Linus1987

Hello!

My fiancee and I are planning for a road trip in the Southwest (California - Arizona - Utah - Nevada - California) in Oct this year. The plan would be to fly into Los Angeles at around 1:25pm on 2 Oct, and depart from San Francisco on 21 Oct at 1:15am, so that gives about 18.5 days of touring around the Southwest.Some background about ourselves. We are in our early 30s, love food and sightseeing! I have been to the US multiple times but only for work on the eastern side, she hasn't been to the states since when she was a kid. So this trip marks the 1st time we are touring the US as adults!

I came up with a brief itinerary through gathering info online. Good thing is I feel we still have ample time to do our planning, but its better to plan early than to rush later! Flights and hotels are still not booked yet, so we are flexible in terms of our itinerary, and welcome any feedback in terms of where to spend longer/shorter, places to go/not to go, activities we should do or any other advice! We plan to rent a car and drive throughout the trip.

Thank you!

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LOS ANGELES - 1 Night
We will arrive in at about 1.25pm, and after collecting the car and checking into our hotel, we will spend the late noon onwards touring around places like the famous beaches, do some shopping, maybe take a picture with the Hollywood sign. I have read that LA is over-rated and over-touristy, and we are not really into Hollywood fare as well. Museums and galleries are not really our thing as well. So we are only intending to spend a night here since there seems to be not much here, and leave the next day at noon towards Kingman enroute to Grand Canyon.

KINGMAN - 1 Night
I have read that this is a nice place to spend a night, which is our plan. We plan to leave LA around noon and hopefully reach Kingman (~5 hour drive) around evening/night.

GRAND CANYON - 2 nights
We will leave Kingman the next morning and drive (~2.5 hr) to Grand Canyon. There we intend to spend 2 nights (1.5 days) to do some hiking,

MONUMENT VALLEY - 1 night
We will leave Grand Canyon in the morning and drive (~3 hr) to Monument Valley. We will spend half a day there driving around and appreciating the wild west kind of landscape, and probably spend a night in the vicinity.

PAGE / BRYCE CANYON - 2 nights
We will leave Monument Valley in the morning and do a drive to Page (~2 hr) to see places like Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe Bend, which will take about half a day. Then we will drive (~2.5 hr) to Bryce Canyon and call it a night. We will spend the next full day in Bryce Canyon.

ZION NATIONAL PARK - 2 nights
We will leave Bryce Canyon in the morning and drive (~2 hr) to reach Zion NP sometime noon. More hiking to explore the landscape, and we will stay there for 2 nights.

LAS VEGAS - 2 nights
We will leave Zion NP in the morning and drive (~2.5 hr) to Las Vegas. Time for some outlet shopping! Maybe catch a show at night. We are not gamblers, so probably would not patronise the casinos.

DEATH VALLEY NP - 1 night
After 2 nights in Las Vegas, we will leave in the morning towards Death Valley NP (~2.5 hr). We will spend a night near there.

BAKERSFIELD - 1 night
We will leave Death Valley NP at noon and drive to towards Bakersfield (~4hr) to spend the night en route to Sequoia NP. Probably will take the route that goes past Isabella Lake to do some sightseeing.

SEQUOIA NP / KINGS CANYON / YOSEMITE NP - 3 nights
We will leave Bakersfield early morning and do a drive through Sequoia NP and Kings Canyon for some sight seeing. I heard a drive through is sufficient for these 2 places. We will end the day at Yosemite NP, and will stay 3 nights for some nature hiking.

SAN FRANCISCO - 2 nights
We will leave from Yosemite to our last destination which is SF (~3.5hr). We will have about 2.5 full days to tour around the city, before taking a night flight out back home.


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I wanted to do Lake Tahoe before SF, but realise it's a little out of the way plus there wasn't anymore space in the itinerary. I'm not sure if we are having too many national parks and too little cities as well. Open to suggestions and tips!

emalloy

Your plan is doable, but you will be doing a lot of driving. We often take trips like this, DH likes to drive and the scenery is very interesting.

Don't expect Kingman to be a tourist destination, more of a place to stop for the night when you don't feel you can drive any farther. If you could push it to GC you could add a night somewhere else.

Do arrange lodging in/near the parks as soon as you are sure of when you will be where. This trip could be done in the opposite direction if lodging is easier that way. For in the park lodges, places may be full now because people make reservations a year in advance. If so, get a cancellable reservation near by and call back frequently to see if those early folks have cancelled in the parks.

