L.A - Grand Canyon - San Diego

[JoeySlapdash]

Hi everyone,

We're heading out to California on a three week road trip in September (woo-hoo!) and I have a couple of questions - we're planning on drving from LA (Beverly Hills area) to the Grand Canyon in a day - hopefully getting there by sunset - then driving from the Grand Canyon to San Diego over the next two days. I know there are a lot of posts on this already (I've found this site so helpful, thanks!!) but I'd like to know:

1) What's the best route for LA- Grand Canyon? Do we have any chance of seeing anything other than the interstate if we do it in a day - how long (ish) do you guys think it will take? we've already booked accomodation at the grand canyon (thanks to a link on this site, he!) so that's no problem.

2) We don't have much of an idea of our route from the grand canyon - san diego - we have two days, can anyone suggest any routes/must-sees/places to overnight?

Thanks so much!

Joey

[Mark Sedenquist]

We're heading out to California on a three week road trip in September (woo-hoo!)

Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum!

and I have a couple of questions - we're planning on drving from LA (Beverly Hills area) to the Grand Canyon in a day - hopefully getting there by sunset

It really depends upon how early in the day you get started. By the shortest possible route it is about 475 miles (depending upon where in LA you are starting from and where near the Grand you are going to) but it will take about 8.5 hours of travel to cover the distance.

1) What's the best route for LA- Grand Canyon? Do we have any chance of seeing anything other than the interstate if we do it in a day - how long (ish) do you guys think it will take? we've already booked accomodation at the grand canyon (thanks to a link on this site, he!) so that's no problem.

Again, it sorta depends where you in LA you are starting from, but generally I would suggest I-15 to I-40 to Williams and then to the Grand. There are some detours you can take. But I need to know more about your plans.

2) We don't have much of an idea of our route from the grand canyon - san diego - we have two days, can anyone suggest any routes/must-sees/places to overnight?

Las Vegas makes a nice over-night enroute and you could go over Hoover Dam that way.And thanks for booking the travel through RTA!

Mark

[W. Larrison]

Hi JoeySlapdash

If you're heading out of the Beverly Hills area to the Grand Canyon in a day -- that's going to be a LONG day's drive. If you're leaving on a weekday, my advice is hit the road early (like 6 am) and dodge the LA area traffic. Depending upon where in BH you were starting from, I'd take either the 134 or the I-10, but the key is to get past Glendale or downtown LA before 7 am. From there the fastest route would be to head east on either the 210 or the 10 freeways (they parallel each other, as does the 60 freeway). From there, I'd take the 15 north to the 40 at Barstow and blast it towards Needles, and into Arizona heading for Williams.

You won't have much time to stop for anything would be my guestimate. At best, you might be able to have an early lunch at somewhere like Kelso Dunes (in the Mojave National Preserve) or Mitchell Caverns (but probably won't make the first-come, first-served few tours they offer). (Picnic Lunch too -- neither of these places have diners or fast food.)

I did a very similar route a couple of years go heading out of the OC near LA. We stayed the night in Williams (cheaper hotels, and about 45 minutes from Grand Canyon Village). We then headed east (via Cameron and Wupatki) to Holbrook. Then the last day we did the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, returned to Flagstaff, south through Sedona, Montezuma's Castle, Wickenburg, and back to LA area on the last day (a long gonzo drive....)

Without being that crazy, you might spend the next day appreciating the Grand Canyon, driving out the eastern entrance after driving along the south rim and stopping at Desert View, and then head south (with a possible side trip to Wupatki and Sunset Crater) through Flagstaff to Sedona, and head south along I-17 towards Phoenix. You can spend the night in Phoenix/ Glendale/ Scottsdale/ Mesa etc with your pick of hotels, and then make to San Diego the next day, taking the southerly route west on I-8 after visiting the Sonoran Desert National Monument, and crossing the Colorado River at Yuma.

This is a more southerly route than Mark laid out, and brings you in to San Diego via Yuma and south of the Salton Sea. Check the routes, look at what you might find interesting and see what works for reasonable times and miles.

[JoeySlapdash]

Thanks for the replies - yes, the LA-grand canyon is the biggest day of driving we have to do, but since we're in california without knowing when we'd be back it's something we wanted to see, so it's worth it! Larrison, your thoughts sound interesting, I have to say I hadn't considered the Phoenix route but It's definitely something to think about! I think we'll be skipping Vegas though as we were there a few months ago, and spouse just got back from a bachelor weekend there as well...:-).

I had been thinking we'd probably set off a bit later for the grand canyon than you suggested too but I promise I'll take your word for it and haul myself out of bed!

Thanks again, much appreciated

[W. Larrison]

[ ... ] I had been thinking we'd probably set off a bit later for the grand canyon than you suggested too but I promise I'll take your word for it and haul myself out of bed!

*laughing* If it works, early gets you more time to stop along the way. I do have to confess I'm not a morning person so early is a pain for me. Your alternative is to have a more leisurely departure, hitting the freeways after morning rush hour starts to die off, around 9 ish or so. But now the day is fully underway in the city, and you'll have a heavier load of normal traffic with delivery trucks, business traffice, daily traffic etc to contend with. It's a very doable drive to get through LA-area traffic mid morning, but if you're looking to blast out, my preference is to get through the city before the daily traffic builds up. Once you're past downtown, it should be pretty smooth sailing (assuming no one has done that random event like overturning an truck in the middle of the freeway at 4 am etc...)