Hoping for Road Trip Help...does South West trip this sound ok???
 

Ok so we are planning a road trip, (well part flight) and as a Londoner don't know a whole amount of about this places, so wanted to get some views of whether the trip is missing anything super obvious are driving distances realistic in a day with some mini stop offs. We are planning for April time.

Many many thanks in advance

Ok Heres the plan.....

1. Fly London- New Orleans ( Stay 3 nights)
2.Early morning flight to Denver, than pick up rental and drive to somewhere in Colorado (Stay 3 nights Colorado)
3.Colorado- Santa Fe (Stay 3 nights SF)
4.Santa Fe- Mon Valley (Stay 1 night MV)
5.Mon Valley - Grand Canyon (Stay 2 nights GC)
6.Grand Canyon- Vegas (Stay 3 nights LV)
7.Vegas- Death Valley (Stay 2 nights DV)
8.Death Valley- Yosemite (Stay 3 nights Y)
9.Yosemite- Big Sur/Carmel (Stay 1 night C)
10.Big Sur- San Fan (Stay 3 nights SF)

Some comments.

-24 nights is our absolute max
- 3 nights in san fran, new orleans, las vagas pretty much set for us
-3 nights in santa fe- we have friends there so want 3 nights there too
-although we could do more 1 nights stops we are trying to avoid them to make is a little less intensive stop start-stop start (first road trip for us!)
-Would love some ideas of where to spend the 3 nights in colorado- it doesn't need to be on direct route from denver to santa fe, we can detour but would prefer to spend all 3 in same place.
-Would also love to have an idea of good mini stops within leg 3 and leg 4/ best route etc etc.

Congrats!

Super hard to find you wedged inbetween the 10
sports spambots du jour the mods cannot seem to stop.
stanleyhotel.com my fav where Stphen King wrote the Shining
have stayed ther would be my first choice for you in Colorado
gobreck.com is cute little further out cheaper on your way

visitsedona.com between SF amd GC.
El Tovar AWESOME at GC yosemite.com
Ahwanee my fav Wawona cheaper
treebonesresort.com Big Sur
stay in a yurt super cool
and/or
carmelcalifornia.com where
Clint Eastwood was mayor.
Make your day.

classic.mapquest.com
directions distances
for route planning.

wow, thanks so much am off to check these sites our now. Thank you !!!

in fact...after more research we are now considering switching Death Valley for Sequoia/Kings Canyon national park....oh so many choices!!

I loved Mesa Verde in Colorado (just a bit west of Durango and close to the border with New Mexico) but I'm not sure you need 3 nights there. There are very nice ranger-lead tours so don't miss those if you decide to visit Mesa Verde.

The South Rim of the Grand Canyon is open all year but you might still have some bad weather in April. Some roads within Yosemite are closed in April and don't open until mid-May or later, depending on snowfall (light this year so far).

After the wow! factor of the Grand Canyon I think the most impressive park is Bryce Canyon in Utah. Unfortunately, it's a bit out of your way.

http://www.nps.gov/brca/index.htm

It sounds like a nice trip.

Wow, there are so many places in Colorado to head to for three days but I think you definitely ought to find your way to Durango and take the drive between Ouray and Durango via Silverton. Love it. You could combine it with Mesa Verde which needs at least a day.


With so much else to see I'm not sure I would stay three nights in Santa Fe unless there is something in particular there you were looking forward to. One or two would be fine. That would give you some more time for the places in California.

Sequoia is a great park and worth the visit. If it is summer time then I'm not sure you want Death Valley anyway, much too hot.

I would cut Death Valley to one night and make Carmel/Monterey/Big Sur a two-nighter.

Car hire from Denver to San Fran.. I don't think most companies offer this, maybe Hertz , and pricewise they are usually very UK-friendly. Make certain that insurance is included.

I wouldn't do Death Valley in the summer.

OP stated this trip is in April. Great time to visit Death Valley.

Not sure where you should stay in Colorado, April isn't the best month to visit. Snow is starting to melt so the lower elevations are wet/muddy and the higher elevations are still snow bound.

You are going to be tired in Colorado. Jet lag, time zone change plus the elevation will combine to make you feel wiped out at the end of the day. Denver or Boulder is not a bad place to spend your 3 nights - you can day trip to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park and have the option of seeing things in the city at night. Plus you'll be at a lower elevation so that will help alleviate the elevation issues.

Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon - not sure that April is the best month to visit those parks. But since your dates are set just make the best of it, the scenery will be beautiful. I would stick with your plan of 2 nights in Death Valley, it is very different from the other places.

spiro: it isn't summer - they are going in April. April is the best time in DV.

