California trip

[Florida2012]

Not sure if it's ok to put this in here, if not please remove

We are looking to visit California in 2019 and was wondering if anyone else on here has done a fly drive?

We are looking at 14 days to fit in DL, San Fran and the Grand Canyon (probably staying in Vegas for a night or two on the way)

Do you think this is feasible? Or do we need to be looking at longer? Did you book accommodation in advance or just grab motels on the way?

TIA

 

[buzz242]

We've done a couple of California trips
1. We flew to Vegas and stayed 3 nights taking in The Grand Canyon by helicopter the drove to San Diego staying for 4 nights. We then drove up the Pacific Highway stopping off at Newport Beach for a few hours before arriving at DL for 5 days. We had a three day pass for DL and then drove to Univrsal Studios for a day and spent a day on the bus tour from Hollywood. We drove back to Vegas and stayed another night before flying home.
2. We flew to LA and stayed in Glendale for 4 days then drove to Monterey for a night and on to San Francisco for 5 nights. We then returned to Anaheim for 4 days before flying home from LAX
3.( my favourite) we flew to San Diego for 4 nights then drove up to LA staying in the Glendale area again for 4 nights and finally onto San Francisco where we stayed for 5 nights before flying home from there.

Apart from LA which is very busy we didn't find the driving too bad but would definitely recommend flying into one airport and out of another if you want to drive less.
I know there are quite a few people on here who have done Cali trips and may be able to help more but if you need any other advice please feel free to ask.
PS we booked our hotels before we went

 

[zavandor]

I did it and I think it's the best trip I have did in my life. You can see such amazing places!
My itinerary:
Flown into Los Angeles, Spent 5 nights in Los Angeles, 3 days at Disneyland, 1 at Universal Studios, 1 sightseeings
Then on the road:
- Calico (a few hours stop on the road)
- Grand canyon
- Horseshoe Bend (stop on the road)
- Upper Antelope Canyon
- Monument Valley
- Bryce Canyon
- Las Vegas 1 day
- Death Valley (with Las Vegas as a base)
Returned the hired car and flown to San Francisco where we spent 3 nights, it was January so going by car wasn't easily feasible
Back home from San Francisco

You can close the loop and go by car from San Francisco back to Los Angeles goign through Yosemite and Sequoia national parks and/or along the coast. But we had only 2 weeks and it was Janaury so not an option for us. If you have 3 weeks and can visit in April-May, it would be really a dream vacation.
If you go for the Grand Canyon, you should also see the other parks in Nevada, Utah and Arizona. The Grand Canyon is exceptional, but as are the others. My favorite is the Monument valley followed by the death valley, my friend's (on the same trip) favorite was the Antelope Canyon, other friends (who went in the summer, so they were able to explore the trails) favored the Brice Canyon. Going only to the Grand Canyon is a mistake in my opinion.

 

[Scillycruisers]

We have done several fly / drive trips based around CAlifornia and Nevada, usually including snow boarding at Lake Tahoe!
We have included DL and Universal Studios (stayed on Queen Mary - amazing), driven up the Pacific Highway, stopping at San Louis Obispo (spelt wrong I'm sure) and Monterey, to San Fran, then to Las Vegas via Death Valley. On this occasion we visited the Grand Canyon by helicopter (after my brother and his girlfriend surprised us by getting married!).
On other trips have driven to GC and also done a "red rocks" tour visiting all the places PP mentioned plus Moab and Canyonlands. This was amazing, but wouldn't combine with the CA visit as too much driving for us.
We book accommodation in advance, there are some lovely motels, and try and stay at least 2 nights in each place as we like to explore on foot.
In the process of planning another red rocks tour so we can take our son, now 10. I was pregnant with him last time we went!

 

[Disneyfied family]

We did this back in 2012. We flew into San Francisco and stayed in a Holiday Inn at Fisherman's wharf, for 3 nights, then picked up our hire car and drove to Vegas and stayed at the Luxor for 3 nights (in the pyramid was much better than we thought) then we drove to Grand Canyon (south rim) we spent the day there and drove to Flagstaff (think we stayed in the Courtyard by Marriott for 2 nights) we then drove Route 66 to LA where we had 2 nights at Embassy Suites by the airport (glad we did as we had an early flight out to New York and the traffic in LA is mad) stayed in Manhattan for 4 nights before flying home. Best holiday ever.
We booked all our hotels before going and would do the same again except the 2 nights in Flagstaff, would have stayed just 1 night and had extra night in LA. It all went perfectly, hotels were expecting us, car was ready to pick-up (from a hotel 2 doors away) flights were all good.
Good luck with planning.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I have been travelling to California / LA area every year for the last 8 years.

I am a solo travellor and I dont drive. I have friends who live in California and I either make my way around on public transport or my friends drive.

My trips are usally around 10 days and are 2 locations.

For Disneyland I stay in Anaheim, 3 times at Motel 6 Main Gate and this June 2017 at Dessert Inn and Suites.

I have stayed at
Comfort Inn in Santa Monica
Hotel Kwada and The Milner Hotel in Downtown LA
AirBnB in South Pasadena

One year I met my friends in LA and we drove to Vegas stayed at Mandalay Bay hotel and drove back to LA. I have also been to Vegas with my mum and sister and we stayed at The Bellagio.

One year I did a short 2 day trip to San Franciso to visit family

Places / things I would recommend

Stay in LA / Burbank / Hollywood / Universal City for Universal Studios
Stay in Anaheim for Disneyland
Stay in Santa Monica / LA / Hollywood for the main tourist sites

Hop on Hop Off Red Bus Tour
Warner Bros Studio Tour
Santa Monica for beach / shopping / restaurants general really nice area to stay
Drive up the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara county in general for mountains, winery's, really nice Dutch area of Solvang

The drive to Vegas from LA takes alot longer than it seems. Maps / GPS will say 4 hours but it took about 6 hours. That motorway is a major commuter belt and the traffic can get crazy. Also you need to stop either in or before Baristow to refuel as thats the last civilisation before Vegas.

I usually book flights and accommodation in January for travel in June.

I would definatly advise having everything booked and planned out. Hotel prices have really escalated in the last 2 years so I would never just hope for the best and find somewhere on the fly.

For Vegas, the hotels on The Strip are like separate resorts. Yes you can get tickets to shows on the day but some shows may be fully booked or may only have restricted view tickets left. Again book in advance. There are alot of Grand Canyon tours availbe in Vegas. My mum and sister did a helicopter tour sunrise tour of The Grand Canyon, they were picked up and brought back to our hotel.

My advice is to divide each place into a section and list out the Must Do's and the Would Like To Do.
Then plan out each one day by day. Know that you will have to book hotels and attraction / show tickets in advance.

California and LA are huuuuge and theres no way you will fit in everything. After 8 visits I have really still only seen or been to the highlights

 

[Jon84]

The drive to Vegas from LA takes alot longer than it seems. Maps / GPS will say 4 hours but it took about 6 hours. That motorway is a major commuter belt and the traffic can get crazy. Also you need to stop either in or before Baristow to refuel as thats the last civilisation before Vegas.

It's not even really a motorway!

We drove Vegas to LA on a Sunday, and back to Vegas on a Wednesday evening. You can deffo make the trip in 4 hours by avoiding commuter times.

 

[AdamEfimoff]

hate to hijack need advice
chadsie@gmail.com