Driving from Seattle to San Deigo
 

Hi we are coming to the west coast for a holiday next may, we will be flying in to L.A and wanting to stay there for 2 nights, then fly to Seattle and drive to San Deigo, any suggestions on where to go and what highway to take would be greatly appreciated, we will be flying out to Vegas after we get to San Deigo. Would 10 days be enough for this trip ? We can't really do alot of walking or hiking.

Thank you
Hawke

Your order doesn't seem to make much sense. I would fly into Seattle and then drive south - hitting both LA and San diego. Makes little sense to go to LA, the fly north to Seattle and then around and drive all the way south to San Diego - having to go through the mess of LA on the way. Probably a singe car rental would also be cheaper than first renting one in LA and the a second when you get to Seattle.

As for the timing - you can do this in 11 days - but it isn;t really generous if you want to see much along the way.

Flying to Las Vegas when you get to San Diego? Hope you are spending some time in San Diego, a beautiful city with much to see.

Do you mean 10 days from Seattle to San Diego or the whole trip.

I agree w/ nyt that your order of things doesn't really make much sense. But just for the <i>drive</i> 10 days is enough -- but not if you want to actually see/do anything much.

Seattle to SD generally along the coast is about 1500 mostly slow miles and easily 30 hours 'behind the wheel' time w/o ANY stops. In 'real life' it would take 5 full days JUST for the drive and the occasional stopover. W/ just ten days you really don't have time to stop many places/see much.

I'd re-think the whole thing and especially the order.

The drive from SF to Santa Barbara down Highway 1 is the main thing not to miss. You must do it north to south, to be on the right side of the road, and that's just spectacular.

Where are you from and what are you looking for otherwise? Scenery? Shopping? Hollywood? Glamour? It makes a big difference. We can help you better once we know that. FWIW Southwest's one-way fares are the same as their round trips so that gives you a lot of options to skip driving and, say, fly Seattle to SF, drive down the coast, stop at SB, then to LA, then to SD. That would be much more doable. I have done the SF-SD in ten days but no way could you also do Seattle and Oregom, IMHO...

Best,

Tf

Why not fly to Seattle or Portland first? Rent a car and make a loop in Washington and northern Oregon and then return it and take the Amtrak Coast Starlight south to either Sacramento or Emeryville and then rent another car for the rest of the trip.
Are you going for the coastal scenery or to see the cities?

I also don't understand the order of your trip.

Why wouldn't you go to San Diego from Los Angeles (about 2 hours) rather than San Diego from Seattle (about 2 days drive)??

>>rather than San Diego from Seattle (about 2 days drive)??<<

IF you can manage 22 hours driving in two days ;)

Sure, that can be done, but why would you want to?

Why not go to San Diego when you are in Los Angeles?

>> but why would you want to?<<

I sure wouldn't -- I suggested they reconsider the entire itinerary but until the OP comes back we won't know how much more 'persuading' they need ;)

Thank you for all your responses, we will be flying in from Australia that's why we were going to stay in L.A for a couple of days then bypass it on the way down the coast, good to know it's a five day drive without stopping we might have to look at a longer trip.

I get what you are all saying about the order, so we will look at it and change it around.
We haven't been to main land USA before so all your tips are fantastic.
Regards
Hawke

Would it be much more expensive to fly to Hawaii first and recover from the jet lag there and then fly from Hawaii to Portland or Seattle?

<i>what highway to take</i>

There aren't that many options but take Highway 101 in Oregon and northern California and Highway 1 after that--if you have time.

HTtY