Which Route??!

[AdeleC]

Hi, I am new to this site and am still trying to get my bearings, so I appologise in advance if I have posted incorrectly!

I would really appreciate comments and suggestions on the two following draft itineraries that I have put together.

I have booked my flights (and car hire) - I arrrive at LAX on the afternoon of 25 August (13.30) and depart from SFO on 8 Sep (18.30). I have come up with the following draft itinerary, which covers all the areas that I would like to visit.

ROUTE ONE:
LA (25-27 AUG)
SD (27-30 AUG)
LV (30 AUG - 1 SEP)
GC (1-2 SEP)
DV (2-3 SEP)
Yosemite (3-4 SEP)
Big Sur (4-5 SEP)
SF (5-8 SEP)

I would appreciate any feedback as to whether this would be too much in the time that we have. I would like to cut out any unnecessary driving (i.e non-scenic routes) and my concern is the route from SD-LV, and the route from Yosemite-Big Sur. I have come up with an alternative route - this would mean changing my inbound flight from SFO to maybe Phoenix or LV but would be happy to do so if it meant less time on the road. So, here's the alternative:

ROUTE TWO:
LA (27-27 AUG)
SD (27-30 AUG)
Big Sur (30-31 AUG)
SF (31 AUG-3 SEP)
Yosemite (3-5 SEP)
LV via DV (5-7 SEP)
GC (7-8 SEP)
Depart from Phoenix or LV.

I am not very good on narrow coastal roads with sheer drops but still appreciate wonderful scenary, so it's important that I travel northbound along PCH!!

Any help you could offer would be very much appreciated!

Many thanks.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

You've got plenty of time for this trip, and a clockwise loop from southern California would have you heading north on the inland side of the Pacific Coast Highway, CA-1. By closing the loop and returning to your original arrival city, you can typically save a fair amount of money on both your flight tickets and your car rental. Since you plan to end up within a day's drive of Los Angeles in any event, it is probably well worth the time and effort to complete the loop. The other advantage is that you can then make any city on your itinerary your arrival/departure point. You might be able to find better prices on tickets and rentals in another city such as San Francisco, Las Vegas, Phoenix or San Diego.

AZBuck

[Southwest Dave]

Closing the loop as Buck suggested is a really good option and worth consideration. If you don't change anything and go with route 1 option, I would modify it so that you go from SD to GC and then back to Vegas and through DV. It will save you some miles and back tracking. Plan on stopping on route to GC overnight, Lake Havasu or Kingman are a couple of possibilities. You could then consider driving through Joshua tree NP.