LA, San Francisco, Vegas and Grand Canyon in 12 days?

Hi,

I'm an aussie girl (25) planning a road trip with 3 others in March...this is our first road trip and we'd love some advice about our early draft itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive in LA in morning, relax, look around
Day 2: Sightseeing in LA (Hollywood, Venice Beach, ?)
Day 3: Start driving towards San Francisco, overnight stay somewhere?
Day 4: Continue driving, overnight San Francisco
Day 5: Sightseeing in San Francisco
Day 6: Sightseeing in San Francisco
Day 7: Drive to Las Vegas
Day 8: Sightseeing in Vegas
Day 9: drive to Grand Canyon, stay overnight (near South Rim)
Day 10: Sightseeing Grand Canyon, stay overnight
Day 11: Drive back to Vegas
Day 12: Fly to Chicago in am (visiting family).

Does this sound feasible? Would appreciate feedback and suggestions about itinerary, places to stay (especially along Pacific Coast drive) and things to see. We are interesting in amazing scenery, "all american" experiences and icons, and good food!

Cheers,
Rachel

Welcome to the RTA forum! I think your plan seems pretty sound. The only day that will be a little tough is the SF-Vegas day, but that is certainly do-able. You just won't have time to stop at some popular stops like Yosemite or Death Valley along the way.

We've got a few hundred threads about this same basic trip. Links to some of our favorites can be found here.

Thanks Michael for your feedback!

We would like to see Yosemite, Death Valley and Kings Canyon, although don't think we can fit it into our current itinerary. Unless, we take just one day to drive from LA to San Francisco.

Which would you recommend: 2 days to drive from LA to San Francisco (allowing time for stops along pacific hwy), or 2 days to drive from San Francisco to Vegas??

It is certainly a tough call, but I don't think I would change your coastal days. With the amount of time you have, you'll never be able to see "it all," and even adding in one extra day would still force you to pick from Yosemite, Kings Canyon/Sequoia, and Death Valley since you'd really only be able to do one of them with an extra day.

If I was going to take time to stop one of those places, I wouldn't take the time from the coastal trip, I would probably take it from either your 2nd day in San Francisco, or just spend one night at the Grand Canyon.

If you do this trip in March then it is most likely that the Tioga Pass in the Sierra Nevada will still closed because of the snow. That means a very long detour to drive from San Francisco to Las Vegas.

If that is an option, I highly suggest you start your trip in San Francisco instead, then go to LA and then to Vegas. You'll save miles and miles and you'll be driving on the nicest side of Highway 1 on your drive from San Francisco to LA. Please tell me you're taking Highway 1!!

Unless you have young kids I suggest you spend less time in LA and more in San Francisco and maybe Napa.

Thanks again for suggestions!

We are now thinking of cutting our second day in LA, so we can still take 2 days to drive up Highway 1 to San Francisco. This would also give us two days to make our way from San Francisco to Vegas.

So...would it be feasible to travel from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe, down the 395, across Death Valley (to Beatty?) then south to Vegas in 2 days? How much drive time would this take, given we are travelling in March? Where would be an appropriate place to stop overnight?