Planning a trip to California and Vegas!!!
 

Hi All,
I'm planning a trip to SF, LA, Vegas and Canyon from Chicago in Dec'12.
This is for the first time I'm traveling for such a long trip with my family. Can anyone please suggest me as to "How to plan this trip". I have no idea about where to go first and what should be my last destination. I would much appreciate suggestions regarding interesting places to visit along with the ideas about places to stay.

Describe the family. Are you planning on visiting Disneyland or other southern CA attractions? Do you want to drive the coastal route or fly between SF and LA?
There may be snow at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon by the time you are there in December.
Are you planning on being back home in Chicago before Christmas?
Flying, driving your own car or taking the train are all possibilities from Chicago.

As many of us posted on you TA topic, we need more info.

How long do you have for this trip? How many people & who? Is it over Christmas vacay or earlier in the month?

Do you have your flights or can you fly into SF & out of Vegas?

I have not been to SF, although it is on my bucklist, but I have planned many Vegas trips.

I can run through my "process" for planning a trip. I start running a search for flights through Orbitz, expedia etc. To see who has the best rates on flights. Then I try to book with the airlines direct. I fly out of Pittsburgh and southwest usually has the cheapest flights and they are usually direct.

Next for hotels I start using the same sites then I use a site http://www.travelvegas.com to get codes that bring down the rate.

As far as things to do in Vegas, the Grand Canyon is a great stop. There is a company called pink jeep that we used. They pick you up at your hotel and drive you back. We had a great tour guide and I would recommend them.

There are also plenty of free things to see and do. Bellagio, Fountains, Bellagio Garden, Mirage Volcano, Fremont Street Experience. As far as places worth paying for I would suggest the Dolphin and Lion Habitat at Mirage, the Roller Coaster at NYNY, Shark Reef at MB, and if your children are younger Adventure Dome at Circus Circus is a popular stop.

I hope this helps and you have a great vacation with the family!

We are a group of 2 young couples and a 8 month old baby. We prefer flying first to SF and then Flying back from Vegas. In between, we can take car rentals or public transport for our vacation.
Our plan is for a 2 weeks vacation during the Christmas holidays. Budget is tight. Suggestions regarding the stay in reasonable hotels/motels would be welcome.
I would like a detailed suggestion regarding how much time we should spend at one destination and also, what are the places we can visit. Please also suggest how we can include a visit to Napa valley also.
A detailed suggestion about planning the itinerary would be helpful.
thanks.

OK, I would fly into SFO and get into SF, book a hotel as soon as possible as Christmas is a popular time for traveling families. Then see SF for 3 days or so, pick up a rental car and then start driving down Highway 1. The drive can be done with one overnight but 2-3 nights is better, stay in Monterey, Cambria (for nearby Hearst Castle) and Santa Barbara. Then spend time in LA and fly to Vegas, then fly home. The drive is boring through the desert. Southwest and Virgin American have cheap flights. Try to stay in Vegas midweek, the rates are much higher on the weekend.

Since you don't really know what you want to do in each place it's hard to set a number of days, but I'll give it a go.

Let's say 3 nights in SF which includes the first night giving you at least 2.5 days maybe a little more depending on your arrival time.

Rather than heading north to Napa why not incorporate your winery visits into your trip southward by visiting the wine countries of Paso Robles and/or Santa Barbara areas. Three nights on your journey south along the coast, one in Monterey, 2 in an area where you'd visit wineries.

Then on to LA for 4 nights. Let's go with at least 4 nights in Vegas so you can include the Grand Canyona and may a trip to Hoover Dam. Add more nights if you need to.