Where to go? What to do?

hi there,
just found this site and looks pretty informative although everyone seems to be doing something slighty different than the next person and we are getting a bit confused!!!

My best mate and I are arriving in Los Angeles from the UK on the 7th june, we are hiring a car on the 10th june and planning to travel up through (Hopefully) the grand canyon, las vegas, yosemite NP and finish up in san fran on the 18th june. so we have around 8 days between LA and SF.

We are planning to spend about 2 days in las vegas, would we have time to vist the grand canyon, would there be anywhere else you could recommend?

I have been looking at Yosemite NP we are keen to do a few activities there for 2-3 days if possible. We are keen to keep as active as possible, but on as tight a budget as possible!

Any ideas would be great.

Thanks

Keith

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

First off, don't even consider buying a car. You'd spend your entire 2½ weeks dealing with bureaucracies and still not even have overcome the first of several legal hurdles. And even if you could pull it off, it would cost you a whole lot more than renting, and then you'd get a used rather than new car, and no one to call should it break down, etc., etc. Now, if you are both under 25, you can expect to pay about $500 each in underage driver fees if you both want to drive. If one of you is under 21, you will not be allowed to drive. And if you are both under 21, you will not be able to get a car. Period. Secondly, if you clear all those hurdles, you can expect to pay an additional $200-300 for the privilege of dropping the car off in a different city from where you picked it up.

The general trip you're contemplating is discussed in detail in these threads, but I can tell you that if you only plan to spend two days in Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon cannot be included in those two days. It is at least an overnight trip and next day return from Las Vegas. There are ($$$$) helicopter and fixed wing flights from Las Vegas to the "West Rim", but this is not the most spectacular part of the Canyon in the National Park, but the downstream portion of the Canyon on a private Indian Reservation. Probably your best bet for Yosemite is to drive through the Park on the way from Las Vegas to San Francisco, heading north up US-395 first and then taking CA-120 over Tioga Pass into and through the park.

AZBuck

Buck, I think you may be responding to the wrong thread in reference to 2.5 weeks and buying a car. It looks like these folks are planning on renting a car for 8 days.

If you want to go to both Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, the best way to do this is go directly from LA to the GC, then on to Vegas. Your next step should be to determine if Tioga Pass is open - it may not be yet - if it is, go to Yosemite via Death Valley. If it's not open, you have 2 choices - go through Death Valley then to Lake Tahoe, and cross the Sierras there and enter Yosemite via one of the western entrances, or go directly from Las Vegas to Bakersfield and then to Yosemite, again via the western entrances.

Thanks, glc. I must have been thinking about another inquiry posted around the same time. But other than the first paragraph, I think the rest of it holds true. Good catch

AZBuck