West or east coast

Hi there,

We are four 23-year old Europeans planning a road trip of a month this summer.
We are still undecided about our destination. At first, we were thinking about going from east coast to west coast, but this will most probably require too much driving.
This is why currently we have decided to limit ourselves to the east coast or the west coast. However, we are not sure which coast will be best. All we know so far is that we will rent a car and travel almost each day to a new location.
We would like to experience following things: meet people, party, visit natural parks, visit interisting cities, experience the 'American way of life'.

Could you give us your personal view on which coast would be best and why? I would like to hear as much as possible in order to have some good criteria afterwards.

Thanks in advance

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Which coast would be better for your purposes is, ultimately, something that only you can decide. And you will find, if you read enough of the comments on this site, that "best" is a word we avoid like the plague. But you asked for opinions and I will give you mine. For what you say you want, I would think that the east coast will suit your needs a bit better than the west coast. First, it is cheaper to get to from Europe. Secondly, it has more and more varies metropolitan areas. And third, although it's not generally appreciated, there are several areas where the coastline is still almost pristine.

What you might want to consider is a fairly narrow 'loop' trip where you fly into a northeastern city such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, or Washington - wherever you can get a good price on airfares - and then drive the coast one way and the interior the other as you go south and then back to your starting city. Some of the sights along both such routes are listed here.

AZBuck

Welcome to RTA!

Best coast???? Actually, either coast would offer what you're looking for. Along the eastern side of the country, you have historical parks, some national parks, wonderful cities. On the western side of the country, you have a lot more national parks, historical parks, and wonderful cities. On both sides, you'd be able to meet people, enjoy nightlife, and experience the 'American way of life'. Driving across the country would take about 6-7 days of straight driving, but with a month, you could stop along the way and see things -- beautiful nature and national parks, history, wonderful cities, meet people, "real America."

When my husband and I are trying to decide "where is our next trip", we pull out a large map of the USA. We start flagging things we haven't seen yet and want to see. Usually we get an eclectic mess of places, but often they clump together and start creating a route.

Renting a car -- no matter where you decide to go, you will probably get a better by going to an overseas vehicle rental consolidator like carhire3000. Many times they will waive the underage fees (rental fees can almost double for 4 males under 25, if all of you want to share driving) and, if you end up on a one-way trip, they may be able to get the one-way drop fee lowered or even waived.

Donna

For me the west is far more interesting with it's abundance of National parks, including the Grand canyon and Yosemite, diverse scenery and open spaces. Plenty of 'Wild west'/desert scenery that's so different to what I am used to seeing in England and the likes of Las Vegas, LA and San Fran to keep you entertained.

Having said that you need to get a good size paper map of the USA and look to see what appeals to your party the most, as that's what is best and then follow it up with research here at RTA while asking questions as you go.

You could stil have your cake and eat it and drive across the country quite comfortably with a month, in fact if you want to keep on the move you could do a loop around the country and not have to face one way drop off fee's, by taking one route out and a different one back. That would split your day times by about 50/50 between driving and sight seeing.

With a month and planning to drive almost every day, I would have to agree, there is absolutely no reason why you could not spend some time on each coast, and end up back where you started. Each of the coasts has much to offer. Probably more spectacular natural wonders in the west, more small towns and college towns (partying?) in the eastern half.

But as suggested above, you will have to do your research and see what it is that is your 'best', and then design a route which will hit those spots.

Lifey