j1983m,

Thanks for your input, its much appreciated. We have booked the Mirage in Vegas for 5 days and this will be the last part of the holiday, so the other days will be spent in San Francisco and LA. From all the sites you mentioned it will be great, I can't wait to cruise down the coastline, think it will be really good, best part of the trip, although I am sure it will all be pretty damn good.

And the dollar has improved since posting this so even better :o)

Martin.

hi. regarding your 2nd question... in my opinion LA and San Francisco have a lot more to see and do than Las Vegas and would be well worth your time/money. las vegas is good if your a gambler but if not your days will be spent sitting by your hotel pool(or most likely in your hotel pool as it will still be 100+ at the start to mid sept). you will visit the other hotels/casinos take photos and enjoy the sights, this can be all done in 2 maybe 3 days. if its nightlife your after both LA and san francisco are great, better than vegas. in LA you also have the beach cities, more comfortable temperatures, OC, great shopping, hollywood sign, blvd, sunset, Griffith Park, great sporting/music events. surrounding mountains. you can spend a week there and still not touch on everything. san francisco, cable cars, alcatraz, golden gate bridge, north beach, lombard st, golden gate park, haight st. sf is more compact and can be done easily without a car. if your driving from LA to SF you will see the amazing coastline between them. it all depends what your into and what you want to do with your time. all 3 cities are so different and each one is amazing for different reasons.

Caroline,

Thanks for the input, some more good suggestions made. I think when planning a trip like this it is good to get the experiences of other, I have a good few pointers from both Alan and yourself that I am sure will come in very handy.

Thanks again,

Martin.

Sorry got mixed up with my geography there. I meant fly into Vegas, from here fly to LA & drive up to San Francisco, ditch car. Fly from SF back to Vegas.

Also, i think the 8nts you indicated in your 1st post for vegas is too many. I thought i would have loved Vegas, i mean i did have a good time there but the other 2 cities were far better, i wish i had spent more time at these places.

Caroline x

Hi Quinny,

just thought id let you know that last year i did a similar hoilday to the one you are organising & had a great time. Theres plenty to do in San Francisco, we were there for 3nts & could easily have stayed another few as there was so much to see. Fantastic shopping also, better than New York! I agree with alan that you dont need a car in SF as the city is compact enough to walk around plus the public transport is really gd. Stayed in the Chancellor Hotel on Union Square, fab location, would recommend it.

You could maybe start with a few nights in Vegas since thats your arrival city, fly to SF, spend a few nights then hire a car & drive back up to Vegas via LA, San Diego, Carmel Monterey etc.

When in LA i recommend spending a few nights in the beach area, maybe around Santa Monica, then spending a few nights in Beverly Hills or Hollywood area, as i found LA to be quite a spread out city. Definately need a car here! Stayed in Holiday Inn Hollywood Walk of Fame, 2mins walk from Kodak Theatre, Manns Chinese Theatre etc, again nice, clean hotel, would recommend.

Stayed in new York New York hotel in Vegas, nice hotel on the strip but i would prob stay in Caesers Palace if i went again, better location, more central on the strip. Would ditch the car when you arrive back in Vegas as its not really necessary. We also did a helicopter tour to the Grand Canyon through Papillon Tours, great day, around $110.

Caroline x

Alan, thanks for taking the time to reply. It is a very good starting point and we will be sure to take points from your vast experience when organising this trip. Maybe the convertible is not the best idea after all, I had wondered about boot space and the effects of being in the sun constantly when driving.

Your advice on doing the road trip first sounds like fair comment to me, I will start looking in to doing things this way round.

Thanks again, I wouldn't have known where to start really but now we have some good advice on where to visit etc :o)

All the best,
Martin.

This is a journey we have made many many times. I first did the three cities in 1983, I paid £299 return to LA so fares haven't gone up that much in 26 years! I love Vegas but only in small doses, three nights in '83 only 2 ever since, it absolutely wears you out, I would be tempted to leave that as the last destination rather than spend 5 nights at the beginning.

I would suggest you begin your real adventure south of LA, in San Diego. I found this by accident in 1989 when I arrived in LA without hotel accommodation in Vegas and discovered every hotel was full due to a Convention, they can have 50,000 delegates and room rates soar, incidentally whenever you stay there, leave before the weekend, hotel prices double from the Monday to Thursday rates. Anyway, back to San Diego, perfect weather all year round, great beaches if you want them, totally laid back and frankly the nicest city I have ever been lucky to visit (about 15 times so far) Southwest Airlines will fly you to SD in an hour or so, you might not want to book the flight on the day of arrival in case your Thomas Cook flight is late....

