Hotel near Los Angeles Airport

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Ancutza

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Hi all

Planning a belated honeymoon in California of 10 days - 2 weeks in February of next year.

In the first instance can anyone recommend a nice hotel close to LA airport for the first night?

I'm planning on taking the missus to Las Vegas and then on to Death Valley, the Redwoods and Yosemite national park, on to San Francisco and a drive back down the coast to LA.

Is the time scale realistic? Can I cover that much ground in 10 days/2 weeks without it becoming the road-trip from hell. I know she won't want to do any of the driving!!! :eek:

I'd like to have some time (at least a day) in each location to relax and enjoy the scenery.

Anyone done this kind of trip in California?
 
Done roughly the same sort of trip ( L.A, San Diego, Las Vegas, San Francisco, L.A. ) some years ago and stayed in a Holiday inn about a mile or 2 from LAX ( the airport ). It was ok. There are plenty of hotels on a big long wide road to the airport there, you can get something swazzier if you want obviously.
10 days is cutting it tight, but it all depends on how much time you want to spend in Vegas, San Francisco etc. Near Vegas you can do the hoover dam, Grand Canyon etc. In S.F. there is Alcatraz etc.
Anyway, great holiday, enjoy it.
 
10 days looks very tight if you're doing the trip over there by car! Have you checked out the distances involved?
 
Ancutza said:
Hi all

Planning a belated honeymoon in California of 10 days - 2 weeks in February of next year.

In the first instance can anyone recommend a nice hotel close to LA airport for the first night?

I'm planning on taking the missus to Las Vegas and then on to Death Valley, the Redwoods and Yosemite national park, on to San Francisco and a drive back down the coast to LA.

Is the time scale realistic? Can I cover that much ground in 10 days/2 weeks without it becoming the road-trip from hell. I know she won't want to do any of the driving!!! :eek:

I'd like to have some time (at least a day) in each location to relax and enjoy the scenery.

Anyone done this kind of trip in California?
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I'd probably drive up to San Francisco on the Coast Rd- it is an easier drive as you are on the inside.

What we did last year was drive out to the Joshua Tree from La, stayed for 2 nites, then coast road (2 days), SF, Yosemite, back to SF via Lake Mono and Sonora Pass (wouldn't have done it if I knew what was involved, but still glad I did) and then La via the 5. I would have liked to go to Las vegas, but SF deserves at least 3 days (granted I lived there so I'm biased\|).

Some stuff here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054931226
 
Thanks so much for your replies. Yup! It looks like we'll have to either cut back on the route or to take a little longer over it!

Thanks jdwex for the link. It's a mine of useful information.
 
Having done a similar trip myself two years ago I don't think you are undertaking too much. We did 2500miles in two weeks. We stayed in some of the good places for 2 nights. I would stop in LA briefly, leave for Grand Canyon next morning, then head to Vegas, Yosemite, SF and back down the Pacific Coast highway, stoppping half way down. You have to remember the roads are far better over there and the driving much easier. MAPQUEST is an essential tool for planning this trip. It is a trip of a life time. Don't allocate much time in LA, it is a kip.
 
Hi, I think 2 weeks would be fine for what you want to do ... 10 days is a bit rushed. We did all on your list plus some of Arizona and down to San Diego in 3 weeks so it's do-able! The drive from LA to Las Vegas takes approx 6-7 hours I think, we stopped in Palm Springs on the way for a night. The worst drive was thru' Death Valley - approx 12 hours from Vegas to Yosemite ... main prob is that there isn't exactly many places to stay along the route plus it's very hot as you have to turn off your air conditioning in the car so it doesn't overheat.

Yosemite and San Francisco were my favourite places of the whole trip as the rest of California is very much desert once inland and the roadtrip views can look a bit the same day after day! From San Fran down to LA along the Pacific Coast Highway will take approx 2 days - but we took 3-4 days and stayed in a couple of places on the way: Santa Barbara (very nice) and Santa Cruz (very surfer and hippyish).

Agree with previous poster - LA is a kip and get out of it as quick as you can ...

Its a fab trip - Enjoy!
 
Done a simialr trip last year with the Grand Canyon thrown in as well over a 2 week period.

From my experience, It is best to spend more time at fewer places because otherwise you spend a lot of time on the road and not appreciate the areas you are in. I saw a lot over the 2 weeks but I only spent a limited amount of time at each area.

Bottom line is a minimum of 2 weeks required for what you want and you will be fine; another 3 days ideally if you want to go to the Grand Canyon as it takes the best part of a day to get there from Las Veags.
 
redchariot said:
another 3 days ideally if you want to go to the Grand Canyon as it takes the best part of a day to get there from Las Veags.
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When in Vegas, we did a day trip package to the Grand Canyon by small plane , took a tour by bus / walk, and then flew back in the small plane, all in one day. It was about a ten seater plane, very small inside - maybe this has stopped since 9/11.
 
Did a similar trip a few years ago - LA to SF & down to Las Vegas (what a fun place) biggest regret was not taking the trip to Grand Canyon (especially as it was ranked number 1 in the BBC series "50 places to see before you die"). One or two good factory outlets on route also if you fancy picking up some good value designer goodies.
 
Did a similar trip last month - did it in 2.5 weeks. We went LA - Big Sur - SFO - Yosemite -Death Valley - Vegas. Was blown away by Yosemite but Death Valley was just way too hot!

If you want to relax and take it in, I would recommend a longer trip, or cutting something from your itinerary. However, if you are like me, and like to keep busy, then 2 weeks should do it.

Would recommend Santa Monica as a base in LA. It is about a 20min drive from LAX. We stayed in the Ambrose Hotel, which was fantastic. Santa Monica is within driving distance of LA, but is a nice relaxed beach town - great for getting over the jet lag.

Agree that mapquest is a must - I was so glad of the driving directions on those hugh highways.
 
Did similar trip few years back. Agree with other posters- get out of LA- staying over night there is a waste. I stayed in Santa Monica- didn't like it- full of vagrants begging in the car parks. Didn't feel safe. Also the hotel we stayed in had an alert and we were excluded from it for a few hours while the police tried to capture a gunman who had been seen in the corridors ( really!). Nice place say for lunch and a trip down the pier but not to stay longer. Drive further and stay in Santa Barbara- lovely, lovely, lovely. We also stayed in various places along the way, some good, some bad. Would recommend Carmel ( to see how the other half live and to experience clean and very beautiful beaches and gorgeous restaurants and theres a mission to visit)- also from here you can do the monterey peninsula- its private so you have to pay to drive around but its a fairly minimal cost and its a nice drive - think you can do it in about an hour if not stopping, but you probably will stop- but not spectacular. Loved SF and loved Yosemite. Didn't get to Death valley or Vegas- had originally planned to go but was too much for two weeks. If I went again ( and I'd love to) I would go to SF- and look around Napa Valley, then Yosemite then back to Highway 101 and down along stopping in Carmel and Santa Barbara and then bypass LA and go to San Diego- havent been there but one of my brothers goes there on hols a fair bit and says its lovely and then back to LA but only to fly out.

My tip- do hire a convertible- it really makes the experience. America is such a pleasant place to holiday, for the most part the people are so friendly and the food can be excellent. Hope you have a good time.
 
Only get a convertible if the weathers isn't too hot - otherwise you'll end up having the top up all the time and the AC on full blast. Also the luggage space is limited on some convertible models.
 
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