West Coast 2019 Potential Plan

[GandL]

Hi All,

I have been drafting a plan for next September for visiting for the first time, the west coast. This is for my husbands 30th birthday and has always been his dream, however now I have started research I am just as excited.

Please see below potential itinerary, we plan on picking up a car on the way out of San Francisco and dropping it off when we get to Vegas.

Would be very grateful of any tips/comments/thoughts.
Also hotel reccomendations as I am overwhelmed by the choices and prices!

Maddonna Inn is a must for me although my husband is none the wiser for the mo

Fly from any London airport to San Francisco 19th September (flexible, but no earlier than 19th)
Stay in San Francisco hotel for 3 nights.
Drive to Yosemite
Stay in Yosemite Valley Lodge (subject to availability) for 2 nights
Drive to Santa Cruz and spend a couple hours
Drive to Monterey
Spend 1 night in Monterey
Drive down the coast – Big Sur
Spend 1 night at Madonna Inn
Drive to Los Angeles (stop at Malibu Beach?)
Spend 3 nights in Los Angeles
Drive to San Diego
Spend 2 nights in San Diego
Drive to Las Vegas
Spend 2 nights in Las Vegas
Fly from Las Vegas to any London Airport


Thanks so much
Grace x

[abiknox]

We did a similar trip in 2014 (minus Vegas as we have done that on 3 separate trips). It was the most incredible trip.

My advice would be...

San Fran

Stay in the Fishermans Warf Area. We stayed in China Town we weren't impressed. I wasn't keen on Union Square area either.

Do Alcatraz and cycle the GG Bridge, two of the best things we did all trip.

Eat at House of Prime Rib, it was amazing.

Yosemite

What can I say, we absolutely fell in love with Yosemite, its the most beautiful place you can ever imagine. if you can't get the accommodation you're after, I can recommend the Yosemite View Lodge. Its just outside one of the national park entrances in El Portal. So rustic & gorgeous with a roaring river running outside some of the rooms.

Walk the mist trail & drive up to tunnel view! The sequoia trees are also worth a look in Mariposa.

Monterey

Do a whale watching tour and grab a sandwich from Ike's if it's still there. We had an evening meal at Hula's and it was really lovely. We stayed at the Abrego hotel which I would recommend, it was very comfortable and well priced when we went.

Los Angeles

Allow lots of time here for traffic, any journey time you are given on Google Maps- triple it! 20 miles can take a couple of hours to drive.

We visited Santa Monica and Santa Barbara, both were lovely in their own way.

San Diego

Visit Old Town, such a unique place. We also rode bikes around the marina which was lovely.

Vegas

We have stayed in MGM, Mandalay Bay, Planet Hollywood, NYNY and the Venetian and all were great. MGM & NYNY are best value for money but PH & the Venetian are a bit more central (although I prefer south strip personally).

The NYNY roller coaster is worth a go, as are the rides on top of the Stratosphere. Even if you're not a ride fan, the view from up there is incredible. Much better than the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Scoot city tours are a great way to see Vegas too! The best fun ever


Your trip sounds amazing and I would give anything to do it all over again, not likely though as we have a 10 month old baby at the moment .

On a side note, be prepared for parking costs in all the city hotels & resort fees in Vegas, these can really add up and catch you out if you're not expecting them

[GandL]

Thank you Soooo much for such a detailed response.

Just seen that you have a trip report, I know what I'll be doing with my train journey home from work

X

[Frankie & gang]

Grace
A couple of observations / suggestions on your plan which does look good. We had 16 nights last year in California & Vegas
Picking up car when leaving SF is a good idea, we did that. On our first full day we did the 6 hour Dylan’s famous tour. Can’t recommend it enough.
If you can extend your Yosemite stay to 3 nights, it’ll give you 2 days. We had 3 nights & barely touched the surface.
We had 2, 3 or 4 nights in each location (6) if you only have 1 you will only be sleeping not experiencing that stop.
Maybe look at internal flights from California to Vegas, they aren’t too expensive & save lots of driving.
We had 2 hire car bookings from discountfloridacarhire (Andy advertises on the Dibb & comes highly recommended) no one way fee, book early, if price drops email him & he’ll re-fare for you. Great service
Lastly join the “members clubs” for the hotels you are interested - we got 33% off Venetian our stay - great hotel.
Have fun planning & final lastly ask lots of questions, many very helpful dibbers have been to California & are happy to share their love of it x

[abiknox]

Originally Posted by GandL

Thank you Soooo much for such a detailed response.

Just seen that you have a trip report, I know what I'll be doing with my train journey home from work

X

See more...

Im not sure the photos are on there after Photo bucket changed their rules.

Worth a read anyway though x

[jdouds]

Hi we have done similar a couple of times and my only reservation about your plan is maybe trying to do to many places, all great to see but perhaps leave some to another time. As an example you will leave San Fran and get to yosemite lunch time or early afternoon , valley floor tour and then general walk and tea, this leaves a good walk probably to vernal falls which takes a morning, tunnel view evening ,walk to base of El capitan, glacier point and tioga pass. This can be done or miss out a few things but just trying to give you some ideas. Would also suggest 2 nights Monterey ,17 mile dr, aquarium, whale watching, Carmel . On the drive down the coast make sure to stop at San Simeon to see the elephant seals. Lots of nice places to stop or stay but we really liked Santa Barbara . Lastly for the moment have you considered air bnb etc , this is what we have done on our last 2 visits and would recommend . Oh and have a look at blue butterfly bb at el portal great hosts with lots of knowledge.

[miked1e]

Madonna Inn is so much fun... we stayed in the cave man room for one night. Restaurant is lovely.

I have a trip report which covers our stay.

[Beth_Disney]

You’ve just inspired my plans for next summer! I’ve spent the last half hour on the Madonna Inn website and need to go there! Yosemite and San Diego are on my must do list too. Enjoy planning

[flo-tinka]

Just back ourselves. We had kids with us, but I felt stays of 4-5 nights in each location allowed us to enjoy the place and experience restaurants etc, rather than the whistle stop tours me and DH used to do before kids.
Eg San Diego, we had a VRBO house for 6 nights which allowed a bit of a chill plus seeing lots of San Diego. We did stay one night at Palm Desert to break journey up between SD and LV, also allowed us to do Palm Springs Aerial Tramway enroute 😀
Happy planning