In this part of the country always have food and drinks in your car, fill the gas tank when it gets to a half and there is a station and try to drive in daylight. Some of the roads are small, curvy, and large animals like elk, deer, antelope etc. tend to cross them and make a mess of the car and possibly you if you hit them.

db6040

Your plan makes sense although it really is short changing a lot of places and involves a ton of driving. I know you mention you are planning early but some of the lodging along your route books up a year in advance. For Monument Valley, you really only have two options and I would book one of these IMMEDIATELY. The View is preferable and a stunning place to stay, Goulding's is just fine as well. Again, I would book one of those today if I was you. I would probably try to trim a destination or two off the list just to give yourself more time in places. For example, I would probably just eliminate Page and go straight to Bryce. I also might trim the Grand Canyon to 1 night since you will be arriving there early in the day. I would add that extra night to Zion, Death Valley, or the Sierra area (Sequioa/Kings Canyon/Yosemite). I wouldn't try to see all 3 of those places. Devote all 3 days to Yosemite or to a combination of Sequoia/Kings Canyon. Keep in mind, Death Valley is HUGE. 1 overnight there won't give you much time to do anything besides drive to your destination and drive out. The roads into the park are long, lonely, and seem endless. It takes a long time to get from the entrance to wherever you are planning on staying.

You have many wonderful places to see on your list and I love all of them. I would enjoy the trip more if you cut out a couple of places so you weren't just rushing from one site to another to cross them off a list. October is a fabulous time to travel though. It won't be too hot and the crowds should be less than the high season. We were in Death Valley and Kings Canyon/Sequoia this past October. Death Valley was still too hot for any hiking and we just basically checked out the viewpoints. We were shocked how long it took to get anywhere - google map estimates are much too low. It is a beautiful place though. Kings Canyon and Sequoia was close to shutting down for the season when we were there in the second week of October. Fill up your tank outside of the park. There was not too much in the way of services and the park was wonderfully un-crowded. Yosemite never gets that empty but it is going to be much better than it would be in the summer months.

tomfuller

Leaving Death Valley go directly to Yosemite via Lone Pine and Bishop and the Tioga Pass if there is not snow.
Do not stay in or even go through Bakersfield.
If you can't make it across Tioga Pass, go north on US 395 and end the day at South Lake Tahoe.

MmePerdu

Since you seem to have little interest in Los Angeles, and Las Vegas is on your itinerary, why not just fly into LV and make a loop of the national parks from there? It will save some driving and you may get a better air fare and cheaper car rental.

tom_mn

Kingman is just a gas stop and former home of terrorist Timothy McVeigh, don't stop here. You could also fly into Phoenix to start in addition to Vegas.

mlgb

Where are you from? If you are interested in food, what kind? If you are not interested in Hollywood or museums, LA has literally HUNDREDS of neighborhoods, many of them with great ethnic food (Korean, Taiwanese, Thai, etc. but if you're from Asia I probably wouldn't send you there). Tell us more and I'm sure we can find one with good food and more to your liking. Also, if you are outlet shopping in Las Vegas, why spend time in LA also shopping? I think I'd try to get away as soon as rush hour ends the next morning, and try to stay toward the east side (Hollywood, Downtown, Pasadena, Glendale).

I also don't think much of Kingman as an overnight. So wondering what your internet sources are? If you can't get any farther then it's a place to stop. But I would recommend trying for Williams, instead. It has some interesting neon downtown so it's a good place to arrive late. It also closer to the GC and you'll be able to more on that half day. If you want to see a bit of old Route 66, I would do just a short detour to Seligman,rather than spending all day doing it from Kingman.

I like the historic cabins at Bright Angel, just a short walk to the rim, and it entitles you to parking there.

You want to be in Bryce for sunset. Allow enough time for the reduced speed limits inside the park.


Since you are coming from Death Valley, I would enter Yosemite by driving in from 395 and Tioga Pass (weather permitting, should be okay in October). There are a number of places to stay on the east side of the Sierra Nevada if you don't think you can make it all the way into Yosemite Valley that day. Far nice than Bakersfield. I like Bishop a lot, you can add in a stop at Mono Lake.

michelhuebeli

>"I have read that LA is over-rated and over-touristy, and we are not really into Hollywood fare as well. Museums and galleries are not really our thing as well<"

You are listening to the wrong people. This is a common glib statement made by people who don't know L.A. and therefore don't know what they are talking about.

But be that as it may, the question here is why the heck are you flying into L.A.? You won't even get half of what you state done after flying in, so why bother? And L.A. is so far from the region you say you are interested in, it makes absolutely no sense. Fly to Vegas.

kleroux

fly into LAX and fly directly out again to Vegas. Check the fare at Southwest air. They don't charge for baggage. Be sure and see the IMAX show at the Grand Canyon. I'd skip Bakersfield and do what poster Tom Fuller suggests. You'll have a fantastic trip.

MmePerdu

Wondering what the benefit is, kleroux, to buying an extra flight to LV, vs just flying directly there, not going to LA at all? OP says flights aren't booked.

tomfuller

Yes fly to Las Vegas instead of LAX. The cars are cheaper in LV and the access to Death Valley is easier from Nevada IMO.

