Touring holiday to Nevada, California & Arizona

jackieblack

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Did we balls ! some Muppet at Manchester closed the aircraft door wrongly, we wer an hour late leaving, missed the connection and took a re route via Dallas to LAS. All in all, a 25 hour journey.

I'll have to get offline B4 Mrs Cat catches me ! having so good a time, it should be against the law.

MTC

OMG 25 hrs! what a nightmare!

Glad to hear you're having a great time now though. look forward to hearing more!

STSAVER

Hi everyone.

I did post a thread with my queries on but since this thread is about the same sort of area I will try on here having already read through a lot it's been informative but some thoughts or adivce from you all would be helpful.

Got flights booked for Honeymoon in August flying into Vegas on 10th August and back home from San Francisco on Sunday 24th.

If hiring a car from Vegas what would people advise for places to see and visit over approximately an 8/9 day period (want to spend around 2 or 3 nights in Vegas then 2 or 3 nights in San Fran area).

Areas I would quite like to see and visit are Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Yosemite Park, San Diego, Napa Valley, Highway 1 drive etc.

Problem is though with the time available is it going to be possible to do a drive and fit in all those places or will I have to give some areas a miss? Could anyone give a bit of advice as to how they would go about this and whether it is feasible or not?

MOLLYBRUSH

Well first thoughts based loosely on what I am doing - you can visit G Canyon and Hoover Dam from Vegas, then drive over to Yosemite en route to San Fran, spend your time there, then down Highway 1 to San Diego and then maybe consider a flight back to SF from SD or LA. I have booked with South West airlines to save time, they were very reasonable. SF to Vegas for me and two kids - £80.00. This would enable you to fit in all you really want to do.

STSAVER

MOLLYBRUSH wrote: »

Well first thoughts based loosely on what I am doing - you can visit G Canyon and Hoover Dam from Vegas, then drive over to Yosemite en route to San Fran, spend your time there, then down Highway 1 to San Diego and then maybe consider a flight back to SF from SD or LA. I have booked with South West airlines to save time, they were very reasonable. SF to Vegas for me and two kids - £80.00. This would enable you to fit in all you really want to do.

I was wondering whether it would be worthwhile maybe hiring a car for only a few days in Vegas and doing the trip out to HD and GC from Vegas then back to Airport and fly across to San Diego.

Could then hire car from San Diego with a view to driving up Highway 1 and cutting across to Yosemite before heading into San Fran and ending there.

Would prefer ideally though to hire the car and do most of it by road and really get a feel for the country and not just the tourist areas, but problem is fitting it all in given the distance between the various places.

malid

STSAVER wrote: »

Hi everyone.

I did post a thread with my queries on but since this thread is about the same sort of area I will try on here having already read through a lot it's been informative but some thoughts or adivce from you all would be helpful.

Got flights booked for Honeymoon in August flying into Vegas on 10th August and back home from San Francisco on Sunday 24th.

If hiring a car from Vegas what would people advise for places to see and visit over approximately an 8/9 day period (want to spend around 2 or 3 nights in Vegas then 2 or 3 nights in San Fran area).

Areas I would quite like to see and visit are Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Yosemite Park, San Diego, Napa Valley, Highway 1 drive etc.

Problem is though with the time available is it going to be possible to do a drive and fit in all those places or will I have to give some areas a miss? Could anyone give a bit of advice as to how they would go about this and whether it is feasible or not?

Hi - fab honeymoon choice but I think you're trying to see too much (good excuse to go back for another visit at some time).

I would recommend skipping San Diego on this occasion and maybe staying somewhere like San Simeon on H1 with a visit to Hearst Castle. Alternatively, you could skip the coastal route as you head for Yosemite.:cool:

STSAVER

malid wrote: »

Hi - fab honeymoon choice but I think you're trying to see too much (good excuse to go back for another visit at some time).

I would recommend skipping San Diego on this occasion and maybe staying somewhere like San Simeon on H1 with a visit to Hearst Castle. Alternatively, you could skip the coastal route as you head for Yosemite.:cool:

if missing out San Diego this time then I was thinking that we could do the drive from Las Vegas across through Death Valley/Yosemite towards San Fran and then still do a drive down some of H1 towards Santa Barbara (maybe not as far down as that) and then head back up to San Fran to finish.

Really do want to see some of the coastal areas on the H1 route, but would also love to fit in Yosemite and San Diego really.

MOLLYBRUSH

Regarding the Hearst Castle - I am intending visiting. I mentioned it to someone and they said the swimming pool there is the most romantic place ever and that if they hooked up again, they would go there with the love of their life. Sounds good for a honeymoon stop!

malid

STSAVER wrote: »

if missing out San Diego this time then I was thinking that we could do the drive from Las Vegas across through Death Valley/Yosemite towards San Fran and then still do a drive down some of H1 towards Santa Barbara (maybe not as far down as that) and then head back up to San Fran to finish.

Really do want to see some of the coastal areas on the H1 route, but would also love to fit in Yosemite and San Diego really.

Hi there

We have been to all the areas you mention but at different times or on a longer stay. In theory, they're doable but you won't have time to enjoy them 'cos you'll be on the move constantly. These are huge distances. We've visited around a dozen times and still haven't seen everything we want to.

What about skipping Yosemite concentrating on the coast or vice versa? Perhaps you could go from LV to Sedona - beautiful - then across to the coast and towards SF? Try to avoid heading to SF, going back down then back up again. Travelling is part of the experience but not every day.

Happy to help with any questions. :cool:

blindman

MOLLYBRUSH wrote: »

Regarding the Hearst Castle - I am intending visiting. I mentioned it to someone and they said the swimming pool there is the most romantic place ever and that if they hooked up again, they would go there with the love of their life. Sounds good for a honeymoon stop!

Assuming you mean the outside pool.

Hearst Castle is a must if you're doing the Highway 1

STSAVER

malid wrote: »

Hi there

We have been to all the areas you mention but at different times or on a longer stay. In theory, they're doable but you won't have time to enjoy them 'cos you'll be on the move constantly. These are huge distances. We've visited around a dozen times and still haven't seen everything we want to.

What about skipping Yosemite concentrating on the coast or vice versa? Perhaps you could go from LV to Sedona - beautiful - then across to the coast and towards SF? Try to avoid heading to SF, going back down then back up again. Travelling is part of the experience but not every day.

Happy to help with any questions. :cool:

seen a few people talking about Sedona so been wondering whether that might be worth doing.

Will need to get the "better half" to show a bit more interest in the organising of where we go as got a feeling she might actually prefer to fit in visits to Disneyworld or SeaWorld for a day or two, which would be easy to do if going up the coast from San Diego.