San Fran , LA , San diego , Las Vegas , Yosemite < San Fran

[Mike Graham]

Hi ,

There are 5 of us going to the USA in June from the uk . We kind of know which way around we are going but havnt planned it step by step . We have our return flights to san fransico booked .
Our basic plan is to spend a couple of days in san fran and go see the big trees and alcatraz etc , then we plan to drive down the coast towards LA , not sure what we will do on the way down there and how long to spend doing this . I have a friend from the UK who works at a vineyard in Paso Robles so we will maybe spend a night there on the way down.
Once in La again not sure how long we will spend here , then we are going to San Deigo as the friends I am travelling with have friends there . Next to Las Vegas possibly fly there to save time then after that Yosemite, I would really like to spend the most time here to be honest from what I have seen about it . Then back to san fran and fly home .

We have 14 days to do this and after just writing it for the first time it seems a lot to squeeze in ! I will have a look through the forum to read stories of people who have done the same thing to get some ideas but just thought id write this first to get it out of my head :)

Thanks

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

What you propose to do will be quite comfortable with the time you have available, but will ultimately come down to how much time you decide to spend in each place. Many itineraries include much more for a 2 week period, like the Grand canyon, Monument valley and even Bryce canyon and Zion NP's in Southern Utah, sometimes too much more !!

Paso Robles is along US101, but to get there I would recommend driving around Big Sur along the coast from Monterey to Cambria.

The only thing I would really think about changing up is the flying from San Diego to Las Vegas. It's only about a 6 hour drive, or you could overnight and see Joshua Tree NP and/or Mojave Preserve. By the time you have done the paperwork dropping off and picking up different rental cars and gone through airport security and check in times etc, I doubt you would have saved much time and could be enjoying yourselves on the road rather than sitting around in the airport.

You will find a lot of info on this very popular area by searching around the forums. You can start by scrolling down this page where you will find 'Similar threads'.

[Mike Graham]

Hey Dave thanks very much for the quick reply !
Yeah the flight to Vegas was something we decided recently , Its not booked yet so I think we will take your advice on that one, it kind of takes the fun out of it getting a flight but we thought it may have been quicker if we where pushed for time . Yeah that was the route I was advised to do to Paso Robles and im sure once we are there my mate there will give us some good tips on where to go next after a few bootles of wine : )
I will have a read through the forum before asking any more questions , Thanks again