From SD you should drive up Interstate 5 and then onto Highway 1. This takes you to Laguna Beach, Newport Beach (think OC from the TV) and a good place to take the ferry to Avalon on Catalina Island owned by the Wrigley (yes, them ) family for the last 80 years. Anything less like California is hard to imagine. By now you are on the outskirts of LA, some want to do Disney or Universal Studios or attend a taping of a chat show but if that is not your thing, keep north on Highway 1, past Venice Beach ( still in a hippy wonderland of ...goodness knows what, safe during daylight hours, less so after dark) Santa Monica, Malibu and north towards Santa Barbara. You need to stop for at least two nights on the journey to San Francisco, SB is beautiful but expensive, Ventura just a few miles south is much less expensive.

From here the road gets wilder and quieter, you should see Hearst Castle, he made todays millionaires look like amateurs when it comes to spending and excess, then you hit Big Sur, Carmel and Monterrey, great if you like an aquarium...This is the last great place to stop before San Francisco. People say it is the greatest city in America, it is attractive surrounded by water, sometimes shrouded in mist and has an eclactic population. There is nowhere quite like it anywhere else, they were 'green' before we had even heard the word but being 'laid back' has its downsides. The city centre, around Union Square attracts a lot of homeless people who seem quite aggressive and frankly unpleasant, it is a city of contrasts between rich and poverty stricken. You need to get rid of the car as soon as you arrve, the hills are steep, that's why they have cable cars and parking is a nightmare, both to ensure the car doesn't roll down the hill and the price. It has a great public transport system which is reasonably priced. You should certainly spend at least three nights here.

The weather in September should be perfect, it gets cooler as you travel north but even in SF it should be pleasantly warm. It is also a good month to go wine tasting if you like that sort of thing. The Napa and Sonoma Valley's are about an hours drive north of SF but don't take the car otherwise the designated driver will have a rotten day, there are lots of tours to take where someone else takes the wheel. To get back to Vegas you could either drive, via Yosemite it you want or fly, Southwest again or Virgin America who have constant sales, they haven't been particualrly successful since their launch but the service is far better than even Virgin Atlantic.

When you get back to Vegas stay on the Strip rather than Downtown which is rather ropey and old fashioned and out of the way. The hotels on the Strip are a much better quality, linked by a monorail and it is an experience just walking from one hotel to the next. It can also be very hot in Vegas in September, so you need a means of travel that doesn't involve driving, the traffic jams can be as bad as New York or taking the bus, which operates once every 15 minutes and is packed ful of the elderly, in Vegas to spend their kids inheritance.

I hope this gives you some starting points, as regards the car the convertable Chrysler has a very small 'trunk' (boot) if there are more than 2 of you, you may find you have to sit with the suitcases on your lap, not really what you want. Open top cars sound as though they are part of the Californian experience, my experience of being forced to take one when the rental company had nothing else, was that after 2 days I was suffering severe sunburn and headaches. It is up to you, but I would get an Intermediate sized vehicle at the very least, petrol is 40p a litre so no matter how big it is, it will be cheaper than driving over here

Hi,

I have booked flights to Vegas for September next year (£461 with Thomas Cook - 2 weeks). We have no accomodation so currently have an open schedule as to what to do.

My idea was to spend the 1st 5 nights in Vegas, then fly to LA (roughly £40). Get a hire car in LA, see some sights (about 4 days) and then drive to San Francisco for a few days (about 4 days). Then fly from San Francisco (roughly £50) back to Vegas and spend the last 3 days there.

My questions are;

1) I have a quote for the car hire with Alamo for £199, a convertible Chrysler. Does anyone know whether this is a good deal or recommend somewhere cheaper? This is an all inclusive car, waiver etc.

2) Is it worth visiting LA and San Francisco? I have heard that there is little to see in either. In LA the Hollywood sign, Beverly Hills and thats about it. In San Francisco the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz. These are sites worth seeing but is there anything else, is it worth going to the extra expense to visit these cities?

I understand that Q2 is down to the individual, I was just hoping that maybe someone had done something similar in the past and may have some advice on what we are planning. We are a number of lads in our 30's and are looking to see some sites and enjoy the lively Las Vegas.

Thanks,

Martin.