Between Yosemite & Palm Springs | What to see, where to stay

[Mr. Cookie]

Hi, I’m planning a trip where the main attractions are San Francisco (thinking of 4 days), Yosemite National Park (3 days) and finishing in Los Angeles (almost 2 days) with Palm Springs the night before (seeing a gig in PS).

Between Yosemite and Palm Springs, I want to see (a glimpse) of the Grand Canyon, spend like 2 hours in Las Vegas and spend a night in Jerome. Probably drive through Benton Hot Springs as it seems interesting.

The plan is to exit Yosemite on the 20th of April and arrive at Palm Springs on the 24th.

Do you think this is doable and what towns would you pick to visit and stay, between Yosemite and Palm Springs?

I want to avoid driving more than 4/5 hours. I thinks there’s no need to do so and we want to do some sightseeing, not just drive and drive!

General advices are also appreciated!

Thank you!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I'm sorry, your idea of getting all the way to the Grand Canyon and Jerome and Las Vegas on top of it, starting from Yosemite and getting back to Palm Spring in just 4 days really isn't going to work. In fact, throw in your desire to not drive more than 4/5 hours a day, and it's not really even possible.

The first key thing you're missing is that you're doing this trip in April, which means you can't drive over Tioga Pass, as it will still be closed for the winter. The shortest way from getting from Yosemite to Benton Hot Spring means going all the way up to Lake Tahoe via US50 and coming back down - so that's almost an 8 hour drive just for that leg.

Even if you dismissed that stop, and drove directly from Yosemite to Las Vegas (via Bakersfield) then to the Grand Canyon and Jerome and back to Palm Springs is about 1300 miles. That's about 25 hours of driving just to cover the miles. That's a lot of time behind the wheel for a couple of hours in Vegas and a Glimpse of the Grand Canyon, and certainly seems contrary to your goal of doing siteseeing and not just driving and driving.

If I were you, I'd take Arizona completely off the table. If you wanted to still do Benton Hot Springs, you could head there via Lake Tahoe, and make your way down the east side of the Sierras to Death Valley, and maybe still swing into Vegas before heading to Palms Springs. Alternatively, you could check out Sequoia and/or Joshua Tree National Parks. There's quite a few different combinations of things like that, which wouldn't require quite the level of driving that working the Grand Canyon and Jerome into the trip would require.

[AZBuck]

As Michael noted your plans are right at the limit of what's possible. If you go south from Yosemite through Bakersfield. and then on to Las Vegas, the very best you could do to include all the places you listed would be over 21 hours real-world driving time. That's more than 5 hours per day over your 4 days, and even that assumes that you'll be able to find lodging exactly where you need it at the end of each day. That, in turn, would mean not being able to spend the night in Las Vegas which is when it really should be seen. Indeed there really is no good stopping point for the end of your second day given you daily driving constraints and the overall length of your proposed trip. The only way I see of making this work is to leave out the Grand Canyon and Jerome altogether. You could add Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks as well as Mojave National Preserve as substitutes, but Las Vegas would still be a fair bit beyond an easy (4 to 5 hours/day) drive. So I'd urge you to re-evaluate your objectives and timeline, and come back when you know what can give, because something's got to.

AZBuck

[Mark Sedenquist]

Probably drive through Benton Hot Springs as it seems interesting.

There are some amazing hot springs in California, I've been fortunate to have visited a dozen or so of them. However, visiting any of them, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, on either the western or eastern slopes in April is going to be challenging. Benton Hot Springs is not technically in the Sierras, but you have to go through several mountain passes from Yosemite to reach Benton and even the road into Benton, if there is much snow, can be dicey at best. My all-time favorite hot spring resort is Mono Hot Springs, but the road will still be closed, due to snow in April.

However, there are some great hot springs in the Palm Springs area! One of the less-famous, but still in my top Five such hot spring resorts is Sam's in Desert Hot Springs.

Michael and AZBuck have already provided you an excellent overview of what's possible for your roadtrip in April.

My recommendation would be to spend those three days in Yosemite. Drive to Palm Springs (cutting out Las Vegas and all of Arizona) and then driving to LA. Maybe divert for overnight to Las Vegas. RTA is based in Las Vegas and there is a lot to see here. But if you really want to spend time outside of the car, you will need to drastically cut the scope of this trip.

Mark

[Mr. Cookie]

Thank you all for your replies!
So, I'm glad I asked!

What is non-negotiable for me is Yosemite (depart from there on the 20th) and to arrive at Palm Springs on the 24th (I already bought tickets for the Sessanta tour).

Benton Hot Springs is not important.

Cottonwood in Arizona (instead of Jerome) is more more important and I would hate not to "visit" the Grand Canyon, so that's important too.

Las Vegas only if it is doable, it's not that important.

It's easier to do it now with these points? :/


PS: It's Cottonwood that is making all of this non doable or also the GC?


Thank you:)

[Mark Sedenquist]

What is non-negotiable for me is Yosemite (depart from there on the 20th) and to arrive at Palm Springs on the 24th (I already bought tickets for the Sessanta tour).

OK, so Yosemite and the Sessanta concert in Palm Springs are the bookends for the road trip between April 20th and the 24th. And actually, I believe you are referring to the concert at the Acrisure Arena in Thousand Palms that starts at 8pm on the 24th. Are you staying overnight in the Palm Springs area or will this be an all-night concert?

