First time to the West Coast 18 months to go **Flights are booked**

[smedley]

So I've decided next year is definitely the one for the West Coast (we did have it all lined up in 2009 but then I tore my anterior cruciate and medial ligaments in my right knee so spent the time we should have been on holiday having knee surgery )

I've been diligently reading trip reports and this thread to get a reasonable idea and I've come up with the following places I am pretty sure I want to visit, planning on around 21 nights.

San Francisco (golden gate bridge, Alcatraz, general sightseeing and Walt Disney Family Museum are musts)

Yosemite (abiknox's report made this a definite for me if I was in doubt before)

Monterey (I have always wanted to see Humpback whales, I know it's not guaranteed but I can't say no to the chance!)

Anaheim/LA (seems that most people base themselves partly at Anaheim and partly near the US end of LA? This looks a good option to me)

San Diego (for the zoo, possibly SeaWorld, old town and those amazing beaches)

Las Vegas (neither of us are gamblers, but we would like to visit the Grand Canyon, probably see a show and visit the hotels, shopping outlets , and maybe either Red Rock Canyon or the Hoover Dam)

So that's the places, I am kind of blowing my own mind figuring out how many days in each, and also which order/direction to do them in? I was thinking flying into San Fran and out of LA. So I guess that gives a start and finish point, but in between? Also not sure if I might need to throw in another place or two in between cities?

Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions are gratefully received at this point obviously I have a fair amount of time to get the plan together, and I'm willing to be flexible on dates to get the best flight prices (my only definite is that I want to be there on the 6th October for our 15th wedding anniversary)

Oh and another how long is a piece of string question, I was thinking about £100 a night for hotels? Am I way out on that? I don't need top of the line hotels at all.

[400ixl]

What sort of things do you want to do?

Anahiem is popular for people visiting Disney, but if you aren't dong that then there are better parts of LA to stay.

There is also lots do do in San Diego, so again, what sort of things are you looking to do?

[smedley]

We definitely want to do Disney, hence the plan to spend some time in Anaheim, but also want to see some of the beaches and visit Universal Studios, see the space shuttle and do the Warner Bros studio tours.

In San Diego, definitely the zoo, I would like to visit the Old Town and I think hubby would like to visit Sea World as well. If we have time for beaches here too then great, but it's not essential

[UncleLatch]

The route for me given your must see places and flight choices would be SF, Monterey (either stand alone or a side trip from SF) , Yosemite, Las Vegas, San Diego then LA.
San Francisco is worth at least four nights, perhaps five if you wanted to view Monterey as a day trip, Yosemite two or three. You could break the long drive to Las Vegas with a overnight in Death Valley. Las Vegas I'd give about five nights, but put an extra night for a trip to the Grand Canyon South Rim. The drive to San Diego is pretty easy in half a day, then SD is worth at least four nights. That leaves only leaves about two days for LA though, so you may have to juggle a bit depending on how much you want to visit around there. I can't advise on that as I haven't felt the need to visit it at all, except as a flight destination.

[400ixl]

I'd lob a couple of days off of Las Vegas and move them to LA to give 4 days there, maybe reduce San Diego to 3 to give that extra day depending on whether the plan is for 1 or 2 days at Disney.

Disney for 1/2 days, then head north to do a day at Universal, another for Warner Bros and the Science museum, leaving a day at the end to relax and do somewhere like Santa Monica.

I'd stay in Anaheim for Disney and then move somewhere closer to Universal for the last few days, or over towards Santa Monica.

In San Diego the Zoo and Sea World are on the northern side. So staying somewhere like the Mission Beach area would be nice.

[sam_b]

With that itinerary I might be tempted to do a round trip - unless you don't like driving... so maybe start and finish in LA, but go up the interior to SF to take in Yosemite en route and down the coast back to LA/San Diego.

Or you could fly into Flagstaff, do Grand Canyon, then Vegas, then up to Sf via Yosemite and down the coast to LA and fly out of San Diego. To be honest there are many ways to do this...

But you have 18 months - we were still planning our route two weeks before we went! My trip overview has details of the hotels we used in Grand Canyon etc...

[tinkerbelll]

£100 per night is what I budgeted this year and came in well under closer to £1000 for 16 nights but we didn't do San Fran as we had been before and I remember the hotels there are quite expensive. If you can do Vegas midweek you can find really good deals. We stayed Mon-Fri this year in MGM signature for less than £250 including resort fees.

[florida_noob]

We are just back and did

LHR - SFO

3 nights at Grand Hyatt ( wife had phone stolen in Union Square out of her bag - and she is so careful! - bought her an iphone6 to replace)

Defo - Alcatraz - night tour is awesome (booking opens 3mths out)

we did Dylans Tours (with Dylan) and it was excellent - city highlights, crossing the bridge, Sausalito and Muir Woods too

Hired a car from National/Alamo and drove to Yosemite (4hrs) - stayed 3nts at Yosemite Lodge at the falls which was v expensive! but worth it - maybe only need 1 or 2 nights here.

National parks pass is $25-$30 but if you are visiting a few there is a pass called America the Beautiful which costs $80 and covers all parks see NPS website

Drove from Yosemite to Universal (5hrs) stayed at hilton 1 nt lovely hotel

drove through Hollywood, looked very tacky (think Blackpool Golden Mile) glad did not stop - saw walk of fame, theatre and the sign.

Universal to Anaheim (Hyatt Regency Orange County in Kids Suite) 6nts look for deal through virgin holidays suite cost £90 per night with free parking (should be $16 per day) shuttle to disney every 30mins unitil 1hr after park closing (costs $5 pppd kids $2 pppd)

used Anaheim for base to visit Huntingdon Beach 25mins, Newport Beach 20mins and Long Beach (45mins) as well as shopping at the outlets at Orange (5mins).

our hotels budget was £150 per night (but then our flights with Virgin only cost £300 each due to Hotdeals glitch

[sameeel]

hi there...

I've got a thread on this forum asking pretty much the same as you! Looks like we are planning a similar trip so I hope you don't mind me following the advice you are given

We are looking at next summer, most likely August for 3 weeks or just over! Will definitely be myself, hubby and 9yo... I'm hoping our will be 19yo will also join us but that depends on his health. We don't gamble so won't get to see that side of Vegas unless I go for half hour then swap with hubby to look after youngster... But there's so much more than just gambling so I'm not worried!

Exciting planning isn't it!

[smedley]

Feel free! I had a look at your thread too happy to share

Driving is no problem at all so if a round trip would make sense then I am happy to look at that too as I guess in and out of the same airport would possibly shave some pennies off the cost too