We are planning a trip to the States, arriving LA, and working our way through California, Arisona, Utah, Colorado and up to Great Lakes/Niagara and then to New York, allowing five weeks. Firstly, is that realistic? Second question, we are in a dilemma about whether to hire a motorhome, or to go with a car hire and stay in motels. Either way, we would be wanting unlimited miles on the hire vehicle. Can anyone advise us on the options and also, can you recommend a good car/motorhome hire company. Thanks

Cruise America (cruiseamerica.com) is one of the larger rental companies. You can go online and get a quote of price. While not an expert, I doubt you will get unlimited miles on a motorhome (commonly called RV for recreational vehicle in US).

I just went to this website and entered random mid-summer dates for 5 weeks just to see what it would cost you. The quote it gave was over $8,000.

First, this is about $200 per night. This does not include fuel, groceries and other daily costs. I would think that for this cost you could stay at hotels for less. And this does not even begin to take into account the nightly fees at campgrounds to park the thing - while some areas allow you to park in some places (like Walmart parking lots) for free, this does not allow you to hook up the utilities and certainly is not scenic.

Cost however is not the reason that many people rent RVs - it is a lifestyle decision. For some, the idea of having everything in one place, not having to haul luggage out of car each night, and being able to cook in the RV is very attractive.
Being able to walk out of the RV in the AM, see a sunrise or swim in a lake also attracts some.

For others (we are in this group) staying at hotels, eating economically (picnic lunch some days, breakfast included in room rate) is more our style - I want the extra space of a hotel room. And our research always indicates that a rental RV is far more expensive than we can do going the hotel route.

Considering your itinerary, unless there are things you want to see between Rocky Mountain states (Colorado area) and Niagara Falls, you might also consider renting a car in California, doing your west coast itinerary, and then flying to east coast and renting another car. Depends on what you want to see and how much driving you want to do.

Have you ever rented/owned an RV before? How many are traveling? You will have to book reservations at camp sites well in advance in the areas you want to go. An RV gets about 7 miles to the gallon and with gas prices the way they are it is going to be pretty expensive. Having never done this before, My husband and I rented and RV in Canada a few years ago. We got a 29 ft unit which claims to sleep 8. We were miserable. Too small on the inside even for 2 and too big on the outside. It was hard to maneuver in tight spaces (Can't even imagine driving in LA in one of these) My husband called it the rolling cess pool (he did the sewer duties) As miserable as we were the whole time, we took photos to document our horrible experience. The photos were wonderful. We had beautiful camp fires and dinner on the side of a lake. We would even do it again!

Not much help, huh?

In 2001 we took a seven week driving tour of the west. We started in Georgia, drove to New Mexico headed north to Idaho, west to Oregon, down California, across to Nevada and then to New Jersey. We put 12,000 miles on the car. We LOVED staying in the national parks in cabins and lodges (you have to reserve pretty far in advance). We also stayed in some hotels. We had a great time.

I agree with the previous poster. It is a matter of life style. The areas you are visiting are so beautiful but also can be crowded. Unless you are an experienced RVer I wouldn't do it. Rent a car.

I see that our discussion last July hasn't dissuaded you! Five weeks is almost enough for a coast-to-coast trip; the route you describe would entail an average of about two hours of travel per day.

One concern is the feasibility and added cost of a one-way rental either auto or (especially) a motorhome. You might need to consider an itinerary that consists of a loop, out to Colorado or Yosemite and back to the LA area.

If you are at all undecided between an RV and a regular passenger car, then you should go with the car/hotels alternative. As mentioned above, the RV has its special appeals in spontaneity and convenience, but is much more expensive. Also, although you have some experience driving on the right side of the road, driving a big RV is a whole new skill, for which many RV owners take special driving courses.

A car for absolutely, 100% sure -- and I agree that two different car hires and flying from the western to the eastern segments would be the most cost effective.

One-way rentals of car ar expensive, one-way rentals of motor homes are VERY expensive. Plus US motorhomes are not the dinky caravans one sees in the UK/Europe. They tend to be large and drink massive amounts of petrol

five weeks seems like an eternity - but the area you want to cover is enormous. Rent a car and do the western leg. Maybe even do a loop itinerary returning to where you picked up the car in the first place, avoiding the drop off charges. Then fly (either for Colorado if you don't do a loop) or from California to NW New York and pick up another car for Niagra etc.

