San francisco to vegas

**murfet** · 04-10-2009, 05:59 AM

Hi,
My Husband and i are planning our first trip to the USA. We are staying in San Francisco then driving to Las vegas. Staying in Vegas then driving back to San Francisco. We are planning the trip for July and would like to see yosemite on the way from SF to Vegas leaving the 24th and arriving in Vegas on the 25th. Then on the way back visit Death Valley leaving the 29th and arriving in SF on the 30th.
Can anyone suggests routes and places to stay.
Thanks
Kelly

**Southwest Dave** · 04-10-2009, 07:49 AM

Hello and welcome to the R.T.A forums.

It is a very popular route and you can find good info here as well as many other threads on the forums.

As you only have one night each way you won't have much time for sight seeing but what I would recommend is seeing both on the way to Vegas and take a long drive back [or the other way round].
This would give you the best use of your time IMO by going from SF to Yosemite and across the Sierra's on the Tioga pass [120] to the 395 where you head South to the 190 across Death valley.
This will leave you a long run back [around 10 hours] down I-15 to CA 58 through Bakersfield and then the 99/46 to I-5.

Stovepipe Wells and Furnace creek are popular lodgings in DV.

For Yosemite here is a list of towns and Lodgings around the park as well as those inside.

**murfet** · 04-10-2009, 08:13 AM

Hi,
Thanks for the speedy reply and your help. So far we have booked our flights in and out of San Fransisco on the 20th and 30th of July and nothing else, so we are still quite flexible. I have read some of the threads and looked at the accomodation I like the look of the Yosemite Bug and Panamit springs!
Do you think it would be better to therefore do the following:
Day 1 - San Fransisco to Yosemite stay there overnight
Day 2 Yosemite to death valley and stay there overnight
Day 3 Death valley to las vegas
Then on the return take the short route of 8 hours i think with no stop? Or possibly lose a day in san fransisco and visit another location on the way back? Possibly the Grand Canyon?

I am struggling to fing decent maps to look at routes on do you have any recommendations?

**Midwest Michael** · 04-10-2009, 08:36 AM

As Dave already mentioned, Vegas to San Francisco is closer to 10 hours if you travel direct and don't make more than the minimum stops.

The Grand Canyon is a good 5-6 hours from Vegas, and obviously its the wrong direction from San Francisco. You'll save a little bit of time driving directly from the Canyon back to San Francisco by staying on I-40 all the way to California (instead of detouring back north to Vegas), but since you're adding about a full day of extra driving, you should factor 2 days if you make that detour and want to look around at the canyon.

If you head over to the planning section of this website, you'll find our map recommendations page.

**murfet** · 04-10-2009, 08:51 AM

Hi
Thanks for the input, it is difficult getting your head around all the different options!
So just to clarify would you spend 1 or 2 nights on the San Fransisco - yosemite - death valley part?
Also would you recommend maybe therefore spending less time in San francisco or vegas to incorporate two days for the grand canyon trip? We don't want to spend the whole holiday driving but would like to take in key sites.
Originally we thought of doing yosemite one way and death valley on the way back, Dave suggested doing it all in one day, is there a reason as we have to drive both ways to get back to our flight in san francisco, and would like to break it up so we are not on the road for more then 5/6 hours a day.

Thank you for all your help you all make this seem less daunting that it originally was
Kelly

**Midwest Michael** · 04-10-2009, 12:10 PM

I really think you need to find a map and get a better visual idea of the areas you are looking at.

There problem with your going back through Death Valley is twofold. First it doesn't solve your cutting down your single day drive time problem. It is only 2-3 hours from Las Vegas, but it is farther north and away from the direct/fastest route to Las Vegas. Basically, if you are leaving from Death Valley, you'd be just as far, if not farther away, from San Francisco as when you started in San Francisco. The other element is that Death Valley is on the natural path between Yosemite and Las Vegas. So if you go to Yosemite, it would just make sense to continue through Death Valley on your way through.

**Southwest Dave** · 04-10-2009, 12:55 PM

Originally Posted by murfet

Hi
Originally we thought of doing yosemite one way and death valley on the way back, Dave suggested doing it all in one day, is there a reason as we have to drive both ways to get back to our flight in san francisco

Thank you for all your help you all make this seem less daunting that it originally was
Kelly

Hi Kelly,

Sorry if I didn't make myself clear, but I was trying to advise that the best way to use your time was to take both nights available getting there, 1 in Yosemite followed by 1 in DV as they are on route with each other.

So just to clarify would you spend 1 or 2 nights on the San Fransisco - yosemite - death valley part?

2 nights to Vegas and a direct run [10 hours] back to SF. Although this is a long day it maximises your time sight seeing in the parks.

Without trying to confuse you more, if you had an extra night heading back to SF you could take a slower pace and even cut across to the coast and then up to SF, but as Michael suggested it wouldn't be enough to include the Grand canyon.

**murfet** · 04-10-2009, 02:22 PM

Hi,
Thank you i think i need to spend some time with a map (not my forte but i am getting there and have ordered one now!) but will take your advice on going to yosemite then death valley and planning to cut a night out of vegas to make the journey home a little easier.
You mentioned cutting across to the coast on the way back - any recommendation on where?
We have decided to leave the canyon for another trip as advised as i think we were trying to cram to much in.
Once again thank you for your invaluable advice
Kelly

**Southwest Dave** · 04-10-2009, 03:05 PM

Morro Bay would be a good run from Vegas and the following day drive up the PCH through Big Sur and Monterey on route 1 and the 156/101 to SF.

From Vegas take I-15 to Barstow, 58 to Bakersfield and 99/46 to Morro bay.

Thank you i think i need to spend some time with a map (not my forte but i am getting there and have ordered one now!)

This will give you a better idea of the suggested route. The travel times are always optimistic and you should allow longer for travel times.

**murfet** · 04-11-2009, 01:29 AM

Hi Southwest Dave,
What a star, that link was so helpful! Here is our new plan any comments and suggestions are welcome:
day 1-3 - San francisco
day 4 drive to yosemite and stay 2 nights
day 6 - drive to death valley and stay one night
day 7 - drive to vegas
day7-9 - stay in vegas
day 10 drive to morro bay and stay one night
day 11- back to san francisco and fly home

Does this sound more realistic, I am getting so excited about going now!!
Thanks again for your help
Kelly