Dallas to San Francisco

[de&tom]

Hi!
Me and my boyfriend are flying into Dallas from the UK in May, and we want to road trip it to San Francisco but take quiet a few stops.. We want to hire a car in Dallas and drive to New Mexico (mainly because I want to see the white sand desert there) From there we want to drive to Colorado, it looks beautiful in all the pics so we don't mind which part we go to. From there we want to go Utah, - we want to do all the obvious touristy things like see the Grand Canyon and The Wave in Arizona, then Vagas and then to San Diego, and drive up the West Coast to San Fran where we will fly out from. We've given ourselfs two weeks to do this route, is it enough? What do you recommend are the must see places on the way? -we're not fussed about staying in fancy hotels we're not looking to spend too much money on accommodation. Are there many motels etc en route? Will be be able to use Route 66 at any point on this route?

We'd be interested to do some nice hikes or walks through national parks we're not too fussed about spending much time in the cites (except LA and Vagas). So scenic routes and stops!

Thank you for any tips or advice you might have for us:)

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

Although it's quite easy to drive that distance with 2 weeks available there are just so many great attractions along the way it's hardly enough time to spend much time in any one place. If you are comfortable being on the move all the time it's possible, but some times less is more. Unless you are already tied into Dallas I would consider starting your trip from Denver and save the White sands for another time, or if that's a must see and do' for you you might want to cut out another part of your trip. You could easily spend a week going from San Diego through LA and to San Fran by way of the coast road and even that wouldn't leave a whole lot of time in the Citys. If your interests are more with National parks then leaving the coast and those Citys for another day might work and you could go from Las Vegas through Death valley and Yosemite to San Fran.

For example if you started in Denver and finished in San Fran without the coast, just some of your options would include, Rocky mountain NP, Black canyon of the Gunnison NP, Colorado National Monument, Mesa Verde NP, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce canyon and Zion NP's in Utah. Then near Page and the Wave there is Lake Powell, Antelope canyon and Monument valley on the way to Grand canyon. You can take a popular stretch of route 66 to Vegas through Seligman to Kingman and could stop at the Hoover dam. From Vegas into California you will find Death Valley, Yosemite and Sequoia NP's and these are just a few of many other options besides the coast, not to mention mountain towns and scenic By-ways.

I would recommend you get out a good map of the USA and explore these possibilities, find the places that really appeal and prioritise them, work out how long you might want to spend in each place and then as you join the dots it will start to come together. We can help fill in the blanks and 'fine tune' your plans once you have done a little more research and answer any other questions you have.