Car, Car, Car. I'd do what others have said, rent a car for the western portion of the trip, return it, fly eastward and rent again. Be sure you ask about drop off fees, they can be quite high (for instance, renting in LA and returning in Denver will cost more then renting & returning in LA).

Unless you are an RV-er at home, know how to handle one, are prepared to spend lots of time in cramped quarters I would not even begin to think of an RV. Frankly, the last places on earth I'd even want to drive an RV would be LA or NY (I am assuming that you plan to visit NYC). With gas prices in the U.S. going up all the time you would be better off cost wise flying from one of our western cities to the east anyway.

If you plan on doing any cities at all I would NOT reco an RV. It may be fine for open countryside (although to me the numbers don't seem to make sense) - but in cities it is useless.

You need to pay to rent it, pay huge prices for fuel to drive it, pay to park it at some far distant place, and then pay for public transport - often taking a long-time and expensive for several people - to get into the city you want to see.

Second, five weeks may sound like a long time - but the US is a huge country - and you are trying to cover a very large amount of it in limited time.

If I were you I would see what you want in the west with a rental car and then fly east from Denver - if all you want to see is Niagara Falls and New York.

As a first step suggest you get a detailed map and lay out your itinerary day by day to see how much time you really have/distances you ned to cover. For instance two weeks barely starts to touch on the highlights of California alone.

Don;t know where you're from - but just to give you some perspective the trip you're contemplating would be the equivalent of driving from Amsterdam to Moscow - and back again - without even taking into account all of your side trips.

Would you attempt that trip in 5 weeks and really expect to see anything?

I've had a quick look at your old post to discover you're "2 ladies from Australia" that like RV vacations. I've never done a RV vacation so can't really help on that score but I URGE you to reconsider how much geography you will cover. If you want to rent an RV, stay in the west and forget about coming east. I can tell you having an RV in New York will be a real pain.

Let's see. . . 12,000 miles at 6 miles to the gallon at $2.40 a gallon. . .$4800 for gasoline alone!!!! RV's are considered a logical choice for distance traveling only if the owners are rich or care little about costs.

The streets of San Francisco...the winding coastline of California....the city of New York....there are so many places on your journey where maneuvering an RV would be a total nightmare.

Also, considering flying into SAN FRANCISCO and then returning home from NEW YORK...these are two cities where you won't want or need a car...so you can cut a week or so off your car rental fee by starting your rental a few days AFTER your arrival and ending it a few days BEFORE your departure.

Since the OP is from OZ, it is pretty likely the distances won't shock them or put them off. Aussies tend to drive even farther to get places than many of us do. BUT that doesn't change any of the great advice above.

rent two different cars and fly from one coast to the other

(BTW, five weeks is about right for just your western swing if you plan on doing much in California. 2+ weeks in CA, 1 week give or take in AZ, 1 week for the UT parks, and 1 week give or take in CO and there is a very full 5 weeks)

Don't worry about taking the RV to New York City. There's an acceptable RV park at a marina right off the Turnpike in Jersey City, with a fine view of the Statue of Liberty. It's a ten-minute walk to the nearest subway station on New Jersey's PATH system; pay $1.50 and be in Manhattan in a few minutes.

You might want to check out the place:

Liberty Harbor RV Park
Jersey City - (201) 386-7500

As of 2005 they were charging $60 per night to park an RV - on what appeared to be a VERY attractive landfill.

I'll throw my two cents in how about a minivan it doesn't give all that a motorhome does but it does have more room than a car and a better viewing platform. It also gets much better mileage than an rv and you wouldn't have to rent a seperate car for in town. I agree with making a loop if at all possible.

Everyone - you have convinced us - CAR IT IS! Thanks to you all for spending the time to give us this advice! We are now re-evaluating the trip itself. This distance is not the problem. Being Aussies who are used to driving - as Janisi pointed out (I do 190 kilometres per day just getting to and from work!) distances aren't a problem however, that being said, I don't want to spend valuable holiday time driving with nothing to see. Like when in Alaska, we saw pine trees, pine trees, and more pine trees! So I shall do another post about this factor and would appreciate all advice.

We've used a car for all our travels. We are tent campers. If you have done that, and do not mind the setup time and take down time (longer than setup) and enjoy cooking outdoors, that is the cheapest alternative. You can pick up basic camping equipment at any Target, K-Mart or big sporting goods store for about $300, which will pay for itself within the week.