San Fran to vegas trip of a lifetime with a toddler, desperate for advice

[Nipo]

Hi

I have just booked our dream holiday and after reading loads of posts and recommendations I'm feeling slightly frazzled and would love some advice..

We fly in to San Fran on 26th April and out of vegas on the 11th may. I was thinking it would be a quite time post spring break, however it appears that its one of the best times to visit Yosemite national park....

I was thinking the following, based on research and reading forums

26/27 - Maker hotel San Fran (we have been here before)
28 - motel?
29/30 - evergreen lodge or Tenaya lodge
1- motel en route
2 -monterey
3 -monterey
4/5 - anaheim disney
6/7 - san diego
8 - motel en route
9/10/11 - vegas - mgm grand or venetian

Is this crazy in terms of driving?
Can i risk not booking hotels for every night with a toddler?
Is it a massive loss not doing the grand canyon?
Am i missing out not staying in yosemite national park vs just outside and do i need to book now as now panicked won't get a room if leave it later?

I was going to book my vegas hotel with the smarter vegas link

any advice would be so greatly appreciated...

thank you so much

I personally think that is a lot of time in a car for a toddler. We flew from LA to Vegas having driven to LA from San Francisco, is that an option?

The big sur coast is beautiful but ver slow drive, parts of it have a 15 mile speed limit. Took a long time to get from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Santa Barbara was very nice. Monterey has an aquarium may amuse toddler for a couple hours.

Have a great time

Please don't rely too much on map quest drive times!! SF to LA on the 5 takes a minimum of 6 1/2 hours, with normal traffic. LA (central) to Las Vegas is a minimum of 5 1'2. And with a toddler you're going to have to stop a few times. I think you're seriously underestimating the amount of time you'll be spending in the car. That said, Cambria, just south of San Simeon is a lovely little town with a cute main street and also a stretch of nice motels along Moonstone Beach, which is wonderfully walkable. A good place to stop en route. Monterey is uber touristy, but the Aquarium is fabulous! Sea World is in San Diego, not Anaheim. Going to San Diego may be a bridge too far…It usually takes me 3-5 hours LA to San Diego because the traffic on the 405 can be utterly horrible any time of day or night without warning. If you go to the Grand Canyon, stay at one of the Park Service inns on the south rim. Really not worth it otherwise with small children…been there, done that, many times. There are often cancellations, you just have to keep emailing. Slow down a bit and spend a bit more time in some of the beautiful places you're visiting, not the car.

Thanks, helpful...I think it's the drive from la to Vegas im most concerned about, been looking at the mission spa inn as stop off but concerned that's also going to be a long drive, with less places to really stop and stay!not too concerned about the car and my daughter we often do 2hours plus just to my parents, so hoping if we work on 2-3hours Max in one day she'll be ok, on the other hand she's quite shy and gets easily overwhelmed so it's going to be a balancing act with what activities we do, testing disney land Paris next month before i book Disneyland Anaheim

Don't scratch San Diego off your list! The zoo is really good and the aquarium at La Jolla is worth a look, and there are several children's museums as well in Balboa Park.

Try stopping at Palm Springs, the Living Desert Zoo is worth a look. We stayed at the Marriott Palm Spring Villas. SD to Palm Springs is around 3 hours, and then it's about 4 hours on to Vegas.

I think there is an awful lot of driving here; driving from SF to SD overall is further in terms of distance than driving from London to Edinburgh.

I would also look to stay in hotel chains like Embassy Suites, Best Western or Courtyard by Marriott than a motel itself.

You do not want to be stuck behind the wheel of a car driving from place to place the entire holiday, bear that in mind.

Just home from Las Vegas and California today; trying to stay awake til bedtime!

Vegas - go for the Venetian and with a toddler ask for the Venezia tower. It's a smaller and quieter tower, not right above the casino. It has its own pool deck (you can use the others too) which is open from 6am and the French bakery restaurant does lovely muffins and croissants for breakfast by the pool. The Venetian rooms are really big, even the standard ones. We stayed there for our first 3 nights and stayed at Bellagio for the final night. Bellagio is lovely but the rooms no where near as big.

Anaheim/Disney - we stayed at Paradise Pier which is a Disney hotel and everything is walking distance. It has a pool deck which is open early til late and you can watch the Disneyland fireworks from the deck m, they even play the firework music on the deck too. They also have film nights. On our first evening there after arriving we sat on the deck watching The fireworks then Peter Pan, with a bottle of wine and snacks :)
We did one day in each park. We didn't use magic hours (I can't get up to be in the park for 7am!) but we were in there for 8:30am. We spent longer in Disneyland than California park as the first has more. The second park has Cars Land if your DC is a fan.

