Jess_Elwell

I am planning a 4 week trip to the USA in april/may time next year flying from london starting on the west coast and hoping to fly home from the east. I wondered if anyone could help me with an itinery and the best ways to travel?

We are hoping to see as much of the main destinations as possible in that amount of time, which i appriciate will be difficult. The main places we hope to visit are san fransisco, san diego, los angeles, las vegas, grand canyon, new orleans, chicago, new york, washington, boston, niagra falls and other national parks if possible. Have decided to miss out the state of florida as have visited orlando before and plan to do the rest of it in another future trip.

My main question is...does anyone have a suggested travel itinery for our trip to make the most of it? I accept it may be unrealistic to try and do it all in 4 weeks but would love to give it my best shot.

What is the best way to travel? Would rather fly as little as possibble as do not want to miss any sights along he journey. Have thought about using the amtrak train service? Is this advisable? Or by car but am new to this as my partner and i who i am travelling with will only be 22 and have never driven abroad before. Will it be expensive due to our age?

What are the must see national parks as only have limited time?

Would really appriciate some advice, thank you : )

joesorce

First you'll need to cut down on the number of places that you are planning to visit, or double the length of your trip.

Including back and forth to USA, you've scheduled maybe 13 or 14 days that are just "travel days" getting from place to place. That only leaves you with 15 or 16 days to actually "visit" anywhere. And if you train instead of fly....well, you won't see much of anything except what's outside the train window since your entire 30 days will be travel days from one side of the country to the other.

Jess_Elwell

ok thanks- so if i include flying would it be anymore realistic?

NeoPatrick

If someone asked you about an itinerary for visiting the British Isles including England, Scotland, Republic of Ireland, Wales, and Northern Ireland in a 5 day to a week-- then you'd have a rough idea of why we might react the way we do to four weeks for the US.
My first advice would be to only do Eastern or Western US and still you'd need to limit the places you visit within those times. Stays of less than three nights in most places, or at the very minimum -- two nights -- are virtually meaningless in my opinion. Or at the most if you've never been, do a stopover in NYC for three nights either coming or going to California.

nygvic

Here is what I might suggest :

Day 1 - arrive SFO from London
Day 2 thru 4 - SFO
Day 5 - Monterrey / Carmel
Day 6 - Napa / Sonoma
Day 7 - Fly to Las Vegas
Day 8 - Las Vegas (would do 2 days max unless you are a gambler)
Day 9 - rent car and do Hoover Dam and drive to Grand Canyon (5 hours)
Day 10 - Grand Canyon
Day 11 - drive back to Las Vegas (5 hours) and fly to New Orleans
Days 12 and 13 - New Orleans
Day 14 - rent car and drive (5 hours)to Memphis (Graceland / Beale Street)
Day 15 - Drive to Chicago (8 hours)
Day 16 & 17 - Chicago
Day 18 - Fly to Washington DC
Day 19 & 20 - Washington DC
Day 21 - Train to Philadelphia
Day 22 to 24 - Train to New York City
Day 25 to 27 - Train to Boston
Day 28 Fly home

Thats a full load of sightseeing based on the places you mentioned. Obviously you can tweek as you see fit but I doubt you are going to fit in much more given times needed to travel from city to city.

Jess_Elwell

thank you very much very helpful

Jess_Elwell

What is there to do/see in Monterrey, Carmel,Napa and Sonoma?

nytraveler

Sorry - but that itinerary is a disaster. There is no tht all of those moving parts are going to fit together. There will be delays somewhere (April is still winter in the mountains) and then your whole schedule will be off. And you have too many days which you are double counting - as days to get somewhere and also days to see/do something. If just isn;t going to happen. And adding the middle of the country to the east and west coasts only makes it more complicated.

And having 1/2 a day in Philly and 1.5 days in NY and Boston is simply a travesty. How much can you see/do in London or Paris in 1.5 days?

You really need to significantly reduce you number of stops if you are to see anythng much at all. I woud recomend 6 hotels at the most - so you at least have a couple of days in each place. Also, the more trekking aroud you do the faster the cost of the trip will escalate.

WhereAreWe

Car rental price will be an issue due to your age, unless someone can recommend a rental agency that has a reasonable surcharge for under 25 drivers. I just looked at Budget and they charge from $20 to $27 per day for a driver under 25.

I like the general itinerary that nygvic laid out for you. However I would suggest taking Amtrak from New Orleans to Chicago rather than driving due to the cost - a one-way drop-off charge plus the under-25 surcharge will likely lead to a pretty sizeable rental fee. Amtrak has a route from New Orleans to Chicago with a stop in Memphis.

Also, I would stay overnight at the Grand Canyon and then go elsewhere. It's one of those places you absolutely have to see but with your limited time, I don't think you should spend more than an overnight, just get up early and drive there, see/hike as much as possible and go somewhere else the next day.

Otherwise the car rental cost issue is going to restrict you to the cities and public transportation, so definitely make the most of the times you do have a car and see as much as possible.

I would skip Philadelphia.

I suppose you could somehow fit in Los Angeles and San Diego.

