First time Road Trip...Pls Advice (NYC, SF, LA & LV)

[Girish]

Hi Everyone.

I am from Chandigarh, India. I'll be visiting the US in Late Nov and plan to see Boston, NY and Washington on the East Coast. I thought of a road trip there but rental companies have a NY surcharge of $110 per day for drivers under 25. So I decided to start the road trip on the west coast.

I need to visit three places San Fransicso, Las Vegas & LA (San Diego if possible)...Return flight would be prob from LA.

I thought of this - Land in SF, rent car, spend 2 days in SF, proceed to LV, 2 days in LV, proceed to LA, 3 days in LA

I would appreciate if anyone could indicate travel time involved here. Also how is the weather likely to be during Nov, Dec in California / Nevada.

Also is this the best itinerary or is it better to start in LA and return back to LA.

Many Thanks,

Girish

[Robert Schaller]

Hi Girish, welcome to the RTA forum, and to the United States! You can do this in any sequence without much problem. If you start from San Francisco, you can get to Las Vegas in one day via the CA central valley route (basically I-5, SR58, I-15). However, if instead you go east on I-80 to Reno and south down US395, it is a much more scenic journey. It takes a bit longer this way, and it is easiest to plan an overnight somewhere about 2/3 of the way and finish the drive on the 2nd morning.

From Las Vegas, San Diego is an easy day's drive. only 333 miles (or so). It can get congested as you pass the LA area, so you should plan a little extra time for that, although you can get help here on the forum with planning the easiest route -- we have regulars who know that area well.

From San Diego to Los Angeles will take you the better part of a morning. Then from Los Angeles back up to San Francisco is about 400 miles. It can be done in one day on I-5 but I recommend (as do many others) using California SR1 along the coast highway for much of this drive -- it's beautiful, but much slower going -- so plan on at least two days, maybe even a third (if you have it) so you can meander along and enjoy that wonderful coastline.

In November and December, it is possible to have sunshine or rain, or even snow and ice at the higher elevations. However, there are many all-weather routes to get you where you want to go. I'd say you've got a 50/50 chance on the inland portions of having good weather, slightly less good odds along the coast (winter rains). I could be wrong.

[Girish]

Thanks a lot, Bob.

That sounds good. I didn't know that it could snow in California though. I think I'll start in SF then on to LV and LA. I probably might need a few more days than originally planned (8) as I didn't factor in the driving time. I've rented from a car from avis and I think I got a good deal - $500 premium car 8 days. Hoping to have lots of fun.