California Route

scholes19

Ok so myself, parents and bro are going to Cali on August 11th and have planned out a maybe route to take. We re travelling from san fran and have got to reach vegas by the 30th. so this is what we are doing
- San Fran- marriott fishermans
- Monterey
-Travel down to San Luis
-Stay in santa monica and travel into LA
-San Diego
- Vegas

We are flying back to San Fran instead of driving back. Flight back is 200euro which is fairly cheap IMO.

What do you guys make of this route, i know that we have left out Yeosmite Park and Napa valley but there ya go?

Any thoughts or opionions of experienced Cali travellers would be appreciated !!
Thanks

Ponster

No need to head up to Napa on your first trip to CA. If you really want wine then the SAnta Clara hills just to the south of San Fran offer some of the best wine that the state has to offer. Tastings are often free and no need to book in advance, just turn up.

The drive from SF to Monterey passing by Santa Cruz is pretty. Make sure you have time to check out the aquarium.

San Luis is another very pretty town.

LA, compared to where you'll already have been, is a mass of urbanity and isn't to everyone's tastes. All the locations along the beach are cool but I'm not a fan of LA county as a whole.

San Diego. Been there once, prob won't go back again. Can't remember anything wrong with it as such but after having visited SF the town just didn't compare. The drive though from SD to Vegas will be a long one which is best done in shifts or stop off somewhere on the say. If you can, a drive through the Joshua Tree Park is well worth it. You'll even be able to stick the cruis control on 80 and get away with it

I think you'll have plenty of time in 19 days to do all that. You just need to decide how long to spend in SF and Vegas to work out the planning.

lynchie

scholes19 wrote: »

Ok so myself, parents and bro are going to Cali on August 11th and have planned out a maybe route to take. We re travelling from san fran and have got to reach vegas by the 30th. so this is what we are doing
- San Fran- marriott fishermans
- Monterey
-Travel down to San Luis
-Stay in santa monica and travel into LA
-San Diego
- Vegas


We are flying back to San Fran instead of driving back. Flight back is 200euro which is fairly cheap IMO.

What do you guys make of this route, i know that we have left out Yeosmite Park and Napa valley but there ya go?

Any thoughts or opionions of experienced Cali travellers would be appreciated !!
Thanks

What date you travelling back to San Fran from Vegas? 200 euro seems a lot.. Put in a couple of dates in early Sep for about $94 on kayak.com which is quite cheap

scholes19

flight from las Vegas to sf is on the 30th with virgin America
stay in sf til 1st Sept and fly home then.
my auld lad made the mistake of booking original flights to sfo and back from sfo.

oh the 235 euro is for 4people. sorry for not saying

Ponster what to you think of the idea of staying in Santa Monica and traveling into LA. The uncle was in Santa Monica over crimbo and said it twas nice but he legged it as there was a storm there when he stayed. He said that it would be an idea to stain in SM and travel into LA, what do ya think man??

The SD part of the trip is meant to be the relaxation time. we were thinking of spending something like 5 nights in a hotel. San Diego is meant to be the warmest part of California according to my research. am i correct in saying this and is this a good idea?? I know that the likes of sea world are found in SD which indicates that its similar yo Orlando in terms of weather!!???

Ponster

Santa Monica is a nice spot. Right by the beach and they have a street (4th I think) which has a lot of bars, restos, places to eat, outside entertainment. I was there on July 14 for a couple of days. It's easy to get to Hollywood from there and see the 'sights' without having to spend hours driving through LA itself.

scholes19

cheers for the info man

sonners

I did this exact trip last september only in reverse! Started off with 5 days in Vegas, then a week driving to san fran taking the route you have mentioned, then 4 days in san fran. How long you spend in each place really depends on what your looking for but definitely allow more than we did for the driving :rolleyes:

Your right about the weather, san diego is the warmest spot but it should be hot enough from when you hit LA/Santa Monica (well, hot for irish people ). San Luis, Santa Monica, Monterey are all lovely towns, good bars, restaurants, friendly people, etc. We stayed in Santa Monica and visited the LA sights from there, it should take no more than an hour to return to Santa Monica possibly less. You mention that you want a few days downtime to relax, I think you'll find this possible in a few of the places along the way. There's plenty of fabulous beaches and parks along the way.

