Planning San Francisco, Las Vegas & LA Trip

[Dboo]

I am planning a San Francisco to Las Vegas to LA trip for Summer next year. I have a family of 4 with 2 boys, 12 and 7. We have no special interests, just want to enjoy USA. I would welcome advice on itinerary, where to start, stop, what to see and how long to spend at each location. We will be spending 14 days flying into San Francisco and departing from LA. Quite happy to drive up to 5hrs at a stretch. Thanks.

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

If you spend a little time looking around this site, you'll find that the trip you are talking about is the single most discussed route on this forum. You may be better off doing a full loop, flying into and out of the same airport. The basic route may people follow is LA to Grand Canyon to Las Vegas to Death Valley to Yosemite to San Francisco and back down the coast to LA.

Here are some of our favorite threads on this subject. After you read around here a bit, we'll be happy to help with any specific questions you might have.

[Southwest Dave]

You could always include a few of Southern Utah's wonderful National parks, Bryce canyon and Zion fitting in nicely to Michael's suggestion, but between GC and LV. A loop will certainly work better to include Yosemite NP and the coast around Big Sur.

[Lifemagician]

It's such a popular loop. Highly recommended. Will you be flying in on an international or domestic flight?

Both your boys are now old enough to help you with the research. The more they have invested in the trip, the more they are likely to get out of it.

Get hold of a good map of south west USA, and see just how much there is to see along the way, even between the places already mentioned. Good maps will have much of this information on them. Check out the map centre for attractions along the way. Get onto each and every town and city's tourism site, and see if anything they have to offer interest your family. And of course, get onto the National Parks' website and see what there is to do and see in each of those. You will soon find that your 14 days will be accounted for..... and looking for more.

Lifey

[Dboo]

Thanks all for the advice. I will commence my research with my boys. We will be flying into America on an international flight. Once I have done my research, I will come back for more assistance.

[Lifemagician]

If your international flight should happen to be a long haul flight (across the Pacific or Atlantic) then be sure to allocate the first 24 hours to your destination. Best plan for picking up the car on the second day, when your body has adjusted to the time of day.

Lifey