California Advice

scholes19

hi how are you?
Treavelling to California this August,flights booked but nothing else planed. Flyin into San Fran and back out again. Goin on 10 august and back on Sept 2nd. Going with parents and brother, any advice? we would like to take in San fran san diego, gran cayon and LA. Could any body with experience of Cali. share some advice/opinions on what we should do and for how long to get the optimum out out our 21 days or so?
Note; we do plan on renting a car.
Cheers:rolleyes:;)

Ponster

I'd skip San Diego (it's a long way down) and add in 3-4 days in Yosemite National Park, driving in on the west side, driving out on the south exit, heading down through Death Valley then on to LA (not my favourite part of LA). You can drive back to San Fran on the State Route 1 (part is called the Pacific Coast Highway), through Big Sur, Monterey, Santa Cruz, stop at the REad Wood parks, and back to SF.

ncmc

scholes19 wrote: »

hi how are you?
Treavelling to California this August,flights booked but nothing else planed. Flyin into San Fran and back out again. Goin on 10 august and back on Sept 2nd. Going with parents and brother, any advice? we would like to take in San fran san diego, gran cayon and LA. Could any body with experience of Cali. share some advice/opinions on what we should do and for how long to get the optimum out out our 21 days or so?
Note; we do plan on renting a car.
Cheers:rolleyes:;)

We are doing a similar trip to you in August (14th-30th) and we are doing the following:

Flying in to LA, staying 3 nights
Driving to GC for 2 nights
Driving to Vegas for 4 nights
Driving up to Yosemite for 4 nights
Driving to SF for 4 nights
Flying out of SF

With the extra 5 nights that you have you should be able to Fly to SF, drive down to LA (you can do it in one day or stop a night somewhere along the way), drive down to San Diego and then over to GC, over to Vegas, up to Yosemite and on to SF. Yosemite was one of the places mentioned to me not to miss, so maybe google it and see what you think.

The only thing with this trip is that there is a lot of driving, I know the drive from LA to GC is 9 hours or so and the drive from Vegas to Yosemite is about the same. Are you and your brother able to share the driving with your parents? You have the luxury of time, so maybe you could stop for a night along the way to break up the long drives. Unfortunately we do not have the nights to spare, so we are just going for it!

Hope you have a great time, maybe we will cross paths at some stage over there!

iMax

Don't forget if you want to do themeparks, at least a day in each, personal recommendations:

Magic Mountain
Universal
Disney
Knotts Berry Farm

Carmel is beautiful (off PCH). I used to live in LA & a lot of people are very disappointed in it. It can be very seedy & dirty, but if you want to, head for longbeach (queen Mary) & Santa Monica (Pier & 6th street promonade). SF if beautiful, I love vegas. Allow more than one day for PCH it's far to beautiful to rush. Jealous of your trip !!

Ponster

ncmc wrote: »

The only thing with this trip is that there is a lot of driving, I know the drive from LA to GC is 9 hours or so and the drive from Vegas to Yosemite is about the same.

How about when you have more than 8 hours of driving that you fly instead? LA --> Vegas is pretty cheap.

ncmc

Ponster wrote: »

How about when you have more than 8 hours of driving that you fly instead? LA --> Vegas is pretty cheap.

I did think about that but when I did the sums (LA to GC then GC to Vegas = 13hrs driving; Flying from LA to Vegas then driving on to GC then driving back to Vegas = 10hrs driving, plus however long we'd be sitting in airport/on plane) we decided on just driving and experience the different landscape (bet that novelty will last all of 20 mins!) I don't mind the drive too much, there are two of us to share so won't be so bad.

It is always something to consider though, things are so spread out in the US and what can look like a short distance on a map probably translates to a lot of driving.

Ponster

Well if you have the time to spare you can spread the trip to GC over 2 days. It's possible to leave LA County, head south-east and drive up through the Joshua Tree National Park. Then onto the I-15 (I think) for Vegas. Leaving Vegas for GC you drive through Henderson and Boulder City (Hoover Dam - used to be called Boulder Dam).

