San Fran to Vegas via Yosemite Park and Death Valley Road Trip

[belinda_diesel]

Hiya!

We are heading to the states for our honeymoon in Nov 2011 and want to visit both Death Valley and Yosemite Park. Our first stop from Sydney is to LA for 3 nights, then flying over to San Fran, staying there for 4 nights then we were hoping to drive to Las Vegas via Yosemite Park and Death Valley.

I have done a little research and drive from San Fran to Yosemite Park is 4 hours and drive from LVegas to Death Valley approx 3 hrs each way. so to save breaking it up and driving to and from San Fran and LV I thought doing one big road trip from San Fran to Vegas. Few questions:
1. Is this the more logic way to do it since we are tight on time?
2. Time it would take from san fran to Vegas incl stops in yosemite park and death valley?
3. Recommend places to rest overnight
4. any road closures or restrictions during November?

I am open for any suggestions to get this done in a short time frame as we then head off to NY from Vegas.


:)

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

A couple things here:

First, November is certainly the start of winter, and that means that it is very possible Tioga Pass, which takes you across the Sierras through Yosemite and onto Death Valley will be closed. The earlier you can travel, the more likely it would be open, so if you can move it up to the start of the trip, that would help, although there's really no way of knowing what the weather will be.

For SF to LV as you've listed really needs 3 days. Basically, your first day would be getting to Yosemite and spending half a day in the valley, Day 2 would be doing a little more exploring, driving across Tioga and then spending the night somewhere on US-395, and day 3 would be going through DV arriving in Vegas. If Tioga is closed, then you'll basically have to spend day 2 driving around the Sierras via Bakersfield

I will say your plan currently skips the entire Pacific Coast Highway, which is one of the most spectacular drives in the world. That would require 2 days to go from SF to LA, with going North to South being the preferred method.

[belinda_diesel]

Thanks for this!
What itinerary could you recommend for the Pacific Coast Highway?

[Southwest Dave]

The 'spectacular' section of CA1 is between Cambria and Monterey, as it makes it's way around Big Sur. As Michael mentioned, it would require a minimum of 2 day's to enjoy and would replace the need to fly between LA and SF. Personally, I think it would be well worth it, as you could quite comfortably 'pinch' a night from a City.

To have the best chance of Tioga Pass open and to drive the PCH from North to South, your best option would be to start in Vegas > DV > Yosemite > SF > LA, if that's an option.