Las Vegas- Grand Canyon- LA- San Francisco - napa valley

[Jkdaniels05]

Hello , I am new to this forum but wanted to see what advice I can get with my trip. I purchased a one way ticket to Vegas to start the trip. We are renting a car in Vegas and heading to the Grand Canyon. We are thinking of 3-4 days in the canyon. We need recommendations of where to stay there. Next, we are heading to the LA area. We would like to do some of the touristy things- see the Hollywood sign, see the beaches, Beverly Hills area, Malibu. We need recommendations on where to stay, we are looking for a simple place to stay, not into the luxury stuff! We are thinking of staying around there 2 days and then driving up the coast to San Fran. We want to tour San Fran for a couple of days and then finally head to napa valley area. We will plan to fly out of San Fran home. We really are in to seeing the natural things along the way! We have 21 days for our trip! Any advise would be great!

[John259]

At the Grand Canyon (south rim, I'll assume) there's accommodation at various prices levels within the park itself but it books up very quickly. The next fallback is Tusayan, just outside the park's southern entrance. There's a good range of motels there. Next come the towns of Williams and Flagstaff to the south on I-40 but they are quite a bit further away. Flagstaff in particular has a large number of motels.

You can research motels using each chain's web site, or you can visit one of the online map systems and search within there, for example:
motels near tusayan
The locations of each property will be shown on the map, and in at least one of these systems there are contact details and ratings for each motel displayed in a panel on the left, and you can zoom in to see photographs of the property, and move around to view the local area.

Los Angeles is huge. The closer to the main attractions, the higher accommodation rates - as a general principle. But if you stay further out then you waste time driving and you run up fuel charges.

I'm reluctant to suggest the names of specific motel chains here as I think it's contrary to the site's policies, so suffice it to say that searching as I suggested earlier will soon tell you which are the least expensive national chains, then you can visit their web sites to view their offerings including exterior and interior photos. IMHO the budget motel chains are excellent for overnight stops except perhaps in city centres.

For the wonders of nature, the obvious place to start is with the national parks (although there are also national monuments, national forests and state parks - and many scenic roads outside parks). All maps (online or printed) show where the national parks are, then the US National Park Service web site provides detailed and up-to-date information about each park.

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to RTA !

With 'natural things' being of interest have you considered the National Parks of Zion, Bryce canyon and Yosemite ? You do have a nice amount of time for a relatively short trip and you could head north to Zion and Bryce canyon in southern Utah before heading down to the GC via Page AZ [Lake Powell/Antelope canyon/ Horseshoe bend etc] and you could take a detour to Monument valley. As you are finishing in SF you could go from Monterey inland to Yosemite [a wonderful place] and then to Napa before heading to San Fran.

These are just some suggestions of what you could include but ultimately it comes down to you and how much time you want to spend where.

[DonnaR57]

Where to stay in the Hollywood area -- always a big question. I have stayed at the EconoLodge Glendale, a few years ago, and found that the accommodation was comfortable. The area may seem questionable to some people, though, but we were fine. (I've stayed there twice, once was by myself for a conference and the other time was with my husband.) We've also stayed at the Ramada Inn Burbank (not too bad, just getting rundown at the time) and the LA Marriott Burbank Airport, which was really nice and we got in on a steal-of-a-deal. It IS right next to the Burbank Airport, but we couldn't hear any of the planes except the loudest ones. All 3 places are close enough to everything you mentioned.

I'll second Dave's suggestion of Yosemite. That would be a great diversion from the city stuff!


Donna

[Lifemagician]

In LA my favourite area to stay is the West Hollywood area.... in fact, where I have stayed (USA hostel) is right below the Hollywood sign. As mentioned above, some prefer not to stay in this area, but I (senior solo female) have always felt quite safe. It depends so much on the person. Even late I have gone out to get something to eat, confidently!

Lifey

[Southwest Dave]

As it sounds like you have not made any bookings yet, consider this. Flying home from LA instead of from SF would give you the benefit of driving through Death Valley and Yosemite NP's on a natural route to Napa and San Fran and then the advantage of having the ocean on your side of the road as you head south to LA.

[Lifemagician]

Dave suggestion to fly out of LA would be my recommendation as well. With 21 days, you have lots of time to enjoy all those attractions (and more). If you do plan to take a trip to Alcatraz, consider the evening trip. It is great being on 'the rock' and see the sun sink into the Pacific Ocean behind the Golden Gate Bridge, and watch the lights come on, all over SF. Sights I will never forget.

Lifey