frankief

This is my first time to use fodors. Please help - have airline tickets to fly into LV and out of Santa Ana Ca for 12 days middle of Sept. Want to stay in LV for maybe 2 nights then head west. Would like to see a couple of shows in LV, don't gamble, some of death valley, maybe yosemite, and definitely hollywood. Please help with route, places to stay, see, do. Thank you very much

azzure

From Vegas I would take 15 west to 58 and then north on 395. Loop over to Death Valley on 178 & 190 (although DV would not be my choice of places to visit in mid-September) then rejoin 395 near Lone Pine. Continue north on 395, take Tioga Pass into Yosemite, then leave the park on 41 headed for Fresno. From Fresno take 99 and 5 down to LA. Easily done. I would allow 3 driving days for this route, plus whatever sightseeing time you want to build in.

As an LA native, I'm always puzzled when people say they want to see "Hollywood". If you want to take studio tours, there are a couple that can be recommended. Otherwise, a quick trip down Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards can be done in the better part of an afternoon.

The beaches and museums of LA are good to see, and if you're leaving from SNA you will of course be right next to Disneyland.

dwooddon

I echo the previous poster's sentiments about Hollywood. Aside from Grauman's Chinese Theatre and maybe Fredericks of Hollywood if your so inclined, Hollywood has very little to recommend it as a tourist destination. The movie and TV studios are mostly in other areas (Burbank, Studio City, etc) and Hollywood itself is a gritty, marginal part of Los Angeles.

The route recommended is also a good one but you need to be prepared for extreme heat in the Death Valley area - make sure your car is in excellent condition, have a broad-brimmed hat, a light long-sleeve shirt and long pants, and carry lots of water. Driving through should not be a problem but if you have auto problems, you cannot expect immediate assistance and the sun and heat can be literally deadly. If you have engine problems so the a/c stops working, the interior temperature in your car can reach 140-150 degress very quickly and in most areas in and around DV, there is little or no shade. That's the reason for the long sleeves, pants, and water recommendations.

RBCal

Most people are very disappointed when they see Hollywood. It would probably be more interesting to be in the audience at a TV show taping. The following link describes how to get tickets:

http://www.seeing-stars.com/Tapings/index.shtml

frankief

Here is what I am thinking about - LV 2 nights, take in a show each night, which do you recommend? Then to Valley Fire State Park and on to Zion NP, to death valley, from there to San Diego, then up the coast ending in Santa Ana/ This is approx. 15 hours in driving time. We have 12 days, what should we see in these areas, things to cut out, add? HOLLYWOOD - I guess if you live on the east coast, you think of all the stars, glamour, etc, so it's not there? Where should be go for this type of experience? Thanks for all your help. Will check out show link also. Thanks

janisj

what happened in the last 7 hours that you are now talking about Zion and San Diego instead of DV/Yosemite??

Anyway - azzure's itinerary is great - As long as you leave Las Vegas VERY early in the a.m. so you are to and through Death Valley before mid morning. (after that it is too hot)

Your new plan doesn't make much sense - going east to Zion and then back across to Death Valley.

BTW - if you do go back to something like your original plan - contact Yosemite ASAP. Lodging is very tight and you might have to hope for a cancellation to stay in the Valley.

frankief

I have nothing set in stone yet, except flying into and out of LV and SNA. I've very open for suggestions, when dwooddon was speaking of the extreme heat it DV, I thought perhaps we should go north a bit and now spend as much time in DV. I was thinking of it not being quite so hot by mid Sept., but can see I was wrong, just trying to plan a great trip on fairly short notice, so I do need lots of help, so you think I should stick with original route? When I figuredc the second route it was a little over 800 miles, didn't really figure first route, but I think it would be much shorter. Want to see lots of nature, coast of southern Ca, so we're open for suggestions again, Thanks a lot.

