California dreaming

[pluto's friends]

We have booked our West Coast holiday for June/July this year.
Flights MAN-LAX
Staying 4 nights Pepper Tree hotel Anaheim
4 nights Aria at Vegas
4 nights in a Homeaway house Monterey

We still need to book or buy:
3 day park hopper Disney tickets
Grand Canyon tour - any recommendations please for a day trip
Somewhere for a night stay between Vegas and Monterey. DS would like to visit Death Valley, is it worth staying near there?
Whale watching at Monterey- any recommended companies?

For the last night we would like to stay nearer to LAX although our return flight isn't until 6pm. Is it worth staying near a shopping mall for something to do on the last day?

[400ixl]

That is a very different itinerary. Monterrey stands out as very odd. It will take 2 days to get to from LV and ideally you would want 2 days to get to LA.

Which Grand Canyon? The big South Canyon that you see on TV is 5 hours drive from Las Vegas. You can fly there in a fixed wing plane or there are some coach trips. The latter would be my idea of hell. You really need 6 hours minimum there and to see a sunset or sunrise.

The West Rim is about. Quarter of the size, but still pretty spectacular. This one you can get helicopter flights to or coach trips and is about 3 hours each way but only needs a couple of hours there really.

As for LV to Monterrey, not a usual journey at all. Going through death valley and stopping in Bishop may work. Staying in DV would mean far to long a leg the next day.

Monterrey to LA should be a couple of days as I say and I wouldn't spend 4 nights in Monterrey, 2 at most.

For the final night I would stay in a beach town like Redondo Beach and have a relaxing day and still be fairly close to the airport.

[Sandraoh40]

We used princess cruises from Monterey for our whale watching trip. They were excellent. I don’t think you can base how good a company is on what, if any, whales you see as I’m sure a huge part of it is luck, albeit I guess the good ones know where to go. We were very lucky that we saw humpbacks, a grey whale and followed a pod of orca for about 45 mins.
We stayed in Monterey for 4 nights, but we did go up to Cupertino one day stopping in Santa Cruz on the way back. If I went back, I would stay 4 days again but that’s just my opinion.
We stayed in marina del Rey on our first night which is close to LAX, and had a look around Venice beach and the canals. It’s close to Santa Monica pier which might be good on your last day rather than a shopping mall.

[jdouds]

Hi after Vegas we would suggest going to Death Valley , stop somewhere there and then next day go Yosemite 2 nights if possible and then onto Monterey . Sanctuary cruises from moss landing , we have gone whale watching twice, fantastic. They always have a marine biologist on board which is great for all the info.

[cornishfrogboy]

That is a rather confusing route and I am struggling with it. You are doing an awful lot of driving and some of the distances involved are rather eye watering. I have visited some of your itinerary and heavily researched the rest.

It is a long way from LV to the Grand Canyon... as detailed by 400IXL, who always gives good advice.

Monterey is a great stop and when there, we have used Monterey Bay Whale Watch . We saw 15 x Humpbacks, 2 x Grays, 500 x Risso’s, Sealions, Sea Otters and 2 x Albatross. The Oceanographer gave excellent commentary from a large, stable boat. The truth is (and the skipper told me), all boats are in constant radio contact with each other and share sightings as it is mutually beneficial. If something is out there, you will be vectored on to it, even if originally sighted by a different boat. The ‘luck’ element is exactly what is in the Monterey/Moss landing area on that day. We will again be using this company at Easter as it worked well for us. Hopefully some Orcas this time as we have previously missed out in both Monterey and Boston. In your case, you may get Blues (too early in the year again for us).

The drive from Monterey to LA is 420 miles and 7 plus hours by PCH. It is absolutely stunning and I would not simply want to drive past. Off the top of my head, Pebble Beach, Big Sur, Pfeiffer Park, Bixby Bridge, Hearst Castle and San Simeon Elephant Seals are all brilliant within the first 180 miles. The obvious overnight after some of this is Pismo Beach Or San Luis Obispo which is very near by. We very much like the famous Madonna Inn that is in SLO to the extent that we are returning this Easter as an absolute highlight of our vacation and using it as a base for 3 nights exploring the general area.

LA is huge and congested. A good call is to preposition before your flight home and we would suggest Santa Monica as it is on the North West Corner of LA. From there, we took a day tour of Hollywood etc and that filled our time until we moved on to LAX and our flight home, just 7 miles away. it worked really well.

