West Coast Planning 2018!

[EMB4]

Hi There,

So we are dragging ourselves away from WDW and over to the West Coast for 2018! We have started looking at route options and it's all pretty daunting so was hoping to get some advise!

We were hoping to be away for just over two weeks, maybe 16 nights and we have thought about the below routing.

UK-San Fran
3 x nights in San Fran
Drive, to Yosemite
2 nights in Yosemite
Yosemite to LA - driving down route 1 with a 1 night stop half way.
3 x nights in LA (potentially drop the car off here as i don't really want to drive around LA but not too sure how the public transport is?!)
Very potentially a trip to Disney, if time allows!
Internal flight LA-Vegas
3 x night in Vegas, including a Grand Canyon trip.
Home

It's just a starting point at the moment, but realistically is this do-able?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[Frankie & gang]

Hi
I have planned our 16 night holiday, west coast for this August. The planning & research takes ages but I've loved it, the flexibility is great.
We Fly into SF:-
San Francisco 4 nts
Yosemite 3 nts
Monterey 2 nts
Pismo Beach 2 nts
Internal flight Santa Barbara - Phoenix
Grand Canyon 2 nts
Las Vegas 3 nts - fly home LV to LGW
We made the decision minimum 2 nts stay anywhere as didn't fancy arriving, eating dinner then driving on nx day - we have minimum 1 full day at every location
I read loads of trip reports, asked lots of questions & also read bits on trip advisor, though it's no-where near as friendly as The Dibb
I also bought a big map of California & Nevada, photocopied & made several copies of my own map of the area we would cover. Then used highlighters, spots & post it flags to mark different options. Check google maps for time to travel but add extra for photo stops etc
Lastly I booked the national park accommodation a year in advance when bookings open - they sell out quickly, then flights @ 11 months & other hotels as I did research & had saved enough.
Happy planning
Laura

[daytonababe]

LA is very spread out, some do it without a car, but to make the most of it a car is a must imo.. Disney is 35 miles from Hollywood.. Can take a good 2 hrs in traffic so most people do a split stay. I was there a few months ago and with a car we were able to do Hollywood Blvd for a few hours, then drive around and park up at places like Sunset Blvd, Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, Melrose Avenue, Santa Monica where we had a few hours..

Roads are busy there is no denying that but because the traffic is slow going its not scary or anything..



If you keep the car you might as well drive to Vegas , its a easy if boring drive.. and we also have a car in Vegas , many don't but I'm off on trip number 10 next year and a car works for us there even if you have to pay for parking etc.




3 days in Vegas isn't long to include the Canyon, the West Rim is 2.5 hr drive each way , the South Rim 4 to 4.5 hr drive each way so basically a full day. When we went we went to the West Rim with Papillion Helicopters takes up about 1/2 day but you get to see Lake Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, the Strip from the air .

What works for us is a no stays longer than 3 nights and no drives longer than 5/6 hours. My idea of hell is driving long distances every other day.

[jdouds]

Hi have a look at a map and check that your route is the most economical on your time. Ie San Fran out to yosemite and back to coast. LA massive place and if not doing Disney ! Do you need to go there for 3 days, can take 2/3 hours to drive across

[Myakka17]

I am with other posters not sure you will have the time to do the things you want. Personally I'd want minimum 5 nights LA ( inc Disney) and 5 nights LV. Don't forget one of your days to these places will be a travel day so not leaving much time with your itinerey.

[400ixl]

Given the number of nights, you have perhaps one location too many.

Everyone is different however. We could fill lots of days in LA, but for Vegas unless we were looking away from the strip, would be bored in two. Take in off strip then again you could easily fill a week.

San Fran is comfortable in 3 days, more if you want to also do the surrounding area such as Nappa Valley. Yosemite 2-3 days is about right for most who aren't into hiking as a major interest.

As people have mentioned LA is a massive sprawl which is over populated and thus takes an age to get anywhere so be prepared for that when looking at where you want to visit.

[abiknox]

This is very similar to what we did in 2014 except we did San Diego & not Vegas and we only had 14 nights. It's very doable but you would definitely want to keep the car in LA. Its a nightmare city to drive around but that's mainly because of the traffic, its actually pretty slow moving so not that scary. I would say though that 3 nights in LA is a lot unless you're planning a few theme parks. We had two nights which allowed for a full day at Universal & some sightseeing at Santa Monica Beach & Walk of Fame ect.

My breakdown would be..

3 nights SF
2 nights Yosemite
1 night SCH
2 nights LA
3 nights Disney
5 nights Vegas

I guess if you do want more time in LA, then Vegas would have to lose an day.

[cornishfrogboy]

We booked Easter 2018 last week and it is our first West Coast visit... Daunting!
We are this far in planning (bear in mind that Yosemite is likely to be snowbound). 2 adults plus boys of 15 and 11.
Flights booked London to San Fran, LA to London . virgin £575pp direct. 28 March to 11 April on a Delta code share that saved £250pp over Virgins best on that day. Paid for.

28 fly into San Fran arrive 1445 and to Marriott in Union St. (Booked, not paid). Evening spent stretching legs around area.
29 cable trolley to Fisheremans Wharf and hire bikes to cycle around to Golden gate, across and back by ferry (NYB)
30 Alcatraz and good look at Fishermans wharf area (NYB)
31 check out, collect car from budget and to Monterey where stay for night via Castle AFB near Atwater (I like aircraft). (NYB)
01 whale trip out of Monterey (NYB) and then drive to Pismo beach where stay the night (NYB) stopping at grand sur and San Simeon elephant seals on the way.
02 Mandie horse rides on beach (whilst we mooch around) (NYB).drive on to Magic mountain and stay night via similar valley to see the Reagan library (look it up its interesting) (NYB).
03 day at Magic mountain and then move to Annaheim where book airbnb apartment for 2 night(done).
04 Disney
05 other Disney after checkout and then on to airbnb stay 5 nights at Mission beach (booked)
06 Seaworld
07 USS Midway
08 Balboa park zoo
09 Tijuana
10 drive back up to Long Beach and stay night on RMS Queen Mary (booked)
11 Hollywood then flight home from LAX AT 2100 (ish).
12 night at brothers in Calne, Wiltshire to recover from flight. (booked)
13 drive home to Falmouth

Several days to recover from the stress!

We discarded Vegas on the grounds of travel time, lack of interest in all forms of gambling and basically, after weighing up the hassle against the things to see. I appreciate that everyone is different in this respect.

[Goodisoner]

If anyone has planned to travel down Highway 1 even next year I'd give your plans some serious second thoughts

[tocpe321]

Originally Posted by Goodisoner

If anyone has planned to travel down Highway 1 even next year I'd give your plans some serious second thoughts

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Hi

Yes saw your other thread. We will just have to call it when we get there. Our plan after the first set of slides/Pfeiffer Bridge collapse was to go North as far as possible from say Pismo and then return to mid PCH area where we are staying. On way to San Francisco we then planned to drive South from Monterey to Bixby Bridge and then North to San Francisco.