frankief

If it is really hot in DV, we will probably mostly want to drive thru in that area, so where should we devote more time. Also good places to eat, stay, not to miss things, etc. Thanks

azzure

Guess you'll have to let us know whether Death Valley and Yosemite are in or out of your plans. You can certainly go from Las Vegas direct to the coast, and thus see San Diego, the LA beaches, Santa Barbara etc., but I'd need to know what your priorities are. If you want to see "lots of nature" however, I would think looping up through Yosemite would be a must.

frankief

You are right, do want to see "lots of nature", so get me back on the right tract with places to stay, areas to spend most time in, etc. Thank you very much.

smartcookie

you should read about LA in a guidebook first to get an idea. the set-up of the city is different from most others. it's basically several smaller cities together, each with its own sort of downtown and charms, including Hollywood which is one without much charm. if you want a chance to see some celebs, you would have to walk down Robertson and Melrose where the designer boutiques are. The more interesting "towns" to check out are Santa Monica and West Hollywood. You can also do a studio tour at one of the studios. Only Paramount is actually IN Hollywood. Also, keep in mind that Santa Ana is Orange County and about an hour away from West Hollywood without much traffic.

frankief

Please let me know how long we should plan on staying around Yosemite and Deatah Valley. Thanks

frankief

Should we stay overnight in DV or just a drive-thru. Also, which of the beach areas is better to visit/stay in and around the Santa Ana area?

paula1470

You'd want to just drive through DV. As far as best beaches, the closest to SNA is Newport Beach. Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach are also not that far.

As far as your itinerary, do you want to drive down the CA coast? How much time to you want to stay in LA?
Another thought would be to cut over to the CA coast after you leave Yosemite. It would be great to drive through Big Sur but you would have some pretty long driving days. My suggestion would be to cut over to Cambria or San Luis Obispo and then drive the coast down to Los Angeles.

Day 1-2 Las Vegas
Day 3-5 Drive through DV, Yosemite
Day 6 Cambria or SLO (about 250 miles from Yosemite)
Day 7 Santa Barbara
Day 8-12 Los Angeles stay by SNA airport last night if early flight.

You'd have long driving days LV to Yosemite and Yosemite to the Cambria or SLO. I put Santa Barbara in there so you could have a more relaxing, less driving day but you would stay in the San Luis Obispo area 2 nights and drive straight into LA. You would want to time that so you hit Los Angeles late morning to avoid morning and afternoon rush hours.

If you don't want to cut over to the coast earlier then I would suggest going with azzure's route.

frankief

Thank you Paula. am going to play around with that route tomorrow. Today I bought a guidebook on LA, little worried about the driving in and around there, but would like to see some of it, just got to get the nerve!! Thanks for your help. Any must sees, must do's in any of these areas? Thanks

mrwunrfl

You can get a one-way fare from Vegas to Fresno for about $70 all in. Save some driving. Rent a car in Fresno, go to Yosemite and then drive south.

paula1470

There is no much to do in the LA area so it helps to know your interests. When you are in the US forum, go to the search box and type in Los Angeles sights or something similiar. There are so many threads on what to do in LA.

Driving in LA is pretty easy as the streets and freeways are well laid out. Get good directions, be patient with the traffic and you won't have a problem.

frankief

Want to see some of the stars homes, hopefully glimpse of some of the stars, maybe a studio tour, type type of thing, and where is the best place to stay to do this and should be allot more than one day for this? Thanks

paula1470

There are some tours of stars homes but I wouldn't recommend them. Most of the tours show you where older stars used to live. Newer stars value their privacy. Plus most of the time all you can see is gates and landscaping. How funny-I was searching for something else and found this. As you can see, I am right about what you'd see on a home tour. www.stardriveways.com/

If you want to do a studio tour, Warner Brothers is the best. If you want to see stars have lunch at The Ivy on Robertson in LA but it's expensive. I've never done it because I'm not that interested in seeing stars and I never recognize them when I do!!

I would stay either in Santa Monica (closer to the ocean) or in West Hollywood. If you stay in Santa Monica, you will have more drive time getting to West Hollywood. As far as how much time to spend, LA is so big, you could spend days and not make a dent in the things to do.