Going to LA, then to San francisco, to Vegas and back to LA in February!

Hi all,

we are from Singapore, and my wife and i have just booked our tickets to LA! We'll be arriving on the 10th of Feb and departing on the 26 of Feb... which gives us about 17 days? We have never been to LA..or sanfrancisco and vegas, and we are planning to rent a car.

We don't know where to start... from LA , my wife loves shopping, and i'm more of a scenic person.. i am thinking of spending more time in LA and sanfrancisco and perhaps 1-2 nights in vegas, and then the drive back to LA.

We have been googling on where to go and the highways and all that, but we hope you guys could help us out and give us some advice on where to go.. and perhaps what to prepare for... we've checked the weather and it seems to be ok, about 9-15 degrees celsius.

We have yet to decide on the car and the hotel, but we are thinking a 4wd, something with a big boot space.. and hotel i guess we are looking for something mid range and decent.

I have been to the states once, but no driving involved, my wife has never been to the US... and we are gonna celebrate our wedding anniversary there..feb 14!

Thank you!

John n Regine

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

There would be no real need for a 4wd as a mid-size sedan will have all the space you will need at less cost, but of course if you like the idea of a 4wd and don't mind the cost, go for it !

With 17 days you have plenty of time to explore the area and if you are into nature as well you could build Yosemite, Death Valley and Grand canyon NP's into the itinerary. You will not be able to cross the Sierra Nevada between the coast and Vegas as it will be snow bound, you will have to go north around Lake Tahoe or south via Bakersfield.

A popular option would be to reverse the direction of your trip so that the Ocean is on your side of the road heading south. I would recommend you take a couple of days [or more] and enjoy the coast highway rather than going straight through on Interstate. The drive around Big Sur is quite spectacular and you have towns such as Cambria and Monterey.

With that in mind you could go from LA to Grand canyon South rim to Vegas and then towards Bakersfield vis Death valley. Head north to Yosemite Valley, across to SF and back down the coast. Sequoia NP is also possible but as with Yosemite you could see substantial snow and would have to carry snow chains.

To the top right of this page you will find the RTA Hotel/car reservation link where you can get an idea of what's available and an idea of costs.

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Congratulations on both your upcoming trip and Valentine's Day Anniversary. The circle/triangle trip that you're contemplating comes up quite often in these forums, so I'd suggest that as a first step, you read some of those past discussions. And note that it might be better to do L.A. -> Las Vegas -> San Francisco -> L.A. so that you are taking the Pacific Coast Highway southbound which puts your passenger in the best position to enjoy the scenic views and makes stopping along the coast a bit easier.

AZBuck

Thanks Dave, i am reading more on driving up with snow chains now lol. Never have used one in my life.. We are trying to work out an itinerary now, looks like we might be staying in San Francisco longer than the other parts.

Hi AZbuck, thanks for the advice, we are planning to do the route you suggested, now to figure out the places to visit and the driving time frame for eah destination.. i heard the parking in San Francisco is really expensive?

Also, we've just changed our departure flight, so instead of departing from LA back to Singapore, we will be departing from San Francisco..

Currently our trip sounds like this : Driving from LA to LV, from LV, either drive or fly to San Francisco.. i really wanted to take the costal highway.. but i guess it won't be possible unless i travel back down towards LA and then making the drive to San Francisco.

Yes parking can be expensive in San Fran and with a City this compact, and with good transport links, it's easy to get around without a car. There are some Hotels that offer free parking to customers which are mainly away from the centre, such as a few on Lombard/Gough St that is not too far from the Piers and trams into the City. One such place that we have stayed in, that we found quite basic yet clean and good value was the Buena Vista Motor Inn. This was a while ago, but as you can see there are more recent reviews that I can relate to.

I am not a great fan of City life, but I loved SF and no trip is complete without a visit to Alcatraz !

I see you edited your post to include your updated plan while I was typing my reply.

