West Coast route options?

[Tco200]

Oh we’ll do a few nights in Vegas it’s just the canyon is what’s drawing us there rather than the bright lights

[xxSmileyKyliexx]

Originally Posted by jdouds

Hi would definitely drive as you have 3 weeks.
Would suggest a circular route but you may have a problem depending when you go, to make it more doable it would be better to go as early as possible. Ie start of October. The reason for this is depending on the weather parts of Yosemite can get closed for winter depending on snow fall. Have a look at historical closing dates for tioga pass which is the route we would suggest you go in or leave Yosemite by.
So roughly .?
3/4 n Las Vegas maybe 1 more if you fancy a trip to Grand Canyon
1 n Death Valley
3 n Yosemite
3/4 n San Fran
2/3 Monterey, especially if sporty, whale watching a must.
2 n on coast
And then balance for LA
This will give you a rough idea and can be done flying in and out of LA or in via Vegas and home from LA . As you can see this could be reversed or starting point changed to say San Fran .
On this route the biggest driving day would be about 3.5 hours
Any questions just ask
Just had a quick look ref tioga pass average closing is date is 14 November but sometimes as early as mid October

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Thank you for your help, this sounds like a perfect trip, I like the idea of starting in Vegas and finishing in LA. We would most likely fly in to Vegas and out from LAX, makes it a bit easier for us. I've read a few people mention about the snow in Yosemite today, we will probably have to give it a miss just because we can only go from the end of October into November x

[xxSmileyKyliexx]

Originally Posted by Baltic

Most people I know have started their road trip in San Francisco, gone south on the Pacific Coast Highway to Los Angeles followed by destinations in Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
But if you are more interested visiting Yosemite and other National Parks you can take that route.

For planning I recommend Google Maps.

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Thank you 😊

[xxSmileyKyliexx]

Originally Posted by 400ixl

San Francisco is the best place to start, then across to Yosemite. 3 Nights in SF and Yosemite each as a minimum really.

From there back across to the coast to do the Pacific Coast Highway (stopping for 2-3 nights on the way at the likes of Monterrey and then somewhere in the Pismo area or Santa Barabara).

This gets you down to North LA where you can stay for the likes of Hollywood, Warner Bros etc (Burbank is a popular area to stay). 3 nights is enough for most here, maybe 2 if you drive down to Anaheim late on day 3.

Next down to Anaheim for Disney with is around 90 minutes south of Hollywood. You will probably want 2-3 days in the park for a first visit and there are lots of good neighbour hotels within walking distance.

Finally the drive across to Las Vegas which will take 4-6 hours from Anaheim.

Some look at doing a circular route based around flying in and out of LA where sometimes the flights can be cheaper. It takes another day or two out of your holiday to do this so personally I would look to fly in an out of different airports and spend more time in the places you wan to be.

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Thanks for this advice, we would ideally be flying into Vegas and flying home from LAX. I like the sound of Monterey and the whale watching! Is this all year round for the whales? We stayed at the candy cane Inn when visiting Disneyland before it was such a short walk and we loved it so will def check out the neighbor hotels again!

[xxSmileyKyliexx]

Originally Posted by Tco200

Thanks for this thread I want to do something similar myself but never done it.

We have been to Disneyland before and loved it so we would want to finish there for 5-6 nights so jdouds plan above looks great for us but may vary slightly as we only really want to go to Vegas to see the Grand Canyon

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This is what we want to do too, we loved Disneyland! it's both of our birthdays whilst there too so I'd spend mine in Vegas and Carley hers in Disneyland. Have you been to Vegas before? It is a crazy fantastic place, we did the grand canyon which was unbelievable! Xx

[xxSmileyKyliexx]

Originally Posted by miked1e

Circular route and driving is great. However as jdouds has stated, Tioga pass closed sometime in November and if this is closed then can add a lot of time on getting through this part.

San Fran could be a good place to start as car parking is expensive so you would
pick the car up when leaving. Or find one of the Motor Inns where car parking is included (we stayed at Colombus Motor Inn).

However, I would recommend working out your priority list and be realistic on how long you would need in each place then build the route from there.

We went anti-clockwise, starting in LA and ending in Anaheim. Not sure how we lost any days from our trip doing this!

I completed a trip report (A Suitcase and a Dream) which covers most of the things you are hoping to do!

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Thank you for your reply! We definitely need to work out a list and how many days etc and then go from there. It's so over whelming so think that would be a good start! I will check out your trip report so thank you 😊

[miked1e]

Here is the link to the trip report:

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...d.php?t=975056

I would say try not to miss Yosemite if possible.

We spent 2 nights in Vegas as part of this trip and there for DW birthday. We spent it in our favourite bar... Gilleys!

Monterey is lovely and we also stopped at San Luis Obispo - Madonna Inn on the way back down the coast. Highly recommend it!

[Beaker's Fluff]

Can’t help, but where have you been?
I love your posts, warts and all Can’t wait for another report.

[xxSmileyKyliexx]

Originally Posted by miked1e

Here is the link to the trip report:

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...d.php?t=975056

I would say try not to miss Yosemite if possible.

We spent 2 nights in Vegas as part of this trip and there for DW birthday. We spent it in our favourite bar... Gilleys!

Monterey is lovely and we also stopped at San Luis Obispo - Madonna Inn on the way back down the coast. Highly recommend it!

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I've read about the snow etc around that time of year in Yosemite so will be worried about driving and getting around! But I will research more into it as it looks so lovely I really wouldn't want to miss it! Aw I bet you guys had the best time there, I'm going to start reading your report when I get in bed. Thanks for the recommendations I'll be sure to write all of this down to help me plan!

[xxSmileyKyliexx]

Originally Posted by Beaker's Fluff

Can’t help, but where have you been?
I love your posts, warts and all Can’t wait for another report.

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Helloo! I haven't been on here for so long, it's nice that someone remembers me 😂 I've been to Paris a couple of times but no Florida trips since my solo 2017! Feel free to follow me on Instagram to see what I'm up to, I have my Paris stories on there and my California ones (xxsmileykyliexx) I will deffo have to do a trip report for this trip and stick with it! Xx