Accommodation ideas Vegas/Yosemite/Lake Tahoe/San Francisco

[kath6144]

We are starting to put together an itinerary for trip to USA in July, myself, DH, DS19 & DD17. We so far are looking at flying into Vegas, doing Grand canyon south rim, then up to Yosemite via Death valley, maybe a trip to Lake Tahoe and onto San Francisco.

Can anyone recommend accommodation in any of these places, hotels/motels/lodges? A friend did something similar last year, so have got some recommendations but she didnt stay in all same places.

Also, any places we should add to the itinerary, and advise on how many nights at each place? We are planning 3 weeks so dont need to rush, but may add somewhere onto the end (DC angling for Hawaii!)

Well, we stay in RV parks so can't really review hotels. To my way of thinking, Santa Cruz is more 'eclectic', Monterey will have more 'upscale' offerings.

I think your teens would like Santa Cruz more than Monterey. SC has the Boardwalk, a great beach, areas of cute shops and boutique eateries and a lot of surfing culture. UC Santa Cruz has always been a bit 'counterculture' so there are tons of small clubs and a great music scene. Monterey has Cannery Row (shops and restaurants), Monterey Bay Aquarium, and beautiful scenery. It's a bit more 'establishment' and doesn't have quite the 'youth scene' that SC does.

The two towns are about an hour apart (46 miles).

When our boys were teens we'd stay at Seacliff State Beach Campground for a week in Aptos right next to SC, and do a day trip to Monterey for the Aquarium, lunch, and some sightseeing/driving around. But the majority of our time was spent in the SC area at the Boardwalk, in town, or on the beaches.

Oh, I can't remember the name of the place, but you can do a beginner's surfing lesson in Santa Cruz. Your kids (or you) may get a kick out of that.

One thing I want to mention is that SC does have a bit of a homeless population. For the most part they're harmless and don't bother anyone, they're just 'there', iyswim. If you're used to any type of urban homelessness it won't bother you, but if you aren't used to it you'll need to decide how comfortable you are with it.

Mono Lake is interesting if you do decide to drive down the eastern side of the Sierra Nevadas & I will second AcrossthePond's view that is scenic, although we were based locally and didn't tour too much further south.

We stayed in the Embassy Suites in Lake Tahoe and Furnace Creek in Death Valley . Also Luxor in Las Vegas. I agree with PP that Las Vegas is tricky with teens - mine did enjoy things like stratosphere and we made a trip to the Hoover Dam and Grand Canyon from Vegas but I would limit your stay there

This is really interesting as we have just rented a RV for July to do the tour. Our plan is
Fly to LA and night in LA
Pick up RV
3 days Santa Monica
2 days Palm Springs
1 day Hoover Dam
2 days Las Vegas
Death Valley
Yosemite
LA or Santa Barbara
Back to LA to drop if RV and pick rental car
Monterey
3 days San Francisco
1 day Carmel
Fly back from LA

We have 3 weeks, 2 in RV and 1 car/hotels

I am struggling to assess if this is feasible and not just driving between destinations without little in between.

Across. Any useful suggestions of RV sites with something to do for teenagers would be great.

If we went back we would have had a night at Big Sur in a lodge, between Monterey and Santa Barbara. It is a very long drive.

We are doing this a DH is against driving an RV in San Francisco as he perceives it(rightly or wrongly) as not being RV friendly. Palm Springs was requested by one of the kids for a museum and the cable car trip. I'm less in to Yosemite as I've lived in mountains and we are not big hikers. I'd rather be on the beach and in cities.

We didnt use the car at all in San Francisco. We used the tourist bus and uber and walked. The car stayed in the hotel carpack at $60 a night

I would recommend Hotel Vitale in SF, it was lovely. Close to the Ferry Building.

Thanks for continuing responses, just waiting for a ballpark cost from Trailfinders to make sure it not going to be too excessive with low pound, then we will look at the detail.

Slalom, who have you booked the RV through and what size? DH got some outline costs for one on Sunday, online, so we will see how that compares to car/hotels, when Trailfinders come back to us.