You wouldn't have to go back to LA to see the coast, you could head for Morro Bay/Cambria and then up the coast, although if you are starting and ending your trip in different places, why not start in SF and end in Vegas, instead of going back and forth ? You could do it the other way around if you wanted to finish in SF, but the disadvantage would be not having the Ocean and Oceanside turn outs on your side of the road heading North.

Much will depend on what you want from your trip, but if you decide to drive from LA to LV and fly to SF, you pretty much have a '3 City' break and would be missing out on some stunning scenery. I really think you would benefit more from driving a complete loop that wouldn't be that much more driving than going from LA to LV back to LA and then SF. You certainly have time to spend out of the City.

Hi Dave, thanks for the reply. i like your suggestion, about driving from la to lv and back to la then to sf. I don't mind the driving and i love being behind the wheel and just driving. i think we might just do that. We aren't staying long in LV, and we are looking forward to great scenery,.. i will work out the routes from google map, studying the west coast pretty hard lol, i feel like i'm already there.

I think you've misunderstood Dave's suggestion.

He was pointing out that it is really only a little more driving to do a complete loop, and that you should do that instead of doing LA-LV-LA-SF.

With all the amazing things to see in this part of the planet, there is no reason to spend hours in the car backtracking over the same ground.

Michaels right, I wasn't suggesting returning to LA at all. :=) Personally I would do the loop as first choice, you have plenty of time. Second choice, I would opt for starting in SF and ending in LV to save miles. [Third choice the other way around] If none of that works for you, I was suggesting that you have no need to go all the way back into the urban sprawl of LA to head up the coast to SF. You could go from Vegas to Pismo beach/Morro Bay and enjoy the scenic section of coast around Big Sur from there up to Monterey.

oops, ok sorry, read it a lil too fast. My wife and myself were cracking our heads last night on the route... one question, from vegas to San francisco, via Pismo beach/Morro Bay, how long would the ride be? and would i need to stay over in a motel or lodge while driving towards SF? i tried google maps, and it seems like a 16 hr drive, and with stop overs, it could be a day..

Oh, from the looks of it, i will be passing through Bakersfield, would staying a night there be any good, or should i just take a break and continue the drive up to sf?

from Bakersfield, the route wil lead me back to highway 1? and from there , the costal drive up to San Francisco. I hope this is correct. Thank you

Yes, you would certainly need a stopover to go from Vegas to SF via the coast. It's basically a full day from Vegas, and then its another full day to drive along the coast from the Morro Bay area to San Francisco.

I don't understand why you'd be thinking about a stop for the night in Bakersfield.

Hi Michael, are you suggesting i stay along the coast instead of Bakersfield? sorry i have no idea what to expect in Bakersfield, and i have never done a long drive road trip before, this would be the longest roadtrip i have done i think lol.

It's only about a 5 hour drive from LV to Bakersfield, and there's nothing really "scenic" there, it's an inland farming and industrial city. Another 2.5 to 3 hours would get you to Cambria, which is a charming beach town with inns and B&B's.

A nice place to take a break, which is right about at the halfway point between LV and Cambria, would be Tehachapi.

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i tried google maps, and it seems like a 16 hr drive, and with stop overs, it could be a day..

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You would certainly need a stopover and you could infact take two or even 3, to slow things down and enjoy the trip. A 16 hour day for example would mean hitting the road at 4am and arriving at 8pm, that's a long day ! There are scenic viewpoints, State parks, coastal towns and attractions like Hearst Castle and the Monterey Aquarium you could consider visiting along the way.

Have you decided upon how much time you wish to spend in each City ? If for example you spent 4 days in each City and a day between LA and LV, it would still leave you 4 days for this part of your trip. With this you could perhaps stop on route to the coast and take time to experience a visit to Death Valley and perhaps stop around Lake Isabella/Kernville. Then a trip to the Cambria area and spend time seeing the siights and enjoying the evening in town. At some point you could tour Hearst Castle if it took your fancy ! You could then take your time up the coast, and whereas you could head straight to SF, you could also stop the night in Monterey.

