West Coast America

We are a middle-aged couple thinking of spending a couple of weeks in May flying from Europe into LA and out of San Francisco (or vice versa)and hiring a car in between. We want to spend a few days in San Francisco and if possible see Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon and maybe Yosemite and Highway 1 - Big Sur, etc.

However we don%26#39;t want to over-stretch ourselves and find ourselves in the car all day every day. Is this over-ambitious? Any suggested itineraries and must-see places?

West Coast America

there are suggestions for HWY 1 here:

tinyurl.com/sanfrancisco2monterey

West Coast America

In my opinion, including Las Vegas and Grand Canyon will stretch you, because you will want to drive the Big Sur Coast between southern and northern California, and you will want to experience the Monterey Peninsula. You can also do this by including Yosemite, if you drive there from Monterey, in either direction, or take a two day tour from San Francisco.

You might consider, if you really want to see Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, taking a cheap roundtrip Southwest Airlines flight to Las Vegas, either from Los Angeles or San Francisco and then a round trips flight tour of the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas.

Look at this for airfares.

http://www.southwest.com/

If you could add at least a week it would be easier.

I have had two wonderful trips in Spain and I wish you one in my territory.

Two weeks for that itineray might be an awful lot. First off, get a good guidebook for the western US and acquaint yourself with the general terrain and the (vast) distances.

There are a couple of TAers who have posted wonderful trip reports recently. Check out:

tripadvisor.com/members-forums/SomersetBoy

and

www.tripadvisor.com/members-forums/David4758

These links are to their profiles and from there you can check their forum posts for their multiple trip reports. Both did similar travels and both took longer than 2 weeks, so I do think you need pare down your expectations a little.

What I%26#39;m constantly reading from these great travelers is the wonderful bits they find themselves in but feel they have to leave too soon(boo hoo) becuase of their other plans.

Read through some stuff, check out some maps, make a list and come back with questions. Half the fun is the planning. :)

Two weeks is plenty of time to drive down the coast of California, see the Monterey Aquarium, Hearst Castle, some of the Missions, Los Angeles, Hollywood, San Diego, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.

I%26#39;d recommend something like the following:

Day 1 arrive in SFO, pick up car, check into hotel, enjoy dinner, see lights at night and then rest.

Day 2 Fisherman%26#39;s Wharf and Alcatraz, Ghiradelli or other sightseeing.

Day 3 Monterey Aquarium, Cannery Row, 17 mile drive

Day 4 San Simeon and south on Hiway 1. Stay the night somewhere between Morro Bay and Santa Barbara. If you can arrange this on a Thursday there is a fun Farmers Market in San Luis Obispo, very good BBQ food and fun entertainment as well as fresh farm produce.

Day 5 See Mission in Santa Barbara and continue to Los Angeles area.

Day 6 Hollywood or Universal Studio or Santa Monica

Day 7 San Diego, Zoo, Wild Animal Park, Sea World or Beach.

Day 8, 9, 10 Sedona, AZ and Grand Canyon

Day 11 %26amp; 12 Las Vegas

Day 13 %26amp; 14 can be used to extend your stays in any of the previous cities.

When booking your hotels it%26#39;s best to do so directly with the hotel, not a third party site. If you find the rates drop you can change your reservation to get the new and better rate.

Ugh. I would not want to go on a trip with the itinerary as suggested above. Too much driving from one place to another for long stretches of time.

Get ready to see many things from the car. If you like traveling this way, it will work for you. If this is not your style of travel, I suggest you take out at least one or two destinations.

A couple of weeks? That%26#39;s plenty of time to do everything you want to do. Here is an idea

1. Upon arriving in LA, connect to a domestic flight to Las Vegas. Tour Vegas first.

2. Go to Grand Canyon. This trip is far. But since you come all the way from Spain, why not?

3. Back to LA by bus, plane or car.

4. Optionally take a side trip to San Diego by train or car.

5. Take 2 or 3 days to drive to SF along the coast.

6. Visit SF and the surrounding area.

7. Drive or take a tour to Yosemite.

8. Back home from SFO.

This way the maximum driving in each stretch should be no more than 4-5 hours.

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