frankchoo4678

hi, i am travelling alone in vegas and planning to drive out on 11-14Jun to grand canyon, antelope canyon and back to city.
i need some advice on car rental and trip advice.

(1) i am kind of frustrated comparing the car rental price. the third party website like, carngo or renta-car.com seems cheap and they are getting the car from Hertz. but doesnt cover roadside assistance and though include GPS but before tax.when i look at Hertz website, the cost is almost doubled, and certain coverage has to be bought over the counter. no GPS mentioned.

enterprise only includes base rate, all insurance coverage and equipment is to be purchased at the counter.

i have also checked from budget, sixt and advantage. seemed to me some dont mention if they cover 0 excess damage.

should i pay and reserve the cheapest from direct car company website and pay all the coverage when i am there or should i

go there to look for one?

(2) is the pace ok? should i throw in other attraction sites like valley of fire state park?
Day Stay

11-Jun sat Drive to Canyon park williams

12-Jun sun Canyon park williams

13-Jun mon Antelop tour at 3pm Page

14-Jun tue Drive back to Vegas

cdnyul

Before the plague I frequently rented from Alamo,and paid their Collision Damage Waiver fee. of about $30 per day.
Sometimes used CostcoTravel, but you have to be a member.
(Are you in Europe? "Excess" is "Deductible" in NA)

If you have a cell phone, you have a GPS, just download maps of the area beforehand.
Pay for all the coverage before, this way you will avoid the emotional blackmail sales pitch at the counter.

There are many attractions a short drive from Vegas: Red Rock Canyon, Sloan River Canyon, Valle y of Fire the drive on rt 165 though Nelson to the Colorado River,. Eldorado Wilderness etc

clarkgriswold

Is your drivers license U.S. or foreign? If foreign, avis.co.uk appears to have good rates that weekend. I don't think you need "roadside assistance" since rental cars are generally in great shape (they don't want to have to deal with assistance calls), but if you want it for peace of mind it is not very expensive, maybe $4 per day? And GPS? Is that mostly for just getting out of Las Vegas? The rest of the trip is pretty straightforward, a map is all that you need and Avis will give you one of those. People easily got to the Grand Canyon and back long before GPS was around.
Also Avis has locations at a few hotels, you won't have to pick up at the airport location unless that's preferable to you.

J62

As long as you have a device with GPS (cell phone, or maybe even a tablet) you can get a GPS signal....
I like to download google maps for use offline. You won't get real time traffic info but the maps and gps work just fine.

Try it out at home, and download the maps ahead of time when you're on wifi.

You mention 2 nights at Canyon Park, Williams. It's about an hour drive from Williams to the Grand Canyon. Is there any particular reason you're not staying closer?

I've had good luck renting in the SW US from autoeurope.com

frankchoo4678

i am from singapore, dont have cotsco membership. i have no car insurance but to buy from the car rental company. i stay in fremont st and going to rent a car from nearby.

e.g. option A - if carngo.com offers $223 from Hertz for 4 days with $0 collison damage and third party liability BUT buy roadside assistance at the counter
option B - Hertz offers $543 with all three coverages.
option C - Budget $451, but to buy third party liability at the counter
option D - Enterprise $282, but buy all coverages at the counter.

which will be cheaper?

J62

I don't see anything close to your option A at carngo. That's $55/day inclusive of everything you need. It smells too good to be true., therefore I don't believe it.

You need to look carefully at the insurance coverages.

The rates i see on carngo do NOT include Theft or Damage insruance, the latter often called CDW.

you do NOT need roadside assistance
you do NOT need gps
you DO need theft and damage coverage - the car rental will NOT rent to you without that - whether it is insurance, or a credit hold for the entire value of the car.

If you buy insurance at the counter, these can several hundreds of dollars to your rental.
I repeat my recommendation to look at autoeurope.com for an all inclusive rate.

You also want to be sure you are getting unlimited miles.

andyg5056

As others mentioned, download Google OFFLINE Google maps before you get there. You may have to download more than 1 section if it doesn't cover the whole area you need. Don't forget the car charger.

