California road trip - how did you do yours?

[calitrip28]

Planning a Californian road trip for my family (4 of us, 2 teens). As we want to do North and South I’m hoping to do 3 weeks, which limits us only to summer holidays, bit nervous about the inland trips we want to do in the heat (really keen to see Palm Springs)

Would anyone be so kind as to share their itinerary and planned budget? It’s coming in at £17,000 for me so far which is about £2000 more than I wanted tbh! (We want to do theme parks, that’s what’s tipping it I think!)

We flew into SF, drove straight to Sonoma county, few days at Russian River, doing tree canopy zip wires in sequoia forests hot air ballooning followed by breakfast in a vineyard, think we had about 5 days there. Then few days in SF, drove down Highway whatever it’s called, stopped overnight in a pretty small town whose name escapes me but began with an M, v well heeled.then Santa Barbara which we just loved and have been back to since, just hiking, boating, attempting to,surf etc, then flew back out of LAX. it was our last family holiday together as DS was almost 17 then, we loved it.

It was 14 years ago, no clue what the budget was. Didn’t do theme parks.

No idea what the budget would be now as we went about 1980.
We'd been staying with relatives in Vancouver so we flew down to San Francisco from there.
We spent a couple of days there, then a couple of days in Tiburon, just across the Golden Gate bridge. We hired a car.
We wanted to go to Death Valley, but it was February so couldn't go directly across the Rockies because of snow (it may be possible these days?) So we drove south down the coast as far as Monterey/Carmel - lovely places. Slept in a water bed!
Then we turned inland to Bakersfield to cross the bottom of the Rockies - don't remember much about it except the aridness, Joshua trees and oil rigs! Crossed the mountains at Kernville - I got the impression they didn't get many foreign tourists there 😁.
Back north up the east side of the Rockies as far as Lone Pine. US highest mountain, Mt. Witney, is near there so we drove up it as far as we could before the snow stopped us (didn't get far).
Turned east again and then stayed at Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley for a couple of days. It was only a small place then - our motel room looked straight out across desert and mountains - beautiful. Temperature in the desert about 25C at that time of year. Visited Scotty's Castle and did some walking and sightseeing of amazing geology.
Then we drove further south to stay at Las Vegas - weird, weird place. Stayed at the Hilton. We would have gone on to the Grand Canyon but again, at that time of year, the roads on the north side of the Canyon were impassable and we didn't have time to drive around to the south. The furtherest south we went was as far as the Hoover Dam, which was very impressive and we went a couple of miles into Arizona, picniked beside Lake Mead and admired the wild cacti.
Then we drove back to San Francisco- 500 miles in one day as we had a plane to catch. We were going to go back the next year to do the Grand canyon but the value of pounds against the dollar dropped dramatically - we'd been getting $2.20 to the pound so everything seemed really cheap.
Theme parks we did another year - but in Florida.

We went for 3 weeks but had a couple of nights in New York to break the journey first.

We had 3 nights in San Francisco and then stayed in a cabin in Yosemite (a highlight).

I think we had 1 or 2 nights each in Monterey and Santa Barbara and then 3 nights in Santa Monica. We went to have a look at Hollywood and went to a LA Dodgers baseball game. We also had a day in Universal but missed Disney as we had been to the one in Paris previously.

We chose to go to the Grand Canyon for a few nights on the South Rim (another highlight) and stopped in Las Vegas in the way (did not like much).

At the Grand Canyon we did a fantastic day trip where we flew over the canyon in a small plane, went to Antelope Canyon and then took a boat trip down the Colorado river.

We flew back from Phoenix Arizona via Sedona which was an amazing drive.

For the cabin in Yosemite and hotel actually on the South Rim you had to book a year in advance. I used a Travel Agent for this trip because I wasn’t in a job where I could sit in the phone.

The trip was in 2014 and is still talked about. The cost back then for 2 adults and 2 DC (14 and 11) was about £10k from an inheritance.

