Planning a west coast USA holiday

Tryin to plan a few weeks in the Las vegas / Los Angeles / San Francisco areas for later in the year.

I have all the usual hotel / flight search tools etc but would appreciate any advice from those who have been before.

In particular I'd appreciate advise on what order to visit the above cities i.e. which one to fly into first, then internal flights or drive and see some of the scenery on the way etc etc........ I'll probably have about 16 days to spend there and any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've done the east coast before but never ventured west at all.

Thanks in advance

in 2003, we did a similar two-week trip, flew into SF, drove to LA and thence to Vegas.

Booked it all thru' American Holidays in Dublin and found them very helpful. Priced the same trip by booking direct on internet sites and the price was almost the same.

A few thoughts:

Avoid the Sir Francis Drake hotel in SF: it's a kip.

We did the drive from SF to LA over about four days. Don't book accommodation for that leg, as you can have the flexibility to stay where you like. Carmel is a good place to stay for a couple of days, the Blue Dolphin hotel was good and reasonably priced, as were a couple of other small hotels on the same street in Carmel.

In LA, we stayed in Santa Monica, which was a good location, right on the coast. The Warner Brothers studio tour is worth doing if you're a fan of the movies or TV. The Universal Studios theme park is a good place for children, but not so great for adults.

We drove from LA to Vegas. There's a town about two thirds of the way to Vegas, the name escapes me, but it's on the right hand side, and is probably the only town on that road so you can't miss it. Anyway, it has the best outlet malls in the US. Good prices and plenty of choice, especially in the Ralph Lauren shop.

In Vegas, we stayed in the Luxor, which is quite good, although the rooms could do with a bit of a face-lift. Three days in Vegas is enough. If you haven't been there before, it's an amazing place. Try to take in a show if you can. You never know who will be there. We saw Boz Scaggs, which was a surprise and a real treat. I only expected people like Celine Dion to be there.

Car hire is much cheaper than in Europe. We upgarded two levels for about $40 for the two weeks and got a really nice car.

Hope this is helpful

West Coast USA

Thanks for that Slash....Very Informative and much appreciated.

Re: West Coast USA

We did something very similar to slash in August 2003. We flew to LA and like Slash went straight Santa Monica. We rented a car from www.skycars.ie before we left. We stayed in Best Western but it was about 20 blocks from Santa Monica beach. I remember there was a travelodge on the beach which was cheap enough. I was sorry I hdan;t booked that.

Without the car we would have been lost. LA is not a city as such, it is made up of loads of cities. Bevery Hills, Hollywood, Santa Monica etc. So we drove to Holywood etc...

We spent 5 days there, a spend 2 of those doing Universal and Disney. I would recomment both, bit preferably not on consequetive days and not on weekends. You can buy the tickes there. I think we preferred Disney.

We flew to Vegas with southwest. Basically ryanair of America. www.southwest.com The flights were only 60 dollars each as far as I can remember. (return).We were flying at 9, so had to be in airport at 7. Santa Monica is 40 miles from airport and we had to drop car back so we stayed in quality hotel beside airport that night. Very basic and old, but nice clean bed for only 50 dollars a night.

In Vegas we stayed in MGM Grand. But like Slash says 3 days is enough. We went Monday to Wednesday and hotels we far cheaper. Also apparently the place gets packed on weekend , so it was just nicely full when we were there.

From there back to la and on to san fran again with southwest. Flew into oakland airport. Actaully jsut remembered the quality hotel got us the name of this storage company that took all our suitcases while we went to san fran. we had a lot of clothes bought in th outlet malls in veags, so we travelled to san fran for 3 days 2 nights with only hand luggae. It was such a releif.

It was one of the bext holidays we ever had, and we organised it all on our own. Flights with aerlingus to LA, southwest internal lfights and then normal hotel sites to book the hotels.

Any questions post them and will replay asap.

When are you thinking of going?

