California road trip

[SwissSimon]

Hi everyone!

Me and a friend of mine are going to visit the US in July this year. Hurray!
We'll arrive in San Francisco and also fly back from there.

Sadly, we can be there just for 16 days. The flight from Switzerland (and back) is already subtracted in those 16 days.
We've already rented a car for this period.

Ok, let's get on the route planning part :)
I’ve prepared a basic route, but haven't planned every single day (we don’t want to have a throughout planned trip, but the distances have to be realistic).

What we basically want to do:
- Drive along Highway number 1 (Coast) from SFO to LA, visit some nice spots
- See LA (just Hollywood and the beaches, the basic Stuff)
- Drive further south to San Diego and see the City
- Going for Las Vegas, maybe we could drive through a national Park (like Joshua or Mojave)
- Visit Las Vegas and, of course, loose all of our money :)
- Drive back to San Francisco through Death Valley and Yosemite National Parks

What we don’t know exactly, is how many days this trip is going to take. Of course we can’t see everything of your beautiful country, but hopefully some nice parts of it :).
I’ve we had still time left, we might extend our route and visit the Grand Canyon.

So, what do you guys think about this trip?
Is the route too long for 16 days?
Are there more interesting roads we could take?
What are the “must sees”?

Best Regards from Europe,
Simon

P.S: I'm really excited to (finally) visit the USA.
I've always wanted to do so, but every year something else came up...

[Southwest Dave]

hello there and welcome.
your trip guide you have set out is certainly doable,but don't forget the distances are vast and a lot will depend on how much time you want to spend on the road and how many puleed up in places like L/A and S/D. by using the search button there is lots of info to find on this very popular part of america. this link should get you started.
this was our san francisco loop road trip which may give you some other ideas,we were on the road for 15 days,and although we did'nt do the coast a few of the other places may be of interest to you.
i would defiantely put the grand canyon and yosemite on your must do list,and if you have the time zion n.p. and bryce canyon are amazing places.
when you have done a little more research and decided where you would like to visit put up a rough itenary with any questions and we will be pleased to help all we can :)