Route and hotel planning - harder than I thought!

[1972]

I was really looking forward to planning our route for our 19 night road trip, but it is more stressful and harder work than I thought.

Hotels are more expensive than we first thought and trying to decide on where to stay is not as much fun as I thought it would be!

We have a map spread out on the living room floor and keep saying "we should have just gone back to Florida - at least we know where to stay!"

I'm sure it will be a fab holiday once we get everything organised.

[SuzyM]

Originally Posted by 1972

I was really looking forward to planning our route for our 19 night road trip, but it is more stressful and harder work than I thought.

Hotels are more expensive than we first thought and trying to decide on where to stay is not as much fun as I thought it would be!

We have a map spread out on the living room floor and keep saying "we should have just gone back to Florida - at least we know where to stay!"

I'm sure it will be a fab holiday once we get everything organised.

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Have you decided which places you want to visit? Have you got anything booked yet like flights? Why don't you post up the places you would like to visit and people on here could suggest the order you do them in and how long you stay in each. Once you have decided that you can then ask for recommendations for hotels etc in particular places.

I am not a West Coast expert but have planned our first visit for August - got the flights, hotels and most of the tickets organised, so I will help if I can - but there are lots of experts on here who I am sure will be happy to help. Reading the trip reports really helps too!

Good luck!

Suzy

[florida girl]

The problem with the West Coast is that there are so many amazing places to visit. We had a similar problem when we booked our trip but so glad we did as it was our best by far. Write down the main places you want to stay you can always tweak the amount of days at each place as you go along.

Look on comparison sites for hotel prices there are bargains out there if you put in the time. I am looking for a trip in October nothing booked yet also no definite plan other than Las Vegas and Grand Canyon. I enjoy the planning

Good Luck.

[Guest]

I think that's the problem. So many people say "let's just book Florida, it's easier " which is a shame as the west coast is amazing . It is hard choosing a route but it should still be fun and not seem like a bum ache!
Do you have any travel guides? Maybe go to a book shop and buy a guide book as a lot of those have itineraries that you could follow or alter abit . The planning is worth it

[1972]

Thanks everyone!

Think I was just feeling a little tired when I typed this.

We are going in August and the year seems to be running away with us. When we thought we had loads of time, we have now found lots of the hotels suggested on here are fully booked.

We found some good priced flights just after Christmas, but they were in and out of Las Vegas, so we are doing a round trip over almost 3 weeks.

The only things we need to work around are a couple of pop concerts - R5 (I am sure you have never heard of them, but my kids are huge fans) in San Jose not far from San Francisco and then Taylor Swift in LA.

We have decided to fly into Vegas and stay 1 night before driving off early to St George where we have booked our first night on the way to the National Parks.

We plan to do Zion NP, Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, Grand Canyon and then come back to LA for a day.

Then drive to San Francisco taking in Yosemite on the way.

A couple of days in San Francisco before making our way to LA along the Pacific Coast Highway.

DH wants to fit in some of Route 66 but not where and when.

Spend time in LA visiting Disney and Universal, and a few other "must dos" like Hollywood sign.

Then eventually back to Las Vegas for our last night before flying home - exhausted!

Any tips?

[Slipperman]

"We plan to do Zion NP, Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, Grand Canyon and then come back to LA (LV?) for a day."

That's a big loop so I assume you are staying at other places along the way. If this part coincides with the weekend then the hotels will be an issue at that time of year. We booked a place in Page back in November for August this year, we were looking to move it recently but had issue with availability ... and cost.

I'd also suggest a stop on the way to SF from Vegas, maybe around Bishop or up in Mammoth Mountain (they do a nice tour out from Mammoth Mountain inn (Devil's Postpile, Rainbow Falls)

[1972]

Originally Posted by Slipperman

"We plan to do Zion NP, Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, Grand Canyon and then come back to LA (LV?) for a day."

That's a big loop so I assume you are staying at other places along the way. If this part coincides with the weekend then the hotels will be an issue at that time of year. We booked a place in Page back in November for August this year, we were looking to move it recently but had issue with availability ... and cost.

I'd also suggest a stop on the way to SF from Vegas, maybe around Bishop or up in Mammoth Mountain (they do a nice tour out from Mammoth Mountain inn (Devil's Postpile, Rainbow Falls)

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Yep, sorry I meant Las Vegas not Los Angeles.

Yes we are planning to stop at other places along the way, but also planning on a few long days driving. We did it in Canada last year in the Rockies.

Thanks for the suggestions of places on the way to San Francisco.

Wish we had more time to do San Diego though.

[florida girl]

A good thing about booking hotels closer to the time is they do come cheaper. Yes some have sold out but there are some good deals if you have a budget too stick too.

[daytonababe]

Seems a shame to me to fly in and out of Vegas yet not spend any time there.

I would want to spend at least 3 days there and even then you won't scratch the surface . Having been to both LA & Vegas I'd rather spend more time in Vegas than LA.

It also depends on what you want from your trip , the driving distances can be vast so I would rather do less places and spend more time in each than doing long drives every other day.

[CrispyA]

It is quite overwhelming, but once you get into the planning zone, it will all be much easier!

We worked with google maps to plan the route, trying to alternate long driving days with easier, shorter drives or 2 night stays to break up the driving. Once we'd worked out where we would be stopping, we set a budget of £100 maximum per night and that really helped to narrow down the list of hotels. It was only in San Francisco that we had to go over budget as it's expensive.

We booked most of our hotels via Expedia or Booking.com, going through Topcashback - unless it was better value to book directly. Tripadviser was really helpful here.

With the national parks, book sooner rather than later. With Yosemite, you might be lucky to get accommodation in the park as it books up a year in advance, but keep trying as it is worth it to wake up in the valley. Curry Camp is nicer than it sounds!

My trip report shows where we stayed which might help.