Needs help for road tirp in LA

I and my friends arrives at LA in Dec. 16th afternoon and go home in Dec. 25 evening, I need suggestions for our trip. We are probably 5 young people 3 men and 2 women, ages around 23-25, we plan to travel from LA to San Francisco and back to LA in Dec. 25, to take plane go home.

We are plan to visit Hollywood, Disneyland, Santa Monica pier, Les Vegas, and Death Valley and if possible we'd like to pay a visit to STAPLES Center, and also if there is a Christmas parades in LA, we hope to experience it.

Because we are new to LA, can some help me to make a time schedule?

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

I would go from LA to LV and then across Death valley and up to San Francisco and down the coast back to LA, this will put the Ocean and Oceanside viewpoints on your side of the road. You can travel from LA to Vegas easily same day. From Vegas you could stop in DV [Stovepipe Wells perhaps] or drive through on 190 and head towards Lake Isabella/Bakersfield for the night. * Note. *You will not be able to cross CA120 over mountains into Ypsemite this time of year as it's likely snowbound. From Bakersfield/Lake Isabella you could drive direct to SF. This would also be possible from Stovepipe Wells or Panamint Springs, but would be a full day on the road. If you left LA on the 17th and spent the 18th in Vegas, 19th through Death valley and arrived in SF on the 20th and stayed the 21st you could spend a couple of days heading down the scenic coast road and back to LA for Christmas Eve. Of course you can juggle where you spend your time to suit your preferences.

Note that if any of the group who are under 25 years of age want to drive, each would have to pay a young drivers fee on top of the rental.

You may kill two birds with one stone with a trip to Disneyland. Every day there are parades, and one of them is a special Christmas season parade. There's also a good chance that you could catch the Candlelight Processional at Disneyland -- not a parade, but beautiful nighttime Christmas celebration.


Donna