Help with California itenary in April
 

Hi
I am from Uk and am planning to visit California with my husband and 10yr old son, for 2 weeks in April. My plan is to fly into SanFrancisco on 1st and fly out of LA on 15th.We would hire a car from SF itself. Is it possible to see Death valley and grand canyon too.
Your ideas and suggestions would be much appreciated.

The Grand Canyon is in Arizona, not in California.

If you want to include the Grand Canyon, the best way is to fly to Phoenix from Los Angeles and perhaps back to LA for your transatlantic flight home.

Can you tell us a bit more about your likes and dislikes - museums, beach? Also what budget for hotels?

Hi Back,
It IS possible to visit DV and the GC on this trip, just don't think of the trip as a leisurely drive down the coast of California with those 2 highlights added. From San Francisco it's about 500 miles to get to Death Valley(about 8 hrs.) and from DV it would be another 8 hrs to The GC. Then back to LA it would be another 8 hrs. If I were you I'd plan to stay a few days in SF then start your big trip to DV, spending the night there. The weather should be beautiful at this time of year. On your way to The GC you might spend the night in Las Vegas, cheap lodging and meals plus the spectacle of it all. Then on to The GC for another night. Don't miss the Meteor Crater south of The GC. Driving South thru Flagstaff and Sedona would be a treat. Then on to LA. The Beach weather may or not be good at that time of year, so don't count on it. Staying out of LA might be a plan. The airport is easily acessible from all over Southern California, altho the traffic can be daunting so try not to get caught in the work time commutes. One of my favorite sites for planning trips like this is aaamaps.com.
Good Luck. Email me for more questions, I'd be glad to help.
Karen

Thanks for your responses.I am aware that GC is in Arizona but am keen on seeing it.After reading a lot of replies in Fodors, this is our current itenary. Is it doable?
day1 reach SF, day 2 SF, day 3 drive to santa barbara along coastal route and stay overnight. Say4 drive to LA via hollywood.Stay in LA on Day5 and 6; day 7 drive out and stay in Death valley day 8 onwards to LasVegas, day9 in Las vegas; day10 onwards to Tusayan/GC ; day11 in GC; Day12 in sedona or flafstaff; day 13 phoenix; day 14 drive to San Diego and day15 drive back to LA to fly to London. We are not interested in museums but mainly want to see scenic beauty and rides etc.

I would consider more time in San Francisco, you could drive up to the Redwood Forest or over to the Napa Valley. Scenic beauty being your thing...you're also missing Yosemite Park in your itinerary. I think I'd leave out Sedona, Flagstaff, Phoenix and San Diego and concentrate on a little more time at your other destinations.
Day 1 Fly into SFO
Day 2 SF, Alcatraz Island
Day 3 Redwoods or Napa
Day 4 Drive to Lake Tahoe, overnight
Day 5 Drive to Yosemite, overnight
Day 6 Yosemite
Day 7 Drive to Las Vegas through Death Valley, arriving late LV
Day 8 LV
Day 9 LV, Red Rock Canyon? Lake Mead?
Day10 Drive to Zion National Park, overnight
Day 11 Drive to Lake Powell, Page, then on to Grand Canyon overnight
Day 12 Grand Canyon
Day 13 Drive to Los Angeles
Day 14 Los Angeles
Day 15 Los Angeles departure

The drive from Yosemite to Death Valley would be very long because the direct route over Tioga Pass will probably still be closed in April.

tt

Curious

Thanks for your itenary.But I got an impression that the coastal drive from San Francisco to LA is worth doing, hence I left Yosemite out.Is one in LA enough?

Do you mean one night in LA? Depends on what you want to see. Do you have some specific sights that are on your must see list?

Well, you do have plenty of rides in your itinerary, close to 2000 miles worth, or 5 times the distance from London to Edinburgh. Most of the drive is desert, which gets pretty boring after a few hours. I would probably try to cover a bit less ground, with more time to see and do things along the way. For example, I like San Diego, but I wouldn't do a long drive for it if I couldn't spend at least two days there. If you want to drive the coast, allow time to get out of the car once in a while.

