West Coast USA

ceewash

Don't know if has already been said but make sure you hit Las Vegas on a weekday, you can experience the best hotels for a fraction of the price. LV is all about the hotels and the locations.

northwest1965

tingtong wrote: »

North to South is the more scenic way plus it gets warmer as we go

I'm losing the plot!!! I knew I would

Vikki_74

Right, here's my suggestion for the part after Las Vegas / Grand Canyon - it would mean losing one of your three nights at Yosemite but you could still see the gorgeous part of the coast between Big Sur and Monterey as part of the journey and it only adds on about an hour compared to driving to Monterey from Yosemite directly:

1 night Death Valley
2 nights Yosemite
1 night Cambria/San Luis Obispo area
2 nights Monterey
3 nights San Francisco

The Death Valley to Yosemite drive is a bit of a killer at 7-8 hours+ but I don't honestly know how else you can do it...before looking properly at a map I was going to suggest going from Death Valley straight across to the coast then dropping inland to Yosemite later on but it probably makes it even worse as there isn't really a direct route! If you want to take in Las Vegas, Yosemite and San Francisco and are short on nights to stop I think there has to be a long drive somewhere just due to the distances involved.

If you'd be willing to skip Death Valley altogether, another alternative might be to take an internal flight from LV to SF then do the rest as a big loop from SF which would give you an extra night to play with but would add on more cost - I think it's about $100 each for a one-way flight with Southwest.

For the Las Vegas / Grand Canyon part, checking in and out of hotels 3 times for a total 4 night stay isn't ideal but I don't have any better suggestions as clearly you can't do the drive to GC the day you arrive, and doing the 3 nights in Vegas then 1 at GC won't work either as then the drive to Death Valley would be huge!

Sorry that's not as helpful as I wanted it to be, but might give you a couple more ideas at least.

northwest1965

Vikki_74 wrote: »

Right, here's my suggestion
1 night Death Valley
2 nights Yosemite
1 night Cambria/San Luis Obispo area
2 nights Monterey
3 nights San Francisco

Sorry that's not as helpful as I wanted it to be, but might give you a couple more ideas at least.

Thanks Vikki, I'd say thats very helpful.

I havent looked into this yet but what about using the Tioga pass?

tarkytarks

The roadtripusa site is good - I used it alot to get ideas but to be honest we winged alot of our trip when over there. The hardest thing for me was OH - he didn't really take much of an interest until a few days before we left!!:rotfl:

There is so much useful advice and tips but at the end of the day you have to go with your gut instinct and do your thing.

He's seen me on this thread the last couple of days and knows that I'm secretly planning our next trip to California & vegas!! Can't wait (I haven't even really thought about our first trip to NYC next month either). We'll fly into LA next time and once again finish off in vegas (can't wait to go back, even though after we got stuck there with the volcano we'd both had enough). But at the moment it's just a day dream. Doesn't stop me reading about it though :j:D

tarkytarks

northwest1965 wrote: »

Thanks Vikki, I'd say thats very helpful.

I havent looked into this yet but what about using the Tioga pass?

Using Tioga pass depends on the time of you year you are there - we were there middle of April and it was still closed for the winter due to snow and ice. I believe it is open June - September or October but you can check this online on the yosemite national park website.

northwest1965

tarkytarks wrote: »

Can't wait (I haven't even really thought about our first trip to NYC next month either).

So envious of you, we loved NYC

wdyw

northwest1965 wrote: »

Thanks Vikki, I'd say thats very helpful.

I havent looked into this yet but what about using the Tioga pass?

It's something like 50 years since Tioga Pass was closed as early as the first week of October, but in the past it has closed early September.

What you are going to end up with is close to what you had and was suggested back on page 1.
A few nights in SFO
A few nights in Yosemite
A few nights in Monterrey
A night half way down the coast
A few nights in Santa Barabara
and off to Vegas

Open jaw ticket in and out of SFO and LAS

tarkytarks

Vikki_74 wrote: »

The Death Valley to Yosemite drive is a bit of a killer at 7-8 hours+

Talking for experience yes it is!! Up until Bakersfield it was quite a dull drive scenerywise but then it was nice But if the pass is open it wouldn't be quite such a long drive bad as this.

tarkytarks

northwest1965 wrote: »

So envious of you, we loved NYC

Thanks! We're looking forward to it - it was a spur of the moment booking. I've booked tickets to go up the crown of the Statue of Liberty but that's all we're doing in advance. Plan to just play it by ear once we get there