Fantasi

My boyfriend and I are planning a trip to USA in July for about a month. We want to experience as much as possible, and we really need help to make the best of our vacation. Our preferences: We love to just walk around getting to know cities, go shopping, visit museums and landmarks, relaxing by the beach, eat good food and listen to good music. So basically everything. We plan on taking some flights and renting a car to drive around some places.

What our plan is at this moment:

Start in Los Angeles, rent a car and drive to San Francisco (and maybe Las Vegas). We would also like to visit Austin, Texas, The Grand Canyon and Roswell, NM, but we realize there probably won’t be enough time. Then we are planning on flying to Chicago and from there drive to New Orleans (visiting cities on the way), then drive to Jacksonville North Carolina (I need to visit the hometown of my favorite artist, Ryan Adams ) and drive up to New York and maybe visit Boston too.

We have no idea how much time we should plan for each place, all we know is that we want a full week in New York, which leaves 3 weeks for the rest of the US.

So, what we are hoping you could help us with:

1. Which of these cities should we absolutely visit, and which is OK to skip?
2. Are there some other cities/areas we should consider, maybe some places nearby or on the road to one of the other cities we already are planning to see?
3. How many days do we need in the different cities (I can add that we are used to hectic and intense vacations, but at the same time, we need some relaxing time too).
4. Which cities are the best for a beach vacation? Los Angeles? San Francisco? Other?

fmpden

The question is so broad - about as broad as the US - that it is nearly impossible to answer in the space provided. First, you absolutely do not have the time to drive from Chicago to New Orleans to Jacksonville to New York. Get realistic. That is a couple thousand miles and maybe a solid week of driving or more. Second get a map and then put some pins in and you were see you are covering an enormous amount of territory. Southern CA and Florida have the best beaches (in general) but it was be very hot in July for those area. Same for Austin, TX, NOrleans, etc.

I would be included to stay further north - San Franciso, Denver, Chicago, New York, Boston.

You really need to refine your schedule before anyone can help you very much.

nelsonian

Fantasi, you need to forget the rental car if you want to go to all the places you mentioned. We did a 30 day trip to the US a year or so ago, and flew between destinations. We arrived at San Francisco, spent three and a half days there, flew to New Orleans, stayed 4 days, flew to New York City and spent the remainder of the time there. We did do a train trip to Washington DC during this time, and a road trip to Cape Cod Boston area from there.

You just need to concentrate on the must see places, and work around those areas. I think you need at least 3 or 4 days in most places to see the sights and have some down time. Your plan of 7 days in New York is a good amount of time for that area.

Fantasi

We do realize that we don't have the time to visit all the places we have listed, which is exactly why we are asking which cities the users of Fodors would recommend us to skip.

We have just begun planning our trip and a big part of it is narrowing down our options. As far as we have understood this forum we aren't required to have a planned, realistic itenerary before we ask for a few hints and tips for our journey.

But thank you for your input!

fmpden

With that attitude, you can plan it yourself!

jamie99

Well you could spend 3-4 days in LA and maybe also 3 in San Diego, a night in Santa Barbara, a night in Cambria or maybe Pismo Beach where you can drive dune buggies or take a Hummer tour at nearby Oceano Dunes, a night in Monterey or Carmel and then 3-4 nights in SF. I haven't been to some of those other cities except New Orleans which is fabulous. You don't want a car in SF so drop it when you get there then fly to NOLA or Chicago.

Fantasi

nelsonian: Thank you for you reply! We will consider replacing the long drives with flights

fmpden: It wasn't our intention to come off with some sort of attitude, we just felt you shot down our questions without actually understanding what we were asking for. Before planning the detalis of our trip we wanted to get your input on where to go and where not to go.

jamie99: Thank you for your reply! It was very helpful

clarkgriswold

L.A. is not a great city for "walking around", it's huge and widespread with "attractions" that are an hour or two apart. And you will not want to shop there and then haul all your purchases from city to city. So, beach time and good dining may be your focus here. 3 nights.

Take 2 days to drive up the coast to San Francisco, it's July so the coast will be busy and expensive. Then 3 nights in San Fran with drives maybe to Napa and Muir Woods. On your 4th day, fly in the evening to Austin. Spend 2 nights and 3 days in Austin, then fly or drive to New Orleans for a few nights. From here to NC would be a hot, dull drive so I think I would fly out of NO. After a night or two in NC you could drive up the east coast seeing Washington DC, New York and maybe Boston. Washington & NY may be especially hot and humid since it's July so plan accordingly as far as walking to museums & sights. A wk in NY would be nice but you probably only can fit in 5 nights. Maybe then take the train to Boston/stay 2 or 3 nights and then fly to Chicago .

