Southwest USA & The West Coast (California, Arizona etc) - General Thread

michele-p

I LOVED San Franciso, it would be a pity to miss it. To give an idea of timings, we stayed at the very touristy, but fantastic Argonaught Hotel on the harbour, which is great as the cable car stops just over the road. We arrived mid afternoon from UK, went to Alcatraz that night (pre booked evening cruise, very spooky in the dark!). Had a full day sightseeing next day (on the city tour bus, hop on off). Then picked up the car next day and drove up to Napa for the day. It was a whistle stop tour, but enough to see all the sights, and get a good feel for the place. Staying on the waterfront was great too, as you're right in the middle of it. Plus it's the only hotel we've ever been given an upgrade, which was a fantastic start to our honeymoon.

If you've still got days to spare, how about a night in Carmel on route from Vegas to San Franciso? You could drive through Big Sur too. We stayed here: http://www.ticklepinkinn.com/ which was a tad extravagant, but lovely. There are lots of other hotels in Carmel, this was on the outskirts, with a view to die for.

Rahven

michele-p wrote: »

We stayed here: http://www.ticklepinkinn.com/ which was a tad extravagant, but lovely. There are lots of other hotels in Carmel, this was on the outskirts, with a view to die for.

OMG that hotel is amazing! We are planning to stay a night in Carmel. Will have to see if we can raise a bit of extra cash and stay here!!!

michele-p

Rahven, it was very special, but if I remember very pricey! If you arrive in time you get wine and cheese.in the afternoon, and there was champagne in the room for us. There was a hot tub out on one level, which was great to sit in and look out. We ate here: http://www.missionranchcarmel.com/ which also had fantastic views.

For San Francisco we stayed here: http://www.argonauthotel.com/ as I said it's touristy, but why the hell not!

When we were in Yosemite, we stayed just outside the park at
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g32340-d113554-Reviews-Yosemite_View_Lodge-El_Portal_California.html

but if you have the cash, I would recommend the Wanona hotel, which was beautiful, we had dinner there: http://www.yosemitepark.com/Accommodations_WawonaHotel.aspx
check it out on a map though, because it would depend on which way you come into the park if it was a good place to stay for your trip.

We did your trip in reverse, so started in SF for 3 nights, then came down to Carmel for 1 night, Yosemite 2 nights, over the Togia Pass to Death Valley 1 night, Vegas 4 nights (went to Canyon on day trip small plane) and then 3 nights in LA. If anything I'd have cut out LA, but we still did enjoy it.
It was 3 years ago, but if you have any questions just shout!

northwest1965

michele-p wrote: »

When we were in Yosemite, we stayed just outside the park at
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g32340-d113554-Reviews-Yosemite_View_Lodge-El_Portal_California.html

but if you have the cash, I would recommend the Wanona hotel, which was beautiful, we had dinner there: http://www.yosemitepark.com/Accommodations_WawonaHotel.aspx
check it out on a map though, because it would depend on which way you come into the park if it was a good place to stay for your trip.

We also stayed at Yosemite View Lodge, I can recommend it. The room was large and had a kitchen in it aswell. Its very close to Yosemite. We looked around Wawona. It was beautiful.

Rahven

Thank goodness! I really wanted to stay in Yosemite view but we found quite a few horrible reviews online so were a bit worried about it.

michele-p

Yosemite view is sort of Travel lodge standard. A bit tired, but absolutely fine. Make sure you get a river view room! There's not much near it, but that's the beauty. We ate in the restaurant one night which was quite good, and the next night ate at the Wawona hotel.

jackieblack

We also stayed at Yosemite View Lodge, we didn't have a river view but it didn't matter because we were in the NP all day and it was dark by the time we arrived back each evening
We ate at the restaurant one night and got take away Pizza from the Pizzeria another night, both were lovely although the restaurant was a bit on the pricey side IIRC.
We would definitely stay there again. Our daughter loved watching the hummingbirds while eating breakfast on the balcony

IIRC I think there's a bus that goes straight past the hotel and into the park - we thought we might have to use this if it snowed as we didn't have snow chains so wouldn't have been able to take the car into the NP, but this wasn't necessary.

laughingsheep

For Yosemite, it might be worth considering the Blue Butterfly Inn at El Portal, http://www.yosemitebluebutterflyinn.com/

It's beside the Yosemite View Lodge and their basic room comes in at a similar price, however, the Inn gets glowing reviews on trip advisor, where as the reviews for the lodge are a bit more so-so.

I can't give personal experience, coz I haven't stayed there yet, but I've booked it for this September.

jackieblack

laughingsheep wrote: »

For Yosemite, it might be worth considering the Blue Butterfly Inn at El Portal, http://www.yosemitebluebutterflyinn.com/

It's beside the Yosemite View Lodge and their basic room comes in at a similar price, however, the Inn gets glowing reviews on trip advisor, where as the reviews for the lodge are a bit more so-so.

I can't give personal experience, coz I haven't stayed there yet, but I've booked it for this September.

I know someone who stayed there and they loved it. We couldn't, because they don't (or didn't) allow children and our daughter was 14 at the time but at the time it was also quite alot more expensive than the Yosemite View (although this was 2 years ago)

It is smack bang in the middle of the hotel grounds, next to the restaurant & pizza place. There are hotel buildings to each side, along the river.

Rahven

Right taking into account what everyone has said we have proposed the following revised schedule:

Sun 1 Jul - Santa Barbara
Mon 2 Jul - Carmel
Tue 3-Thur 5 - San Francisco
Fri 6 - Sat 7 - Yosemite
Sun 8 - Santa Cruz or San Jose

Any comment very welcome, really appreciate the help we have had so far