HG001London: The first half of your trip looks fine. But a couple of minor problems w/the California bits.

• It is a looooong hellacious drive from Las Vegas or DV to either Sequoia or Yosemite.

• One night in Carmel after driving over from Yosemite and then leaving again the next morning will give you essentially no time there.

Normally one cannot drive across the mountains from DV (or LV) to Yosemite between October and May but who knows this year. Tioga Pass road is still open (almost unheard of since the road was built). If we get any snow between now and April (which we REALLY need) the road will close and you'll be stuck going the long way around through Bakersfield which is a nasty/boring/ugly drive.

No solution is ideal - but what I'd maybe consider is -- drop the car in Vegas, fly to Sacramento, pick up another car, Drive to Yosemite for 2 nights, drive to Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur for 2or 3 nights, Drive to SF, drop the car and stay for 3 or 4 nights.

If you still wanted to squeeze in DV, I'd do an overnight from LV and back and then fly to Sacramento. Unfortunately Sequoia would be a hard fit. It can only be reached from the west.

Oops, I missed seeing April.

I agree with InSandy that if you stop in the Durango Colorado area you could get to see Mesa Verde and also some of the spectacular scenery on the Silverton/Ouray area too. Durango is about six or seven hours drive from Denver, so it would mean a bit of a longish, but beautiful drive to get there.

You might find it cost effective to get an annual pass for the National Parks at the first park you enter, they are $80 and let you and those in your car into all of the National Parks/Monuments for free for a year. Since entrance into Grand Canyon is $25 and Yosemite and Mesa Verde are probably about the same that covers those with DV and some other sites as a bonus.

If your friends in Santa Fe would like a little outing, Bandelier NM is about an hour away and would be an interesting comparison to Mesa Verde.

Vegas to Yosemite is a long drive in April, Tioga Pass will probably still not be open. Do do be aware that you will lose some days just driving between the sites.

I do love Death Valley, I would leave Vegas early in the morning, go to Death Valley and either do a quick tour of the most interesting places and then head towards Yosemite or even spend the night and then head out in the morning.

Hope you enjoy both the trip and the planning for the trip.

oh wow, this site is so helpful- i don't know where to start with all the comments!! hmm thank you all i will properly look into it. Having done a bit more research i had switched my idea to...

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA: 3
ESTES PARK COLORADO: 3
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO: 3
MONUMENT VALLEY, UTAH: 1
GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA: 2
LAS VAGAS, NEVADA: 2
SANTA BABARA, CALIFORNIA: 2
CARMEL, CALIFORNIA: 2
YOSEMITE:CALIFORNIA: 3
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: 3

but it may need to change now!!!
il have a look through all the comment suggestions for sure

i figured fly to dever then 2 hr trip to estes park for a 3 day break and then do one huge old trip to Santa Fe and decided to skip death valley for santa babara in order to do the coastal route up to carmel.

(am also considering switching estes park for gunnison)....ooh so many choice- my map has pen marks all over it!!

Thank you all!!! thinking cap on for me!!

Your California bits look much more doable now :)

Be sure to pre-book your Yosemite accommodations ASAP. Yosemite Lodge if you can get in. You really don't want to stay outside the Valley unless it is a last resort. Travel times in/out of the park/Valley will eat up a lot of time.

Since you are now coming from Louisiana, I would skip Estes Park and go toward Albuquerque, NM (NO to Estes Park is 1400 miles while to Albuquerque is only 1100 miles). Either drive represents long hours through relatively uninteresting landscape.

From New Mexico you could visit sites in southern Colorado, such as Mesa Verde, or take the Durango-Silverton train ride if it is running in April.

Hey Michael, sorry i should have mentioned we are flying from london to NOLA and then flying on Denver to start the road trip there. We would find the drive fro NOLA to New Mexico too long so thought we were fly that lap and we figured Denver was the best place to fly into but now not too sure..... :-)

I re-read your itinerary. It appears that you plan to fly to Denver from New Orleans. Why? In April, Rocky Mountain National Park's through road might be closed. The same might be true of the road between Ouray and Durango. It might make more sense to fly to Albuquerque and drive north from that city to visit Santa Fe, Taos and southern Colorado sites.

Hi Michael, yeah i think you might be right ( i was trying to avoid it as there doesn't seem to be a direct flight and i am petirfied of flying so was trying to avoid changes)

Will look into hat option too, i am kindoff ruling out north olorado now as it seems to be the wrong time of year.