I guess that leaves Las Vegas for another trip...it will be blazingly hot in July, but if you want to squeeze it in you probably could stop there for a night or two between San Fran and Austin.....flights in and out of Vegas can be pretty inexpensive if you avoid Fridays and Sundays. www.southwest.com is a good airline to check for internal flights as they allow changes to itineraries (though fares go up as your dates close in, and you must pay the difference).

keep trying Fantasi, eventually you'll get more help. These days the forums are full of people who just seem to be looking for places where they can give a good scolding and then run.

clarkgriswold

And if you can possibly extend to 5 weeks (35 days) instead of 28 days, you'll have a lot more breathing room and a better (obviously).

tomfuller

Plan not to have any one way car rentals. Fly to Las Vegas where car rentals are cheap. See Hoover Dam then drive through Death Valley and come over Tioga Pass into Yosemite. Spend some time in Yosemite before heading for San Francisco. Drive down the coast from SF all the way to LA. Return the car to LV and then fly to New Orleans. I would skip Austin and Roswell.
If you want to go to Texas, plan on a night in San Antonio.
Leaving New Orleans you have the choice of riding the City of New Orleans north to Chicago or the Crescent through Atlanta to either Washington DC or New York.
My long distance style is to take a train close to my destination and then rent a car and make a loop.
I like seeing the scenery from a train instead of flying over it.

ElendilPickle

>>Fly to Las Vegas where car rentals are cheap. See Hoover Dam then drive through Death Valley

jpie

Also you should look at southwest airlines if you don't already know about them. They have tons of cheap flights between cities and you can pretty much mix and match between all the cities you are considering. The other nice things about them is that they tend to be more flexible than other airlines for changes: http://www.southwest.com/

Tomsd

You can drive through Death Valley in hot temps - but be sure to make the car is in good condition - the oil full, the air condition is working, full gas tank when you leave, etc - and take some extra water and food with you in case you might break down.

I would add some time in San Diego - where you can stay closer to the beach for less money - and it's not that hot in July here - especially nearer the coast. It's also easier to get around in SD than in LA.

You can drive from here to Las Vegas is 5 hours.

nelsonian

Southwest airlines are not as cheap as they used to be, the fact that you can change the flights if they get cheaper is a bonus though. We used Kayak or Expedia to get the cheapest flights. We did do some one stop ones also which just meant you stopped for a short while at an airport, sometimes you had to change planes, other times not.

San Francisco is a good city to walk around and has good public transportation, Los Angeles not so much. As others have mentioned a lot of the places you want to visit will be very hot in July. Is it possible to change to about September or even later in April or May.

charsuzan

There is not a lot in Jacksonville, NC however, the area is great. It about 60 miles to Wilmington NC and some great beaches or about the same distance to New Bern. Even closer to the beaches along the Crystal Coast-Emerald Isle area. Might be a great area for some low key beach time and a visit to the town you want to see.

clarkgriswold

tomfuller....One-way car rentals are usually very reasonable for non-residents. They don't get reamed like we do!

stumpworks73

Agree that one way car rentals are prohibitively expensive and your driving scheme consumes far too much time and will be exhausting.

Chicago to NOLA is particularly uninteresting as is NOLA to Jacksonville N C.

Heed the advise of checking out southwest.com to see what you can afford.

I would consider highlighting LA, Drive to San Fran, fly to Vegas, fly to Chicago, NOLA, Charlotte and NYC. Spend a few more days savoring great destinations and minimizing moving so much.

Total the mileage on your wish list and consider if you stop only for meals and gas, the best you average on driving is 50 mph. Over a day. Stack up a couple of 13 or 14 hour driving days and you won't want to face another for quite a while.

WhereAreWe

2 weeks in California (including Vegas and the Grand Canyon), one week for Chicago and North Carolina, one week for New York.

Drive up the coast between LA and San Francisco, fly to Vegas and drive to the Grand Canyon then drive back to Vegas. Fly to Chicago, then North Carolina and finally New York. You don't have time to make road trips from one city to the next all the time.

New Orleans will be way to hot and humid in July, Roswell is way too far out of the way and Chicago has more to offer than Austin. You could visit Austin in place of Chicago if it appeals more to you - you will surely be able to find enough to do in the short time you'd be there. Same goes for New Orleans but the humidity/heat would be a deal breaker for me.

nytraveler

This is a huge country and there is no way that you can see even half of what you want to see.

Much as I love NYC - and granted it is worth a week IF you have the time - I would try to make it 5 days to allow yourself 3 or 4 days for DC - which is incredible. At that time of year I would avoid the south - it is so hellishly hot - and there are great beaches on the Jersey Shore, Long Island or Cape Cod if you are making time to head for Boston.

I would drop LV - a truly awful place - and try to see Yosemite from SF for a couple of days - and keep to the northern part of the country - since you can;t do everything.

Gretchen

No Las Vegas,Roswell, or Austin--and probably LA. Fly to San Francisco and see Yosemite from there. Fly to NOLA. Fly to Charleston and drive up the coast to Jacksonville. choose a beach along the way (NOT Myrtle Beach!). Drive to Washington--drop the car. Take the train to NYC.
Where are you coming from?