Hello all
Coming out to San Francisco in Oct, first visit to States!
We want to go from San Fran to Yosemite and stay a few nights before going on to Las Vegas.
Now I know its a huge drive from San Francisco to Las Vegas, so I%26#39;m wondering if its actually better to go from Yosemite BACK to SF and then get a flight to Las Vegas. Can I have some opinions please?
I don%26#39;t really relish the thought of a huge drive whilst on vacation unless there%26#39;s loads to see, and I%26#39;m led to believe that there won%26#39;t be much to see on the drive from SF to Las Vegas.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
S
San Fran - Yosemite - Las Vegas???
Shezza77 芦We want to go from San Fran[cisco] to Yosemite and stay a few nights before going on to Las Vegas.禄
Driving Directions with links to relevant maps and URLs of places passed through: San Francisco to Pacifica-Half Moon Bay-Santa Cruz-Monterey/Carmel, Big Sur, San Lu铆s Obispo, Yosemite, Los Angeles, and San Diego geocities.com/touringsfo/鈥riveDir.html
芦Now I know its a huge drive from San Francisco to Las Vegas禄
It%26#39;s about seven hundred miles.
芦better to go from Yosemite BACK to SF and then get a flight to Las Vegas.禄
NO! In October, however, there might be snow closing the Tioga Pass.
芦I don%26#39;t really relish the thought of a huge drive whilst on vacation unless there%26#39;s loads to see禄
Click on the icon at left then ';The Road'; to see my recent itinerary. Read on for the very long details of the trip from which we returned a few days ago. It is neither the first, nor the last, time I%26#39;ll take that route. It%26#39;s great!
芦I%26#39;m led to believe that there won%26#39;t be much to see on the drive from SF to Las Vegas.禄
That%26#39;s true if one takes the other route, through Bakersfield and Barstow UNLESS you find the desert as fascinating as I do . However, ain%26#39;t much %26#39;fore Barstow. That route is only six hundred miles.
San Fran - Yosemite - Las Vegas???
* ';I%26#39;m led to believe that there won%26#39;t be much to see on the drive from SF to Las Vegas'; *
Who led you to believe that? They must never have seen the Mother Lode (Gold Rush country), Yosemite, the Sierra Nevada, maybe Bodie ghost town, Mono Lake, Mammoth Lakes, Devil%26#39;s Postpile, Mt. Whitney, and the jewel of the whole continent, Death Valley. (If you are traveling only one way between the two cities, this is the only way to go. I%26#39;ve given the SF-to-LV sequence; reverse it for LV-SF).
You cannot do justice to this in a quick 2-day dash. I guess it could be done in about 4 days if you were in a rush, but a week would let you take your time, make a few overnight stops, and really enjoy a lot of the best sites.
Shezza- if this is your first visit to the states I hope you have many nights for the trip you are planning. My question is why go to Las Vegas at all? San Francisco, Yosemite and the Gold country in between have alot to offer in terms of sights, outdoors, shopping, activities, etc. LV is an adult playground for casinos, shows, shopping and not very representative of what the USA people are like with diversity, cultural and scenic variety.
But if you gotta go, I would fly from SF to LV. You don%26#39;t want to spend your holiday in a car driving and there could be snow in the mountains leaving from Yosemite.
It may be a bit hard to menuever from one to the other, but depending on what you like, all three places are great. You can also fly from Sacramento to Vegas, which would be a 3 hour drive from Yosemite. It might even been fine to just drive to Vegas. Its a 7 hour drive, which would probably be the amount of time you%26#39;d travel if you drove to San Francisco or Sacramento then flew. You%26#39;d get to see a few different areas on the drive.
Also, love it or hate it, Las Vegas is very American, so I wouldn%26#39;t miss that while you%26#39;re here. Sounds like you%26#39;ve got a great trip planned. Enjoy.
Shezza,
Yosemite is approximately half way between San Francisco and Las Vegas. The previous poster was correct that depending on when in October you%26#39;re traveling, you may be looking at the first snow that closes Tioga Pass through Yosemite, making the more scenic route from Yosemite to Las Vegas impassable. If Tioga Pass is open, however, it%26#39;s a beautiful drive into the Eastern Sierra. Then you can travel south and if you have time, through Death Valley. This is a long drive, though. It%26#39;s one full day from Yosemite to Las Vegas. If it%26#39;s early October, you may not have a problem. Late October may be questionable, especially if snow starts.