Thanks for your help :-)

If you drive between Santa Fe and Gunnison, don't speed in Saguache (pronounced Sawatch) voice of experience here.

You might look into Southwest and see if they have any flights into or out of Albquerque that fit your itinerary or America West (is that it? what goes west to Arizona?) and eliminate some of those long drives between New Mexico and Arizona/Utah

Ok....my latest plan is to fly from new orleans straight to New Mexico instead of up to Denver and then instead of doing north colorado, to go with the south. So 24 nights as this....

(Figured driving times a bit more reasonable- i hope!!)

New Orleans : 3 (they fly to Alberqueque)
Santa Fe : 2
Taos: 1
Durango: 3
Monument Valley: 1
Grand Canyon: 2
Las Vegas: 2
Santa Babara: 2
Carmel: 2
Yosemite: 3
San Fran: 3

Consider this instead of paying a drop off fee on your rental car: Fly from Lafayette Louisiana to Las Vegas on Allegiant.
http://www.allegiantair.com/aaRouteMapStatic.php
The rental cars in LV are among the cheapest anywhere.
Drive from LV to see all of your other destinations and return the car in LV and fly home from there.

Tom - we know you like Allegiant, but what good will it do to fly into Vegas since the OP wants to go to New Mexico??

They definitely don't have time to do a loop tour starting and ending in LV and hitting NM/AZ/CO/Coastal CA/Yosemite/SF . . . .

. . . Plus Lafayette is a long way from NO. Does that make any sense just to save a few $$ on a rental car :?

thanks all, i have been super busy re-planning more and more. We have slightly changed it (am sure will change again!) to

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA: 4
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO: 2
TAOS, NEW MEXICO 1
DURANGO, COLORADO: 3
MONUMENT VALLEY, UTAH: 1
GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA: 2
LAS VAGAS, NEVADA: 3
SANTA BABARA, CALIFORNIA: 2
CARMEL, CALIFORNIA: 2
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: 4

I.e we have currently decided to cut out Yosomite or extra days elsewhere.

Know lots will disagree but we were looking at in quite a lot and i think we would prefer to have a bit more of a relax time in NOLA and SF with an extra day in each as well as an extra day in Vegas, especially in NOLA as we are flying there specifically.

Im hoping this is now "our route" but i expect it will change many many more times!! :-) Thanks everyone.

Thanks for the car rental advice Tom but i think it may not suit us too much to have to do a loop, i really appreciate the info though-this site really is very helpful! And Janisj thanks for help too.

My only slight fear is what the weather will be like in NM in early April, we dont mind cold but would be a little nervous of very icy roads there or even in colorado. Apart from that we are quite comfortable with this routes as it cuts journey times and gives is a bit more time in certain locations.

If you drop a rental car at SFO that you rented in Albuquerque it could be quite a few $$. The drop off fee in Louisiana between NOL and Lafayette will likely be cheaper.
If you fly to LV on any airline, you can spend 1 day in LV and then cover Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and then New Mexico.
From New Mexico head north to Denver/Estes Park and then I-70 and I-15 back to Las Vegas. You can decide then whether to fly to San Francisco or continue driving the rental car into California for Death Valley, Yosemite and San Francisco.
Renting and returning at the same place is one of my mantras.
Whichever route you choose you will see some fantastic scenery provided the weather is good.

"<i>Renting and returning at the same place is one of my mantras.</i>"

That can be a REAL false economy. Even <i>if</i> you save a few bucks a day what good is that if you have to do some convoluted/hellacious loop drive??

HG001London: Back to your questions. It is your trip and only you know your travel style/interests . . . But if it was me and I had the option of 2 or 3 days in Yosemite--or an extra 2 days in Las Vegas, Yosemite would win every time. April is a magnificent time of year in Yosemite Valley.

Hi Tom, thanks for your info...i have to admit i am just making assumptions about car rental being available from NM with a drop off in SF and will pay extra for this providing its not too extreme.. i'm guessing the extra "fees" cant be more than $300? if they are then maybe il re-think but it does just seem like a lot of extra time to fly into LV travel to colorado, down to NM and then back onwards back to LV and then west to california. it means we have to drive down to NM and then back again and if this is case we may as well fly direct to denver no?

maybe i need to hit the car rental sites..... :-)

Thanks Tom.

Hey Janisj..ohh its so hard, i have to admit i am tempted by yosemite...I am willing to lose a day in San Fran (We plan to go again and t arrive by afternoon. Could also lose a day in vegas but pretty keen now for the full 4 nights in NOLA as we would have flown from London and be jet-lagged etc. But i could losed a day in San Fran and LV but is it worth going to Yosemite for just w nights?

