PCH/S.F/Yosemite/Death Valley/G.C/L.V/Monterey/L.A Itinerary Help Please!

[loldis]

Originally Posted by Typhoon Tilly

Ooops - my mistake it is 2019! Thank you for pointing that out jdouds 👍🏼
All your replies are so helpful and I am definitely going to do Death Valley now after so many recommendations.
We are quite prepared to fly
In/out of either LA or SF, is one way better to drive from than another? Our days can be moved up to 16 daystoo if it could help us fit everything in.

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I would start in SF. You don't need a car to get around the city (it's fairly small as cities go and has great public transport) so can take a few days to get over jet lag before jumping into a car.

Then fly back from LA unless you have enough days to do the PCH as you can then do a loop going south from SF via Yosemite and north back via the coast to Monterey. Then you could fly out of SF and get a standard return rather than multi city.

[Typhoon Tilly]

I’ve actually been to the south rim before but don’t mind going again as it’s 12 years ago now. Would that be easier to get to from Death Valley and do Hoover Dam?

[tocpe321]

Originally Posted by Typhoon Tilly

Also how far out can you book hotels? Is it best to book earlier or not? How far ahead can you book for a Yosemite hotel?
Sorry so many questions ☺️

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We booked our Yosemite stay about 11 months before the holiday. I am not sure how early you can do it, but I would get it secured as soon as possible.

For San Francisco I searched for hotels with free parking as this is often another big expense. We stayed in the Cow Hollow Inn in the Marina District, which is West of the Fisherman's Wharf area. I would recommend it there and I know that several Dibbers have stayed there.

[Guest]

Yes, you definitely have time to do all of that! We've done it twice, the first time we did it in 15 days, second time we took a month and went up all the way to Grand Teton and Yellowstone. If you plan it carefully, you might even be able to go to San Francisco. Now, I suggest you really check your routes, how much you want to spend on each place and how long it will take you to the next destination as it is a lot of driving. We planned up to the most minimal details, from were we were going to shop our food and which restaurants , so therefore maximising our valuable time and avoiding getting lost on a detour. If I might suggest, you could use myscenicdrives.com page to plan your journey. It is a great online tool and we used it twice. One more thing to mention, if you plan to go on highway one, do check the status of it. Some landslides have blocked part of Big Sur and in August we had to detour to highway 101.

[Guest]

In San Francisco we stayed at the Hotel Del Sol, a Joie de Vivre Hotel which had free carpark. It is an alright hotel but it was clean and free of bedbugs! I am paranoid about this bugs in the USA.

[400ixl]

Originally Posted by Typhoon Tilly

I’ve actually been to the south rim before but don’t mind going again as it’s 12 years ago now. Would that be easier to get to from Death Valley and do Hoover Dam?

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Death Valley is west of Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon is east. You drive past the Hoover Dam (30 minutes from Vegas) to get to either the west rim or the south rim.

The west rim is about 2.5 hours from Vegas, but is about a 1/4 of the size of the south rim, which is about 4.5 hours from Vegas.

You can easily do the Hoover Dam and west rim in a day trip from Vegas. Its not going to impress anyone who has been to the south rim, but will for anyone who hasn't seen either.

South rim is best with an overnight stay so you can see a sunset / sunrise and be able to spend a decent amount of time there.

[Myakka17]

We flew Thomas Cook from MAN to LAX direct. Fab flight we flew over Vegas which was fab to see from the air.