GG1958

Hello all, well I am trying to organise a road trip - we are driving from LA - San Diego - to Las Vegas then we were going to drive from Las Vegas to San Fran via Yosemite - we don't have much time - we are hiring a vehicle (there will be 10 of us) and we had planned on leaving it in San Fran - our dilema now is - do we leave the van in Las Vegas and spend more time in Las Vegas (at the moment we have 4 nights) and go do things from Las Vegas and chill out maybe for an extra day there - and fly to San Fran instead of driving via Yosemite - we would only have a day in Yosemite and not sure if that is really enough to appreciate it - would we be better spending time to venture to Grand Canyon or any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
OK we are going in June - and there are 10 of us - and we are planning on a couple of days in Sandiego then drive to Las Vegas ...

Do we need to keep the hire vehicle in Las Vegas for the time there - or would we use it to go to Grand Canyon??? or is it better to fly ... Am going to check flights but any ideas would be great.

thanks so much in advance
GG

montereybob

After 2 nights in the artificiality of Vegas, I get bored. For true cultural stimulation, spend more nights in SF and less in Vegas. SF is an exciting city with many cultural activities and sights. Vegas is just casinos and glitzy shows.
If you can carve out 2-3 days to be in Yosemite, you will find it to be one of the most beautiful and enchanting places on Earth, but 1 day is too short.
Depending on the length of your total trip, you might need to make choices and save some destinations for your next trip. To really enjoy SF, you'll need at least 3 nites there. For Yosemite, at least 2-3 nites. 1 or 2 nites in Vegas is more than enough there.

november_moon

I agree with montereybob - I'd choose more time in SF and Yosemite at the expense of Las Vegas. LV is interesting from an over-the-top perspective - the theatrics and glitz in the middle of a desert is very unreal. But I enjoy time in SF and Yosemite much more.

boom_boom

Pick Yosemite or SF rather than more time in Las Vegas. However, if that is not an option, I would not drive LV to SF via Yosemite in one day. It will be long day. But if you do, it will be shorter if you go via Parhump, NV and Death Valley and on into Lone Pine to connect with US 395 which will take you to Highway 120 over Tioga Pass and into Yosemite.

CaribbeanChick

I agree with the above posters, but while in Vegas you can take one day and check out Hoover Dam and Red Rock Canyon....I would say 3 days Vegas max, add yosemite.. we're doing 2 nights there.
We're going to San fran-yosemite-las next week as part of our 16 day trip..

janisj

boom-boom's route may not be possible. Depends on when Tioga Pass opens for the season. Often it is open by mid May -- but mid/late June is also possible. They are getting heavy snow right now and who knows how many more storms are coming.

doug_stallings

I think I recommended this elsewhere, but if you have 4 full days in LV, definitely fly to San Francisco from LV and spend any extra time visiting Zion National Park (2 days in LV is much more than enough). You can certainly do a nice trip to Zion in 2 days since it's only about a 3- or 4-hour drive from Las Vegas, assuming you can still find accommodations. Zion is much smaller than Yosemite, so you can actually see and do a lot there in 2 days, where you'll just be fighting the early summer crowds in Yosemite and may find the drive difficult because of lingering snow. And I don't think the Grand Canyon is going to be open early this year, so it's not a certainty you could even get there easily from LV (the North Rim), so I'd give that one a miss.

hazel1

If you are even considering staying near Yosemite - and you can just forget about staying in the park at this late date - you better get some reservations nailed down. Booking for 10 people could be a real problem in June.