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25th wedding anniversary this year and we are planning a trip to Vegas and california. The plan so far is to fly into Vegas for a few days doing the strip and grand canyon etc then make our way to San Francisco to do the west coast highway down to la.
Is it worth hiring a car and driving to San Francisco via death valley and yosemite or would you fly to san fransisco and and drive to yosemite from there.
Any advice appreciated.
Dave.
If it was me I’d ditch Vegas and go to Northern California. San Francisco and surrounding areas are fantastic
I lived in CA for 4 years and was never tempted by Vegas. Seems a bit of a waste of time when there is so much other good stuff to do (IMHO) especially if going for a week or 2
Enjoy !
We did San Francisco - Hetch Hetchy - Yosemite - LA
Loved most of it, Hetch Hetchy possibly an unnecessary detour (wife didn't enjoy the twisting mountain roads as much as I enjoyed driving them!). Yosemite was great. Can be costly and a bit 'controlled' but in my opinion that's what you have to do to keep areas of outstanding natural beauty, beautiful.
Driving back up West Coast highway was great, we split it in two and camped at Sand Dollar Bay, definitely worth it. Make a point of stopping at Half Moon Bay, see if you can see the Mavericks surf spot going off. All we got was flat calm and some stand-up paddle boarders...
Happy anniversary!
I too would avoid LV. The best thing about it is the relatively short drive to the Grand Canyon via the ahoover Dam. And be been to Yosemite a few times. We’ve always stayed at the at Evwrgeeen Lodge at Hetch Hetchy and it is magnificent. Well worth the stay. I’ve had a small cabin and camped in the snow. Built the largest campfire.
Other great places are of course SF, but you owe it to yourselves to go to Monterey Bay for the aquarium and possible whale watching. I also have journeyed north up through Napa and Sonoma to the Russian River and Mondecino. All of these would be much nicer than LV.
There are no crowding issues in Yosemite if you arrive first thing in the morning. They don't lock the gates (outside of government shutdowns) so you can just drive in and pay on the way out.
Don't bother with Las Vegas, it literally has nothing going for it except a rental car centre close to the airport.
I'd be tempted to do Northern California, Yosemite, then get a domestic flight over to Las Vegas and go straight to Zion.
Done it both ways around.
I think Vegas is worth a trip if you haven't been. It's still an intriguing place even with all the crassness.
The car rental at Las Vegas Mccarren airport is really well set up too. Less so at SFO. Make sure you get an on-site one at SFO. Some of them are a way away.
In Vegas try to avoid the weekend, and it's also doddle to drive in and out of.
I think there's more good stuff around Vegas than SF too. But the we like driving miles in the USA. Vegas hotels tend to be cheapish too.
If you did do SFO you could drive up to Napa which is relatively quiet and plenty to do.
Not a massive fan of Yosemite; too controlled and busy but amazing to look at.
We really like Bryce Canyon, and then maybe Page (AZ) for Antelope Canyon and on to Moab. So much to look at!
We pushed on up to Oregon last year from SF. Amazing forests but a big drive.
when are you going, first of all? Certain routes into Yosemite, and Yosemite itself are weather (snow) dependant. We honeymooned in SF, into NorCal to Tahoe, and then aimed to go via Yosemite over to LV and got caught by snow. This was in October, that was unlikely to clear sufficiently for some high level routes to reopen before May!!
As for LV - worth seeing once, at least, but it is an acquired taste!!
The most direct and scenic route from LV to Yosemite is the Tioga Pass which is closed around 6 months of the year so check this out depending on the time you think you'll be there.
https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/tiogaopen.htm
As for LV if you think you might like it you will, if you think you won't like it you might. Me I don't gamble and I hate Blackpool but had a great time both in the city, out at Boulder City (mountain bikes) / Hoover Dam and the desert as it was all utterly new to me. Definitely worth 2-3 days at the start or end of your trip unless you're more convinced by the California/coastal attractions as a one-way trip e.g. San Diego/LA to SF or all the way up to Portland.
Zion and Bryce canyon are ace. I'd do them then fly from Vegas to San Francisco. Tahoe also a good shout, great biking too. If you do go to Zion/Bryce it's not much further to Moab...
Thanks for the replies guys, we want to see the grand canyon, hoover damn etc so it makes sense to fly to vegas for a few days.
Did SF to Vegas via Yosemite/Death Valley/Zion/Bryce/Monument/Grand Canyon couple of years ago. As everyone has said Yosemite definitely worth visiting but drive is far, far longer if Tioga Pass closed. Death Valley is definitely a one night stay and take a pic job but worth it for the novelty if passing that way.
Cirque du soleil worth seeing in Vegas - was a very expensive night out but one of the shows there is only ever on there so worth doing.
Zion is definitely worth a trip - was the highlight of the trip in some ways.
On one trip, I flew to LV, took a car straight out up and down the strip and off to Hoover Dam (in the dark, as plane is not early). Stayed overnight at Kingman and then arrived nice and early for Grand Canyon and a walk to the bottom and back. Staying overnight in the Village needs a very early booking! Stayed overnight in Tusayan before leaving. Then drove down to San Diego via the original London Bridge (lake Havasu - surprisingly pleasant for a night). A long way, but you could head across to Monterey and then up to SF. Once you've walked the Canyon, Yosemite will be impressive, but a bit less so. Evergreen Lodge is a nice treat though.
I'm guessing as it's your wedding anniversary you won't be slumming it but avoid Curry Village for accomodation - I've had better nights in a bivy.
They're shit hot on speeding in Yosemite. And top tip don't get out of the car if you do get pinged. They don't like it and will pull a gun on you...
I like Vegas as a start/finish for a road trip. Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Blanding, Hanksville, Capitol Reef, Zion, would be a good route through Arizon and Utah. Then across Nevada. Via Tonapah if you really want the remote desert feeling.
Over Tioga Pass to Yosemite then San Francisco. Then down Route 1 on the coast.
If you can manage it the best times to avoid crowds at popular spot is early June (mountain roads open after winter snow or mid September onwards after Labour Day.
Fly home from Reno
That way you can stay in Yosemite, then drive Tioga Pass past Mono Lake and up to Lake Tahoe - which is an ace place!
Fly home from Reno
That way you can stay in Yosemite, then drive Tioga Pass past Mono Lake and up to Lake Tahoe – which is an ace place!
Between Mono lake and Reno is an old abandoned wild west gold mining town called Bodie, it's worth a visit too.
verses - we called in at Bodie - fascinating place, esp as we were he only ones there at the time
Drive drive drive!
And as others have said, maybe skip LV or just spend a day there to tick it off the list.
Or pretty much what irc said.
I have no time for LV but driving across Nevada was amazing for its scale. I did this having driven across the sarah. Still thought the American dessert swere brilliant
A one was LV SF car rental would be great. Calling in at as many national Parks as possible. Zion was great as was the stuff around Moab. We drove in onse side of Yosemite and out the other. We did quite alot in the Yosemite inluding back packing and climbing
Would recommend a trip to slab city and Bombay beach if you can fit it in. As above if you can get to Yosemite super early you'll miss the crowds. Wasn't massively impressed by San Francisco after seeing the rest of Cali, so only a couple of days there seemed a good choice.
Santa Cruz worth a look as well, had an amazing breakfast there, before watching the surfers.