Hi all, Want your advice on my tour.....
3 nights in San Francisco
Driving to LA using 101/1 (Day 4)
4 nights in LA
Driving to Las Vegas (Day 8)
5 nights in Vegas (with trip to Canyon)

Appreciate your advice on whether I could cover the must-see spots in these areas in this schedule.
Thnx.

I wonder why you are spending more time in Vegas than either SF or LA? Are you driving to the Grand Canyon for just one day? It's a lot to take in and you will spend a good amount of time in the car.

SF to LA via 1/101: nine hours
LA to Vegas: six hours
Vegas to Grand Canyon: six/seven hours

I'd suggest you shave one night off the time in Vegas and plan to spend one night halfway between SF and LA. I'd also suggest you spend two nights tops in Vegas and two nights in the Grand Canyon area.

Do you need to end up in SF to fly home or are you flying out of Vegas?

Jim,
3 nights in SF seems about right. Muir Woods is a nearby stand of big redwoods. Not supersized but impressive. Great early in the AM when the place is empty. I'd stop at the Hearst Castle between SF & LA and take one of their tours. Probably spend a night near there. I'm not a fan of LA so I'd shorten my stay and hit Death Valley for one night on the way to Las Vegas. Five nights in LV is too much for me. I'd rather go to one of the other canyons (Bryce or Zion) instead.
Depends on what you like to do.
Steve

Thnx Susan and Steve for ur replies. I am not into gambling at Vegas. I would like to be there on 31st. After that 3 nights and on 4th night, I take a red-eye back to NYC. So, during the 4 days (1st-4th) I would take a day trip to Canyon and Lake Mead/Hoover.
Steve, can you tell me how far is the Hearst castle from SF?
Susan, I was under the impression that Canyon is 210 miles from LV....thats 4 hrs?
And last question, is taking the chopper ride in Canyon worth the money, now that the chopper doesnt go inside and flies over the Canyon?
Thnx a ton for all your help.

Grand Canyon and Lake Mead/Hoover Dam in one day? Don't do it. It takes a full day to the canyon/sightseeing/back to vegas.

SF to Hearst Castle via 101 and 46 (not the scenic route through Big Sur!) should be about 4-5 hours depending on time of day, day of week. Going through Big Sur add 3 hours to that minimum. Suggest you stop on the way from SF to LA in Cambria if going on hwy 1 or San Luis Obispo if using 101. Five nights in Vegas would finish me off!!! Could you spend New Years in Las Vegas and then take off for the GC, staying a couple night in Sedona as well? I would also take one night away from LA to spend on the Central Coast in Cambria or San Luis Obispo.

I just returned from vacation in California. I would highly recommend
breaking the drive from San Francisco to LA, and stay overnight in the Central
Coast area.
If the weather is nice, the drive down Hwy 1 from Monterey thru Big Sur is very scenic. Just be sure to leave yourself lots of time and daylight hours, you don't want to drive it in the dark. We stayed in San Simeon at the Best Western Cavalier Inn, because it was inexpensive and had a restaurant, etc. $69.00 for a non-ocean view room. It's about a 5 minute drive from Hearst Castle, where you should definately plan on taking a tour. See the movie first, then do the tour, as early in the morning as possible. (There are several, take the one they recommend for 1st timers if you've never been; you might decide to do a second tour).
Also, about 4 miles north of the castle, there's a little beach area where Elephant Seals haul out to rest
during their journey up/down the coast.
It's marked "Vista Point - Wildlife Viewing".
We cut over to Hwy 101 from here and travelled on to LA.
I agree with the recommendations to stay in the Santa Monica area. The beaches are wide and long and very clean. Rent bikes or roller blades and
take off down the bike path/boardwalk.
Have a great trip!

Hi Jim, I used to live in LA and in SF and want to show my husband around but we also like Las Vegas.Your trip is the one we would do, three days is enough of the city of SF* with a side trip to Napa for half a day.Then drive to LA.In LA, I would probably stay 3 days, it is so spread out, you can't see it all,so three days would cover the highlights,I think..But there I would leave the car and fly to Vegas.Then fly on home to NY from there.**I say that these days are "enough" meaning, for a taste because you really have to spend months or years to really get to see them, but if you don't have that much time, a few days has to do~