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My friend and I are planning a road trip, we have the majority of our trip planned, but need help with getting from The Grand Canyon to San Fransisco.
We leave the Grand Canyon early on the 2nd September 2009 and would like to arrive in San Fransisco on the 6th (evening). On the route, we would like to see key highlights including; Death Valley, Yosemite, and Lake Tahoe. Does anyone have any advice on routes, driving times and particular sights?
Thank you in advance
English Rose
Welcome to the RTA forum!
There are several thousand posts talking about exactly the kind of trip that you are talking about. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, I strongly suggest you start simply by looking around here a little bit and use the several search features available to you on this website.
Once you've got some of the basics down, then we'll be in a better position to start answering some of your more detailed questions.
Thank You,
We have spent a long time reading the forums and have taken on a lot of the advice, very much appreciated. However, we are in particular looking at driving times; as some of responses, give differing times (sometimes by four hours). We fly into Vegas on the 30th September 2009, and need to be in San Fransisco by the 6th Sept. Incorporating; Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite and Lake Tahoe. We are not sure of the best way to go around it and how long it will take between each stop.
Thank you in advance
English Rose
There are a few different ways to go about the trip that you are talking about. If you've spent time looking through the forum already, then you should have at least a starting point.
What have you come up with your plan so far? Just listing off cities doesn't tell us too much, and if you've seen something specifically on the forum that has you confused, please ask and we will try to help you out. At the very least, build a plan and tell us what you come up with, once you've taken a first step, we can tell you what will work and what might need to be changed. But right now, you're just throwing a list and telling us to build something for you, and that's really not what this forum is about.
The time it takes to make any drive can vary quite a bit depending on road and traffic conditions as well as your own frame of mind - whether you mosey along or rush down the road, how many stops at scenic lay-bys you make, etc. However, to hit all the spots you've listed between Las Vegas and San Francisco will probably take a minimum of 3 days of solid driving, leaving you only 2 days to spend seeing Las Vegas, visiting the Grand Canyon, hiking some trails, enjoying tours of historic sites, and actually trying to enjoy the places you're going to. This is not a case where you should worry about the odd hour or two here or there, but just realize up front that this is probably more than you can do. So just go at your own pace and enjoy what you can in the time you have. I think that I'd recommend that you not plan on hitting Lake Tahoe, just because the other venues on your list will be more rewarding, and your time is very limited. If you get to Saturday evening, the 5th, and haven't seen everything you want, you can still be pretty much assured of being able to drive to San Francisco the next day from wherever you are (say Death Valley or Yosemite) and will have had a great time seeing what you could.
AZBuck
I agree with AZBuck with the point about Tahoe could be a "bridge to far" and your time would be better spent exploring the other places, but that's for you too decide. A day to recover from the flight in Vegas and look around and enjoy a night and you will arrive at GC on the 2nd. A night and day there to explore the South rim area [3rd] and It'll take you a day to get back to Death valley and explore a little [4th] and then the favoured route would be to head across DV on 190 to Lone Pine and North on 395 to Lee vining before heading into Yosemite via the Tioga pass [120] which can take a considerable time to catch the sites.[5th] That would leave a half day to explore the Valley and/or the amazing Glacier point are before heading to SF which is a 5-6 hour drive.[6th] To add Tahoe you would pretty much be doing a "drive thru" and have no real time to explore these amazing and diverse places.
Thank you so much for your advice and information. This is an excellent forum, so valuable to two novice roadtrippers sat planning the other side of the Atlantic.
We have decided to miss out Lake Tahoe. Our itinary now is looking like this, any advice suggestions for our trip is greatly appreciated.
30th - arrive in Las Vegas from Boston at 22.00 (we are attending a wedidng at the weekend in Boston).
31st - Day and night checking out Vegas, staying at the Imperial.
1st - Early start to Grand Canyon (possibly taking in Hoover Damn in on route? is this recommended or shall we focus on GC only and cover the damn on route form GC?)
At the GC we have booked to stay at Maswik Lodge at the South Rim so that we can take in sunset and sunrise.
2nd - GC to Death Valley (possibly visit Hoover Damn if we have not done this on route to GC). I understand that GC to Death Valley is approxiamtley an 8 hour drive?
3rd - Death Valley (staying at Furnace Creek we think).
The key highlights we want to take in at Death Valley are: Dante's Peak, Badwater, Devils Golf Course, Uhehebe Crater, artists drive, Zabriskie Point, Rhyolite Ghost Town. I am interested to know whether this could this be achieved if we only stayed at Death Valley for 1 night - on the same day that we travel from GC? we are not sure if many of the highlights we want to see are on route (i.e. on the journey to Furnace Creek) or explored when at Death Valley - if that maked sense?
4th - Death Valley to Yosemite
5th - Yosemite
6th - Yosemite to San Fran.
7th - San Fran - Alcatraz is booked.
8th - San Fran - Pacific Highway 1 - stop off somewhere overnight, any good suggestions?
9th - San Diego.
10th - San Diego - LA
11th - LA (universal studios)
12th - Fly home
We know we are covering a lot in a short space of time with lots of miles but want to cover as much as we can.
Any advice/suggestions and comments much appreciated.
So excited and on count down, California looks amazing !
Your plan is basically fine, although there are a couple things that you might look at changing.
The key day right now is the 3rd, as that is basically a full travel day. Since you are looking at about a 7-8 hour trip, you wouldn't have time to see much of Death Valley this day, especially if you stop at Hoover Dam along the way.
I would skip San Diego at this pace. As it is, you wouldn't be getting there until very late on the 9th, and really wouldn't have time to do much before you need to head back to LA the next day. I think you'd be much better off using that extra day at any of the places, most notably either the Grand Canyon or San Francisco.
Thanks again.
DV - we are planning to stay at Furnace Creek ranch, we have been told that this is a good base to explore the main hoghlights of DV. Would those of you who know the park agree? or we better looking at two different places to get the most of DV?
We will be travelling from DV to Yosemite via Tioga Pass. Where would you recommend we enter the park and use as a base/accommoda tion to explore for the short time we are there to get the most out of the park?
Thanks, everyones responses are appreciated.
Furnace creek is a popular resort and would make a good location for your stop on the night of the 2nd but if you are going to explore DV on the 3rd and wish to see some of those highlights and make progress towards Yosemite you could either stop at Stovepipe wells or Pannamint springs or exit the park and stay somewhere between Lone pine and Bishop. The Tioga pass leads directly into the park and then you can find accommodation in the valley floor or just outside it will be a little cheaper.Here are some of the options but you will find more using your search engine. The same can be said of a stop between SF and LA but San Simeon/Cambria would be quite a good location for a one night stop.