Then when you get to Kingman, head north on the old Route 66 where you go through a couple of ghost towns before taking you back onto the I-40.
It adds an extra hour or two but is well worth it.

scholes19

My auld lad made a mistake in flyin into San Fran and back out again from san fran. He should of booked a flight home from LA maybe. But as the saying goes "you made a decision, live with it". My bro is 16 so he aint driving and i aint got a full licence(18). Where would people spend most of there time. The auld lad is talking about pending 2-3 days in san fran and then heading down to La-for maybe a week, and then across to Vegas for shows and stuff and gc aswel. Nothing has been mentioned about Yeosmite Park as of yet, however from an above post it is a must when in California.

2-3 Days in San Fran
6-7 Days in La
5-6 Days in Vegas

What would people think of the above time frames, other suggestions are more than welcome, not to sure if we would do theme parks again, have done them twice in florida,universal,disney,bush gardens and all that lark...

scholes19

Ponster and every body else whom has replied thanks a million for the informative replies to date.
Scholesy;)

Ponster

2-3 Days in San Fran
6-7 Days in La
5-6 Days in Vegas


2-3 in San Fran -- seems ok

6-7 Days in LA -- personally seems like a lot to me. I lived there for 6 months and would be very wary of spending that much time there.

5-6 Days in Vegas -- depends on what you're into I guess. I've been there 2 time for about 2/3 days each time. There's only so much slot machines and free beer I can handle before I go stir-crazy

I live in a city so when I get away I try to avoid them. SF though is a pretty cool place while LA is a sprawling mass of a city and is best thought of as a small European country. As mentioned before, Yeosmite Park is wonderful; breathtakingly beautiful and well worth a stop.

It's always useful to make your trip event-based. Look up websites that list local attractions. There are a lot of open wine tasting parties, Gilroy the Garlic Capitol of the World is having a festival, Chopperfest at Long Beach...

http://festivalsandevents.com/festival.php?state=CA

www.metrowize.com/articles/california-festivals-guide

http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-foodfest3feb03

What ever you do make sure you avoid south California on July 8

sonners

Last september I did the following trip:
Fly into Vegas - 5 days there, loads of gambling, a wedding :O, grand canyon helicoptor trip, rollercoasters on top of stratosphere, etc. All brilliant, still one of my fav cities!
Collect car, drive to San Diego (5-6 hour drive)- 3 days there, took in the zoo and Sea World, both are well worth the visit.
Drive to LA (2-3 hour drive) - spent the day seeing all the typical sights, hollywood sign, chinese theatre, stars on the pavement, pretty woman hotel, beverly hills, etc then drove out to Santa Monica and spent the night there. Santa Monica is absolutely beautiful, if your goin to LA its definitely worth a visit. If even just to see the Baywatch-esque lifeguards
Drove to San Louis Obispo (sp) (around a 5-6 hour drive) spent the night here. this is a nice college town at the south end of Highway 1
Drove to Santa Cruz (another 6 hour drive) this drive takes you up highway 1, absolutely amazing views and scenery. For example, we went swimming on a beach with whales on one side, surfers in the middle and dolphins playin in the surf at the other end, unbelievable!
Drove to San Fran (3-4 hour drive) spent 4 days here then flew home from here. Cool town, nice laid back atmosphere for a city, went on the trams, biked the bridge (really cool, cycle over to sosalito then ferry back, dont need to be majorly fit), went to alcatraz, etc

All in we had around 2 weeks, 2 days. I planned the trip with the intention of having two drivers, I ended up doin all the driving which was'nt easy, a few of the days were long and I wud'nt have packed in so much had I known I was gonna be the only driver.

If I were you I would spend around 4 days in San Fran then drive down highway 1 to Santa Monica, allow at least 2 days for this so your not doing loads of driving in the one day and can actually enjoy the trip. Spend a bit of time in Santa Monica, I dont know LA very well but like others have said, I would'nt spend any more than 2-3 days here, unless your doing the theme parks.