No matter what, it seems to me that you would like the reach the venue city by 3pm to make sure you get to the arena on time.

By the most direct, and fastest route, it is 395 miles from Yosemite Valley to Thousand Palms. And given road conditions, weather, etc. You would need to allow 7 hours to cover that distance.

What is the connection with Cottonwood? Have you booked accommodations there? That is basically Verde Valley, which is beautiful, but sort of an odd destination.

If you wanted to add in the Arizona section, presumably you could travel from Yosemite to Kingman in one day -- this would be 504 miles or about 8.5 hours of travel. Or you could break into two days

So the night of the 20th in Kingman.

21st in Cottonwood, after seeing the Grand Canyon

And then a couple of days to get back to Thousand Palms.

As other posters have mentioned, you could fit in Joshua Tree National Park.

You could also pick up Death Valley NP (my favorite park in the USA)

I have to jump into a meeting -- other folks will chime in soon.

Mark

[Mr. Cookie]

Mark,

Thank you so much for your reply.

Yes, it's that gig at Acrisure Arena.
If it should start around 8pm why do you think I should get there at 3pm? Seems a lot of time.
And yes, the plan is to stay in that area.

The only thing I have booked at this time, are the gig tickets.
Everything else I still have to book, from flights (should do it tomorrow) and accomodation.
The reason for going in april is that my wife is a teacher and it's the easter break. So we can avoid august.

The reason behing Cottonwood is also Tool/MJK related: I want to go to the tratoria related to his wine company and to the store his wife just oppened (vinyl & café).

I've been to NYC twice and I always wanted to do, at least, two more things in the US: visit San Francisco (beggining of this trip) and visit a National Park.
I always had my shights in Yellowstone but Yosemite is nearer.

And I want to enjoy the road and get to know smaller cities in between.

Oh, an 8,5 hour drive in a day is a no go for us.

You think we still can fit Joshua Tree?? I though that all of this was already too much.
Was the fact that I dropped Benton Hot Srpings (is Las Vegas also dropped?) that made the difference?

We're from Portugal, so to drive anywhere, you always have to cross Spain.
Some years ago we drove to the north of Spain and south of France (the furthest we visit was Monaco) and we never drove more than 5/6 hours. And it's not fun to do it day in, day in.

Thank you!

[AZBuck]

...then you could get to Las Vegas on that first day and enjoy an overnight stay. Flagstaff (about as close as you can get to the Grand Canyon and still find reasonably priced lodging) is then an easy Day 2. It might even allow for a short side trip from Flag to Meteor Crater before returning to Flag for the night. Next up, head for Grand Canyon Village via US-189/AZ-64 and drive the Rim Road east to US-89/AZ-89A down through the Verde Valley to Cottonwood for easily the most scenic drive of this trip. Jerome is less than 10 miles from Cottonwood and you could include it as an excursion from Cottonwood. But you will have to continue on and get to the northern suburbs of Phoenix by the end Day 3. Your last day would then be about 300 miles to Palm Springs, all via Interstate, so it should be doable in 5 hours. With a decent start and stopping just for lunch, you could be in Palm Springs by mid-afternoon.

Just remember the immortal words of Robert Burns, "The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley."

AZBuck

[Mark Sedenquist]

If it should start around 8pm why do you think I should get there at 3pm? Seems a lot of time.

Traffic can be a bit challenging near the venue. My suggestion is based on getting to the area at 3 pm so you can check into your hotel and still have time to get to the concert.

If it were me, I would spend the time in the Sierras and take US-395 south, making the trip from Yosemite south in a couple of days. But if you do that, it makes getting to the Grand Canyon a bit challenging.

We're from Portugal,

I would love to drive around Portugal someday.

I will be back in a bit. Have to work on a book proof.

Mark

[Mark Sedenquist]

I always wanted to do, at least, two more things in the US: visit San Francisco (begining of this trip) and visit a National Park.
I always had my sights in Yellowstone but Yosemite is nearer.

AZBuck's idea (above) is sensible and would work fine.

Late April in California is just too much of an unknown in terms of what passes might be open in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

In terms of beauty, going south on the eastern slope of the Sierras would be un-matched in April. But as Midwest Michael has pointed out, it would take you two extra days, (if you are only driving 5 or 6 hours per day) to get from Yosemite to Las Vegas. (Because you would have to drive north all the way to US-50 to get over the mountains.

So, US-395 is off the path.

So what I would do is take the Interstate highway from Yosemite and stay overnight at either Tehachapi or Barstow. (Barstow would not normally be on my list of best places)

(oops, I have to step out again.)

So, basically if you want to stay under six hours of travel per day, you will need to limit your driving to a maximum of 300 miles or 482 Km.

So, first night could be in Las Vegas

Or you could stay the first night at one of the lodges in Death Valley NP
(I have stayed all of them -- a really fun place is Panamint Valley Resort. Here is a map and some photos.)

Second night could be in Flagstaff (having spent a couple of hours at the Grand Canyon)

Check out some of our articles about Arizona

Third night could be in Cottonwood --

Fourth night -- explore Jerome on the way west -- overnight in Kingman

Fifth night -- Thousand Palms -- You could even drive over the historic Route 66 Pass (Sitgreaves) if you left early enough.