Now I know this isnt the best time to post something like this as we have an important game tomorrow but I have just booked flights to LA with my girlfriend for next summer. I am 28 and have never done anything like this but I am growing tired of just sitting on a beach for 2 weeks which is what I would normally do. The plan is to do a mini road trip something along the lines of: LA West coast beaches San Diego Las Vegas Grand Canyon Monument valley (distance and time permitting) Yosemite national park San Francisco Back to LA We only have two weeks and are planning to drive all journeys. I just wanted to see if anyone had been to any of these places/areas and had any tips on what to see and do. Additionally, if anyone has any tips about road trips in general relating to car hire and hotels I would love to hear anything that might be useful. I am not a total novice to America as I have been to florida on family holiday when I am younger but this will be the first time driving abroad which is something I am a bit nervous about although I am sure to be fine. Anyway, I am interested to hear everyones thoughts and apologies if this is a boring topic people might not like.
i've only been to san francisco, las vegas and the grand canyon from that list but it sounds like a fantastic trip! we had a helicopter to the canyon from vegas - utterly breathtaking and would highly recommend doing that (if finances allow it - it is pricey). san francisco is wonderful, vegas is vegas baby!! just wander in and experience every hotel you can - they all have unique things going on. one thing is for sure, all the things on your list will blitz florida and make it look like a week in bognor regis
Highway 1? Just a suggestion, supposed to be beautiful to drive (never done it myself): http://www.justamerica.co.uk/site/regions/american-southwest/self-drive/pacificcoasthighway.html
Thanks Supers. Very much hoping it does blitz Florida which was great for family holidays but really looking for the wow factor as this will be our last major holiday for some time. I am glad that the places you have been to seem to match up with what I am expecting from them. My parents have also done the Grand Canyon via helicopter and they said the exact same However, it might be stretching our budget but if saving goes well it could be an option. Did you visit San Francisco, Vegas and Grand Canyon in the same trip? Did you drive between them or get flights?
vegas and grand canyon were the same trip. san francisco was a different trip. never personally driven in america so can't help with that i'm afraid but the sheer scale of the place and the distances between places makes any driving lengthy! those are the only times i've been over to the west coast. los angeles doesn't interest me at all but san diego is supposed to be pretty cool and further in land i've been to yellowstone which is phenomenal!
My Wife & I did that trip about 6 years ago, we hired an open top Sebring and took 3 weeks, stopping 2 or 3 nights in different locations. Probably the best holiday we've ever had. Get yourselves a Fodor's guide, it was our bible for the trip and we found loads of interesting places to visit that we never would have without it. Apart from the first & last nights & Vegas, we booked accomodation as we went using the guide, sounds risky but there was always a big choice with availability. We mostly stayed at B&B's but they arent like the B&B's we get here! really nice guest houses in the main with wonderful breakfasts! top tip places to go.... Palm Springs (stay at Casa Cody if you can - swimming pool surrounded by orange trees and hummingbirds! - paradise!); Zion National Park ; The Big Sur - Highway 1 is a must between SF & LA, there is one part where a sign says "warning sharp bends & switchbacks for the next 70 miles!" It will definately take your breath away! Look out for a stopoff at a place called Nepenthe, it used to be owned by Orson Welles & Rita Heyworth - just fantastic views and a really peaceful place. I'd personally avoid Vegas, we spent 2 nights there and had pre-booked, but would have left after 1- hated the place with a vengeance. Yosemite is stunning, Death valley is amazing as is the Grand Canyon. I am GREEN with envy! would love to go and do it again!
Just letting you know that it may not look far on the map, but from memory it's at least an eight hour drive from LA up for San Francisco (never 'Frisco', they don't like that!). Well worth it though, awesome city - definitely get yourself across to Alcatraz!
Long time since I did California and Nevada - I always remember the drive from LA to Vegas and the distinct memory of approahing Vegas at night and from a distance the glow of the neon could be seen for miles and got brighter as we drew nearer - it's breathtaking when ou first see the panorama of Vegas at night. On a USA based theme - I've recently got back from a holiday to Iowa and Michigan - not the normal tourist hotspots but beautiful states in their own right and quite different too - loved Iowa and will definitely go back there. Wyoming and Montana next year !
Long time since I did California and Nevada - I always remember the drive from LA to Vegas and the distinct memory of approahing Vegas at night and from a distance the glow of the neon could be seen for miles and got brighter as we drew nearer - it's breathtaking when ou first see the panorama of Vegas at night. On a USA based theme - I've recently got back from a holiday to Iowa and Michigan - not the normal tourist hotspots but beautiful states in their own right and quite different too - loved Iowa and will definitely go back there. Wyoming and Montana next year !
