2 weeks in California… LA and…?

[Suisse]

We are thinking of California next October for 2 weeks. We’d see friends for one week but then would have another week and wondering what to do then.

Anyone for something similar?

Grand Canyon/yosemite are amazing places to visit or go to the theme parks in LA or a short flight to vegas

It's worth seeing all of California! That's going to take up two weeks easily. If not then Las Vegas or any number of national parks.

With that short amount of time I would say drive route 1&5 down the coast to Oceanside / La Jolla / San Diego

Drive the ocean road from LA to San Francisco! Plus Grand Canyon!

California is huge OP and if you want to start in LA the first thing to decide is how many days do you want to spend there? LA is big and there's a lot to do, depending on your interests. Some people hate it, because it's quite dirty and there are lots of homeless people, many of whom are obviously on substances or have mental health issues. They are camped out or lying on the streets of many areas of town inc. Hollywood and all along the beach areas.

So what do you want to do in LA? Do you want to do Disney (2 parks = 2 days), Universal Studios, Warner Bros Studios, Paramount Studios? I wouldn't recommend doing all of the studio tours unless you're all huge film/TV fans - I'd pick one. Do you want to do Hollywood, a minibus tour of stars homes (which is kitsch and fun), Griffith Observatory (great at night to see the lights of LA), Santa Monica, bike ride along the beach to Pacific Palisades, Venice, the La Brea Tar Pits, the Petersen Car Museum, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Rodeo Drive, hit the malls? If you want do all those I'd recommend 5-7 days in total.

Then either head north (Malibu, the Pacific Coast Highway, Monterey, San Francisco), or south through Orange County, have a couple of days in one of the nice beach towns en route and end up in San Diego, which is a lovely city with, again, loads to see and do. You can drive back to LAX from SD in 2-3 hours.

But basically, two weeks you can't do everything so pick your priorities, build in some downtime and don't try to do too much or you'll spend your entire time sitting in the car looking out of the window.

@Suisse The Grand Canyon is a long way! So is Yosemite! If you are staying in LA to see friends, I would drive out from there. Do not try and rush here there and everywhere

@cheezncrackers has some ideas that I would second. Add in Huntington Gallery and Gardens at Pasadena and The Getty Centre in LA and you have a few more places to visit. Getty Villa at Malibu is good too.

I thought SD and La Jolla were a bit over rated. Much preferred Santa Barbara and Big Sur - but you are driving the wrong way up highway 1 from LA. It’s better going N to S. Santa Monica is also pleasant. Your friends might have good ideas too. We’ve have great holidays in October and it’s great. I like Carmel too!

Good advice above. We have always driven out to Palm Springs after LA. Desert, relaxation shopping etc. Last time we drove back to Santa Monica afterwards; the previous time we drove on to Las Vegas.

5 years ago we spent 17 days in California and it was so busy and we didn’t even go to LA. Standout was Grand Canyon, Sedona, Monterey and San Francisco. Also didn’t expect to like Las Vegas but loved it.

you need to work out what you really want as California is massive.

Neither Las Vegas nor Grand Canyon are in California. The OP has a week when not with friends. In California. There’s no need to rush off somewhere else.

We found Las Vegas dirty and disgusting. Awful. The Grand Canyon and the delights of Arizona and Utah really should be a separate holiday. Lots to see. However there is a huge amount to enjoy in California with less effort needed.

@Suisse, it would help if you said where in California you will be for a week with your friends.

However, if I had to choose a week somewhere in October, it would be San Diego. The weather will still be good enough for shorts and tee shirts, there plenty of places to visit and things to see, and driving is easy.

I agree with @TizerorFizz: Arizona and Utah are for another time - you'd spend far too much time driving across soulless desert to get to them, and then not have enough time to really appreciate the national parks. And Las Vegas really is tacky - only beaten by Niagara Falls in those stakes

Thanks all.

I’d be seeing friends in LA - I had a week in mind there I suppose. I’ve been before (20 years ago), I think we’d want to do one/some of the theme parks. Kids will be 13 and 11.

