California road trip

[Dandock]

Holiday planning. Any hints, tips and recommendations welcome, please.

[ScotMac]

No tips ...... but will be watching replies ....... it is something I would like to do .......

[Dandock]

Perhaps we can have a meet.

[GMAN75]

My holidays tend to be spent lazying on beaches for a bit and general relaxation. I don't think you could pay me enough to drive a car through any part of the United States!

But if you want suggestions, take a look at Rick Stein's roadtrip. That looked interesting from a foodie perspective.

[Col M]

Skip LA
Don't order Chinese the same way you do in the UK
Highway 1 finally reopened this summer.
Adaptive Cruise Control
North of San Francisco is beautiful.

[Nuclear Nick]

How long have you got? Napa Valley, Redwoods, Yosemite, Highway 1 from Monterey to San Luis Obispo including Big Sur.

It was a long time ago we were there and Yosemite was closed due to huge fires so we were unable to get into the park but it’s on the list for one day.......

[Dandock]

How long have you got? Napa Valley, Redwoods, Yosemite, Highway 1 from Monterey to San Luis Obispo including Big Sur.

It was a long time ago we were there and Yosemite was closed due to huge fires so we were unable to get into the park but it’s on the list for one day.......

We’re probably looking at about 16-18 days.

[Zinzan]

We did this 10 years ago. Flew into LA, and spent the first night in a cheapo motel (picking up a car on arrival is horrible). Picked up a Toyota SUV from the hire place first thing (no queuing, choose any one you want from about a dozen) in bright sunshine. Drove to Long Beach and stayed a couple of nights on the Queen Mary, which is highly recommended. It's a bit tatty but amazingly original and you can wander pretty much anywhere. The view over Long beach harbour early in the morning more than makes up for the jetlag.

We then did Palm Springs, Phoenix, Grand Canyon (helicopter trip is well worth it), Las Vegas (interesting, but 2 days was enough), Hoover Dam, Death Valley (amazing, like stepping into a hairdryer), Yosemite then San Luis Obispo and on to San Francisco (great place - we were there for four days or so and would like to have stayed longer). Alcatraz is well worth visiting, but make sure you book in advance.

Overall we covered about 2800 miles in two weeks, which seems a lot but in practice wasn't a problem. It would be better in a Macan though.....

Flew back from SF.

Hopefully some food for thought!

[Miopyk]

We've done many road trips in the SW USA including 1 this year which was as follows:

San Francisco - Yosemite - Death Valley - Las Vegas - Grand Canyon - Pheonix - L.A. - San Francisco.

Some tips For California:

General

• Car hire is generally cheaper starting in San Francisco than L.A. especially one way rentals.
  If you're going to visit more than one National Park buy an annual pass at the first one you go to for $80 as it'll probably work out cheaper and you can avoid some queues.
  If you want to stay in Yosemite Valley and/or The Grand Canyon book early as the rooms are in high demand in summer and they get very expensive.

In San Francisco:

• Book the Alcatraz tour early as it gets booked up very quickly in the summer, Try the 9.00am tour as it a bit quieter and you'll get a better experience.
  Rent electric bikes from a location in Fishermans Wharf and do a self guided tour of Golden Gate Park, ride across Golden Gate Bridge and get the ferry back from Sausalito. After 4-6 hours you'll be grateful for the electric assistance with all those hills.
  Have a meal in China Town. Get a recommendation from your hotel concierge as they vary greatly.
  Go for a cocktail at the Top of the Mark at sunset for some great views across the bay (if the weathers good)
  Stay at the Mark Hopkins, we quite liked its old world charm and great service.

Yosemite

• Go and see Bridalveil Falls and if its warm have a paddle in the stream.
  Do the tour to see the Giant Sequoias

Death Valley

• Stop off at the Sand Dunes near Stovepipe Wells
  Stop off at Zabriskie Point. Very strange landscape
  Drive up to Dante's View. It's an incredible view of the valley. Watch out for the bees

Los Angeles

• Rent bikes at Santa Monica Pier and ride down the cycle path to Marina Del Rey - you'll pass Muscle Beach, Venice Beach etc. well worth 2-3 hours of your time
  If you like movies go up to Griffith Observatory in Griffiths Park and see if you can work out where you saw some famous locations in some classic films. If you want more details let me know.
  Do the VIP tour at Universal Studios, not cheap but worth it and the VIP tour at Warner Bros is worth doing too.

This is just a quick flavour. Let me know if you have any other questions or details of other places on the list.

Cheers

Miopyk

[Miopyk]

A couple of other points.

If your going to drive up or down PCH (Highway 1) check traffic reports as they have frequent landslides and you could drive 70 miles to a road block and have to turn around and drive 70 miles back.

If you're planning on driving through Yosemite to the other side the Tioga Pass is normally open from around May to September depending on weather. We've driven through in June and there was fresh snow that had only been cleared a few days before. Check the National Parks website for info on opening/closing.

Cheers

Miopyk