Thoughts on my Itinerary please :)

[skalexander]

Hello!

I had been looking at Hawaii for next year, but other posters reported things are a bit strange there, so we have put it on the back burner and decided to go for either western Canada or California with a bit of Nevada.

In terms of the latter, I've got the following proposed itinerary and would be grateful for thoughts. We can do it either way round:-

Fly into San Francisco, stay 3 nights
1 night Monterey
3 nights Yosemite
3 nights Mammoth (husband really wants to do the MTB trails)
1 night Death Valley
2 nights Las Vegas
4 nights Santa Monica (with family)
3 nights San Diego and fly home from there

We are not bothered about doing Disney or Universal. We'd love to do the PCH but I don't think we have time.

Feedback welcomed Thanks!

[enjibenji]

Hi Kate, have you been to any of these places before?

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by enjibenji

Hi Kate, have you been to any of these places before?

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Only Las Vegas (for work).

[enjibenji]

Hi Katie,
If you are staying in any of the national parks then you will need to book accommodation early, they get sold out very quick. I have always booked a year before. If you are doing any of pch1 then I would recommend on going North to South.
The first time we done this we started and ended in LA and done Grand Canyon as well. To break up the distance we would do Palm Springs and then somewhere in Arizona before staying at the Grand canyon, then onto Vegas. Then Death Valley, Yosemite np, SF then pch down to LA.
The last time we done it, apart from Santa Monica we did all inland. Also allow more time than google maps or gps say as a lot of the places are mountainous or windy roads, so speed will be a lot less than you think. We love being on the road and enjoying the drive as much as the places we stay, so for us 1 or 2 nights in 1 place is enough but some people like to stay for longer, everyones different. Whatever you decide you will have a great trip and remember USA is a big big place. Happy planning 😊

[berneslai]

Itinerary looks great. My only comment would be that it'd be better to do it across two trips - that's a lot of distance covered.

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by enjibenji

Hi Katie,
If you are staying in any of the national parks then you will need to book accommodation early, they get sold out very quick. I have always booked a year before. If you are doing any of pch1 then I would recommend on going North to South.
The first time we done this we started and ended in LA and done Grand Canyon as well. To break up the distance we would do Palm Springs and then somewhere in Arizona before staying at the Grand canyon, then onto Vegas. Then Death Valley, Yosemite np, SF then pch down to LA.
The last time we done it, apart from Santa Monica we did all inland. Also allow more time than google maps or gps say as a lot of the places are mountainous or windy roads, so speed will be a lot less than you think. We love being on the road and enjoying the drive as much as the places we stay, so for us 1 or 2 nights in 1 place is enough but some people like to stay for longer, everyones different. Whatever you decide you will have a great trip and remember USA is a big big place. Happy planning 😊

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I have to be honest, I'm completely terrified by the idea of doing a road trip, and definitely questioning whether its the right thing. I've tried to balance the driving around with a couple of longer stays.

Originally Posted by berneslai

Itinerary looks great. My only comment would be that it'd be better to do it across two trips - that's a lot of distance covered.

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How would you split it up? Normally we would do up to 16 nights in one trip, but with not having been away since 2019 and having loads of leave, I am hoping to do a 3-weeker.

[Princess Alison]

Could an option be taking an internal flight between sf and la?

[enjibenji]

Or vegas to san diego.

[berneslai]

Originally Posted by skalexander

How would you split it up? Normally we would do up to 16 nights in one trip, but with not having been away since 2019 and having loads of leave, I am hoping to do a 3-weeker.

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It's a totally personal decision but, if you are driving, I would probably do an East-West Trip (e.g. fly into Las Vegas, work your way to Santa Monica and fly out of LAX) and then a North-South trip (San Diego, PCH, Monterey, San Francisco or vice-versa).

There's no right or wrong for this, and 3 weeks is ample time, just don't put yourself on the clock in a destination that you might really love. I also appreciate with the last two years being like they have been, it's stupid to critique anyone's plans - a much-needed holiday is a much-needed holiday, after all.

[cornishfrogboy]

It looks great, other than mileage if it is all being driven.

As already suggested, I would be looking at an internal from Vegas to LAX and then maybe getting your Santa Monica family to pick you up (only about 8 miles away). You could then pick up a further car hire for the last leg down to San Diego. Saving on 4 days car hire will more than cover your internal flights inc baggage. Internal flights are cheap, even using the majors AA, Delta and United once you take into account baggage costs.

LAX in relation to Santa Monica. Scale in bottom right corner.

Further to that, and if you followed the above paragraph, I would dump my car on arrival in Vegas also, saving on a further 2 days hire plus carparking. You won’t need it and in any case, McCarran International is right next to ‘the strip’ when it comes to leaving. Besides, if you don’t want to walk or Uber, you can use the monorail!
en.wikipedia/wiki/Las_Vegas_Monorail#Fares

Vegas showing McCarran in relation to most major hotels. Scale in bottom right corner. The monorail is the blue line on the map.

Further again.. I wouldn’t pick up my car until leaving SFO. That would save a further 3 days hire plus rather expensive parking. The BART from SFO international can drop you at Powell (next to Union Square or Embarcadero from where you can get a Cable car(Powell) or Uber (Embarcadero ) to your likely accommodation near to Fishermen’s Wharf.. or you could simply bite the bullet and use Taxis. ($80 each way). Driving in SFO ain’t nice.

en.wikipedia/wiki/Bay_Area_Rapid_Transit

You might as well drop your car in San Diego on arrival also. The airport is close to downtown and you are unlikely to need to drive anywhere. You can walk to Balboa park .. and Seaworld is a short taxi costing less than the cost of carparking. The attractions are rather compacted in the centre as you will see when researching.

Downtown is around where USS Midway is marked and there is a scale in the bottom right corner.

I feel sure that Megaflyer will be on here soon and may offer more advice.. and it will be good.

‘Aims’ (see sticky) is great on Southern California, particularly San Diego.

Hope that helps.

12 days of car hire, parking and time saved (and with no inconvenience whatever).. minus the low cost of a single internal flight from LAS to LAX. You know it makes sense!