west coast fly drive?

mitchg

Done this type of holiday twice both times flying into and out of LA as pointed out flights have more options and can be cheaper.
First time we stayed at Venice beach for two nights took a tour of LA and chilled out in Venice was really a nice way to start then headed off to Vegas 5 nights taking in the Grand canyon. Then drove of through Death Valley stopping at Lone Pine a real quain town really nice this is the home of many a film mainly cowboy/ westerns but many more. Then headed off to Mammoth lakes to go through to Yosemite unfortunately the main road through was closed due to snow so we headed off up to Lake Tahoe another fabulous place not to be missed. Plenty to stop off and have a look at on the way. From Tahoe w headed to San Fran for another 5 nights a trip to Alcatraz a must but please book ahead on the net to guarentee getting there its a major attraction and ther can be a long wait for the ferry so book and jump the wait. Then we headed off down the coast through Carmel, Monterray stopping at Cambria pines then headed to Santa Barbarra not too much here so pass on it. This was our last night stop its not too far from LA so we decided for lunch another last look at Santa Monica/Venice beach areas.:T

Second time we done it we done a southerly loop LA 1 night just to recover from the light Vegas, Lake Havasu, Williams Sedona which is really nice, On from Sedona we went to Palm Springs again this was a great place to stop take in the ariel tram up the mountain only 1 of 3 of its kind in the world. Then from here we went to San Diego areas for a week long stay whilst we were here we took a day trip to Mexico nice for a day but nothing more do not drive here drive to the border and take a bus, this way you will miss the traffic to and hellish traffic back and skip a lot of the wiat for the customs /border control. :T

Again a fantastic journey the north and south routes bout have pluses and minus's although the minus's are very few. But La is only worth the two days at most visit Rodeo drive Beverly hills area and the beach area other than this dont stay any longer you will miss out on many other natural attractions that California has to offer. San Francisco watch out near the shops near the hotel areas south of the pier 39 i saw many that looked like pick pockets and up to no good. Other than this its great but again only 3, 4 nights at most Vegas 4 nights for first timers. I say 4 cuz any longer and your missing out on some other superb locations. Go and enjoy and have a fab time and when on your return let us know how you got on.

blindman

Lots of threads on this type of topic.

One here with links to other threads (see post#5)

This one is my trip (Post#6)

Some good info on here-but also some bad.
Car Hire One way drop offs with Airline-Network

Please Note - There is no fee for one way rentals within the states of Florida and California, or for one way rentals between the states of California, Arizona and Nevada.

.

So a MSE way to do this trip is to:

Get an OPEN JAW Ticket
Fly into SFO and then (say ) fly out of LAX

You may be able to utilise the FREE stopover choice and stop in a US hub (ORD\NYC\LAX) to maximize the cities before you get to SFO.

In SFO do not hire the car until you leave (car not needed)
Drive down the Big Sur (See Hearst Castle) all the way to San Diego\LAX or LAS and drop the car off before you go home.

Use Priceline for major city hotels- but not LAS

Stay in LAS during the week, avoid the weekends. Also check for big conventions that push up prices.

Above all, enjoy yourself.

monty100

Hi there. Just a thought about flights. We are in East Yorkshire, and going to America this coming July for 3-week mega trip (East Coast and West Coast). Because we are stuck to school holidays and there are no flight bargains then, we decided to fly Humberside to Schipol and then Schipol New York with KLM/Northwest. We thought it was more convenient and saves driving Manchester or (worse) London. Check out KLM website - you can search for multi-city (open-jaw) flights to most West Coast airports and generally play around with various combos. Opodo was also good for this.

Have fun planning.

yenners

I'm so excited for you!

I have done the drive from LA to San Fran and it was amazing. We stuck to Highway 1 most of the way and had some awesome scenery - ocean and cliffs on the left and mountains on the right (not all the way). We stopped at Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Carmel & Monterey, and of course Big Sur where we camped for 2 nights in a campsite right in the middle of a redwood forest. I'd highly recommend it - it was a wonderful experience. If you are not into camping, there are some beautiful hotels in the Big Sur area.

I'd agree with the other recommendations for visiting San Diego, a really nice cosy city. Don't miss La Jolla and MIssion Beach. Also, on the drive down from LA to San Diego, you should stop at Laguna Beach - a really pretty arty community and great restaurants.

Have a great time!

DKLS

brazilianwax wrote: »

we did this last October for my 30th birthday.

Flew into SF, down the coast to LA, through the desert to Vegas, up to Yosemite and back to SF.

HI BR,

What car did you hire?, I am trying to find something worth driving, preferably with a 4 litre V8

fisingblade1889

thanx again all, gets more mind boggling and exciting with every post, also is it worth a seat upgrade and if so with which airline, just a thought it might be a worth it as part of the treat for ourselves, bad enough being married for 25yrs without making it worse by being squashed together on a plane for 11hrs, only joking honest

Hippychick

Hi we did this Golden triangle tour with Virgin last year and it was fab. Basically 5 nights in LA, 4 in Vegas and 4 in SF, plenty of time for us to do what we wanted in each location.

https://www.virginholidays.co.uk/brochures/usa/tours/flydrive_tours/golden_triangle_14_nights/standard_tour/

We paid about £770.00 each the price has gone up a bit now but it does include flights, car hire, hotels, taxes etc.

It took us a full day to drive from Vegas to SF and half a day from LA to Vegas. We had a Chrysler Pacifica which was a nice big comfy SUV.

Hippychick

ooh one thing though if going to Vegas I would not stay at the Circus Circus there are much nicer hotels on the strip.

brazilianwax

DKLS wrote: »

HI BR,

What car did you hire?, I am trying to find something worth driving, preferably with a 4 litre V8

had far too much luggage for a 'stang, plus we saw hundreds of them

did lots of research and picked a Ford Edge AWD - was fab Like driving a giant armchair, and quite detached, but meant I could admire the scenery

Plus there was snow in Yosemite, and a 'stang wouldn't have managed it (not even the Shelby version)!

boatman

Just done SF, Carmel, Santa Barbara, LA, Palm Springs,Vegas, G Canyon, Flagstaff, Phoenix. Brilliant apart from the LA traffic, couldn't wait to get back on the open road. Don't bother with the Skywalk in the Grand Canyon, get a helicopter. Stayed in various hotels, Best Western seemed the best compromise(price,breakfast,wifi,parking). Don't Plan to do any more 300miles in a day.