Holiday 2024 ?America help and advice

[Runningforitall]

Hello All,

We are thinking of going to America next year with our DD who is 14. We have never been before but ideally want to be near Universal Studios and close enough to the beach (Santa Monica).Disney isn't really on our list of things to do.

We're probably going to go down the package holiday route as its our first trip but would like, if possible it to be as reasonably priced as we can. Is this possible? Any recommendations. Hit me with them please!

How long you are planning to go ?
You don't need a package holiday, it is something you can do independent.
There are a lot of routes you can take.
We went to universal studios once and that was enough.
You could fly into San Francisco , hire a car and drive down PCH to LA. You could take a detour to include Yosemite NP.
Have fun planning.

I would look at a fly drive - see where you can get economical flights and car rental (eg try Las Vegas perhaps) then plan a road trip including LA, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, San Diego maybe (San Francisco is further but doable, Lake Tahoe is nice as is Yosemite but it's crazy busy £

Universal and Santa Monica are not precisely eat each other
and traffic in LA can be horrible
are you willing to drive?
You can stay say 3 nights near Universal and the rest near Santa Monica
Uber and Lift work great in LA, but again I would stay close to one place and then move close to the other to minimise costs

Thanks for your replies 🙂 we are not thinking of driving so appreciate this may hold us back a bit. We were planning on being away for 2 weeks. We were looking on Virgin holidays at a room only and flight deal which looks to be about 7k for 3 of us?

We've just done Universal Orlando. It was amazing. Booked through TUI, stayed at Cabana Bay which was great. There other hotels are more premium of you want it, look at Saphirre Falls or Portofino. We chose Cabana because it is literally next to Volcano Bay which is an unbelievable water park.

@Runningforitall Not sure how you will get around Santa Monica if you don’t drive. It will be a very static holiday and you won’t get the best out of it by staying in one place. There’s plenty to see so driving is vital in my view.

Just to confirm - you are looking for a package deal to Los Angeles for 2 weeks with a hotel close to Universal & Santa Monica?

You have an opportunity here to have the most wonderful holiday to America, but honestly I think you need to do a bit more research. The distances are huge, what looks like a relatively short distance on the map can take hours in LA traffic. I’d highly recommend hiring a car if possible. Public transport is not the best in and around LA.

And 2 weeks in LA is about 10 days too long (and I’m a huge fan of LA!) so I’d maybe consider flying into San Francisco and doing a road trip down the coast to LA, stopping at Monterey, Santa Cruz, Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara.

Or maybe fly into SF and go inland to Yosemite, Sequoia & Kings Canton National Parks and on to LA.

Another option could be to stay in LA for a week splitting your time between a hotel close to Universal (Beverly Garland maybe?) and a few days in Santa Monica, then maybe a cruise from there to Mexico or similar.

If it’s theme parks you want, then I’d look at Florida instead. You won’t need a car for here. And have the option of heading to the beaches on the gulf coast or Atlantic coast.

We have had great holidays in California without going to a theme park at all. LA has enough to see if you check out places like the Getty Centre and Malibu. Going along Mulholland Drive was interesting too. We stayed at Santa Monica but found plenty to see and do. Really liked the Max Factor building and the Hollywood Museum. The Huntington Gallery and Gardens are worth the trip too plus the Petersen car museum.