Driving … San Fran to LA and maybe Las Vegas

[vegboatride]

We did San Francisco to L.A. and didn’t find the driving too bad we kept the sections relatively short, as you are awake very early you can do the driving in the morning and still have a full day at each stop. Is a beautiful trip and well worth doing, enjoy the planning.

[grant_w]

We did in 2017 (when the PCH had landslides so we had to drive further)

Flew to SF for 3 nights
Drove to Monterey for 3 nights
Drove down part of PCH til the closure then back on ourselves to go inland on the 101, when we were past the closure we went back up the PCH to see the Elephant Seals then carried on and stayed overnight in Santa Barbara
We then drove to Vegas from there, took about 4-5 hours and stayed there for 3 nights.
Drove back to LA area and stayed overnight and went to Six Flags Magic Mountain the next day
We drove to San Diego and spent the rest of the holiday there.

It is a lot of driving, but I found it a lot more relaxing than I thought I was going to.

[jdouds]

Originally Posted by Bad Pink Tink

On Dis someone was basically asking the same as you so I have copied some of their itinerary. This does not include rest days or LA sightseeing but will give you an idea of what some people do

Arrive LAX
Day 1: DL/DCA
Day 2: DL/DCA
Day 3: DL/DCA
Day 4: Start drive up PCH, stopping in Santa Barbara, Solvang. End at Madonna Inn
Day 5: Explore some more, stopping in Cambria for night
Day 6: Drive PCH to Pacific Grove
Day 7: Pacific Grove
Day 8: Pacific Grove
Day 9: Drive to Yosemite
Day 10: Yosemite
Day 11: leave Yosemite, drive to San Francisco
Day 12: San Francisco
Day 13: San Francisco
Day 14 : Fly Home

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Good advice here.
On one of our trips we flew to LA and drove up to Santa Barbara for a stop over, great place.
Up coast to Monterey, long day with so much to see and in hindsight another stop perhaps.
3 nights Monterey and so much to see, 17 m dr, pebble beach, Carmel, coast walks, whale watching a must, aquarium
Up to San Fran, 4 n Alcatraz, Sausalito, Disney museum, trams, parks,
Drove to Yosemite 3 n ,minimum stay we would say. This is enough time to do all the basics
We then drove Vegas straight long drive.
4 n Vegas , shows etc
2 n Palm Springs. Great holiday
On that holiday we had 2 long days driving and the rest of the days 3.5/4 hours most driving . But most of our stays where 3/4 nights so plenty of sightseeing time in each place

[TheRobsters]

Thank you for all comments, lots to think about and plans to make.

[megaflyer]

Originally Posted by TheRobsters

Thank you for all comments, lots to think about and plans to make.

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Planning CA when you dont know it is an exciting project. One of my best friends is going out there this week for 3 weeks business and has a 4 day window in LA — he has never been before. I have planned everything from arranging a driver to move him from Santa Monica to West Hollywood for the 4 days (that will be cheaper than Lyft/Uber on a Friday afternoon) - booked his hotel, “suggested” itinerary hour by hour for bars restaurants, sightseeing (with times) told him not to use Uber but Lyft as its half the price . I loved doing it and he says he is now excited to be in LA and as I know it very well he knows he can call on me to plan for him (I may (just may cough) have overplanned a tadge ……now I cant wait to be there in Dec

[TheRobsters]

Originally Posted by megaflyer

Planning CA when you dont know it is an exciting project. One of my best friends is going out there this week for 3 weeks business and has a 4 day window in LA — he has never been before. I have planned everything from arranging a driver to move him from Santa Monica to West Hollywood for the 4 days (that will be cheaper than Lyft/Uber on a Friday afternoon) - booked his hotel, “suggested” itinerary hour by hour for bars restaurants, sightseeing (with times) told him not to use Uber but Lyft as its half the price . I loved doing it and he says he is now excited to be in LA and as I know it very well he knows he can call on me to plan for him (I may (just may cough) have overplanned a tadge ……now I cant wait to be there in Dec

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Wow..he’s a lucky guy to have a friend like you to take the time to do that for him. But things are easier when you have the knowledge.
Thank you for sharing your ideas.

[megaflyer]

Originally Posted by TheRobsters

Wow..he’s a lucky guy to have a friend like you to take the time to do that for him. But things are easier when you have the knowledge.
Thank you for sharing your ideas.

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You are welcome and more than happy to answer any questions you may have along your planning journey adventure

[TheRobsters]

UPDATE…. So this morning has seen the booking of some very reasonable flights, £360 each return in and out of San Francisco which seemed rather silly to pass on although would have preferred home from LA but it’s cheaper to pay for an internal flight back to LA.
I have made a rough plan of an itinerary which is in its early stages,
We are thinking 3 maybe 4 nights to start in SF ….Drive the PCH to LA and spend the last nights in LA before a flight to SF in the evening and a flight home from SF the following day.. in total 17 nights.
We are trying to work out how many nights would be needed in LA as Disneyland will be a definite must plus all the other iconic sights.
Do people think that 4 nights in SF is possibly too much, likewise in LA are 4 nights enough if we want to do Disneyland as well.?
Thank you once again for help.
CFB.. I’ve had a read of your trip report and its given us some great tips. Thanks.

[grant_w]

3 or 4 nights is about right for SF, depends what you want to do.
We hired bikes and biked over the GG Bridge, getting a ferry back.
We did a tour of Alcatraz
Got cable cars to Union Square for shops.
And last time we went, we spent a day at SF Zoo.

[megaflyer]

Sounds about right to me - for first time visitors to SF then 4 days is not too much at all. $ days in LA area including Disney is fine too. In short: Your plan looks good to me