My suggestions (for what its worth).... I agree with first choice being fly into SF and Out of LV (or backwards). The whole middle area doesnt really need to be seen twice (i live here, so i know). If you really can only fly out of LA or SF because of international flights or price then my next choice would be LA > LV > Central Coast > SF. See link below for the way I would do it.

Places to stay in the central coast that i suggest are
Morro Bay (sleepy little fishing town with good restaurants along the embarcadero)
Cayucos (even smaller town with very quite vibe)
San Luis obispo (good shopping for your wife downtown) Try to schedule being there on thursday night for farmers market.
Pismo Beach or Avila Beach (great views of the Pacific ocean)


Then also search this forum for all the suggestions for central coast and big sur driving and restraunts.

Good luck and drive safe!

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=L...ia=2,4&t=m&z=8

Hi Kuzn Edy,

thanks for the suggestion, looks like a good route, and we are just about done with our routes from everyone suggestion, and will post it up once we have finalized it! thank you and everyone else, Dave, Glc, Michael. We'll be sure to post up our itinerary and hopefully it works out, thank you all again!

Hi all,

my wife just read from the news online that on highway 1, only one lane will be opened from big sur onwards, due to road works.. does anyone know where i can find more info on this? i tried googling but was unsuccessful.

Thank you for your help, not sure how this is gonna affect the trip.

just found the post: here


John n Regine

Although it's not fancy (just plain text), and it covers every highway in California (fortunately it does it in numerical order, so CA-1 is listed first), the official up-to-date source for the latest highway construction/closure information is the Caltrans site.

AZBuck

The road will be closed from 9pm to 7am 5 days a week (Sunday through Thursday nights). The rest of the time expect 10 minute delays due to a signalized single lane.

Hi everyone,

thanks for all the input and suggestions, we've come up with the road trip route which took into consideration jet lag and getting used to driving on the opposite side. so here it goes:

Day 1 to day 4: touch down in L.A, hotel, 4 nights in La. and next day off to L.V
Day 5 to day 7: 3 nights in L.V, with inclusive of one full day on day 6 at Grand Canyon
Day 8: Drive to San Luis Opiso, we are heading towards San Francisco. One night here.
Day 9: Cambria, also another night here
Day 10: Big Sur, 1 night here as well
Day 11 to day 12: 2 nights in Monterey
Day 13 to day 17/18: Sanfrancisco with trips to the vineyards and other attractions and Yosemite.

looks like a long drive, but i really want to drive in the US lol.

does the itinerary look ok? We will still take highway 1, from L.V we will head downwards passing L.A.

As for the car, we've decided to look out for a suv, not too big, but 4wd.

We've booked our first lodging in L.A, however it seems we will be arrving on the day of the Grammy awards, any suggestions on fun stuff that happens in LA during this time?

Thank you!

John

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Originally Posted by JohnRegine

Day 5 to day 7: 3 nights in L.V, with inclusive of one full day on day 6 at Grand Canyon

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The GC is too far for a day trip from LV. You will not be able to do anymore than have a quick look and drive off again. Plan on spending a night in or near the GC. If there are vacancies, and your budget allows for it, there is nothing more memorable than to stay in the GC Village - watch a sunset at night and the sunrise next morning. Otherwise a place like Cameron Trading Post is a good option.

With a fairly early start this will give you three or four hours of daylight at the GC on each day. A nice bit of time to check out the many areas and view points, including Desert View Drive.

Perhaps a day less on the coast, where you have quite a bit of time.... or maybe spend one day less in LA.

Lifey

That's the part I would change also. You could go straight from Cambria to Monterey for 2 nights and visit Big Sur, or stay one night in Big Sur and one in Monterey and spend a night at the GC. [As Lifey suggested you could take a night from LA or LV.] To save miles head to GC direct from LA and then go to Vegas.