Can’t remember budget - ages ago. But route for two week trip was something like follows. Flew to LA. Booked first night Marina del Ray. ( reviews LA hotels unless extremely expensive were not good so hotel here then on last night beside Universal Studios looked safest bet). Had walk Santa Monica etc.

went on to Carmel. Gorgeous. Like fresh mountain village but on cliff with magnificent beach. Took advice of pre booked hotel and then stayed next night I think at ex Charlie Chaplin hotel in Montecito just above Santa Barbara. Loved SB.

On towards San Francisco stopping off at San Luis Obispo (?) for Castle Hearst - really good. Even back then before it was overrun with the untreated mentally ill and drug addled, didn’t much enjoy three night stay San Fran. Very dirty and windy. Nowadays I’d skip altogether and do wine country or something instead.

Then headed to Yosemite. Loved it. Then to Las Vegas via Lone Pine. Loved both. Vegas surprisingly fun ( saw nothing sordid and sadly no Elvises as stayed in good hotel on strip and just enjoyed pools and free attractions) and Grand Canyon trip good.

Back to LA I think. Stayed near universal and did park last day / night.

We went last year and used Audley travel who were amazing. It worked out cheaper than us booking it all ourselves. We didn’t do parks and went for 3 weeks. 2 people and it was around 10k for flights, hotels, everything and didn’t scrimp on anything:

We did it in 2015 and it was about £12k for two adults and two DC (17 and 10).

Flew into San Diego and had a couple of nights there before collecting hire car. Then stayed a couple of nights in LA to do Universal Studios and see a few sights.

Then made our way up Highway 1 to San Fran with a couple of stops (the boardwalk at Santa Cruz was fun). Did Alcatraz and the usual touristy things in SF and went up to Lassen, then down through Reno to Mammoth Lakes, through Yosemite to Kings Canyon and Sequoia.

From there through Death Valley to Las Vegas - helicopter trip over the Grand Canyon was the expensive bit, abour £200 per head - then on to Palm Springs before heading back to San Diego.

That was a full on big road trip, over abour 3.5 weeks, and lots of driving, but we saw and did lots of things.

Also: as PP we stayed at Marina Del Rey at LA, as it made a good base.

Gosh been so many times I will tell you this, LA is not worth it. It’s horrid. If you are ending in SoCal I would visit SanClemente for brunch on the pier, La Jolla beach town and beach is nice we have stayed there too. Last year we stayed in San Diego for a few days at Mission beach which the teens loved, San Diego zoo is amazing.

We are thinking San Fran for 3 nights (Alcatraz and Muir Woods), Yosemite 3 nights, Monterey/Carmel 2 nights, travel down the pacific highway (break up with a night in Cambria, 4 or 5 nights Santa Monica (to LA stuff, Santa Monica or Venice Beach, and Universal) 2 nights Anaheim for Disney, 2/3 nights Palm Springs (want a villa with a pool to relax for a bit) and then end the trip with 2/3 nights San Diego, fly home from LAX.

I hear this a lot but as we haven’t been before we need to cross it off. I’m expecting my husband and I to go back to California on our own and do more of the scenic stuff, but the teens are interested in the LA sights and theme parks.

DH and I have done Vegas a few times so not planning to venture out that way, we’ve said to the kids we’ll take them when they’re 21!

Hearst Castle is well worth it, go on the kitchen tour its the best one and you can book online before you go.
Palm Springs is hot as Hell and you will need to get a hotel not an RV (don't know how you are travelling) lots to do, famous cemetery with Frank Sinatra and a cable car.
Great Grizzly for the biggest redwood tree
Sna Francisco Alcatraz
Just plan the route and book ahead
I'm soooooo jealous!!

We’ll have a car and air bnbs, there are some amazing villas with pools in the desert that look stunning but we planned this when we were going in October so this is the bit I think we may need to adjust as I’m mindful a pool day in the desert may not be the break we need it to be in August!

We did a water park in Palm Springs in July, which was a hit. Covered up with rash vests and factor 50 and don’t forget to bring flip flops as the concrete walkways get really hot!