Linus1987

Wow thanks all for the replies!

- I'm flying to Los Angeles instead of Las Vegas is because I live in Singapore, and Singapore Airlines flies to only San Francisco and Los Angeles on the west coast. Grabbing another domestic flight will incur hundreds more, and I have to pay for luggage as well. I can spend some time touring in LA. I did a check on Hertz and Los Angeles shows cheaper car rental rates vs Las Vegas or Phoenix, not sure why.

- Yea I'm really just going to Kingman to stay for the night, not really expecting anything of interest over there. I'm not sure where else is a good place if I'm driving from LA. I don't think I can drive all the way since I read that it's an 8-9 hr drive from LA to Grand Canyon. Maybe I should try Williams like @mlgb has suggested.

- The reason why I wanted to drive to Bakersfield was because I intended to visit Sequoia / Kings Canyon before Yosemite. Driving through Tioga pass would definitely cut some time. Maybe I should just focus on Yosemite and get rid of Sequoia / Kings Canyon, like what @db6040 has suggested?

- If i really need to trim some places, I'm actually thinking of skipping Monument Valley since it's a little out of the way, and keeping Page since it looks really really beautiful. Maybe giving death valley a miss as well?

- On cars, what kind of car should I get? I want to make sure its able to go through the terrains of the places which I intend to visit.

MmePerdu

Any rental car will have stipulations about not going off paved roads so any car will do in that regard. Do get one with a real trunk, to make sure your luggage is completely hidden for those times when you'll have it with you on stops and large enough for the number of bags you'll have.

tom_mn

Monument Valley appeals to foreigners significantly more than Americans, similar in that respect to Route 66. No idea why.

Page is not beautiful but the dam is interesting and so are the slot canyons (there are thousands of these scattered about the SW mostly free). This whole area (Page, Monument Valley) slips between time zones unpredictably.

LA is too big of a city to be any one thing, and is certainly not touristy. The air is substantially cleaner than decades past.

mlgb

I would recommend trying to get a rental car with an enclosed trunk if you can. You don't need to worry about getting an SUV. Interesting but sometimes you can find a full size car at a lower rate than the smallest car, and it will be more comfortable on long drives...and usually the cars get pretty good mileage.

Okay since you are from Singapore, I would probably suggest Mexican food for your stop in LA. The Oaxacan place that is most famous is Guelaguetza in Koreatown.

Or the chain Loteria Grill is not bad and there are a number of locations,. I think even one on Hollywood Blvd.

For me from Long Beach I can be in Williams in about 7 hours as long as I don't make long stops. Add in about an hour from other parts of LA or if you run into traffic getting out of town. If there is anyway you can try to leave here on a weekend day that will help!

I think Death Valley is unique and since you're probably going to Las Vegas I would keep that and Yosemite over Sequoia.

I do like Monument Valley scenery but it does add a lot of driving. Instead of including that and Page, you could just stop at Lee's Ferry between the South Rim and Zion, and possible add in the north rim. . Then there's a a motel called Cliff Dwellers along the Vermillion Cliffs between the south and north rim of the GC. They have a pretty good restaurant and you will want some decent food after the Grand Canyon..(where it's ALL bad, and expensive). You will get a little of the Colorado River and red sandstone cliffs in htat area. I first stopped at Cliff Dwellers to try the restaurant and then a few years later we stayed there.

It's about 2 hours between Marble Canyon to the North Rim, and then 2 hours from North Rim to Kanab, UTah.

From Kanab to Bryce is about 90 minutes, but you're likely to stop along the way. So that's another option..Marble Canyon-Kanab-Bryce-Zion, with a side trip to the North Rim.

Linus1987

I'm pretty curious. Is there a reason why to remove Page? Antelope Canyon and horseshoe bend looks beautiful!

emalloy

Antelope Canyon is beautiful and if you have never been in a slot canyon you might want to keep Page in. Horseshoe Bend is interesting, and neither take too long to visit. There are places to stay in Page if you need lodging between stops.

If you are a fan of American western films, then Monument Valley will be familiar to you. Many also were filmed in/near Kanab and there are also hotels/motels if you need a place to sleep past Page and don't want to push to Bryce.

janisj

Linus: flying on to Las Vegas will not cost hundreds extra and you would NOT have to pay for luggage. Look at Southwest Airlines. MANY flights every day to Vegas with cheap fares . . . And they do not charge for luggage (2 checked and 2 carry on bags free)

Definitely consider flying from LA to Las Vegas . . .

MmePerdu

I think Linus's mind is made up.

michelhuebeli

That's like flying into Sydney and going to Canberra via the hassle of getting a rental car and driving when a quick onward flight would get you there cheaply and easily.