Los Angeles - Las Vegas - San Diego

[panda21]

Hi everyone,

Am planning a friend with for Summer 2011. Main places we want to go to are LA, LV and San Diego. We will probably fly in to whichever airport is the cheapest flight (coming from England) so not overly fussed what order we do the route in.

We'll be renting a car so are pretty free to travel where we like within reason. We don't really want to go up as far as San Francisco or across enough to the Grand Canyon. Instead we are hoping to spend more time exploring mid-Southern California/Nevada area. Happy to travel down to Arizona from LV but we're not that 'clued up' on that state.

Can anyone recommend any places in between that might be of interest - we want to mix site seeing with relaxing and will be there for 14-16 days.

I've heard that LA is actually quite overrated, does anyone have any thoughts on this? We will probably one dedicate a couple of days there.

I've also heard from a friend about the RoomSaver magazine that is great, is it easy to get hold of when over there?

Sorry this is quite a broad topic area - mainly just looking for suggestions of places to go in between the main three I've stated.

thanks all :-)

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I have to say that you've posed a rather interesting question, based soley on the large number of things you've eliminated.

I mean look at what you've said - you don't want to do San Francisco or the Grand Canyon, you've pretty much excluded Arizona (if you don't want to drive to the Grand Canyon, because that's too far then there's really only a pretty small part of the state that would be on your radar anyway.) and you've even indicated that LA is a place you aren't real optimistic about.

So I guess it comes down to, we know what you don't like and aren't interested in, but we know very little about what you actually do want to see or do, and why you've picked this area for your trip.

There are certainly lots of options, still available. Death Valley and Joshua Tree would easily fit into this trip, you could look into a number of daytrips from Vegas (some of these go out as far as Utah), and other places in the SF-LA-LV triangle you might think about include the Pacific Coast Highway, Yosemite, and Sequoia, although those are a little farther afield from what you'd originally listed. I'd also look up at the Roadtrip Routes section of this site, which also has a lot of ideas throughout this area.

Once you've gone through those, and come up with a more specific plan, we'll be glad to provide additional help.

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

This should be a a good place to start looking and you will find a lot more info throughout the forums and road trip planning pages.

I think that you would be best off researching for places that you find of interest as we are all different, for instance I find San Fran and Grand canyon of extreme interest and LA a place that I don't care to go. That is not to say LA is "over rated", it is just that places of interest vary from person to person, and that is the beauty of the road trip, the freedom to do as you please. We can certainly help fill in the blanks as you go and "fine tune" your trip but you need to discover what it is you want to do.

These day trips from Vegas will give you some ideas and there is the Pacific coast highway, Sequoia and Kings canyon NP, Yosemite NP, Joshua tree NP, Mojave National preserve, among many others to consider. You could go to the Sedona area, but that's close enough to the GC for a visit, possibly Hovover dam on the way back to Vegas.

Enjoy the planning !

[A lot like Michael said while I was still typing actually !

[panda21]

Thanks for this guys - I now realise after re-reading my initial thread that I did discount alot without giving you much indication of what we want, sorry about that!

I'm not actually sure why we have taken SF out of the equation, I think it's because there were more places we liked the look of in Southern California, compared to mid-northern California.

In honesty about San Diego - we want to go to the zoo! I have a colleague who used to live in SD and always talks about how fantastic it is. Is it possible to cross the border into Mexico whilst down there or is it advised not to?

We would like to see some nice coastal drives along the way definitely so we aren't just doing the Interstate's all the time.

Whilst LA isn't the most exciting prospect of the trip - I would feel cheated if we travelled all that way and didn't (that said, you might say the same about us not going to SF!)

We do want to experience 'City' life but not the whole time - we also want to find places that aren't maybe as 'touristy'

When we have a certain idea of where we're going, no doubt I'll be in touch again!

One final thing - how is the driving over there for a 'foreigner?' Obviously in England we tend to use manual on the left hand side. I think driving is one of our biggest concerns!

thanks

[Midwest Michael]

San Diego is a great place to visit, but I would not recommend crossing the border right now. The level of violence in Mexican border cities is extremely high right now, with Tijuana being one of the worst of the worst. As another moderator posted earlier this week, US Marines stationed at nearby Camp Pendleton are not allowed to make trips into Mexico - and the men and women trained for combat in Baghdad and Kabul are being told its not safe, I'd say its not real safe for the average tourist!

I can't speak to the driving on the other side, other than to say lots of people do it, and once you get used to it, it shouldn't be too bad.

Once you get a better idea of where you want to go, we look forward to hearing what you come up with.

[Southwest Dave]

Being from the UK, I can say that driving on the wro.......oops, other side of the road isn't really a big deal. Your rental will be an Auto box and once that is in "drive" everything else is pretty familiar. It's also a lot easier when the car configuration matches the roadway, unlike when travelling in Europe in a UK car for instance, where you would be driving kerb side and it all feels wrong.

Take it steady to start with, and remember it's a 'Long left' and a 'Short right' at junctions to save you heading into on coming traffic. One that catches a lot of overseas drivers out is the "Right on Red" rule, where you can go through a red light to turn right if the roadway is clear and it's safe to do so.

You have quite a few suggestions to go on/look into, but if it's a nice scenic coast drive you are after, the coast road from Morro bay to Monterey around Big Sur is one of the best. That put's you within "striking distance" of SF, a great little City with the added bonus of having Alcatraz Island a short boat trip away. Yosemite is out of this world and, if you got to Monterey/SF would be a good way across the Sierra mountains and into Death valley towards Vegas.

Enjoy the planning !

[glc]

The San Diego Zoo is one of the world's finest zoos. While you are in San Diego, you may also be interested in the Wild Animal Park - it's operated by the zoo and is about an hour north of the city near Escondido. To complete the trifecta, so to speak, is Sea World.

There really isn't a "coastal" drive, so to speak, between San Diego and LA. As already indicated, the spectacular coast scenery is between Morro Bay and Monterey. Something along that stretch you may be interested in is Hearst Castle.