Starting to make a west coast plan 2020

[rosiebun3]

Planning a big holiday for September 2020 to celebrate DH 60th and sons ( hopefully ) graduation.
Have looked for packages but doesn’t appear to be anything to cover all our wishes
My thoughts were 2 nights in San Francisco then drive to Yosemite for 3 nights. Then on to LA or Anaheim for 3-4 nights; DS wants to do walk of fame and studios, I want to do Disneyland and Universal. So which base would be best or should we do a few nights at each?
We would also like to travel on to Vegas to do Grand Canyon ? 2 nights
Questions- are the number of days about right? We are not restricted too much by number of days but obviously the longer we stay the more it will cost...
Is there a where else we should try to visit? DH not too keen on driving so trying to limit our bases.
Any recommendations for good hotels or good Airbnb
Thanks, so familiar with Florida and this is a little out of my comfort zone

[Grump$]

I think your a bit light on San Francisco if your 2 nights include the night you fly from the UK. There's so much to see in San Francisco.
Your going to lose a day travelling from Yosemite to LA. You can easily double the travel time with LA congestion.
With the travel congestion its best to stay locally for Universal and Disney.
I take it you plan to fly to Grand Canyon from Vegas? If not that's 4.5 hour road trip as is Vegas from LA.
If your DH isn't keen on driving you might have to adjust your intinary as there is many hours of driving in your plan.

[Sew109]

There are many parts of CA where air B and B is banned so be careful.

It’s advisable to stay in Anaheim for Disney and Hollywood for universal.

The thing that slightly bothers me is that if you DH does not like driving there is a lot of miles here.

Two days to “do” Vegas and the Grand Canyon is not enough it’s a 4.5 hour drive to Vegas from LA and then about 3 and a bit to the South Rim (read other posts about the Grand Canyon you dont want to go to the west rim).

Although as others say 2 nights in SAN Francisco is light it is so expensive that I would probably do no longer because of budget.

Try not to be in Vegas Friday or Saturday as hotels can be three time the Monday night rate.

[jdouds]

Hi as previous I would add a least 1 day to San Fran , after yosemite we would suggest you then go to Monterey for a couple of days , after this the coast road to Santa Barbara . These stops are the recognised favourites and well worth doing and also breaks the longer drives.

[rosiebun3]

Thanks for the advice
We will drive just don’t want to spend too long on this each day. I thought I read Yosemite was a 1/2 day drive from San Francisco. Is it more than that?
So 2 full days after travelling for San Francisco should be enough? I have seen advice to stay in Fisherman’s wharf area does everyone agree?
I can see loads of Airbnb for los Angeles/ Hollywood. How will I know if this is allowed?
Is it better to stay close to Anaheim and Universal? Any suggestions on good hotels?
I was thinking is doing a coach tour out to the South rim for the Grand Canyon, has anyone done this? I was planning to ditch the hire car at this stage.
Sorry for so many questions.

[Frankie & gang]

Rosie
We did a road trip last year in California & went to lots on your provisional list but didn’t go to LA.
We flew into SF & had 4 nights, no car. I’d say that was just about the right length. We stayed at Columbus Motor Inn, large rooms (we had a suite with 2 beds in 1 room & a separate main bedroom) not to expensive & 10 mins from Fishermans wharf. You have to book direct - not on price comparison sites. A few Dibbers have stayed there. Also a Dibb favourite is Cow Hollow it’s sister hotel.
We picked up the car & drove to Yosemite, about 4 hours drive. We had 3 nights in Yosemite & it wasn’t enough.
We then drove to Monterey for 2 nights & then Pismo Beach 2 nights.
If you can avoid less than 2 nights I would recommend it, otherwise you’ll see nothing of that stop.
We flew (internal flights can be quite cheap) to Phoenix, picked up another car then had 2 nights Grand Canyon. This allowed us to spend a day exploring, using the shuttle bus to go between look outs & to see sunset & sunrise.
Then we finished our trip in Las Vegas for 3 nights where we flew home.
Flying in to one airport & out of another saves on miles in the car.
If you can stay in GC you should book up early - hotels release rooms 1 year before, when we went on a central booking site Xantera (via grandcanyonlodges)
We stayed in Kachina Lodge on the rim - very good.
September should be amazing, was a bit hot for us in August!
Ask lots of questions, many dibbers have experience of West Coast & will be happy to help
Enjoy the planning!

