From San Francisco - Yosemite - ??? - Los Angeles in RV on October

[wolverine]

This is my first post, I read a lot your forum but this is my first time posting here, so in the beginning I want to say Hi to all RTA community and introduce me: My name is Mariano from Buenos Aires Argentina, I went several times to USA, but never to the West coast... I'm planning to do it on October, the idea is to rent an RV for 10 days in San Fancisco and return it in Los Angeles or San Diego, for me and the family (Wife, 10 years old twin girls and 1 year old boy).

I'm trying to figure out the best possible trip going to Yosemite and then going down... Could any body give some ideas in order to help me to plan this trip?

Thanks in advance!!!

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

Have you considered driving a complete loop ? You could go from SF to LA via the coast highway and then inland to Sequoia NP and Yosemite and back to SF. Of course you could simply go from SF to Yosemite and then back to Monterey and down the coast to LA or SD. A lot of west coast trips include visits to Vegas, Death valley and the Grand canyon depending on what your goals for the trip are.

An RV can be a great way of life, but it's usually the more expensive option when compared to car rental and Motels. The RV is also not the best choice if you are planning on multiple days in the City, they really are designed for the great outdoors. City RV parks often cost as much as a cheap Motel room and are often not much more than a parking lot. So what are your main priorities for the trip ?

[AZBuck]

Although we put this list of discussions together a few years ago, the sites are still there and the advice still holds true. I think you can get a much better idea of everything that's available to you on this RoadTrip by reading through those discussions. And I agree with Dave that you should be considering a complete loop. You can often save a significant amount of money by flying in/out of the same city and returning the RV to the same location from which you picked it up.

AZBuck

[wolverine]

First of all, thanks for your prompt answers... The idea to use an RV is to avoid pack and unpack several times and as we are traveling with our one year old baby we like the "apartment style" of an RV instead of motel, because we can cook his food, travel at afternoon when he's more quiet, and we love the "tent" life also... We dismiss the complete loop as we get flight tickets for almost same price getting in on San Francisco and departing from San Diego... Regarding RV costs, the company charge just extra 200 for one way trip, the average park cost is between 40 and 70 by day in this season and RV rent is 140 a day (Plus usd 3 by hour for generator use...) a Holiday Inn charge 250 to 300 for the 5 so is almost the same...

Anyway as your suggestions we are evaluating to rent a Ford Explorer or similar and search for motels in order to get a real comparison... at this moment we are trying to make the itinerary (by reading a lot of posts in your excellent forum....)

Thanks again for your comments!

[Southwest Dave]

We travel by RV and love the Lifestyle, so I am not trying to discourage you if that's the 'Lifestyle' you choose, just informing you of 'true' costs.

When price comparing you will need to consider the associated costs with the RV. Like us, as overseas visitors you will need to hire kitchen and bedding kits, check for any possible preparation/cleaning fees and extra mileage charges and the biggest additional cost is fuel, expect a return of 10mpg from the RV. As you are not doing a huge amount of mileage, it might not be so bad, most Co's givve 100 free miles per day.

If you decide on an RV then I would recommend you book a campground in Yosemite Valley [one of the 'Pines' campgrounds] as they can book up, although you might be lucky in October. I'm quite sure that you can find much cheaper Hotel rooms and by shopping around should be able to halve the Holiday Inn costs you have.

With a one way trip then heading to Yosemite from SF and heading back to the coast at Monterey before heading south around Big Sur would work, but you could first head to Sequoia NP from Yosemite depending on how you want to manage your time.

Once you have decided and have more questions, just ask.

[Midwest Michael]

a Holiday Inn charge 250 to 300 for the 5 so is almost the same...

I'm really curious as to how you are getting to this number? It would be extremely unusual for any holiday inn or similar hotel to charge even close to that much. The only thing I can think of is that you're basing your number on Downtown San Francisco on a busy night or with 2 rooms? A mid-level hotel, like a Holiday Inn, can usually be found for about $100 a night, except in some very high demand locations. Prices of $300 a night should be enough to buy a suite in a luxury hotel in many cases.

As has been said, an RV is a great choice based on lifestyle and could work very well, but if you're still working on price comparisons, I think you might want to run the numbers again.

[wolverine]

I'm really curious as to how you are getting to this number? It would be extremely unusual for any holiday inn or similar hotel to charge even close to that much. The only thing I can think of is that you're basing your number on Downtown San Francisco on a busy night or with 2 rooms? A mid-level hotel, like a Holiday Inn, can usually be found for about $100 a night, except in some very high demand locations. Prices of $300 a night should be enough to buy a suite in a luxury hotel in many cases.

As has been said, an RV is a great choice based on lifestyle and could work very well, but if you're still working on price comparisons, I think you might want to run the numbers again.

Yes you're right, my mistake, I taked as parameter Downtown SF and SD H.Inn for sure less busy locations has to be cheaper than this... I'm going to take today as is sunday and we have a lot of free time to read more posts and check routes and hotel costs and the RV extra costs to compare real values... Even if RV cost 15 to 30% more, I prefer this option as we can manage our time, avoid to pack and unpack and we love the RV lifestyle...
But I'm going to get real options before take the decision...

Thanks again for your answers.

[Mark Sedenquist]

This is an old thread... but I thought this would be a good place to put this time-lapse video link showing some of the wonders of Yosemite National Park!

Mark