If I was doing this trip again I would make sure I:
a) Spent an evening wandering the pier in Santa Monica. There's stalls, shops, a fairground, locals fishing off the pier, a lovely restaurant at the entrance. Its a beautiful place to watch the sun set.
b)Visited San Diego Zoo, this is the one and only zoo I've been to where the animals actually seemed happy! They do alot of research and conservation work also so its one of those fun/educational trips.
c)Biked the Golden Gate bridge. You can rent bikes in San Fran and cycle across the bridge down into a little town on the other side and get a ferry back from there. It was a lovely, scenic spin and does'nt require high levels of fitness.

Las Vegas, is a place I could talk about for hours so I'm not even touching on it here! If you have any specific questions about Vegas just ask

scholes19

Thanks a mil sonners for all the info. Il take your advise on boards ma, particularly the stuff about Santa Monica and spending the evening at the pier.

Vegas whats the like for two young lads- 19 and 17, fairly restricted in what my bro and myself can do im guessing? Is it expensive and could you recommend a place to stay in it? Thanks

sonners

We stayed in Circus Circus in Vegas www.circuscircus.com. I was there with family (brothers wedding) so we had young children with us. The hotel was cheap and cheerful, had a pool to laze around, casino, restaurants, etc. There are some pretty bad reviews on the net, mostly to do with it being full of kids :rolleyes: but we were stayin midweek so had no problems. I think some of the other posters (especially on the poker forum) could give you a better run down of hotels, Circus Circus was perfrect for what we were looking for, I'm not sure if it will suit you.

The kids were allowed go anywhere in the hotel except the casino. There was a walkway through the casino they were allowed use but if we stopped to even tie a shoe lace we were quickly asked to keep moving. Basically its the law over there, not only are you not allowed gamble if your under 21 but your not even allowed be there. Dont worry about this too much, its just something you need to be aware of.

You could spend days just walking the strip, all of the hotels are just so big and extravagent. There's individual attractions in each hotel, ceaser's palace has The Forum Shops, Mandalay Bay has an aquarium, New York New York has a roller coaster, Bellagio fountains, etc, etc. The rollercoasters on top of the Stratosphere are definitely worth a visit, I've done a few in my lifetime and these are definitely in my top five for the fear factor.

There's a few different shopping malls in the area as well, your hotel will be able to give you information on these, there's buses to them which are'nt too expensive. You can also do a trip to the Grand Canyon, there's a few different ones involving cars, buses, boats, helicopters, planes, horses, anythign really. It all depends on how much you want to spend what you have to choose from. I can reccommend papillion tours for this: www.papillon.com.

There's also plenty of shows going on in the various hotels. For any of your trips its really up to you whether you book before you go or when you get there. If you book beforehand then you know it wont be sold out but if you wait you may get it cheaper but your taking a risk of not being able to do it.

My best advice is go to Virtualtourist.com and tripadvisor.com and read! This is how I got most of my information before we went and some of it proved to be invaluable.

Hope this helps

sonners

Forgot to say, I did'nt spend near as much in vegas as I had expected to! The exchange rate will really help you. If you have an idea of what shows/trips your doing before you head over and account for that money, actual spending money after that is'nt too bad at all. If you eat in a big fancy restaurant in the middle of the strip you'll pay to do so What you see is what you get in Vegas, its very easy to throw money away but its not essential to have a good time.

On a side note, if your planning on visiting alcatraz (you should be) then go here http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/ NOW and book it. Its been known to book out up to 6 weeks in advance during the summer months.