Many years since I did it so prices are completely different but I flew into vegas as cheaper flights, reasonable car hire and a plethora of hotels for the first night at bargain prices (arrived early evening so didn’t want to set off that day. My itinerary was hoover dam, Grand Canyon, Phoenix, Joshua tree nat park, Anaheim 3 nights (stayed at a motel right near Disney but only did one day in the park which was plenty with little ones and one day in LA) up the coast to SF back inland to Yosemite, Death Valley then back to vegas. Yes big distances but dc were little and slept as soon as the engine was turned on. Most places we stopped at for 1 night, travelling 150-200 miles in the morning giving the afternoon and evening to sightsee. There were more stops than above but it was a long time ago so I forget exactly the order, dc are now grown up. Hotels were cheap then, stayed in days inn, super 8’s, a chain beginning with q, and had books of vouchers you could pick up at gas stations with special hotel offers, no booking ahead then. I think they still have voucher deals but online of course. Flights and car hire are obviously expensive in school holidays but beyond that budget will be down to choices eg how many days in theme parks, whether you stay in the parks etc. if you are doing several days in national parks look and see if it’s cheaper to be a member (I lived in USA at the time so was)

Re your couple of days in Palm Springs - We spent 3 weeks in a villa close to Palm Springs 6 years ago. It is hot! But we had had holidays in Arizona previously so knew what to expect. Forget lounging beside the pool - it is too hot to do that but early mornings on the patio are wonderful (I experienced an earthquake sitting there - couldn’t work out why the water in the pool was sloshing about). Likewise late evenings, and swimming under the stars is wonderful! I don’t think Palm Springs itself is up to much but the weird Salton Sea is sort of interesting (if very smelly and full of flies) and Salvation Mountain https://www.salvationmountain.us/ is again cool in a weird way. We did a great tour of the San Andreas jeep tour from the Palm Springs area which was really worth it.

We flew to LAX, stayed a few nights in Santa Monica and from there visited the Griffith observatory, Hollywood Boulevard, went to a football game. We went to Universal too. So-fi stadium tour. Then drove down to San Diego - had a stop off at the house used in Top Gun on the way! I'd have liked to do a day trip to Mexico from SD but didn't have time. We drove from there into a small place in the desert called Borego Springs. It was July and 40 degrees at this point. Amazing sculptures, I'll see if I can find a pic. Then Palm Springs, which was ok - cable car would have made it more interesting but dcs didn't want to. Back to LA, stayed in Anaheim this time, two days in Disney. Saw a baseball game. Flew home. It was an amazing holiday.

There are loads of these sculptures in Borrego Springs

This sounds very similar to what we were planning for a 2 week October trip. We were just going to focus on SoCal. As this will likely be our last family holiday with DS (although I expect he will still want to come with us as an adult!) we were thinking of stretching to 3 weeks and doing some of the north too.

We were there for 3 weeks! If I wanted to go to SF as well I think I'd leave out San Diego. Though it is lovely. Going inland is such a contrast to the beaches I think it's worth it. All in (4 of us, and fast passes for the theme parks) I think we spent 13k. We found eating out incredibly expensive, went to Denny's a lot!
Oh went to Knotts Berry Farm as well (a theme park) I enjoyed it more than Disney.
(Editing to add, in 2023)

I love SB too !! Just gorgeous- I also really liked Laguna beach

For National Parks, it will probably be better to buy an America The Beautiful pass, which is now $250 for non residents.

Yosemite is one of the parks that now charges non residents aged over 16 a $100 surcharge. Sequoia and Kings Canyon also have the surcharge.

Sorry I just meant we’d planned a 2 week SoCal trip (with a lot of the places you mentioned, though not all) so by adding a week we are planning to go north. If we are doing 3 weeks I’d like to do SF, not even so much for SF but the pacific highway! DH and I will absolutely be going back so we plan to take more in, so trying to work out what the kids will want to see as teens.

Yes ChatGPT suggested we buy that pass.