San Diego is only a 2-3 hour drive south so if you were interested in Sea world, the Zoo or the marine base (there's one in LA too but as far as I know the one in san diego is bigger) you could base urself in LA and just drive down for the day.
From LA I would head to Vegas, its hard to say how long to spend here. I'd easily spend 5 days but you and your brother are under 21 so that's really gonna restrict what you can and cant do.

From vegas I would head for the Grand Canyon and then drive back to San Fran hitting Yosemite park on the way. Timelines for this I'm not sure of but I've heard these places recommended alot so I'm sure others can help.

All in all I would go back to everywhere I went on my trip, nothing was 'not worth it' our only problem was trying to fit it all in!

sonners

Also, just to say (you've prob been told this already) you dont need to hire a car for when your in San Fran. You'll pay extra for parking at your hotel and you wont need it at all in the city. The public transport is excellent.

The best advice I can give you is get out google maps, have a look around, get a few names of cities and type them into trip advisor or somewhere. I spent months researching our trip but I picked up tips and tricks that saved us alot of time and money and allowed us to experience things we did'nt even know existed!

Ponster

Actually I think the solution to sonners problem of trying to fit it all in is to not try

If you visit a country/city with the knowledge that you're going to go back some time again in the future then you won't be pushed to see everything.

I'm heading to CA next week for my 4th time in 6 years, going back to some favourite spots (San Fran, Carmel) and checking out some new ones (Marin County north of SF, Gold Country).
The important thing to remember is that if you've never been to the States before then it's not always easy to judge driving distances and how tired you'll be after 8 hours behind a wheel

sonners

yeah, your right there Ponster, most of my driving days were around 5-6 hours driving which I stretched into 9-10 hours with breaks an all. I was wrecked by the time I got to the hotel at night, could'nt drink too much coz I had to get up the next day to drive, I definitely would'nt have planned it like that. Sis was supposed to drive too but she (very) nearly killed us within 5 mins behind the wheel so I did'nt let her drive again

@OP pick 2 or 3 places and see them, relax, and enjoy the holiday. I just got back from a cheap trip to a typical spanish resort for a week, full of irish an all that. But it was great coz I just lounged by the pool all day, was so relaxed coming home it was lovely

The Gambler 101

the girlfriend and i are thinking of doing a road trip down the west coast from san fran to san diego over a two wk period around the end of august. we were in l.a. last summer for a few days(was'nt very impressed) then went to vegas(a place def to see, but no longer than 3 nights) so dont need to take these places in again.

we want to do a lot of sight seeing and get a fair share of relaxing i.e. by the beach or a nice pool.

so any suggestions would greatly appreciated.

also never got to take in the grand canyon last yr, heard its meant to be amazing trip via helicopter. can this trip only be done from vegas?

rossie1977

^^^ no doubt in the 3 days you were in vegas you managed to get everything i listed on a previous thread done http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=56062793&postcount=44

a few towns like williams, sedona, flagstaff etc offer helicopter trips to the GC, the choice and frequency compared to vegas will not be comparable though

daycent

The Gambler 101 wrote: »

the girlfriend and i are thinking of doing a road trip down the west coast from san fran to san diego over a two wk period around the end of august. we were in l.a. last summer for a few days(was'nt very impressed) then went to vegas(a place def to see, but no longer than 3 nights) so dont need to take these places in again.

we want to do a lot of sight seeing and get a fair share of relaxing i.e. by the beach or a nice pool.

so any suggestions would greatly appreciated.

also never got to take in the grand canyon last yr, heard its meant to be amazing trip via helicopter. can this trip only be done from vegas?

Yosemite national park is one place that is definitely worth visiting, if you're into scenery and stuff. You would be heading inland a bit alright but it might be a nice break from coastline. It's not that far from San Fran.

Otherwise, the southerly drive along the coast is great. And if you're anybit into wine i'd recommend visiting Solvang, it's where parts of Sideways was filmed.

Yosemite

mcgrate

Just back from California; Vegas up to San Fran Via Death Vally and Yosemite. Stayed in Hotel Charlotte in Groveland just outside yosemite. highly recommend it if your looking for a hotel in the area.