San Fran & Vegas!

[mum22boys1girl]

Hello!

Both my husband and I turn 40 next year. And for many years we've always said we'd do Vegas for our 40ths. This has now turned into 3 nights San Fran and 3 nights Vegas. We want to go March 2023. We would fly Heathrow to San Fran, and fly back from Vegas. BA do not do flights from San fran to Vegas so would need to either hire a care and drive or look at booking a separate flight.

Could you recommend where would be the ideal place to stay in San Fran please?

Any tips or guidance would be greatly received! Thank you, Janine

[Summerfun]

That's so exciting, you will love it! My husband and I did the same thing a few years ago. I think we flew from Gatwick to San Fran, then to Vegas, with a direct flight coming back. I'm pretty sure we had a mix of VA and Delta flights. We pre-booked a Golden Gate Bridge bus tour and boat trip to Alcatraz, then in Vegas a helicopter to Grand Canyon. It definitely added some ticks on my bucket list

[Willeve]

I like to stay at Fisherman’s Wharf- yes it is very touristy, but we are tourists! Handy for most things you’ll want to do.

[cornishfrogboy]

A great idea.

You can buy any San Francisco (or don’t forget Oakland Airport) flight to Las Vegas, as you have 3 days between landing in SFO and leaving for Las Vegas. Delayed flights are therefore not an issue, so separate tickets are fine.

When staying in SFO, it very much depends on the budget.
Fisherman’s Wharf is very much the most desirable area and this October, we are staying at the Hotel Riu, a couple of blocks back from Fisherman’s, a good price and really good reviews.

Things to do?
Dylan’s ultimate cycle ride is great. You pick up a short walk from the Riu on Columbus, close to the famous Lombard Zigzag road. You then cycle on you own to the Golden Gate, over and down to Sausalito, dumping the bikes on arrival. At an arranged time, they pick you up in a minibus, taking you to the Giant Redwoods at Muir Woods. Afterwards, you are driven back to Fisherman’s.

Another thing worth investigating the ‘Love tour’. They pick you up at Fisherman’s and take you on a 2 hour tour of the City in an Air cooled VW Camper, hand painted, with Shagpile Carpets and playing 1960s music. You get photo shots at the Golden Gate, Haight Ashbury etc!

Alcatraz you must book in advance and the tickets are released 90 days early. There is also a night tour.

The Cable Cars up to the Powell Turnaround, close to Union Sq is awesome fun.

Union Sq has a huge Macy’s with a Cheesecake Factory on the top floor.

Vegas? I can’t help! We go there in October.

[Endeavour]

We stayed there a month ago, also Fisherman’s Wharf, at the Hotel Zephyr which was very good. It was a twice-cancelled trip and previously we had been booked at both Zephyr and Hotel Riu. Although recent trip was SF only, one of the previous booking was for SF and LA. We had looked at various travel options and internal flights were by far the cheapest.

Re things to do, agree with Alcatraz, we also took a taxi to Golden Gate and walked over, did Muir Woods (bus trip rather than bicycle), and took in both a basketball game and a concert at the Chase Centre. Ghirardelli’s ice cream parlour also worth a visit or three, although on our most recent trip they had stopped handing out free chocs every time you visited.

[jdouds]

Hi others ha e covered most of the main tour attractions. Perhaps Disney museum. For such a short trip driving isn’t an option. 9 hours. We stayed chestnut st in 3rd floor appointment, Airbnb. Roof terrace looking out to the bridge.
Vegas for 40 th i suppose spoil yourself. Some shows . We did a couple of cirque de soleill shows fantastic.

[ScoopsAhoy]

With only 6 days I’d book internal flights as the drive is long and would take up a lot of your time. We drove from San Fran to San Diego and then from there to La and then vegas.
As for vegas I’d stay centre strip so you’re close to all the hotels and attractions. You may be able to fit in hoover dam but again, would be tight to do everything.

[Flubber]

Another vote for Hotel Zephyr, great location in fisherman’s wharf, SAN Francisco is our favourite city in the US and Alcatraz is a must 😀

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by ScoopsAhoy

With only 6 days I’d book internal flights as the drive is long and would take up a lot of your time. We drove from San Fran to San Diego and then from there to La and then vegas.
As for vegas I’d stay centre strip so you’re close to all the hotels and attractions. You may be able to fit in hoover dam but again, would be tight to do everything.

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Agreed.

6 days is simply cutting things too short and undervaluing what California, yet alone Arizona and Nevada have to offer. The hassle is time spent getting there. Once on station, I would always stretch it out to 2 weeks plus.
Imho, I would get far, far more out of 3 weeks on the West Coast than I ever would in Orlando. It is to me, a vastly superior experience in every way.

You haven’t mentioned Whale watching, Monterey, the Pacific Coast Highway, Hearst Castle, Pismo Beach, Reagan Library, 6 Flags, Warner Bros, Universal, Knotts Berry, Hollywood, USS Iowa, San Diego, USS Midway, Coronado Beach, La Jolla and countless other things.. and that is just the California Coast.

I would cut SFO in some ways and take San Diego for example… but then again, a first visit to SFO is absolutely incredible.. as opposed to further visits, where you might run out of things to do.

Oops! I forgot Disneyland… but then again, I didn’t enjoy it 😂

[daytonababe]

I would definitely fly between the two , if you drive you’ll lose a day pretty much.


Loads to do in Vegas, you wont even scratch the surface in 3 days so I’d leave things like the Hoover Dam for another trip.

I would stay on the strip no further South than MGM and no further north than the Venetian ( most things you’ll do will be between those two points )

However March can be very busy in Vegas and expensive because you have the NASCAR , March Madness Basketball ( and I’m sure next year Vegas host the mens tournaments ) and Spring Break so prices might be high .