Short tour of the US west coast next year

[SucculentChinese]

We are looking at booking to go to the US next year for 11 days. We will be going over the October half term to minimise the time DS will be off school (they will have 10 days off in total).

We are planning on 3 days San Francisco, 3 days LA, 3 nights somewhere else and 2 nights in Las Vegas (we want to drive out to the Grand Canyon). I have priced it up with a travel agent and it’s coming in at just over £4000 for flights and hotels. We can’t really afford to go for longer plus the only times ds is off school for longer is august school holidays and it’ll be way too hot then.

So I suppose my questions are
A) is £4000 a ridiculous amount to spend for 11 days (we’d pay it off over 16 months)
B) are we crazy to think we won’t be knackered for the whole 11 days

If anyone has any tips then that’d be great

A colleague at work did a similar trip with two teenagers with Trailfinders

Also, yes, I second other's suggestions to do San Francisco to San Diego driving down the PCH. Skip the rest. You could do that in 11 days. I did LA to SF on the PCH with my mum when I was 15 (visiting universities and also a few family who live out there) and it was great. It's a lovely part of the country. You couldn't pay me to go to Vegas personally. Yosemite and Grand Canyon would be nice, but I think probably too much, unless you're doing more like 3 weeks.

Skip Vegas and do Monterey or Santa Barbara - or ideally both with the pacific highway drive inbetween. The whale watching tours are well worth doing and the Monterey Aquarium is a must see.

Ok I think I’ve just totally totally underestimated the travelling time etc. The order I put above was just me running through a list in my head.

We’re going to New York later this year ( we moved it from last year but obviously we know this year is very unlikely but at the minute that’s the plan). So I then saw a la/Vegas/Grand Canyon tour advertised on Hays travel which was over 8 days but it was a guided tour on a coach. That’s not something we would want to do (on the coach) but I mentioned it to DP and he liked the idea and suggested we do that later next year. I have a big birthday next year (but in January so too close to our (hopeful!) New York trip. I’ve always said I want to go to see the Grand Canyon and see the Golden Gate Bridge (not necessarily on the same trip!) and the tour I saw advertised was for hollywood, Vegas and a Grand Canyon tour so I thought oh maybe I can do San Fran at the same time! So I contacted the travel agents and they suggested priced it up for me and that’s when I came to ask for advice whether it was too much which it obviously is 😂

We stayed in Arnold, drove up to Mono and back down.
BUT
A car had gone off the road so we were held up for 2 hours while the bodies were recovered (no way round)

Op are you going to New York for thanksgiving?

We’re supposed to be going 5th November for 5 nights (DS is staying here)

Oh I’m envious! We did a west coast road trip years ago and it was one of my favourite ever holidays. I’d go in the summer hols so you have more time. We went for 3 weeks and it was perfect. Weather in LA and Yosemite was wonderful. San Francisco was a bit grey and chilly. Vegas was hot but a lot of the attractions are indoors with air con so I wouldn’t let the heat put you off. For the first week, we stayed in Santa Monica and loved it. We didn’t hire a car for the this week as Santa Monica has (or had at least) reasonably priced tourist mini buses which was much easier than driving ourselves. We used these for trips to Disney, Universal, Hollywood, Downtown. Also had some beach days and hired bikes to ride to Venice Beach. I’d definitely stay on the coast rather than central LA. We then hired a car and drove up to San Francisco, stopping at Santa Barbara and Monterey. SF is worth seeing and so glad we went but I didn’t fall in love with it and have little desire to return. Yosemite was the absolute highlight. We stayed in a camp in the valley, right by the river. Went rafting and riding, saw loads of wildlife and would love to go back. We then drove via Death Valley to Vegas, which is a bit of a Marmite place. DH loves it. I’m pleased we went but can’t say it’s a favourite place. We drove to the Canyon from Vegas. It is doable but a long day, especially with young children. We should probably have stayed overnight to make the most of it. We organised it all ourselves.

For your west coast trip I would fly into SF it's great fun for children, drive down the coast staying at all the fab places, bypass LA and head for San Diego (which we had a fab week in with a 13yr old DS) and then head back to LA for Disney and fly out of there. As all driving is within California you can get a one-way hire for no extra cost. Las Vegas is just one step to far. If lucky you will get a great view of Bryce Canyon as you fly out of LA.