Dear English lady,
Sounds like you want to see the coast which means you'll probably have to pass on Lake Tahoe/Yosemite for this trip. By the way, all 3 are spectacular. So if SF, LA, GC and DV are your passions I'd do:

Day 1 -arrive SF
Day 2 -overnight SF
Day 3 -drive to Muir Woods, sleep SF
Day 4 -drive Hwy 1 to Santa Barbara
Day 5 -overnight Santa Barbara or further south in Cambria to tour Hearst Castle
Day 6/7 -drive to LA, stay 2 nights. You could tour Universal Studios, go to Disneyland or if you know in advance your exact days perhaps get tickets to a TV show taping
Day 8 -drive to Death Valley, spend night
Day 9/10/11/12 -Do a clockwise loop around Zion NP - Page,AZ - south rim of the Grand Canyon, ending in Flagstaff. You could visit the Glen Canyon Dam & Lake Powell near Page
Day 13 -drive to Sedona, AZ, visit Jerome, AZ, spend night in Sedona
Day 14 -Drive to LA via I-40. This will be a 6+ hour day of driving
Day 15 -depart LAX

I would skip Muir Woods and go to Sequoia National Park. The trees there are the most impressive in my opinion. Sequoia is not that far from Death Valley. I personally think you are trying to fit to much into two weeks. You should allow 3 days for San Fran. 3 days for Death Valley. 2 days for Grand Canyon. 3 for LA. This way you get to experience them, instead of only passing through them. Your 10 year old will be most impressed with trees in Sequoia, and Grand Canyon. I can almost guarantee that.

Wow that is a lot of driving. But a few clarifications. I think it would be nice to see the Muir Redwoods. Just North of SF. Easy day trip. You can drive from SF down through carmel/monterrey, but your son would probably love the aquarium in Monterrey. Route 1 is beautiful and worth the drive. Its about 90 miles from Carmel to the Hearst Castle..which, BTW I would skip. Not of much interest to Europeans. Cambria comes well before Santa Barbara, so don't plan on sleeping there. If you find its night and you're coming off route #1, stay in San Luis Obispo.. lovely Calif. Mission there. Then head down #101 to Santa Barbara and into LA. Do see Universal studios, skip Disneyland you have one in Paris. If I were you, I would ditch your car in LA. Fly from Burbank airport to Las Vegas with Southwest Airlines...cheap rates. Then get another car in Vegas and see what you can. I'd then fly back from Vegas to LAX and home. The drive from LA to Vegas is NOT interesting. You could see the REAL desert and all that you want outside of Vegas if you fly across the boring parts.

Thanks for the itenary, we liked it but I see it doesn't include Las Vegas.Wanted to see what Vegas is all about. We have seen Disney in Orlando, so if necessary we might skip Disney in CA. Wanted to know a bit about Universal studio. Where is the best place to stay in LA, which is not too expensive and not too far away.

Can you fly home from Las Vegas instead of Los Angeles?

Day 1 &
Day 2 Arrive SFO
Take Bart to hotel (don't
rent a car). Stay in
Hotel Argonaut or Hyatt
Embarcadaro. See Golden
Gate Bridge, Alcatraz,
Chinatown, Fishermans
Wharf, Cable Cars. Take a
Segway Tour.

Day 3 Rent a car
Drive to Sequoia National
Park (5 hour drive). See
General Sherman tree. This
is the largest tree in the
world and is considered
the largest living thing,
by some. There are some
great hiking opportunities
here. This place is in a
setting simlar to Yosemite,
but not nearly as crowded.
Stay and Dine in Wuksachi
Lodge.

Day 4 &
Day 5 Drive to Death Valley
Lodging in Furnace Creek
Ranch or Furnace Creek Inn.
The Inn has a great dining.
See- Scotty's Castle, Sand
Dunes, Arist Drive, 20 Mule
Team Canyon Drive, Artist
Drive, Devils Golf Course,
Natural Bridge, Ubahebe
Crater.

Day 6 Drive to Vegas (2-3 hour)
Stay anywhere and dine
anywhere. Everything is on a
large and grand scale. It is
something to see, but I don't
really like it, and a 10 year
old won't have that much to
do. You could see one of the
"O" shows. Cirque, KA, or
Mystere. Lake Mead and
Hoover Dam is a good
attraction.

Day 7&
Day 8 Drive to Grand Canyon
Stay in El Tovar if possibl.
Hike part of the way into
canyon. Take a helicopter
tour.

Day 9 Drive to LA
Long boring drive

Day 10-13 LA Hollywood,Universal
Knottsberry Farm.

