Hints & tips needed

[Dawnfletch]

Hello everyone long time since I've posted.
Reason is we went to WDW in 2015 & haven't been back since.

Until now 😊. We have booked flights & hotels to Las Vegas & LA 😱. We are staying 4 nights 5 days in Las Vegas. 9 nights in LA. Then driving back day before to Las Vegas for our flight home day after.

I have some questions as it is our first time at both places.
Las Vegas questions
1. How long is to drive from The Strip to Grand Canyon?
2. Is the coach tours from your hotel to Grand Canyon any good? Or is driving yourself better?
3 Any hints and tips for Vegas any recommendations too please.
4 Any do's and don'ts

LA
1 how long is the drive from Las Vegas to LA?
2 places to eat of site
3 places to eat on site
4 Hints and tips.

I think that is it for now. Thank you for reading.

[grant_w]

Can't answer many of those I'm afraid, we did a helicopter trip to the Canyon.
But it took 4-5 hours for the Vegas to LA drive.
The 1 tip I have about Vegas is the Strip is longer than you think, and with all of the bridges and crossings, it takes quite a while to get from A to B

[400ixl]

Las Vegas questions
1. How long is to drive from The Strip to Grand Canyon? 3 hours to the West rim which the helicopters go to, but is much smaller than the South Rim which is a 5 hour drive and best to include an overnight stay
2. Is the coach tours from your hotel to Grand Canyon any good? Or is driving yourself better? Driving would by far be my preference, no way I would do a coach tour for that length of journey and be restricted to the few hours you get there.

LA
1 how long is the drive from Las Vegas to LA? Depends when you do it and where in LA. 4-5 hours on a good day.

What are you doing in LA, assume not 9 nights in Anaheim.

[JoS]

Originally Posted by 400ixl

Las Vegas questions
1. How long is to drive from The Strip to Grand Canyon? 3 hours to the West rim which the helicopters go to, but is much smaller than the South Rim which is a 5 hour drive and best to include an overnight stay
2. Is the coach tours from your hotel to Grand Canyon any good? Or is driving yourself better? Driving would by far be my preference, no way I would do a coach tour for that length of journey and be restricted to the few hours you get there.

LA
1 how long is the drive from Las Vegas to LA? Depends when you do it and where in LA. 4-5 hours on a good day.

What are you doing in LA, assume not 9 nights in Anaheim.

See more...

I agree so worth it to do the South rim and stay over. Its a very long day leaving very early morning and gettting back late evening, doing a coach tour, and worst part is you dont have time to see much of the Grand Canyon.

We drove at a busy part of the day, driving to LA. Couldnt arrange it any other way. Roads were busy and with a stop took us about 7 hours.

[Dawnfletch]

Thank you for your reply guys.
Yes we are staying in Anaheim for 9 nights. Doing Disney for 5 days. We want to do downtown LA & Santa Monica.

[Billy Beatnik]

Best tip I can give for Vegas, is check drinks prices before ordering. We were charged $25 without tip for a can of beer and a Diet Coke at the outside bar of the Eiffel Tower hotel. I nearly fell through the floor!

[JoS]

Originally Posted by Billy Beatnik

Best tip I can give for Vegas, is check drinks prices before ordering. We were charged $25 without tip for a can of beer and a Diet Coke at the outside bar of the Eiffel Tower hotel. I nearly fell through the floor!

See more...

lol. We go to Stage Door Bar for $1 beers and Ocean One Bar and Grill for 3 cocktails for $10. Bet that was a big shock lol

[folkie]

Better to drive yourself to the Grand Canyon and stay overnight if you can, the South Rim is far better than the West Rim (where the LV coach tours go) and definitely worth the extra effort to get there.

If you can, try to fit in a visit to Valley of Fire State Park as well, it's an amazing place and not far from LV.

[fiona88]

We did South rim from vegas which took about 6 hours including stop offs for lunch, as well as a big walmart food shop. We also took partly the rt66 road which added time. I'd guess 4-5h without the longer stops.

Highly recommend staying over in the national park if you can, it's not really possible to do it in a day with driving, you'd only see a tiny section while exhausted.
We stayed at maswick but I think it's partly being renovated now so maybe not the best choice. The in park transport is pretty good so we didn't use the car at all while there and I'd say a 2 night stay would give the best chance of seeing a sunrise and sunset and a good look around without the drive impacting you too much. . It would however eat a lot into your vegas time, so it's whether it's worth only doing 1 night making sure you leave very early and return late maybe.
Or if it's just a case of wanting to have a look, maybe a helicopter trip.
We planned for 2 nights out of a 7 day trip to vegas and on the 2nd morning we added an extra night at the Canyon and we could've stayed longer, but some are happy with the 3 hour visit from the 10 hour coach trip.

[tonymc]

We did the drive from LA (Santa Monica) to LV a few years ago and it took us around 4-1/2 hours.

We found quite a lot of reasonably priced dining places, Ocean One at the Miracle Mile shops being one with drinks at 3 for $10.

Also worth noting that just wandering around the hotels is an attraction in itself, plus the fountains at the Bellagio.

In LA, if you are based around Anaheim and want to visit Hollywood, would suggest visiting (if driving) on a Sunday as traffic is relatively light. We had booked the WB Studios Tour for 09:30 - left Marina del Rey at 08:30 and parked up before 09:00.

We also fitted in a visit to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a drive around Mulholland Drive with some great views across LA, and a fleeting visit to Beverley Hills and Rodeo Drive.

We managed this thanks to mike1d and his trip report "Suitcase and a Dream", his Day 2 report helped to set our own planned day out in Hollywood, especially the timings for our Sunday travel up to Burbank, and using the parking at Hollywood & Highland Mall.

However, if you were wanting to spend a few days around Hollywood/Universal, then would suggest getting a hotel around this area for a few days to avoid the traffic around LA which can be extremely heavy and slow.

With regards to Disneyland, I would imagine 5 days may be too long if you are planning on visiting each day. When we visited a while ago, we only needed three days - one day one each park, then the third day doing the best of both parks.

However, this was with a teenager who could manage the full days in the park - if you have younger children, then you may well be better off over 5 days and pacing yourselves.

Worth noting that around Disneyland, there are numerous restaurants just a few minutes walk from the park entrance, which may be cheaper than eating in the parks.

One final attraction we visited (and possibly not ideal if with young children) is the Hoover Dam - we drove there (about 40 mins) and also did the tour which was very good. Quite a bit of walking involved, but you do get to walk through the inside of the dam.