I Guess it would need to be...

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA: 4
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO: 2
TAOS, NEW MEXICO 1
DURANGO, COLORADO: 3
MONUMENT VALLEY, UTAH: 1
GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA: 2
LAS VAGAS, NEVADA: 2
SANTA BABARA, CALIFORNIA: 2
CARMEL, CALIFORNIA: 2
YOSEMITE, CALIFORNIA: 2
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: 3

i could maybe lose a night in Carmel but not sure.....

oh its so hard!! :-)

Maybe first see IF you can get accommodations at Yosemite Lodge for your dates. It usually books up far in advance. If you can't get in at the Lodge (or <i>maybe the tent cabins at Curry Village) then that could help you decide against going to Yosemite. You could always go there when you return to SF on another trip.

If you can get a room at Yos. Lodge -- then it is fate -- you MUST got here :D

Hey Jasisj,

thanks i am definitely decided now on the last intinery with two nights in Yosemite lodge- (thanks for the accommodation tip!) you may be a little shocked but this trip in actually for April 2013!!!

i am an absolute made travel planner. All my 2012 trips were booked up last year so i am on to next year already. Booking flights in April this year, giving me a whole year to plan it out!!!

i know i am crazy, its mine and bf 30th next year hence the big trip and planning already!!!

Thanks so much- i think (**!!) i am decided

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA: 4
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO: 2
TAOS, NEW MEXICO 1
DURANGO, COLORADO: 3
MONUMENT VALLEY, UTAH: 1
GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA: 2
LAS VAGAS, NEVADA: 2
SANTA BABARA, CALIFORNIA: 2
CARMEL, CALIFORNIA: 2
YOSEMITE, CALIFORNIA: 2
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: 3

(pasting again for my own sanity!!)

Thanks again!!!

>>My only slight fear is what the weather will be like in NM in early April, we dont mind cold but would be a little nervous of very icy roads there or even in colorado.<<

New Mexico will still be cool and most likely windy. So far we're having a pretty dry winter, though, so the chances of you running into a lot of snow or ice are low.

Lee Ann

I'm glad you changed up the order a bit - from NO to Santa Fe will make it so much easier. I love going to California in April, the desert wild flowers should be beautiful and the weather warm.

April is still changeable in Colorado, but starting to get green enough to enjoy. It's possible to see snow in April, just so you're aware.

Glad to see you have taken time from Las Vegas and given it to Yosemite. IMO Las Vegas is something to see -- once! And not for long. Yosemite, on the other hand, is a place to return to again and again.

I would spend a night or two in Denver and then either south in Colorado Springs or go west and stay in one of the mountain ski resorts and head south to Santa Fe. If you head to the mountains, be prepared for snow.
Also, I'd put a night in Sedona into the mix and unless you are a glitz fan, skip Vegas. I'd add another night in the Big Sur/Carmel area. If you can splurge, check out the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur.

From what I have heard you can book car rentals from Europe without drop off fees or extra charges. Booking from the US you really wouldn't be able to go Alb to SF one way very economically. But as you will be coming from London I'm betting that will help the cost for the drop off. I just don't know which company/agency you would need to go through so can't help you there.

Your last plan really sounds very fun and should be a great trip. I'm glad you put Yosemite back in there. It is a wonderful park and I bet April is a great time to see it. A visit to LV is good too. I don't ever stay there long, but you should see it anyway.

From Taos I'd drive to Montrose, CO (a beautiful drive through some parts of CO that most tourists don't get to see) and take a look at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison - much smaller scale than the GC but beautiful. The drive from Montrose to Durango is gorgeous - about 3 hr.
I'd skip Sedona if you've spent time around Durango/Mesa Verde/Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon.

Not sure if OP will pick this up given post is almost a year old now, but here goes. I would be v interested to hear how you found the Taos to GC part of the trip. I am planning that in reverse from LV and was concerned about the trip between MonValley and Taos- in terms of what to see and how long the driving is. I used to live in NM so no worries about that part! I think I have just gotten used to UK driving times again, so even 3 hours now seems long!

EssJayWhy, the trip is for April 2013, they haven't gone yet.

Have to confess I didn't read all the posts - but what is the attraction for Durango for 3 days - and also for Santa Barbara - when I would suggest you come down here to San Diego - from Las Vegas - 5 hour drive - where there is a lot more to do/see. :)

Durango: day 1 take the Durango-Silverton train.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...57622636845987

day 2 visit Mesa Verde national Park

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...th/4086632556/