We could go in August instead actually. Though I thought Oct could be better with slightly cooler days given that it’s basically a city break holiday!

You have the risk of forest fires in California in August and when it burns, it BURNS! Having experienced that ourselves, I'd be resultant to plan a drive in August.

You could consider doing the Joshua Tree NP and the Death Valley and then fly home from Las Vegas.

Or you could head North along the coast towards San Francisco, lots of cute towns and the coastline is stunning. Across the Golden Gate Bridge you have the Muir Woods for redwoods. The coastal road or some sections do close every once in a while because of mud slides so might have to take a detour so just be mindful.

We also enjoyed San Diego.

@Suisse - we were in San Diego in mid October this year for 5 days - weather was around 23°c each day - perfect.

Did a day trip to Palm Springs and was in the low 30s

We just didn’t “get” San Diego, We stayed in La Jolla but those seal smells! I definitely prefer north of LA. October is better than August. With 1 week do you need more than 1 theme park? They are the same the world over! Other museums, coastal towns and wildlife are more Californian in many ways.

Take the Coast Starlite on Amtrak.
Did not go all the way.
Amazing views.
https://www.amtrak.com/coast-starlight-train

Buen viaje

Coming back to this as we're still not fully planned!

Flights are booked. We have 2 weeks.

Friends are in LA, so one week there. Then we need something for the other week. We could split the week, it doesn't have to be in one chunk.

And also wondering whether better to see them once we're a bit more over the jet-lag?

When we’re on the West Coast we don’t make it past 6.30 the first few nights. Early to bed, up by 3 or 4 (read, research the day ahead, breakfast) and we’re out on our adventures by 6am.

That said, we’re only interested in the great outdoors and incredible American breakfasts for “lunch”, so this suits our style.

If you're doing a week in LA, do you want another city-oriented week, or something different? If something different, I'd be inclined to either drive north up the coast a bit or head towards the southern part of the Sierras – Kings Canyon and the sequoias are about 4 hours drive (depending where in LA you're starting from, of course), or the eastern side of the range, Lone Pine or Bishop, maybe, even as far as Mammoth Lakes.

It takes hours just to drive through LA so plans will depend where you are.
I love the national parks but disagree that the main areas of LV are disgusting, we loved it.
Would probably choose to drive up to SF (is there a road closure?) Via Monterey and Carmen. Walk along the front in SF for bridge views and take the ferry for lunch.

What do you like doing? How far/long are you prepared to drive?

The first 2-3 days you'll probably struggle with the time difference, so it might be worth booking a hotel near the beach, maybe somewhere south of LA like Huntington or Newport Beach, then head down to San Diego for a few days, and then back to LA for your second week of fun with your friends, theme parks, etc. That's probably what I'd do.

If you decide to head north, be aware that the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) is closed for a section in the middle, so you need to take Highway 101 instead. You can travel up or down to the closure, but then you need to turn around and head back.

I'd always go to Yosemite - love it. Book accomodation well in advance if you do go.

An alternative is San Diego - it's a friendly easy to get around city (LA is anything but easy to get round but if you have friends there they will probably have the tricks) and so a nice contrast to LA and lovely beach and stuff for kids to do.

@Suisse I really would avoid doing miles and miles of driving in one week. There’s plenty to see north of LA along highway 1. Santa Barbara, then go north as far you like!

Ok unpopular maybe but I bloody hate LA. But I guess the DC will enjoy the theme parks. I’ve been to Cali loads of times. Some of the nicer places in SoCal are San Diego (the zoo is amazing) stayed around Mission Beach. San Clemente and La Jolla are lovely. Santa Cruz is fun in a grungy kind of way. We have also stayed up at Big Bear lake in the summer which is lovely if you are an outdoors type. Drive the coast but IME DC get bored of too much car time. I think San Fran is a bit of a shithole too now but always good to tick off I guess. I prefer SoCal if I’m honest. And I avoid flying in and out of LA whenever possible. Immigration and car hire is pretty bad at times there. I’m a big Arizona fan though and love Flagstaff and the Sedona which is totally recommend if you had longer.