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We will still take highway 1, from L.V we will head downwards passing L.A.

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I'm not sure I follow what you mean here ? You are going from LV across to the coast to SLO and then north, yes ? Or are you going back to LA [downwards] first ? [Of which I'm not sure what the point of that would be.]

Keep in mind that if you were going to take a tour to GC from Vegas, most tours do not go to the National Park which is the most famous and wonderful part. Tours tend to head to the West rim, which is in a remote location on Indian lands and you won't see and experience the Grand canyon 'proper'.

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I'm not sure I follow what you mean here ? You are going from LV across to the coast to SLO and then north, yes ?

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-< yup this is correct!

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Keep in mind that if you were going to take a tour to GC from Vegas, most tours do not go to the National Park which is the most famous and wonderful part. Tours tend to head to the West rim, which is in a remote location on Indian lands and you won't see and experience the Grand canyon 'proper'.

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We found a tour online http://www.grand-adventures.com/winterwalkingtour.html which seems to cover the national park?

That trip does visit the national park, but it is exactly the kind of trip I would never recommend.

It is a trip where you you'll be traveling for 15 hours, to see the canyon for at most 2-3 hours. Their posting makes it sound like that's a long time - but simply put, it's not. All its giving you time for it to look at the couple of viewpoints closest to the village, and frankly, it sounds like you're going to be herded like cattle, so your entire group can see those few viewpoints and give your group a chance to spend an hour browsing the shops in the village.

I've got nothing against this tour operator, they could very well be the very best when it comes to one day trips to the Grand Canyon. The problem, one day simply is not enough time to see the Canyon and do a round trip drive from Vegas. There are dozens more viewpoints, that are all different, but they take time to get to and see. You might have a good time if you decide to do this trip, but I'd have a very hard time saying that you saw the Grand Canyon on this trip (unless you consider seeing one piece of a 100 piece puzzle the same as seeing the puzzle itself).

If you actually want to see the Grand Canyon, you need to plan on spending the night, either at the Canyon, or nearby in Flagstaff/Williams. The only way to do it right in a single day is to find a trip that includes an actual flight to the Grand Canyon airport.

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Originally Posted by JohnRegine

We found a tour online http://www.grand-adventures.com/winterwalkingtour.html which seems to cover the national park?

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Looks like they do go to the park.... but hey! you are spending more than $300 to have a three hour experience, while your rental car is sitting in LV. From where I sit, that money would be far better spent on driving and staying in the NP, having the time to really see the park, and even if it were overcast at night, there would be a chance to see the canyon at dawn, the next day.

If you went, as Dave suggested, direct from LA to the GC, you would probably not have to 'borrow' a night from anywhere else on your trip.

It looks like a reasonable tour. But you could experience so much more, for less, driving yourself.

Lifey

Thanks Michael and Lifey for your suggestions. Will the roads be safe to drive in February from LV to Grand Canyon? You are right about the car being parked in LV... it is a waste. I guess the reason why we wanted to take the tour was because we thought the roads towards GC would be difficult to drive during Feb.

I we were to drive to GC, is there a common route/easiest route from LV?

Hi guys, If i drove from LA to GC , its gonna take an 8 hr plus car ride.. should we be leaving really early from LA to avoid any traffic, and also, pit stops on the way to GC... i haven't driven 8 hrs before, seems like a daunting task..

To be honest it's gonna take you longer than 8 hours, but it's really not that bad when you compare it to being sat in a small van with complete strangers for 12 hours in one day in my opinion ! ;-) Plus as already mentioned, it will be cheaper to stay in a Grand canyon hotel than take the tour, you will be able to do things in your own time and take in the romance and wonder of the Grand canyon without concerning yourself with missing the bus.

