Hi,

I would really appreciate any suggestions as we have never been in California and we are trying to organize this trip as efficiently as possible.
We are planning going to Las Vegas - Yosemite - Napa - San Francisco first week of August for 9 nights.
The itinerary is following:

Day 1 Flying to Vegas
Day 2 Vegas
Day 3 Morning: rent a car and drive towards Yosemite
Day 4 Yosemite
Day 5 Either half day Yosemite and then to Napa or drive in the morning to Napa
Day 6 Napa/Sonoma
Day 7 Half day Napa, then drive to San Francisco
Day 8 & 9 San Francisco
Day 9 Fly back home from San Francisco

The itinerary is by no way final, the only thing we know for sure is that we spend 2 nights in Vegas for family reunion and fly back from San Francisco on day 9. Everything else is customizable.

I think we are OK with Napa and San Francisco.
But the Yosemite part is far from OK.
We are looking at the best possible route from Vegas to Yosemite. We have approximately 2.5 days for it, so please advise what to see, where to stop (and for how long), where is a good lodging not too far from the main road.

Is it better to spend 2 nights in one place and then drive around, or divide it between different places so we can cover more?

P.S. What car would you advise to rent in Vegas? Should we get SUV? What are the roads conditions to Yosemite and in park and all around the park ?

Thank you in advance