Re: West Coast USA

Thanks Decbuck

Most likely we'll go last few days in October and first two weeks in November coz it's for my fortieth birtday and thats the time !!!!!

Flights with Aer Lingus are only €375 each atm which seems incredibly good value.

Thanks again

Re: West Coast USA

The flights are not going to get cheaper than that. I'd book them.

Then you know exact dates. Not sure if southwest book that far in advance.

Enjoy. I had great fun planning mine, let alone go on the holiday.

One thing I would try if I went to Vegas again is the $20 trick. When checking in, pass the receptionist $20 and say you'd like a room with a nice view, cause your on your honeymoon. A lot of the time you are upgraded to a suite. I only found out about this after I got back.


Again post q's if you have any over the next few months.

Enjoy.

Car Hire

For your car hire, use www.nova.co.uk - they use Alamo and are always cheaper than Alamo directly who are always the most competitive around

good choice

We did something similar in June.
Went for 19 days.
Flew to LA with Aer Lingus. Stayed in the Beverley Hills hotel for a few nights (about the same price as a desent hotel in Dublin) where you get a Limo courtesey car that will take you to Sunset blvd etc.
Hollywood is a dump but you still have to see it.
We then flew to Vegas. I would say 6 days werent enough here. Get the limo tour on your first night and that'll give you ideas for where to go back to. There is so much free stuff here that it would take you 2 weeks to see it all.
Go to a show. And most definitley get a helicopter to fly you to the floor of the grand canyon and have a picnic. About $200 per person but a once in a lifetime oppertunity.
Then flew to salt lake city and drove to Yellowstone park in about 6 hours from there. Its Another natural wonder of the world that has to be seen and not be confused with the smaller osemite park.
After that went to a rodeo on the way to San Fran. That was 1000 miles or so but we did it in a day. Then back to LA via giant forest and flew home.

My tips.
2 Days LA, 5 Days Vegas, 5 Days Yellowstone. 1-2 day drive to San fran depending on stops. 2 Days San fran and 2 days to get back to LA taking your time.

In between stop off at anything that interests you.

Honeymoon trick works. We got champagne in our rooms along with upgrades etc.

Hire your car from Hertz and get NEVERLOST. NEVERLOST you put in nearest hotels or addresses and it will point you right to the door without needing maps or roadsigns.

We booked Beverley hills and Las Vegas and anywhere else just stayed in the nearest best western that came up on neverlost when we got tired. You get the same standard with such chain hotels everywhere over there so you know what it'll be like before you go there.

Vegas Luxor is good but very very legolandish. Mandalay bay is more expenive but a fantastic hotel. Look at the pool scenes in the tv show 'vegas'

Book Alcatraz before you go as the boats that land on the island are booked out very quickley.

If you want to gamble in Vegas you really have to make time to do it as there is so much else to do.

Regrets : I didnt see Elvis anywhere in vegas.

Good Choice

Loads of good stuff in there....Thanks Daithi

Re: Good Choice

It's been a few years since I've visited but I'd add...

-- Don't forget San Diego (& cross over into Mexico for the day)
-- Get as much car (and medical) insurance as you can.
-- Motels (8ball??) on the edge of towns/cities are substanially cheaper than Best Western hotels but it's not for everyone.
-- In Best Westerns, a 'queen bed' is our 'king size bed' but I may be wrong.
-- Try to see some of the Sierra Mountains. It's fantastic.
-- Try Amtrak (train service) for some of your journey (see Sierra Mountains above). it's nothing like our version.

When I last visited America for a holiday, I travelled very cheaply for 2 days and then checked into a 'proper' hotel for the third day.

Good luck.

Re: Good Choice

Went a couple of years ago- my tip would be to hire a convertible...its fantastic driving down highway 101..oh and if you can, if you like the great outdoors, dont miss yosemite- heaven on earth. I personally wouldnt bother going back to LA- San Fran is so much nicer and all the places along highway 101 have so much to offer. Maybe its just me, but thought LA horrific- only used it to fly out of.