When we went Vancouver/Rockies in 2013 the costs were not much different so we decided car would be easier to get around in. Not averse to an RV, DH and I had one in NZ in 1996 and we are caravanners. DS has said he would prefer hotels as RV will be 'too much like caravan', which we use most years, but given he is a 19yo uni student, getting a free holiday, ours will be final decision!!!

Across - if we did go RV route, would we be able to book sites still, thinking Yosemite in particular? Also grand canyon area, SIL and family camped there in 2012 and she said they had to book the site as soon as booking opened?

For those with RVs, this is a good website for RV parks and campgrounds. We use it frequently and have found the reviews to be factual and fair:

www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/california

This is for National Parks non-concessionare campgrounds:

www.recreation.gov

Many NPs contract out campgrounds to concessionaires and they have their own websites. Those are NOT on recreation.gov. So before you reserve, go to the actual Park website (url will start with www.nps.gov) and search for campgrounds there & follow links. Many have booking windows and the popular sell out FAST! We haven't been able to get a summer site in YNP in years.

slalom Your DH is absolutely right! Never attempt to drive an RV of any kind in SF. On the freeways through the city, fine, but never on city streets. I actually think it's prohibited in areas. There are a few RV parks just outside the city (use the RV park review link). Park the RV and either use public transit or Uber. I think one or two of them may have shuttles, at least they used to offer them. They're pretty much parking lots with hookups, not scenic camping as they figure you're there for the City. We live close enough to just drive in, but have stayed at the SF RV park in Pacifica. It was nice enough 15 years ago but haven't stayed there since.

Kath Yosemite Valley campsites will be long sold out by now. You can try for cancellations, but I wouldn't count on them. There are plenty of places outside the Valley. Also, the campgrounds in YNP (Yosemite Natl Park) are 'dry camping', meaning NO electric, NO sewer, and NO hooking up to water supply (it's fill and disconnect). This is true for most national and state park campgrounds. Very few offer sites with hookups and those go first. Unless you're comfortable with dry camping AND either have a generator to recharge or know how long your batteries last, you'll be better off somewhere with, at the least, electric hookup.

Grand Canyon, not sure how fast they sell out. We stayed there once in '05 but we always make reservations months in advance. They do have a 'Trailer Village' concessionaire campground that has hookups as well as one non concessionaire 'dry camping' campground.

www.visitgrandcanyon.com/trailer-village-rv-park

We've been RVing (truck and trailer) for +20 years and for us it's the only way to go. Nothing like waking up in your own bed 3000 miles from home! We did a cross country trip to the Smokies and Disney World and back (6000 miles, 45 days) and it was absolutely wonderful. But there are drawbacks and considerations. Sight-seeing is more difficult, parking can be next to impossible so you have to think about transportation as well as camping. Certain roads/routes look breathtakingly beautiful but are not RV friendly. The TripAdvisor forums can be a great help. We've gotten good help there on towing our trailer, parking availability, good routes for large vehicles and often 'consult' there when we're headed to an unfamiliar area. The area RV experts are really good. They'd much rather you know ahead of time before you find yourself in a bad situation.

Also, remember that the US is HUGE so be sure you look at mapping/road trip websites to calculate distances and routes. And many states have lower speed limits for RVs plus you must drive much slower than the posted speed in the mountains or twisty roads. For a good 'rule of thumb' to determine how long it will take you to get from A to B in an RV, calculate your speed at 55 miles per hour 'flatland' driving. If you are doing any mountain or 'twisty' driving calculate your driving speed at around 45 mph. So a 100 mile drive that you think will take you 90 min will actually take you around 2 hours (without stops).

Happy to answer any questions you have.

Thanks Across - it sounds as if your dry camping is like our caravan sites - where we never hook up direct to water/waste supplies on the pitch? We are used to that, but generally have electric hook-up.

Lots to think about in terms of RVs!

Sounds like, except with no electric.

There is lots to think about. DH and I can dry camp for around 9 days (with a generator to recharge batteries) before our tank need dumping or we need to refill our water tank. We've got it down to a science. Our friends (with 2 kids & a much smaller caravan) only 3 days, if that. But we have 2 large tanks (grey and black water) and a very large fresh water tank. The smaller the unit, the less capacity tanks. That's why it's good to be at hookups if you don't know your usage. You still have to dump your tanks, but you're already connected and you don't have to worry about, um, overflow.