When in Page, do not miss the Horseshoe Bend. Not sure what route your taking back to Las Vegas. I assume you'll take I-15. All depends on how much time you have to drive back to Vegas, or if your flight is the same day. There's a chance to drive thru Zion National Park, if you drive thru Kanab and Springdale. But, you'll have to pay the Park entrance Fee, even if you just drive thru the edge of it. But it's beautiful drive.

Car rentals, if you return your car more than 30 minutes later, as well as earlier than your return time, they'll add 1 more day of Rental Fee. Make sure to inquire about that.

Be aware of traffic possibility near any major National Parks. If Google doesn't show it, Waze is the other popular GPS APP that shows you traffic conditions and will re-route you if needed. But, WiFi or Cellular signal is needed for that. And, Waze will sometimes try to send you a bit different route only to save you live few minutes. It's better to stick with major roads if you don't know the area. But will give you an idea if there is a road construction or any other traffic on the way, if you have to get somewhere on time.

jpie

You might try an aggregator site like kayak.com to search multiple car rental agencies. I am seeing lower base prices than you have listed. Of the choices you listed I would stick with one of the major agencies Hertz Avis or Enterprise. The Enterprise price even after you add in insurance coverage doesn't look too bad to me when I look at the general prices on Kayak.

oldemalloy

Check to see if you can get lodging in Grand Canyon for your nights there. You avoid multiple trips back and forth and if you want to see sunrise and/or sunset you will be able to walk to the rim rather than drive on small roads with large animals walking about.

frankchoo4678

good suggestion Andy! may i know what route number are you referring to to drive through the park and enjoy the scenery? do i pay when i am at the entrance? i have the grand canyon 7-day pass.

i am taking a bus to LA the next day, so i have the whole of 14 jun to drive back. i can start my journey early and upwards to zion and visit valley of fire.

J62

Las Vegas to SF to LA is 1000 miles, or a minimum 15 to 16hrs on the road.
Las Vegas to LA is 250 miles.

So instead of going back to SF then taking a bus to LA the next day, if you went straight from Vegas to LA you would

a) eliminate 750miles on the road, which would give you...
b) an extra day to enjoy either in Utah, Arizona, or Nevada, or California

The added cost of a one way rental may be worth it.

J62

This is what the route from Vegas to SF, then to LA looks like
A lot of extra time on the road compared to going straight to LA. from Vegas...

clarkgriswold

which will be cheaper?[/QUOTE]

Avis is cheapest. $336 including all taxes fees and insurances (collision waiver, liability and 0 excess). Carngo does not include "collision damage waiver", it hooks you up to third party collision insurance which is totally different and can be a nightmare of time and paperwork when you return the car. With collision waiver you just walk away. Damage is waived.

Use the Delta Airlines Frequent Flyer discount code (K817625) when booking on avis.co.uk. (anyone can join delta frequent flyer online)

tomfuller

If you're old school (like me), you know how to read and follow a paper map. Your smart phone will function as your GPS if you pull over and consult Google maps if you are in doubt as to which way to go. I have a good US based car insurance company that covers me when I'm driving a rental car in the US or Canada. Some credit card companies have limited rental car coverage (check with yours).
For transportation between Los Angeles and San Francisco, check the fares on Amtrak. That would save you a lot of driving. The cheapest rental car I ever got was in Las Vegas (less than $20.day). Never rent from Fox (anywhere).

jamie99

I'd make sure to take supplemental liability in case of an accident.
Lot of sue happy people out there.
I've always gotten paper maps from AAA also plus if they still have the tour books they are worthwhile.

frankchoo4678

I stayed at Williams cos the lodging is too expensive at canyon and the nearby t-something town and Vale Town.

It's my first time renting and currently I reserve car rental Sixt near the airport which has the cheapest deal with all coverage. Skipping GPS. Seemed good but hopefully I have time to checked out hertz at the hotel.

Plan to drive out and return car at Vegas. Then take a bus to LA. Then drive from LA to SF.

I m interested about the route number from Page back to Vegas via zion national Park which Andy mentioned I might need to pay a fee to pass through. Any idea what route number is that?
Hope I have some time to look at valley of fire too.

In Vegas, Do I need cash and any minimum amount to visit casino? Or is it fine to go in and look around? Any nice restaurants to check out?