Day 14 Drive scenic coastal route
back to SFO. See Big Sur
along the way.

Day 15 Goodbye USA

A word of advise. Make sure you have plenty of gas. You may go many miles in Sequoia, Death Valley and Grand Canyon routes before seeing gas.

Listen to Kleroux's suggestions - they are the best. She's right on. Fabulous drive and scenery! A MUST! That is what I was going to suggest. Take the flight from Burbank to LV - best use of your time. Enjoy! Not that Yosemite and Lake Tahoe and all the other sites aren't fabulous - they are - but you only have two weeks - enjoy each day.

Thanks for everyone's response.Spirobulldog, I really liked your itenary.Have a couple of questions abt Hoover Dam and Glassbridge in GC. How long does it take to drive to and see Hoover Dam.Is it possible to see the new skywalk(glass bridge) the same day? How far away is it? Is it worth the effort?

I think you should allow about 1/2 a day to see the dam from Vegas. Be sure and take the tour that takes you down the elevator to the bottom and inside of it. I think the Glass Bridge is not worth the effort unless you just happen to be going that way in the first place. I think my itenary would work for you and you would get to see pretty much everything. It only included one full day of driving. It would be the only really boring day of driving. The rest of it would be fairly scenic.

We did the San Francisco area awhile ago in early May and loved it.

I've been to LA and it really isn't all that great. Hollywood is cool, but you might just want to fly out of Las Vegas.

We went north of San Fran into wine country. Probably not that exciting for a 10 year old! But we LOVED Monterey. He would love that too. We enjoyed the wharf there more than the one in San Fran. And there are sea lions and otters swimming right in the bay. The aquarium there is really the best I've ever seen, and I'm not a huge aquarium fan.

Try to arrange a babysitter through the hotel for one night in Vegas. Vegas has changed a lot over the years and now has a ton of things for the kids to see (make sure to hit the aquarium at Mandolin Bay - very cool), but it is still a town for adults. Kids can't venture off the walkway path inside the casinos at all.

I've heard terrible things about the glass walkway at the Grand Canyon (like you can't take your camera out there) and I think it is really far away from the main viewing area. People say to skip it.

Welcome to the USA! And don't forget to get in some shopping! Vegas has a nice mall and the Caesar's Palace shops. The dollar is so woeful you can find plenty of bargains!

Thanks for all the great ideas. Is there anything interesting to do or see in Las Vegas during the day time? Can you suggest any websites for hotels deals in Las Vegas, San Francisco and LA?

Las Vegas has tons to do in during the day. Each casino is like an amusement park. You will want to walk the entire strip going into each hotel. The lobbies are amazing, and each of them usually have at least one family attraction to see. BRING COMFY SHOES. The thing about Vegas is that your brain says, "well it is only three hotels away", but your legs will tell you that it is actually three miles away.

And the pools in Vegas tend to only be open during the day. They want people gambling at night, not hanging out in the hot tub.

Go on the hotel's website and see what they each have to offer. It is the only place I know of where the hotel is an attraction by itself.

Consider Columbus Motor Inn for San Francisco, great neighborhood and no extra charge for parking (other hotels charge $15 to $40 per night).

In Vegas, April can be tricky as there are conventions so book soon. Sun - Thurs are generally bargains if you can arrange your dates accordingly, rates on Fri and Sat will triple.

For L.A. it totally depends on what you plan to see and do. You don't want a hotel that is all the way across the city from your planned attractions, especially if your time there is only a day or two.

I know you won't be coming to the US every year, but I would really save Vegas/Grand Canyon/Sedona for a seperate trip as there is much to see and enjoy in Arizona/Nevada.

If you stick to California, which is huge and varied you could go to:

San Francisco
Napa Valley
Monterey
Tahoe
Yosemite
Death Valley
Santa Barbara
Los Angeles

All these places are worth seeing and I would shave off a couple to make the most of my trip.

Yosemite is awesome in April and I think you would not want to miss it.

As awesome as the coastal drive in California is, you can get a wonderful taste of it between San Francisco and Pescadero on a day trip, or enjoy one of the most scenic sections in Monterey/Pacific Grove area.

Also if you cut out Grand Canyon side trip you could potentially go down to San Diego.

I would strongly recommend planning your trip around California alone, just so that you can spend a little less time on the road.

If you want to gamble, spend one night up at Lake Tahoe.

Enjoy!