I agree with everything everybody said about booking now - accommodation goes very quickly in all of these places. Plus I'd also fly into one city and fly out of another, it's what we did and saves so much time.

A couple of years ago we did the following:

SF 4 nights
Pebble Beach 2 nights
Yosemite 2 nights
Death Valley 1 night
Las Vegas 1 night
Grand Canyon 2 nights
Las Vegas 3 nights

Yosemite might be booked but worth a try:

www.yosemite.com/lodging-hotels/yosemite-valley-lodge/

we stayed here which was basic but right opposite the open air swimming pool and the food court. Just what we need after a long hike.

In Death Valley we stayed here but could only get the ranch as the Inn was booked out 10 months in advance. However we really liked it and the kids enjoyed swimming at 11pm at night as it was so warm:

www.furnacecreekresort.com/

In GC we stayed here:

www.visitgrandcanyon.com/yavapai-lodge

Again, we couldn't get into El Tovar or Bright Angel lodge as all booked up for our dates. But Yavapai Lodge was great.

I've stayed in a few places in LV and last time we did New York New York and The Venetian. Both were great but rooms bigger and better at the Venetian. I'd also recommend for your age group of kids, The Cosmopolitan which is quite trendy.

Thanks Blandings - how old were your kids and what month did you go? Where did you stay in SF and Pebble beach?

We are looking at a similar itinerary to you, flying into SF and out of LV.

kath6144 my kids were 14 and 12 so a bit younger than yours.

In SF we stayed here:

www.jdvhotels.com/hotels/california/san-francisco-hotels/galleria-park-hotel/?rt=google|cpc|GPH01-GalleriaParkHotel-Brand-International-15564-59772|galleria%20park%20hotel&adpos=1t2&gclid=CKjA3P_HutECFecV0wodPv0C9A

Hotels are really expensive in SF and this was a good price at the time and fairly close to Union Square. Public transport in SF is great.

In Pebble Beach we stayed at The Pebble Beach resort but that was just so my DH could play golf. Wouldn't have stayed there if that wasn't the case. 17 mile drive and the coast is gorgeous but not worth staying here. Carmel is a bit of a nothing place and Monterey is okay for a day.

We went in August which was busyish but lovely and warm - only Desert Valley a bit too hot but that's what the swimming pool was for!

Kath

On the RV front, there IS an RV park on the Vegas Strip (CircusCircus RV Park). It's a carpark conversion with full hookups. It's at one end of the strip (by the Stratosphere) and I'd advise using the shuttle buses to get to the main part, where the Bellagio, Paris LV, etc are.

You know, when you start narrowing down your accommodations, Google Earth is your friend. DH and I use it for both RV parks and hotel stays and have found it a valuable tool. Take a look at the overview and 'street view' and it can give you an idea of the location, ease of driving to/from, nearness to activities, and 'neighbourhood'.

Across

That's great suggestion as I was going to book that one but wasn't sure if it was just a car park.

I'm struggling with distances st the moment and whether we stay in one place for longer.

we did 2500 miles in the 3 weeks, that was without using the car for 4 days in San Francisco. We also used the monorail in Las Vegas to get to the strip.

Slalom It wasn't bad per se, but certainly not what I'd call 'attractive'. Pretty much just a place to park and stay. We didn't have any security concerns and didn't notice any 'sketchy types' loitering in the RV area.

So far I have

3 nights in San Diego
2 nights Palm Springs
3 night Las Vegas

Booked

Looking at then doing

1 night Grand Canyon. Have found a site just near visitors centre
1 night somewhere
2 nights Yosemite have had a nice site suggested
1 night somewhere
3 nights LA area

LA area is proving to be a problem

we liked Santa Barbara and as i said above, there are some nice looking lodges at Big Sur

forgot you are rv, but there are probably rv sites at Nig Sur

Are you going to Disney when you're in LA? If so I highly recommend Anaheim RV Park. It's not walking distance to the Parks, but there is a very convenient inexpensive shuttle. Or use Uber.

And remember that Anaheim (where DL is) is NOT in Los Angeles, but rather 30 + miles southeast.

www.anaheimrvpark.com