Hi all of the very helpful people who visit and respond to queries.... I have seen that there are lots of threads about these areas, so have picked up some information.

We are from Australia - so my first thought is - what kind of insurance do I need when I rent a car over there and has anyone else driven on a different side of the road? I think I will be fine, but if others have any tips etc... planning to pick up a car in LA, so will probably get thrown right in to busy traffic!!!!

As we are still early in our planning I thought I would see if anyone can give us ideas etc. ... We have around about 23 days in total.... but I wonder if some of our plans might not work out. We arrive 21 December - finish this road trip 13 january. We want to be in SF for New Years Eve......


Possible plan:

Part 1:
3 days LA - doing things - ????
Drive annaheim - disney land - stay overnight somewhere there...

Christmas day - drive to Sandiego - stay 2 nights. Is the zoo a good idea for Christmas Day?

Drive Sandiego to Vegas - what is the best route to do this around 27 December? We are planning on staying LV about 3 nights? -Are sight seeing trips doable from Las Vegas or do you need to be on the move?

Part 2 of our trip has two options - any thoughts about the best way to go?

Part 2 - plan A
Take a couple of days (2 overnight stops) to drive from Las Vegas to SF - ? via death valley and yosemite.... but not sure about the roads and snow.... and how long this would take.

Spend some time in SF (4 days?)

Take a trip over to Lake Tahoe - (this is another one of the worrying trips) - around 6th Jan --- is snow likely on this trip? Would I be better to drive to Reno and catch some other transport to south lake tahoe (I want to see the snow and do the cable car! We don't have anything like that here.!) Should we spend a night or two in this area?

Back to SF - (few more days)

Somewhere along the way we want to see redwood forests - but again - prefer to avoid snow... ???



Part 2 - plan b

Drive to LA from Vegas - return car. Fly to San Francisco.

Few Days in SF.

Hire car: Driving trip from SF seeing - South Lake Tahoe and Yosemite and back to SF...... again, not sure the route to take with winter or how long and where to stay? Is this a safe trip - again around 6th Jan? As before, want to see snow and cable car....

Few more days in SF.


Wow, this really shows how unclear I am.... My main issues really relate to:

Driving the Yosemite/Tahoe and other national park areas in January...... what is best route, is it worth doing in winter? Is it safe to drive?


Is it a good idea to ditch the car in LA so we don't have to find parking in SF, and just hire another one for trips away from SF?

Others have mentioned no need to book accommodation before hand.... how easy is it to get a hotel in LA in the few days before Christmas? Where is best location? We have looked at Marina Del Ray - but no idea really if that is a good spot to head out from..?

Is it easy to get accommodation in Sandiego on Christmas day without pre booking? San Francisco on New Years Eve/Day without prebooking????

Thanks for any replies .... hope you can make some sense of this??? We don't want to get too caught up in a strict itinerary, except for SF for New Years Eve/Day.... and a nice thing and place to be on Christmas Day.....

Ann