Hey, me and a few friends are coming over to the US next summer for a fly drive holiday, like a long road trip.

We've looked at one route, LA to San Diego, Phoenix, then upto Las Vegas, across to Yosemite, up to Lake Tahoe then across to San Francisco. Over 2 weeks stopping for 2 nights in each place.

Map of route

What do you guys reckon on the route? Any better routes to drive which would be cooler? Remember it's got to have an international airport at each end...but apart from that it can be anywhere in the USA.

 

Sounds like a pretty good route....but it all depends on what you want to do and see...cities, national parks, mountains, deserts, ocean....

I'd skip Phoenix and go from San Diego to the Grand Canyon, then to Vegas. Yosemite is well worth seeing...then on to S.F. and maybe if you have time hit the wine country (Sonoma/Napa) 1.5 hours north of San Francisco.

What are your priorities?

 

Just want to see as much as we can really, some people have said to do highway 1 down the coast but i think we'll get a bit bored of just coastline, want to experience all different types of terrain.

We could manage san fran to LA then upto grand canyon, Las vegas, Yosemite Lake tahoe then san fran again to fly home. Or would we be missing out on alot not seeing san diego?

 

Don't discount PCH (Highway 1), the Pacific Coast Highway. There's more to it than just coastline. 'Sides, it doesn't ALWAYS hug the coast. If I wer planning a driving trip of teh left coast (what we "Easterners" call the more, let's say creative, side of 'Mericuh), I'd tryN include PCH at least PART of the way. You'll hafta query the left-coasters about which areas of PCH are best visited during the time of year you'll be swinging through as it's been more than 20 years since I lived out there.

Enjoy your trip, either way. Take LOTS of pics and remember to come back and post them for us, willya?

 

Yeah you should be able to fly through Nevada and Arizona, but dont count on the same when approaching SF, there's always crazy traffic round there. Sounds fun, don't forget to check out Highway 1 along the coast if you got the time, thats a fun one.

 

skip phoenix, nothin there but sand and triple digit temps....def hit up yosemite and hike Half Dome, it's an easy hike that doesn't require backpacking, and it's amazing. hit me up when you're in SF, i can show you around and give you a few suggestions on where to go

 

nice route are u gonna go up the coast to make it a full cirle it might be a nice drive

 

Thanks for the tips guys, we weren't to sure on phoenix either, if we skip it i guess we'd have more time in the other places.

I flew into SF when i went skiing in Tahoe in spring, but i didn't get a chance to look around, I'd def take you up on some "where to go what to see" advice bentframe.

We'd like to make it full circle but not sure on how long it takes on areas around the coast, i bet NV is easy to get through not alot of traffic but LA and San Diego sound busy.

We're going for an SUV to do it in, something like a dodge durango as it's pretty big, we thought about a vert but they're all way to small.

 

I would definately skip phoenix. Make sure the AC is working well before you head out from Tahoe. California also has some strict agricultural laws. So when you re-enter the state make sure don't have any fruits or vegtables. You may want to consider driving the pacific coast highway. It's rated among the top 10 drives in the states and well worth it.

How many people are going? 4 is the maximum you will want to cram into a durango for a trip that long.

 

Well 3 of us definitely but maybe 4, Durango not that big then? We wanted something big enough to lay about in on the longer drives, anything better for that? considering we'll be hiring it...

You guys are talking me into this coastal drive, what are the other top ten drives in the US then? I love it over there, wanted to experience some more of it as i'm thinking of working for 6 months in the USA within the next couple of years..