lone Pine which is right near the edge of Death Valley.
4 nights in vegas which ended up with another 6 nights there due to the volcano :rotfl:

I agree with some of the others who have said that it's quite tiring with all the driving, We had orignally planned to do 1 night only in Monteray but remember you loose a lot of time with the driving so it's nice to have 2 night stop offs so you get the chance for a proper day in the place rather than getting there in the late afternoon or so and having to set off the next day to get to your next hotel.
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Another edit now I've read through the 2nd page (missed it before!):

We hired the car in SF on day 4, we trundled our cases over to the dollar car rental office (used dollar as they included the sat nav for free (which was great imho) and a free tank of petrol plus there were no extra fees for a drop off in vegas - also they had a drop off point at the MGM hotel so that was convenent for us).

SF on public transport was dead easy to do - we got the train from the airport to our hotel with no probs. We're we're big fans of the hop on hop off buses for a bit of a guided tour (not the cheapest way by any means though) an used the tram one time and just walked everywhere else.

Do not miss Alcatraz - the audio guide is FANTASTIC - certainly one the best I've used. You can pre-book your tickets online before you go too

The coast road down to Monteray was fab!

It's already been mentioned but the aquarium and whale watching at Monteray are both great things to do. However the sea was rough as anything. I don't have a problem on boats usally but I was puking over the side (sorry tmi) and OH was ill for 3 days after. What I'm saying is that if you have any problems with boats you might want to bare this in mind - the crew on the boat are used to people being sick though and you do get looked after well.

When you're in Vegas and still have your car make sure you go out to the Hoover Dam - it was a great day out.
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Final edit:
Here are the hotels we stayed at (incase they help):

SF - Hotel Palomar - it's on Market St, next to a massive shopping centre (with huge food court and places to eat), within a couple of minutes walk from the BART station (so no need to worry about taxis from the airport!). Lovely roomy hotel (we thought) and included free internet. Felt like a luxury hotel to us!!

Monteray - The Anton Inn (actually in Pacific Grove). Nice and friendly, included breakfast and also had free internet access. I think we paid £50 per night.

Yosemite - Shilo Inn Suites in Oakhurst. Again around the £50 per night mark I think, included breakfast & free internet, had a laundry room so I washed all our clothes here - bonus!).

Lone Pine - Best Western Frontier Motel. This place was seriously like the end of nowhere but the views were lovely and the room was clean and well appointed and again free internet. Included breakfast. Think we paid $100 here but there isn't alot of accomodation around the area and it's on the edge of Death Valley so quite touristy.

In vegas we stayed in the MGM Signature which was luxurious to say the least, and we got upgraded to a suite which was basically a full equipped plush 1 bed flat!! When the volcano happened we moved to the Desert Rose resort which was lovely too but much more basic.

We took a netbook with us as some of our planning things to do was done on the spur of the moment, hence hotels with internet was important for us.

I booked the SF and Vegas hotel quite a long time in advance, and basically watched the prices - they both dropped by at least £100 over time so I was cancelling and re-booking to get the lower prices as and when. You should definately do this!!

blindman

northwest1965 wrote: »

Thanks. We would be going 1st week October.

Best to have an "open Jaw" ticket and fly into (say SFO) and then out of LAS.

One way car hire in CA is free from "drop fees"

Do NOT spend the weekend (Frid\Sat nighs) in LAS it will be expensive.

As said driving SOUTH down the Big sur means you are near the coast\beach-better views.

Try not to do too many one night stops- IMHO a bit of a pain unpacking\finding hotels\finding somewhere to eat...

Enjoy

blindman

misa.blue wrote: »

Wow, great plans for amazing time!! Nortwest, we are doing similar trip :j
We are leaving London Thur 21 April, arriving back 8th May (overnight flight on 7May). Utilizing 4 bank holidays in this period!:rotfl:
Our plan is:
2 nights LA - going to Universal Studios next day after arrival
2 nights San Diego
1 night Laguna or Long Beach
1 night Santa Barbara
1 night San Luis Obispo
1 night Monterey or Carmel
4 nights San Francisco
Internal flight to Las Vegas
4 nights Las Vegas, fly back to UK

We planned it so we don't spend more then 3 hours per day in car, obviously if we don't hit bad traffic..Will have hire car from LA and return in San Franscisco as people here advised me that you don't need car in SF:)

So far have only flights booked and looking for hotels and hire car now..

Comments
To many one night stays..

Use Priceline for arrival hotel in LA and possibly 4 nights in SFO.

Do not book hotels for the rest of the trip as you should get some good deals on the road and this gives you great flexibility if plans change.

blindman

blindman wrote: »

Comments
To many one night stays..

Use Priceline for arrival hotel in LA and possibly 4 nights in SFO.

Do not book hotels for the rest of the trip as you should get some good deals on the road and this gives you great flexibility if plans change.

Netflights for car hire-No one way drop off fees.

tarkytarks

There was no one way drop off fees for us from SF to Vegas.

northwest1965

blindman wrote: »

Best to have an "open Jaw" ticket and fly into (say SFO) and then out of LAS.

Excuse my ignorance, whats open jaw?

tarkytarks

northwest1965 wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance, whats open jaw?

It's when you fly into one city and back out from another - like you will be doing on your holiday There's an option to choose this when you are on the virgin site looking at flights.

ali_r_2

we are planning a holiday to California this September - thanks for a great thread.