Driving aprox 3x3 hour stints isn't that bad with a rest and walk in between to break the journey, if you left early to miss the traffic, you would need to be on the road by 6am latest really, [but thats more of a lay in then if you had to be on the van for 6am from Vegas] then you could stop in Barstow for breakfast/coffee by 9am and wander then head to Kingman for a walk around this route 66 town, perhaps have lunch and you would be at GC in plenty of time to sit down for an evening meal. The great thing is is that you can do what you want when you want depending on how you feel, the type of freedom not afforded on a tour.

If this seemed a little too much you always have the choice to drive out of LA for an hour or two on your last day there, or even as far as Barstow, and not have to get up too early to miss the traffic and shorten the drive to GC next day.

Once your out of LA it's a comfortable drive mainly on Interstate which are a priority to keep clear and traffic moving year round. Of course there is no guarantee what the weather will be doing when you travel, but it will be the same whether you are in a van or in your own car. For me the difference is that you will have more time overall to pull off the road for a while if a storm blew through, and only have to make decisions for yourself, rather than relying on someone else who may find themselves under pressure from a bus load of tourists and the company to do the 'right thing'. This is not a slant on this, or any other company, I just like to be in control of things when on holiday, I'd probably fly the plane if I could !! Lol

It's your decision at the end of the day, these are just alternative views/thoughts for you to consider, hope it helps.

Thanks Dave, i have a few questions about the drive up to GC.

Will i need snowchains? Also, what are the road conditions and temperatures like in GC during Mid Feb? I checked online, and we are planning to stay at the National Park Lodges, i think its south rim? The temperatures look to be about 6 degrees C to minus 6 degrees C, is that what we should be expecting? Thank you

Cheers
John

Hello,

If you're leaving LA on a weekday then you'll want to leave early to avoid city traffiic. It's not clear if you're thinking of going to Yosemite as a day trip from San Francisco. It's a long drive with traffic in Bay area so you'd want to spend at least one night close to the park or in the park. Finally, I've seen other postings on this website indicating that you might not be able to use chains on a rental car. You won't need chains in cities, on interstates or along coast.

Jessica

Thanks Jessica,

I guess i'll have to check with the rental company on snow chains. Would i need them going up to GC? I've read that conditions on the roads could be dangerous and also possibility of snow?

Thanks

John

Hi John.

You always face the possibility of hitting poor weather/snow but there is just no way of knowing what the conditions will be at the time you travel. You have already got climate data that gives you an idea of the 'normal' but by no means reflects the reality of being there, weather can hit hard and fast and go again just as quick !

Heading to the GC south rim [north rim will be closed] you should not really have the need for chains. The Interstates, main highways and park roads are all kept as clear as possible and cleared as quickly as possible. I think I am right in saying that in AZ that if things got bad enough to require chains, they would close the road until conditions improved anyway. Having said that, if conditions were getting bad enough where chains were looking to be a real possibility you should simply pull off the road in a safe place [services etc] and let the weather pass and the road crews do there job. Chains could possibly help you out of a tough situation, but prevention is far better than the cure.

You would have to check with your rental company as to whether they permit the use of snowchains or not, and whether you think it's worth investing in a set when you have the weather info etc. If you plan to drive to Yosemite there is a higher chance of needing them and it is a chain control area where if they are required, you gotta have them and the law is enforced.

As mentioned above, Yosemite is a long drive and too much for a day trip [which I missed earlier in thread] and if you were to go there I would head straight there from Monterey for a night and then back to SF for your final nights.

I'm afraid it's something that is going to remain unpredictable right up until the time you are on the road, afterall weather forcasting is the only job where you can be wrong 90% of the time and still keep your job !!

Hi Dave, thanks for the info!

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afterall weather forcasting is the only job where you can be wrong 90% of the time and still keep your job !!"

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- - haha that and stock brokers!

Hi again,

Yes the only place you night need chains is Yosemite (or other high mountain areas). As Dave said weather can change quickly at high elevations and I recall chains being required to enter Yosemite one day in May a few years ago. In CA the major roads (interstates and highways) generally close rather than require chains.

You're going to have a great trip.
Jessica