For what it is worth, and bearing in mind that you have booked your LAX return tickets, I would concentrate on the Coast and; if set on Monterey, carry on up to San Francisco. Whilst many fly in to one location and out of another, flights from SFO to LAX are plentiful and should cost sub £80pp. I would save the inland stuff for another trip.

If you are absolutely set on Las Vegas,Grand Canyon South Rim, Monterey and A drive down to LA.. How about this?
You do LA, drive to Grand Canyon South (7.5 hrs and actually further East of Las Vegas) You then drive back west to Vegas and see it (you have thus done a one way, rather than a return drive from LV to the Canyon). You then dump your car at Vegas airport and get an internal with Allegiant air from Las Vegas to Monterey and pick up a second hire car. You then see Monterey and take a slow drive to Santa Monica as suggested. This way, you avoid the 8 hour/505 mile quickest drive route from LV to Monterey and also a return drive from Las Vegas to the good bit of Grand Canyon. Flights from LV to Monterey should be well sub £100pp with a bit of research.

My trip report (in my signature) May help expand on some of what I have covered. It is all in a single thread. Hoping it helps you.

[Tinkermom]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

That is a rather confusing route and I am struggling with it. You are doing an awful lot of driving and some of the distances involved are rather eye watering. I have visited some of your itinerary and heavily researched the rest.

It is a long way from LV to the Grand Canyon... as detailed by 400IXL, who always gives good advice.

Monterey is a great stop and when there, we have used Monterey Bay Whale Watch . We saw 15 x Humpbacks, 2 x Grays, 500 x Risso’s, Sealions, Sea Otters and 2 x Albatross. The Oceanographer gave excellent commentary from a large, stable boat. The truth is (and the skipper told me), all boats are in constant radio contact with each other and share sightings as it is mutually beneficial. If something is out there, you will be vectored on to it, even if originally sighted by a different boat. The ‘luck’ element is exactly what is in the Monterey/Moss landing area on that day. We will again be using this company at Easter as it worked well for us. Hopefully some Orcas this time as we have previously missed out in both Monterey and Boston. In your case, you may get Blues (too early in the year again for us).

The drive from Monterey to LA is 420 miles and 7 plus hours by PCH. It is absolutely stunning and I would not simply want to drive past. Off the top of my head, Pebble Beach, Big Sur, Pfeiffer Park, Bixby Bridge, Hearst Castle and San Simeon Elephant Seals are all brilliant within the first 180 miles. The obvious overnight after some of this is Pismo Beach Or San Luis Obispo which is very near by. We very much like the famous Madonna Inn that is in SLO to the extent that we are returning this Easter as an absolute highlight of our vacation and using it as a base for 3 nights exploring the general area.

LA is huge and congested. A good call is to preposition before your flight home and we would suggest Santa Monica as it is on the North West Corner of LA. From there, we took a day tour of Hollywood etc and that filled our time until we moved on to LAX and our flight home, just 7 miles away. it worked really well.

For what it is worth, and bearing in mind that you have booked your LAX return tickets, I would concentrate on the Coast and; if set on Monterey, carry on up to San Francisco. Whilst many fly in to one location and out of another, flights from SFO to LAX are plentiful and should cost sub £80pp. I would save the inland stuff for another trip.

If you are absolutely set on Las Vegas,Grand Canyon South Rim, Monterey and A drive down to LA.. How about this?
You do LA, drive to Grand Canyon South (7.5 hrs and actually further East of Las Vegas) You then drive back west to Vegas and see it (you have thus done a one way, rather than a return drive from LV to the Canyon). You then dump your car at Vegas airport and get an internal with Allegiant air from Las Vegas to Monterey and pick up a second hire car. You then see Monterey and take a slow drive to Santa Monica as suggested. This way, you avoid the 8 hour/505 mile quickest drive route from LV to Monterey and also a return drive from Las Vegas to the good bit of Grand Canyon. Flights from LV to Monterey should be well sub £100pp with a bit of research.

My trip report (in my signature) May help expand on some of what I have covered. It is all in a single thread. Hoping it helps you.

See more...

I wanted to add something but the above covers it all perfectly, I would definitely reconsider your plans. The above advice is fantastic