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!)

I did a solo trip a few years back via a travel company, so itinerary was planned for me but it was fantastic:

Flew into San Francisco, did Pier 39, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz.
Was supposed to go from there to Yosemite, but it was unfortunately closed due to wild fires, so went to Seqouia National Park instead.
Then spent a couple of days in Las Vegas
Then went to the Grand Canyon
Then drove through route 66 and did an overnight stop by the Colorado river in Laughlin
Then drove to Los Angeles, did Universal Studios and all the other LA activities such as the walk of fame, Venice beach, the Hollywood sign

Also made various stops on the way, such as by Death Valley, saw the worlds tallest thermometer plonked by a gas station in Baker 😁 all good fun and would do it again in a heartbeat

Hi, I’m following with interest as we are going in August but only for ten days. Husband very into birdwatching and nature walks so options for this. Daughter into beaches, shopping, different food. I like a mixture on holiday of busy and relaxed. I think if we have time, it’s redwoods, art and Hearst Castle for me The first two seem to be on offer wherever we’re going:)

We have two nights in San Francisco, no plans here- I think with the two cities we are going to, it will be sight seeing and picking a few places to go to rather than trying to do everything . After that, we have two nights in Monterey so there I’m thinking hopefully a whale watching tour, or Elkhorn Slough at Moss Landing to see the otters. Then two nights in Cambria so my thoughts are Hearst Castle, and the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve. We then go to Santa Barbara for a night then onto LA. We have tickets booked for Universal Studios for one day, but my 16 year old has plans for us for the other two!

It may be all too much to do in that time but there are some ‘booked’ options and some see what we feel like doing or where we end up options as we drive so less pressure. Everyone will get to do something they would like to do particularly :)

We are booked with American Sky

we did 3 weeks in 2016

day 1 arrived in Vegas
day 2 sight seeing Vegas (Blue Man Group in the evening which would be brilliant for the kids)
day 3 drove to Flagstaff via Hoover Dam and route 66
day 4 from Flagstaff to grand canyon airport, spent the day plane tour and rafting in Grand Canyon
day 5 drove from Flagstaff to North Rim lodge watched (lovely wooden lodges set on the edge of the Canyon. Amazing views of sun rise and sunset
day 5 back to Vegas for the night via Fire Valley
day 6 Bishop via Death Valley
day 7 bishop to yosemite going through death valley
4 days in Yosemite
4 days San Francisco
1 night Monterey
1 night Santa Barbara
2 nights LA Did Warner Bros and Universal, Observatory and Hollywood Boulevard
3 night San Diego

We did an amazing road trip but it was about 20 years ago as child free 20 somethings. Flew into LA. Had a week in Santa Monica, doing some LA and Hollywood sightseeing, theme parks, beach days, bike rides etc. Loved it but I wouldn’t stay in downtown LA. We then drove the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco, breaking the journey in Santa Barbara and Monterey. Had a few nights sightseeing in SF. Very glad to have seen it but didn’t love the place and have no desire to return. Also hear that the homeless problem has become worse in recent years so choose your area carefully. We then drove (via Death Valley) to Yosemite which was amazing! We did horse riding, rafting, wildlife spotting and staying in one of the ready made camps. Would love to go back. Final stop was Vegas which was cool and we were young party people but again, no real desire to return. Did a day trip to the canyon from there. An amazing holiday but Vegas and the amount to driving involved might need tweaking if your kids are little

We flew into San Francisco
3 nights San Francisco
then picked up hire car and
drove to Yosemite for 3 nights
then drove back to Pacific Coast Highway for:-
2 nights in Monterey
3 nights in LA doing Hollywood, Palm Springs, Universal Studios, Warner Bros etc
2 nights in Santa Barbara
3 nights in San Diego
then drove back to other side of LA, Anaheim so did Disney.
Flew out of LAX dropping hire car off there.

I’d definitely recommend waiting a couple of days before picking up the hire car so that you can get over the flight / start adjusting to the time difference before driving.