[rosiebun3]

Originally Posted by Frankie & gang

Rosie
We did a road trip last year in California & went to lots on your provisional list but didn’t go to LA.
We flew into SF & had 4 nights, no car. I’d say that was just about the right length. We stayed at Columbus Motor Inn, large rooms (we had a suite with 2 beds in 1 room & a separate main bedroom) not to expensive & 10 mins from Fishermans wharf. You have to book direct - not on price comparison sites. A few Dibbers have stayed there. Also a Dibb favourite is Cow Hollow it’s sister hotel.
We picked up the car & drove to Yosemite, about 4 hours drive. We had 3 nights in Yosemite & it wasn’t enough.
We then drove to Monterey for 2 nights & then Pismo Beach 2 nights.
If you can avoid less than 2 nights I would recommend it, otherwise you’ll see nothing of that stop.
We flew (internal flights can be quite cheap) to Phoenix, picked up another car then had 2 nights Grand Canyon. This allowed us to spend a day exploring, using the shuttle bus to go between look outs & to see sunset & sunrise.
Then we finished our trip in Las Vegas for 3 nights where we flew home.
Flying in to one airport & out of another saves on miles in the car.
If you can stay in GC you should book up early - hotels release rooms 1 year before, when we went on a central booking site Xantera (via grandcanyonlodges)
We stayed in Kachina Lodge on the rim - very good.
September should be amazing, was a bit hot for us in August!
Ask lots of questions, many dibbers have experience of West Coast & will be happy to help
Enjoy the planning!

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Thanks Laura. Now thinking staying in GC and just going to Las Vegas to fly home might suit us better.

[400ixl]

If flying into San Fran then I wouldn't rent a car at that stage. You would want 2 full days and nights at least in San Fran so 3 nights if you include your first night after the flight depending on what time you land.

Staying in Fisherman's wharf is our preferred location and if you don't have the burden of a car meaning either compromising for free parking or adding $50 a night for parking you can do this easily.

Yosemite is 4 hours of so from San Francisco, so you need to consider that in your plan.

As others have mentioned it will take a full day to drive from Yosemite to LA if you go direct. Many choose to go via the Pacific Coast highway over a number of days.

Disney and Universal are around 90 minutes drive apart, so you are far better off splitting your stay, or if only doing 1 day at Disney staying in the north east LA area, so Hollywood or Burbank type areas.

To get from LA straight to Grand Canyon South is also a full days drive as it is 4 hours the other side of Vegas. Best to stay over at the Canyon for a night or two so you can see the sunset / sunrise. An alternative is to go to the smaller West Rim which can be done in a day from Vegas by car, or half a day by helicopter. It is much smaller than the South Rim though.

Personally I wouldn't think of trying to do SF, Yosemite, LA and GC / Vegas in less than 21 nights else it will feel like you are just travelling from one location to another.

Your current plan has you missing out on so much. Pacific Coast Highway, Death Valley, Las Vegas just as starters.

[Vinniecat]

We had 23 nights and I realised pretty soon into the planning that we would not be able to fit in everything we wanted to do. I think you have to decide do you want to spend lots of time travelling then having short stopovers or cut down on the amount of places you visit and actually get a feel for the place. I get what you say about San Francisco being expensive but if you can squeeze in another night or two there personally I would highly recommend. It is an expensive holiday overall so you don't want to feel like you have wasted money trying to fit too much in resulting in not seeing enough if that makes sense.

[Colette-S]

I would do 3 nights in SF and 2 nights in Yosemite. We did this in July and it was perfect for each