Tour of California With Young Children

[jojj]

Hi

I am already thinking of our next holiday !!

We were thinking of doing a tour of california next summer ( went 6 years ago on our own )

the boys will be 5 1/2 and nearly 7 if we went Next August 2006. Just wondered if anyone had done this type of holiday with children as there would be lots of driving in between places as well as quite a few hotel changes and not so many theme parks in san fran but more interesting places to go.

we would go to san fran 4 nights , then yosemite 1 night, then vegas 3 nights then LA 6 nights.

do you think this is a good idea??

other than that I wanted to do 3 weeks in florida again so we could relax more as the boys really wanted to go swimming alot more.

thanks

jo
xx

[KittyKat]

We did a California trip when my DS was 4. I was a little concerned about the driving but I made sure that we did not do more than 300 miles in a day. From your plan I would say that the Yosemite to Las Vegas drive would be too long, with kids to do in one day. We did it as follows:

9 nights in Los Angeles staying with friends
3 nights Las Vegas (did a side trip to the Grand Canyon)
1 night at a little place call Big Pine after passing through Death Valley
2 nights at Yosemite
1 night at Monteray
3 nights in San Francisco

DS was fine with all the travelling but has travelled from an early age.

I think it differs from child to child how they'd cope with all the travelling and strange hotels. I don't think my DD would manage as well as although she is OK for longish periods in the car, she likes her own bed and would be less happy with frequent changes of hotel. Having said that just realised we will be staying in 5 different places over 22 nights in March/april:eek:

Kitty

[jojj]

just bumping this up to see if there is anyone else been to california with young children!!

[Claire_L]

Not been with young children but my advice would be not to try and cram too much in by way of distance and maybe pick a smaller area such as just the Coast or if you want to go to LV get a flight. Also try and take 3 weeks to really enjoy it all :) Yosemite can be done in a day trip from San Fran but it is a long day.
Claire :wink

[brody-maddison]

I'd love to go to California but my two are 4 yrs old and 4 months at the moment. I haven't got a clue when the best age to take them is but then I said this about Florida and have been every year since DS was born.

Although, it's the driving that concerns me as opposed to the flight to get there.

[tiggersbestmate]

We took our two eldest children when they were 6 and nearly 4, we stuck to the south, LA, Palm Springs and San Diego. We had a great time but travelling to the north would of spoilt it for us as the children did tend to get fed up with the travelling distances. We are planning to go again sometime - our youngest is now nearly 4 - and this time we would like to visit the north of California, although the driving distances do worry us. Maybe an in car DVD player could help!

[joanne]

I went at Easter with a 6 year old just her and me, we primarily were there for Disney did a coach trip for a day to do Chinese Theatre LA etc. We then hired a car and went down to Carlsbad/San Diego (max 2 hour drive at the right time) we had a ball, it was a girls blow out trip that we will prob never get the chance to do again, we did everything girly load of character meals, dressing up Libby Lu, lots of lounging in Jacuzzis watching fireworks. A fair amount of shopping. If you go down to SD really recommend the Seal land/sea trip we had a great day.

[Hal]

Not done it with kids but we did it pre-kids. LA we did not find particularly good - we much preferred San Diego (zoo + Seaworld :thumbs-up ), so I would recommend adjusting your itinerary to include San Diego and less time in LA. Ours was meticulously planned ;) but where we blew it was Las Vegas - far better than we had envisaged so we overstayed there. Grand Canyon takes a full day but it's a must do. So, I think you should allow longer for Las Vegas. We did San Francisco, Carmel, Monterey, then its a long drive with a stopover to LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, Sequioa NP, Yosemite NP, San Fran. Looking at your itinerary you already have an open jaw (flying in to SF and back from LA) which is the biggest tip. I would explore internal flights from SF to LA and LA to LV.

You don't need a car in SF - its a nightmare to drive there too with the hills and the trams - just use one to visit the Monterey peninsula and Yosemite. LA is a nightmare to drive in too - 12 lane highways, and the prospect of exiting into a bad area etc. Nor do you need a car in Las Vegas. So I would recommend only using a car for Monterey, and Yosemite (and San Diego if you decide to include this). If you are hiring a vehicle for the Monterey - Yosemite bit you could consider a camper van to add to the fun and make it more of an adventure, but motels are frequent and plentiful. We just played it by ear and used the money off coupons from the freebie tourist books which could be found everywhere. With kids it might be better off to plan ahead though.

Hope this helps.:wavey: