First Roadtrip - what to do and where to go!

Hi All

Hope you are able to help us. My husband and I are intending to fly out to the States from the UK on Sunday 31st October for a fortnight - we had initially thought to fly into San Francisco stay a few nights there and then drive down to Los Angeles spend a couple of days there and then drive to Vegas where we have friends to stay with. We have seen some thoughts though that this might not be the best time of year for this trip so was wondering if you could provide any ideas. We haven't booked our flights yet so can be fairly flexible, we just need to end our trip in vegas and have approx 4 days there to spend with friends.

What would you recomend?

Thanks in advance
Pam & Iain

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

The weather, as with here in the UK is totally unpredictable, but it could be a wonderful time to do such a trip. I would allow a couple of days at least to get to LA and take the coastal route between Monterey and Cambria around Big Sur. if you are limited on time it might be worth considering doing the coast road and heading inland before you get to the urban sprawl of LA. There are other options you could explore, such as flying into Las Vegas and do a loop trip from there. The NP's of Zion and Bryce canyon in southern Utah and down through Page AZ to the Grand canyon and back to Vegas via the Hoover dam would be a popular choice with fantastic scenery, perhaps with a detour to Monument valley thrown in. If you started in San Fran you could visit one of natures wonders and head to Yosemite NP from where you could head south to Sequoia NP and onto Vegas, or cross the Sierra's on the Tioga pass [CA120] heading east and then south and then through Death valley. You would have to check that Tioga will be open incase of an early winter storm, but you should be OK and the drive is spectacular.

Only you can decide what to do, but search around the forums and study a map and when you have decided we can help fill in the details.