Thanks for all the information guys. Driving is going to be long and tiring at times but I think the flexibility it offers us is one of the reasons we are so keen on it. There are some suggestions in there that we have given thought to but others that we hadnt so I am definitely going to look into those. Munky I think that is a trap we may have fallen into, an inch on a map might take 5-10 hours in driving. Luckily for me my parents have travelled around america the last few summers so that is one of the main things they have stressed to me. I definitely need to invest in some good guides, everytime I grab one of my dads I get locked into a lengthy conversation of warnings which has its place ubt just not everytime I want to do more research. I am glad to hear that so many have enjoyed a similar trip or elements of what I am planning. I think with 2 weeks its inevitable that some interesting sights will eb missed but I want to fit in as much as I can. I wouldnt have necessarily flown into/out of LA but the flights we got (£600 return pp) couldnt be matched anywhere else that I looked. If anyone has anyuse we booked through Norwegian and they do currently have a slae on to NY/LA. Graham - Highway one is something I hadnt thought of or know much about but I like that sound of that. We are planning on taking in Yosemite and Zion national parks. Quite simply so much to see in a short space of time that even trying to narrow a list down is quite difficult. I am hoping to book some B&B's/Hotels in advance but leave others to see how we go with the distances and driving. Hoping to softtop but were unsure between that and something bigger. I like the idea of being able to put the top down and take in as much of the views as possible - is it worth it as the prices for a convertable seem much higher? Thanks for all your help, its nice to know others have been and enjoyed it!
you're one lucky bugger marknemo! you've made me want to go back to the states right now. i'm personally an 'east coast' man; new york, philly, boston etc, love to spend time out there and got family in those areas but now i wish i was going on your road trip. any room in your suitcase?
I enjoyed LA much more than I thought I was going to personally, we stayed in Venice Beach (if you love people watching and checking out the freaks and the crazies like I do you'll love it) and strolled down to Santa Monica and did the usual day trip round the sights of Hollywood. Not somewhere to stay for too long, especially if you've only got a fortnight, but it's definitely worth a quick look around. We used the Greyhound bus and the station is based in the Downtown part of the city - not somewhere you want to be walking around at 9pm like proper tourists laden with backpacks, expensive camera, IPods, cash etc as we were before some nice kind LAPD officers on pushbikes approached us and asked us "what the hell we were doing??" and "didn't we know where the hell we were?"!! We actually didn't up until then, just following directions given to us by the guy in our hostel after hopping off the bus but after this warning we soon noticed crackheads, hookers and all sorts of shifty looking folk hanging around on the street. The cops escorted us all the way to the depot which was only about a ten minute walk, but which could have been our very last ten minutes had we not have been helped out! Apparently we weren't far from South Central, Inglewood and all that - heavy gangland territory - and the cops couldn't believe how stupid we were just strolling aorund like that. With hindsight neither can I now, that was definitely one of the more scary experiences of my life! Still enjoyed our few days in LA though, as long as you accept that it is what it is
I'm by no means an expert on LA at as I think we only had three nights there in total, but I would say that from what I do know there is so much diverse stuff going on and so many different parts of the sprawling metropolis that there will be bits that you love and bits that you hate, perhaps not in equal measure, but I persaonlly think it would be churlish to say that you either love or hate it as a whole. Saw Sly Stallone in Rodeo Drive as well - nearly forgot that!
it's not a place that ever interested me to be honest. san diego looks more interesting to me and i think that could be next port of call for me. closest i've got to stallone was his statue in philly by the 'rocky' steps
My gut feeling is that you are aiming to do far too much in the time available. Although the freeways allow you to drive great distances relatively quickly by our standards, once you leave them the size of the country really hits you. Regarding the places you mention, I myself would give the Beaches between LA and San Diego a miss. They are "beaches" in the sense that e.g Delray and other "Beaches" on the Atlantic coast of Florida are beaches. Coast towns in other words. San Diego is just an extremely pleasant city, somewhere you could very easily imagine living, but there isn't a huge amount to see there -- the famous Sea Life centre and an interesting Maritime Museum for example. My strategy is much the same as GPB's: drive, stay two or three nights in the destination area, move on and repeat the cycle. Setting out to see as much as you possibly can in the time means glimpsing lots, seeing little. Graham's implicit suggestion is to think of two areas, one SE Nevada/SW Utah/NW Arizona, the other the San Francisco/Bay area. If you head to the former first and see Vegas, Grand Canyon and Zion and maybe Bryce Canyon, you can then drive to Yosemite via Death Valley (stop at ghost town on the way and stay overnight at Stovepipe Wells if you possibly can), then north to Mono Lake and west via the road through the Yosemite NP for visiting the Valley itself. Then on to SF and back to LA via the Coastal Highway. I also agree with Graham about booking as you go. On your trip, only Yosemite itself and Death Valley are likely to present problems in that respect. The Ahwahnee Lodge in Yosemite Valley itself is very expensive and usually booked out; the only alternative in the Valley is the tented village. And staying outside the Park means quite a drive to get into the Valley. One option is to do it by coach from SF, but there are places to stay in the vicinity (e.g Tenaya Lodge at Fish Camp, excellent but expensive). You are going to have a fantastic experience however you approach it, but my real recommendation is not to tie yourselves down. You have two fixed points at LA International Airport. Have a rough itinerary in mind but apart from that let this marvellous marvellous country decide the detail for you. And when you leave the freeways, keep your tank topped up and carry lots of water. By the way, if like Graham you find Vegas's "kitsch with style" is not to your taste (I thought I'd hate it every bit as much as I hate Disneyland, but in fact I found it an unmissable experience, especially breakfast at the Bellagio), St George in SW Utah is a good alternative for the Grand Canyon and Sion NP.
