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Old 24 Jun 19, 09:58 AM  
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#11
cornishfrogboy
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Originally Posted by Batman1 View Post
It will I guess come down to what's reasonable in our timeframe.

Looking like definitely 3 days in SFO, then onwards probably down the coast at this stage and end up in San Diego for a few days.
Yosemite looks both expensive to stay within the park, and appears limited in availability, even a year out.

Would like to do LA to see the famous sights but not interested in parks, but universal might be on the cards, or some sort of theme park day.
It is a huge state and there are so many interesting options. What I would suggest, given your thoughts on LA parks is that if you are not intending on those parks, you use the i5 at a very carefully selected time in order to minimise traffic... like at night.

I am aware that you have read my trippie and I thank you for your positive comment. Our exit strategy, i.e Back up from San Diego, a night on RMS Queen Mary and then the sightseeing from Santa Monica worked incredibly well.. and in so doing placed us very close to LAX. You will also probably find that LAX is a far better value departure point financially than San Diego when it comes to buying flights.
One thing is for sure, I would have hated to have driven the 6-700 miles from San Francisco to San Diego and then be faced with a drive back in order to fly home!

P.S. I have been working. The spreadsheet will be sent when I get home... from more work.
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Old 24 Jun 19, 10:05 AM  
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#12
I love walmart
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Originally Posted by Batman1 View Post
It will I guess come down to what's reasonable in our timeframe.

Looking like definitely 3 days in SFO, then onwards probably down the coast at this stage and end up in San Diego for a few days.
Yosemite looks both expensive to stay within the park, and appears limited in availability, even a year out.

Would like to do LA to see the famous sights but not interested in parks, but universal might be on the cards, or some sort of theme park day.
If you like theme parks for thrill rides then Six Flags magic mountain is amazing. They have some world class coasters. It feels a little rough In parts, and certainly not as squeaky clean as Disney or Universal but the rides are fantastic.
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Old 24 Jun 19, 10:19 AM  
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cornishfrogboy
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Originally Posted by I love walmart View Post
If you like theme parks for thrill rides then Six Flags magic mountain is amazing. They have some world class coasters. It feels a little rough In parts, and certainly not as squeaky clean as Disney or Universal but the rides are fantastic.
That is a very fair summary of 6 flags. It very much reminds me of Thorpe Park. A little rough, but great rides.
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Old 24 Jun 19, 11:21 AM  
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Batman1
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We might leave Yosemite for another trip and do the coast with the stops advised in the various threads here.
The last thing we want is to be knackered from traveling too much.

In terms of Hollywood and the touristy bits like studios etc, where is best to stay or are they very spread out ?
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Old 24 Jun 19, 12:04 PM  
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Colette-S
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Originally Posted by Batman1 View Post
We might leave Yosemite for another trip and do the coast with the stops advised in the various threads here.
The last thing we want is to be knackered from traveling too much.

In terms of Hollywood and the touristy bits like studios etc, where is best to stay or are they very spread out ?
We stayed in Santa Monica and travelled in. It’s about a 20 minute drive but you have to time it right. Go during rush hour and it can take an awful lot longer.
Everything is spewed out - certainly not walking distance. However, it’s easy to navigate with lots of transport options/tours so you will be fine.
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Old 24 Jun 19, 12:23 PM  
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We did a loop from and back to LAX via coast area, San Francisco, Yosemite, Lone Pine, Twentynine Palms and San Diego.

This was over a three week period, so it probably makes sense to fly ino A and out of B on a 2 week stay. 16 days is better as there is a lot of driving.

We didn't do Disney either, but spent a nice day at Knotts Berry Farm. However, for your trip I'd probably skip the LA area.

San Diego is a big hit on the Dibb, so that's probably a good place to fly back from.

Over a 2 week period with your preferences maybe San Francisco 4, Yosemite 3, Lone Pine 1 or 2 nights, Twentynine Palms (Joshua Tree) 2 and San Diego 5 or 6 nights if you can get the 16 day flights.

You'll miss out on the Pacific Coast Highway and LAX if you do this route. Maybe another trip.

This is a summary of our trip, including planning information.

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1046701

Happy planning. It's a great place to visit, although more expensive than Florida.
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Old 24 Jun 19, 01:12 PM  
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red cuillen
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Agreed that there is so much choice. 2 weeks can easily be filled with a road trip down from SFO into San Diego then back into LAX for the flight home.
Have you looked at the trip reports INDEX page? So much easier to find reports that might help rather than having to trawl through all the individual reports?
The coastal route, whilst not the same as Yosemite, would give you a taster of redwoods and canyons, Big Sur, or Fulton.
Palm Springs and Mt San Jacinto could bring some variety.
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Old 24 Jun 19, 01:15 PM  
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Hi having looked at whats been suggested i would suugest you do san fran then yosemite and then back to coast at monterey and then decide what time you have from there. Have a look at yosemite view lodge at el portal. Would you consider one of the tents with proper door etc.
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Old 25 Jun 19, 08:21 AM  
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fiona88
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As an example for you, we've booked into SFO out of LAX, trying to avoid 1 night stays anywhere we really want to do anything as most drives are 4h so a 1 night stay would only be an afternoon and a morning, and if you do a few it'll be easily exhausting
3n San Fran,
3n Yosemite (1 in a hotel, 2 inside the park in a concrete/tent structure thing), wondering if this is enough time, we spent 3n at Grand Canyon in December and could've stayed longer, but we like hiking and camping at home, whereas a longer stay might not suit others.
2n Monterey - whale watching and aquarium, Drive down PCH past Big Sur, elephant seal beach etc
1n Santa Barbara - Airstream caravan, see Malibu, Santa Monica
5n Anaheim - Disney, as you aren't interested in this you could push the distance further to San Diego and see more in LA
2n LA - Universal, possibly WB studio tour and Hollywood Sign/WoF

For the drive times, I've used google maps to estimate and
SFO-Yosemite 4-5h
Yosemite-Monterey - same
Monterey - SB - same, this day is going to be purely driving and stopping off at places on the way, so planning to leave early and arrive at the airstream early evening, anything earlier is a bonus
SB - Santa Monica 2h - Anaheim - 1h
Anaheim to Universal Studios area - 45min

Discovered last year at Vegas/Grand Canyon that a 4h drive easily becomes 6h when stopping for food, fuel, interesting things on the way.

Then anything going around, near or through LA will likely be at least doubled. I've heard the drive from Anaheim - LA taking people 4h before!
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Old 25 Jun 19, 06:42 PM  
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jdouds
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Fiona88 your trip isn't unlike a couple of ours, you have 7 n LA area for us we would cut this and take another n in yosemite. 3 n really only gives you 2 full days there. Would really recommend on your first day you do the valley floor tour,great for getting your bearings and a little history in an easy way. 2 hours
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