Based off of nygvic's itinerary:
Day 1 - arrive SFO from London
Day 2 thru 4 - SFO
Day 5 - Monterrey / Carmel
Day 6 - Fly to Las Vegas in the am, spend the day/night sightseeing
Day 7 - Drive to Grand Canyon, overnight there
Day 8 - Drive to San Diego via Sedona/Phoenix
Day 9 - day in San Diego, drive to Los Angeles that evening
Day 10-11 - Los Angeles, plus drive back to Las Vegas
Day 12 - fly to Chicago in am (or possibly late pm on day 11)
Days 12 and 13 - Chicago
Day 14 - train to Memphis, overnight there
Day 15 - Train to New Orleans
Day 16 & 17 - New Orleans, fly to Washington D.C. in pm(?)
Day 18 - Fly to Washington DC
Day 19 & 20 - Washington DC
Day 21 - ???
Day 22 to 24 - Train to New York City
Day 25 to 27 - Train to Boston
Day 28 Fly home

So, after all that you still have an extra day (day 21) so you could add that in anywhere. And depending on flight/train times, you can tweak this and squeeze in some extra time in various places. Possibly another day in Los Angeles? Or make a side trip to Death Valley on the way back to Las Vegas?

I switched the order of New Orleans and Chicago because of the train schedule, based on arrival/departure times it seemed better to go from Chicago to Memphis and then New Orleans rather than the reverse route.

sf7307

The problem isn't really the number of places you want to see, it's the distances between them. We spent 30 days in Europe and were in 10 different places, some for 6 days, some for only 1 day, and it was fantastic, but getting from place to place is so much easier because of the availability and reliability of trains, and the closer distances. Because the "stops" are so far apart, it takes longer to get places, in some cases essentially taking a whole day.

You might consider 12 days in California (San Francisco, LA, San Diego and everything in between), 2 days in Las Vegas, 1 at the Grand Canyon, then fly from Vegas to NY, and spend the remaining 13 days in some combination of NY, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington DC.

WhereAreWe

"(April is still winter in the mountains)" - Yes, but nygvic's itinerary didn't have them going to the mountains.....

"And having 1/2 a day in Philly and 1.5 days in NY and Boston is simply a travesty. How much can you see/do in London or Paris in 1.5 days?" - There were 3 days apiece for NYC and Boston, including a rather short train ride between cities.

"And you have too many days which you are double counting - as days to get somewhere and also days to see/do something. If just isn;t going to happen." - I see no reason someone can't sightsee all day and then catch a flight or train somewhere in the evening. It's not that hard.

Tomsd

I suggest you start in SF - and and spend a few days there and you could also do a day trip to visit a couple of wineries in Napa.

From there, drive to Carmel/Monterrey- and spend a night or two (Acquarium, Cannery Row, 17 mile drive, lunch in the artist's colony known as Carmel and leave early in the am - and stop at Nepenthene for coffee/breakfast snakc see: http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/

Then take the incredibly beautiful drive on to San Simeon/Hearst Castle. Even if you don't take the Castle tour to America's best castle - the small museum at the visitor's center is great - and spend the night in lovely Cambria.

From there - you could stop in Danish themed Solvang for a nice lunch - and sample their pastries/wine shops - and then continue on to LA or on to San Diego.

From there - it's a 5 hour drive to Vegas - and a day or two there - and also take a trip to the Grand Canyon (5 hours drive - or do a helicopter trip) and fly to NYC and finish your tour in the Big Apple and take the train to Wash, DC - and fly back from there, or vice versa (DC then NYC) at the end.

Tomsd

Also - if you do have a yearning to see the birthpace of the American Revolution (or perhaps from your viewpoint - the uprising in the Colonies Boston is also a 3 hr train trip from NYC - as is DC from NYC.

Tomsd

BTW - if both of you are "only" 22 - you better check ahead on the car rental requirements. Some companies want you to be at least 25. No problem - as you could take the bus/train from SF to Carmel, and down Cal, etc - but you would probably miss the beautiful coast drive.

joesorce

The first itinerary suggested would add up to between 12 and 15thousand dollars for the 2 of you and you;d be on a pretty hectic schedule even if there were no flight delays or unexpected bumps. Better, in my opinion, to focus on less, spend half as much, and have more time to enjoy each stop.

A car rental from NEW Orleans to CHICago for a few days is $600 or $700 plus fuel. It will all add up REAL quickly.

happytrailstoyou

Your itinerary is too ambitious for the time you have. Consider concentrating on the coasts and flying over what lies between. You are young. You will return.

While in the west, drive Highway 1 from Monterey to Los Angeles and visit as many of these National Parks as you can do comfortably: Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Death Valley, Zion, Bryce, Arches, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone.

In the east, concentrate on Washington DC, (Philadelphia), and New York City.

Driving and flying are the best ways to travel in the USA.

HTTY

NeoPatrick

As beautiful as the Highway 1 drive is, I'd hesitate to suggest it to a young couple who have admittedly "never driven abroad before" and presumably would be driving for the very first time on the 'wrong' side of the road while trying to enjoy scenery.

sandi

I'm exhausted!

Do the East and West, and maybe Las Vegas/Grand Canyon.
As to the middle... you'll be back.

karend2

I agree with Joesorce with regard to cost of your trip and car rental. Add to that the fact that most car rental companies you have to be 25 years old. Why not pick what is most important for you to see? Would you like to focus on the west coast or the east, try to narrow it down. I think for you the most cost effective way to see as much as you would like to see would be to go on a tour of the US. The only one I could speak of is Tauck tours which is considered to be first class, but they are not cheap. Maybe someone could suggest a different tour company if Tauck is to much. I would look into it, you could pick a tour that best fits what you would like to see and they have tours from 7 days to 30days, and many combinations to pick from and most meals are included.You travel in a nice climate controlled bus with big windows and many, many stops along the way. You would be able to see so much with everything done for you.

jvb1982

Did 18 nights in the USA this year, and we stuck to the West. I agree with the above, the travelling takes a lot of time. We crammed in LA, Palm Springs, Lake Havasu, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite, Monterey and San Fran, and over 18 nights, that was a push.

Rather than cram it into four weeks, at the age of just 22, why not go back again and again...you have time on your side!