Trying to decide on itinerary

[Bazinga 39]

Hi, we are doing the west coast next year and need to finalise a plan before flights are released, our original plan was LA, San Diego, Palm Springs, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Yosemite , San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Barbara and finishing in Anaheim, this would be a mix of 1-3 nights, I realise that this is a lot and on dibbers previous advice decided to drop Palm Springs, Grand Canyon and Las Vegas and save for another trip. My DH and DS still want to include them though and I keep changing my mind of what to do, has anyone down the full itinerary?, did it work?, was it too much? I don’t want to exhaust ourselves and I’d be happy to concentrate on all the coastal stops really and maybe stop an extra night in a couple of places. There is 5 of us youngest will be 13, me and DH have visited all except San Diego but that was 20 years ago.

[tocpe321]

I don't know how long your total holiday is but for the full route that you described it's a lot of driving. We did about 23 nights I think doing similar to your shorter route and that was a lot of driving over that time. I wouldn't want to do too many 1 or 2 night stops or you'll potentially feel like you're just ticking places off rather than savouring them.

We spent 5 nights in San Diego, as an example, and that was about right for us.

[danisleigh]

Sounds similiar to what we are doing in 3 weeks next year. We have discussed dropping San Diego and Palm Springs as we only have short stays there but we have said that we don’t know if we get back and would rather see these places briefly than not at all. Palm Springs we only stay for one night but we mainly used it to break up the journey and do the Ariel tramway. We have 3 in San Fran, LA, Anaheim and vegas, 2 in San Diego and Yosemite then one in Monterey, pismo, Palm Springs and the Grand Canyon (not in that order!)

[Bazinga 39]

Thanks for those replies they are very helpful, holiday would be 3 weeks, think it was 23 nights I’d planned for the first plan.

[Bazinga 39]

Bumping

[Sandraoh40]

We have been to the west coast a few times.
We did a bit of a tour in 2016 for 19 nights. It was the following
1 night Marina del Rey after landing in lax
4 nights Monterey
1 night Pismo
5 nights Palm Springs
3 nights Vegas
5 nights San Diego

We didn’t want to go to San Francisco or any of the theme parks. We had already been to vegas a lot and done the Grand Canyon. We also wanted some time in certain places and not just 1 or 2 nights.

I think if you were going to concentrate on the coastal areas you could still include Yosemite? I would look at starting in San Francisco , go over to Yosemite then back to the coast. You could work your way down through your stops and to Anaheim then finish off in San Diego. Just something to think about.

There have been trip reports also where people have gone from Yosemite over to Vegas via Death Valley. I quite like the look of this. Then you could go from vegas to the Grand Canyon , over to Palm Springs then San Diego. Then up to Anaheim and LA. Depending on your time you could either go home from LA or go back up the coast via Santa Barbara, Monterey then back up to San Francisco but this is a huge trip, I would think maybe a bit much. I don’t think you could do this in 3 weeks.

Hope this gives you something to consider.

[Bazinga 39]

Originally Posted by Sandraoh40

We have been to the west coast a few times.
We did a bit of a tour in 2016 for 19 nights. It was the following
1 night Marina del Rey after landing in lax
4 nights Monterey
1 night Pismo
5 nights Palm Springs
3 nights Vegas
5 nights San Diego

We didn’t want to go to San Francisco or any of the theme parks. We had already been to vegas a lot and done the Grand Canyon. We also wanted some time in certain places and not just 1 or 2 nights.

I think if you were going to concentrate on the coastal areas you could still include Yosemite? I would look at starting in San Francisco , go over to Yosemite then back to the coast. You could work your way down through your stops and to Anaheim then finish off in San Diego. Just something to think about.

There have been trip reports also where people have gone from Yosemite over to Vegas via Death Valley. I quite like the look of this. Then you could go from vegas to the Grand Canyon , over to Palm Springs then San Diego. Then up to Anaheim and LA. Depending on your time you could either go home from LA or go back up the coast via Santa Barbara, Monterey then back up to San Francisco but this is a huge trip, I would think maybe a bit much. I don’t think you could do this in 3 weeks.

Hope this gives you something to consider.

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Hi, thanks for reply, that’s exactly what we would do if we did the second option, fly to San Francisco up to Yosemite then back down the coast and fly home from LA😃

[cornishfrogboy]

It sounds very similar to what we are doing and would include what your other half wants.. but you would put in a revision to satisfy your particular ideas….

Our pre trip is in our signature on a link.

SFO, Monterey, PCH to San Luis Obispo, Barstow, Vegas , Yavapai Lodge, Tucson, Tombstone.. fly to San Diego, Home. That is over 15 nights.

You would do SFO Dylan’s ultimate tour, Alcatraz, Love Tour, Cable Cars (3) , Monterey (2), PCH to San Luis Obispo and in your case, stay at the astonishing Madonna Inn (2), Barstow as a stop point en route to Vegas and to visit Calico next morning (1) Vegas (3), Yavapai Lodge, seeing Hoover dam en route (1), Route 66 to LA and round to Anaheim for Disney and also Hollywood sight see (4), San Diego as it is amazing (4), Home from San Diego.
This is realistic, never has too many hours of driving in a day and could very easily be achieved in 21 days . My suggested number of days are in brackets and is for 20.. you could stick the other day wherever suits you. I would stick it in San Francisco. ..

[Bazinga 39]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

It sounds very similar to what we are doing and would include what your other half wants.. but you would put in a revision to satisfy your particular ideas….

Our pre trip is in our signature on a link.

SFO, Monterey, PCH to San Luis Obispo, Barstow, Vegas , Yavapai Lodge, Tucson, Tombstone.. fly to San Diego, Home. That is over 15 nights.

You would do SFO Dylan’s ultimate tour, Alcatraz, Love Tour, Cable Cars (3) , Monterey (2), PCH to San Luis Obispo and in your case, stay at the astonishing Madonna Inn (2), Barstow as a stop point en route to Vegas and to visit Calico next morning (1) Vegas (3), Yavapai Lodge, seeing Hoover dam en route (1), Route 66 to LA and round to Anaheim for Disney and also Hollywood sight see (4), San Diego as it is amazing (4), Home from San Diego.
This is realistic, never has too many hours of driving in a day and could very easily be achieved in 21 days . My suggested number of days are in brackets and is for 20.. you could stick the other day wherever suits you. I would stick it in San Francisco. ..

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Hi thanks so much for that suggested route I wouldn’t of thought of doing it that way👍, I’ll take a look at your pre trip report, was actually re reading your last west coast trip just last night for some inspiration😃

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by Bazinga 39

Hi thanks so much for that suggested route I wouldn’t of thought of doing it that way👍, I’ll take a look at your pre trip report, was actually re reading your last west coast trip just last night for some inspiration😃

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If looking for inspiration and alternatives, on the pre trip section of California, you will find my 3 cancellations from the Covid period. All are very different (albeit on a similar theme) and all had different routes as well as hotels.
They are easy to find as all are on the first page and all start with the word ‘CANCELLED’. 😡