I planned 4 nights to drive from LA to SF. Any advice for anywhere to stay and good parks and nature to check out?

Yosemite is out cos couldn't get a entry. Red Wood is too far out.

J62

Rt89 west from Page, connecting to Rt9 to Zion/Sprindale.

Near the coast south (and north) of San Francisco are some wonderful state parks with Redwoods - many even better than the national park. Many of the best redwood trees areas were made into California state parks before the Redwoods national park was formed, so you can see them on your way to SF. Parks such as Big Basin, along the ridge between Santa Cruz and SF.... You can take main highway from LA all the way to San Jose, then over to the redwoods..

andyg5056

Directions from Page, AZ
Take S Lake Powell Blvd to US-89
3 min (1.5 mi)
Continue on US-89 to Orderville
1 hr 28 min (89.7 mi)
Turn left onto UT-9 W
Aroundt 42 min (24.4 mi)
to the Zion National Park Visitor Center parking lot.


Now, just because it says let's say 1 hour, count on making a photo opportunities stops just about anywhere you drive.
Good thing you you're driving back on Tuesday. It should be a bit less crowded than during the weekend. But, I'd still expect to be busy. The earlier your trip starts, the better.
The main problem will be finding a parking at the Zion's Visitor Center FREE parking lot. Otherwise there is paid parking available starting just past the exit (where the other Tool Boot entrance is coming from Springdale.
I'll provide some links with Zion shuttle info a bit later, you cannot drive your car around the park, must take the FREE shuttle.
As far as Valley of Fire... getting to the Fire Cave/Windstone Arch, just from the I-15 exit is around 30 miles drive and it'll take at least 40 minutes to drive thru that. I'm thinking if you'll drive from Page, AZ and wanted to make a stop at Zion (not only to drive thru it), you may be forced to rethink your plan depending on how your driving goes and where you decide to spend some time. Too bad your Antelope Canyon Tour is 3pm. would be great if you could do the drive to Zion the same day, before the sunset.

Zion N.P. is magnificent, and maybe someone who went to both, could compare them for you. But at Zion, thanks to the Free shuttle, and some basic walking/hiking ,you could see a lot!

Couple of pictures from Zion:

andyg5056

ZION SHUTTLE INFO
https://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvis...tle-system.htm
The shuttle makes most stops on the way up. Not the same on the way back.

ZION pedestrian entrance from Springdale (if you had to park there (bring your paid entrance to Zion)


Zion info guide:
https://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvis...-Infosheet.pdf

Recommended Stops / short hikes:
Stop #5 ZION LODGE and Emerald Pools trail
Stop #9 TEMPLE OF SINAWAVA and the Riverside Walk

Valley of Fire info:
https://www.earthtrekkers.com/valley...egas-day-trip/

jpie

"In Vegas, Do I need cash and any minimum amount to visit casino? Or is it fine to go in and look around? Any nice restaurants to check out?"

You definitely do not need cash or a minimum amount to visit casinos. And pretty much every slot machine I see these days does not give out coins anymore. When you win they just give you a slip of paper that you cash out at the cashier's window. I am not much a gambler, so others may let you know if there are different rules for any private or high stake rooms-which there probably are. But certainly slots will take US credit cards at least-not sure about international ones. But there are lots of ATMs in LV ready and willing to give you cash to lose lol!

Also, I have always heard that the slot machines at the airport pay out more regularly so that people get excited about coming back to LV-but don't know if that is just an urban legend.

"I planned 4 nights to drive from LA to SF. Any advice for anywhere to stay and good parks and nature to check out?"

Probably the most scenic route from LA to SF is the coastal drive. Santa Barbara is a town that lots of people love. Another thing you might find interesting is visiting some of the Spanish missions. Here is a link to blog that in general I have found very good for first time visitors to CA. This particular link routes out a driving trip of the missions, for your route you would pick it up at day two or three.

https://californiathroughmylens.com/...rnia-missions/

But the site covers lots of the questions you have around what to see in a LA to SF trip in general. Towns people tend to like to visit or stay on the coastal route are Santa Barbara are also covered in this blog specifically about a coastal road trip

https://www.theworldwasherefirst.com...ancisco-drive/

I hope you have a wonderful trip-sounds fun!