As for California we stayed at Santa Monica. We wanted a base for a week and not too much driving as needed some relaxing time and only away a fortnight. From there we went to Universal, Warner Bros tour, Hollywood and Beverly Hills. We also drove up the coast a little past Malibu and Santa Barbara. Santa Monica was very busy and bustling, but we really liked the vibe there and Venice Beach. We did the cycling down the beach paths, rides on the pier and chilling in the beach bars.

14y dd's highlight was having Tom Felton (aka Draco Malfoy) sat behind here in the bar at Venice Beach however.

Pistols beach is a nice seaside resort, we were in an RV so can't recommend anywhere to stay but there are lots of hotels and cottages. The beach is enormous and there is a pier to walk along as well.

BTW we flew in and out of Vegas as it was more than £1000 cheaper for the three of us to do so, rather than LA. It was about a 4 hour drive from there to Santa Monica. The i15 is the longest straightest road I've ever known!

Pismo Beach, that should say!

Honestly LA to Vegas isn't too bad at all. It's a very straight road. But we did both directions in a fraction over 4 hours including a short refreshment stop.

It was really hot when we stopped - 121f - but all the places we stopped had air con and wifi (useful to update your route on your phone - we didn't use mobile data but once I'd set the route in my phone the GPS followed it.

Nipo, I would recommend Vdara whilst staying in Vegas. Historically we've always stayed at Bellagio since DS was toddler but last year stayed at Vdara (DS now 6). Reason why recommend Vdara is each room is basically condo apartment (kitchen, living room, dining table & best of all washing machine & tumble dryer...a godsend at end of mammoth road trip!). Great central location in new City Centre complex and suggest Corner City view room as faces down over lovely Bellagio fountains.

Our taxi driver in Saturday as we left also recommended the Vdara.
We were only there for 3 nights (and later 1 night) so didn't need the laundry and eating areas but would consider it if staying longer.

Absolutely love San Fran and Vegas.
Do a search for the Apple Farm at San Louis Obispo. It's just amazing for a stop over and many of the rooms have a hot tub in a private back yard!
Regarding Vegas - we hated MGM.
Venetian was wonderful, as was The Flamingo which is one of the cheaper ones in the strip but very well situated. Another favourite was The Paris. The Luxor usually comes up cheap but we really enjoyed our stay there.

All this advice is so amazing thank you all so much I wish it wasn't so long away now, although I am totally loving the planning and researching... Think I'm going to need a further road trip to do all the things I won't even have time to do on this trip

Its a slippery slope, we must be on our 7th or 8th US road trip now, always something else to see .

Venetian is lovely. If you wanted to spend (a lot) less, Circus Circus is child friendly although a lot more basic than venetian, MGM Grand etc.
There are lions and tigers at Mirage, as well as a dolphin habitat which is lovely. The MGM lions aren't at the hotel anymore, they're at a lion habitat ranch in Henderson (near LV).

Sorry, but a dolphin habitat in the middle of the desert cannot be lovely. It just can't.

So as not to kill this thread with my negative comment (which reflects a huge personal dislike of keeping dolphins and their relatives in captivity for human entertainment) I would point out that while driving down the California coast it is very likely that you will see dolphins or whales from the road, we saw many spouts in the see between Monterey and Pismo Beach. You will also see sea otters in the sea close to shore, and rescued otters, which cannot be released back into the wild, in Monterey Aquarium. Best of all, perhaps, are the Elephant seals on the beach (clearly signposted just off the road) - they are amazing to see. In San Francisco the sea lions at Pier 39 should be there in force in April, well worth seeing. But please see as much in the wild as you can, not captive dolphins, don't support this industry.

We have done this route but with a teenager and it was a great success. There is so much to see even for younger children. We also stayed in the Madonna Inn, definitely worth it! Just book early so that you can pick the exact suite you'd like. Vegas is probably not great for a toddler but there are the hotel's swimming pools you can take advantage of. You can also go to Downtown Vegas to look around. The Aquarium in Monterey is a must see. We loved Carmel and Santa Barbara. From LA to Vegas we drove part of route 66, which I would most definitely recommend! I would also book all accommodation in advance.

This thread is bringing back loads of lovely memories. We did it the opposite way and started in Vegas.

Something to think about is that the cost of car hire increased significantly if the pick up was in one state and drop off in another so for Vegas to LA, it was far cheaper, quicker and easier to fly.