Your other option is to leave your car in Fresno, then fly to Las Vegas. It%26#39;s not inexpensive, but may save you some driving hours.
Alternatively, you can drive south through Bakersfield and over the pass to Barstow, then spend a little time in Palm Springs before heading into Las Vegas.
Enjoy your trip!
Hi
I%26#39;m another tourist and a regular visitor to the area. If you can, and I would highly recommend, take the drive from SF to Yosemite-Lone Pine-Death Valley-Las Vegas. It%26#39;s a fantastic visit. Yosemite is not halfway between SF and LV but less than 1/3. Previous poster mentioned Palm Springs on your way from San Francisco-Bakersfield-Las Vegas from Barstow but keep in mind this will be at least a 4 hours detour without the visit to Palm Springs. Even if Tioga Pass is closed I would recommend to drive from Yosemite Valley to Bakersfiel d and make the detour through Death Valley. Maybe even visit Sequoia NP south of Yosemite if you have the time.
Tet
swirlinabc has grossly mis-informed you by saying 芦Yosemite is approximately half way between San Francisco and Las Vegas.禄
By the shortest route, that does not include Yosemite, it%26#39;s six hundred miles. Yosemite is 200 miles, i.e., it%26#39;s twice the distance, by the shortest route, from Yosemite to Las Vegas than from San Francisco to Yosemite. Via Yosemite and Death Valley, it%26#39;s about seven hundred magnificent, spectacular, wondrous, beautiful, and worth-while miles.
芦If Tioga Pass is open, however, it%26#39;s a beautiful drive into the Eastern Sierra. Then you can travel south and if you have time, through Death Valley. This is a long drive, though. It%26#39;s one full day from Yosemite to Las Vegas.禄
That%26#39;s correct.
It%26#39;s also correct that you can go 芦through Bakersfield and over the pass to Barstow禄 but 芦Palm Springs禄 is even farther out of your way than Yosemite 芦heading into Las Vegas.禄.
You can go via the Northern Yosemite Highway into Yosemite and The Valley thence exit via the Southern Yosemite Highway to Fresno and down Highway 99 to Bakersfield then Highway 58 to Barstow and The Mojave Highway to %26#39;Vegas.
My post to you yesterday at 19:19 forum time contains most of the information you need. I neglected, however, to include: Here%26#39;s ';A bit of non-gambling Las Vegas'; with about a dozen useful links: geocities.com/iconoc/Articles/LasVegas.html
Mea Culpa...
Distance wise, I stand corrected.
However...if you take the most boring direct way out of Las Vegas and south down the spine of Nevada, it%26#39;s about an 6 hour drive. From San Francisco to Yosemite, assuming that you are leaving at a less than optimal time and get into some traffic, it can be at least 4 hours +.
Knowing that Palm Springs is out of the way from Las Vegas, I meant it as a side destination to break up the monotony of the Mojave Desert if the route through Bakersfield and Barstow was not an option. Yes, it is out of the way on the path to Las Vegas, but it can be another way of seeing the California Desert that is very different than Las Vegas. I was a very unclear in my description.
Hello everyone and thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my post. It appears a very active forum, I%26#39;m going to enjoy picking your brains whilst planning my trip.
Very excited indeed.
The scenic route drive sounds brilliant, done over a few days. We have 17 days in all so not stuck for time, but do want to see as much as possible whilst not getting too knackered.
Has anyone saved any threads in this forum which would suggest cool itineraries for me? Haven%26#39;t booked anything yet other than flights so am completely open to ideas. We fly in to San Fran and out of LA 17 days later
As a spanner in the works, someone in work today has told me that I should in fact be doing the PAcific Coast drive from San Fran to LA instead. Any views on that guys? Clearly I can%26#39;t do them both!
We are a couple in our early 30s looking for a good mix of outdoors, scenery, nightlife, relaxation, adventure, bit of luxury, generally experience the best which America has to offer whatever that may be!!
(being a bit lazy really aren%26#39;t i, bet there%26#39;s loads of threads on here to help me. I%26#39;ll have a look!)
Thank you!
s xx
Hi Shezza.
You will not find many routes starting SF, making an inland loop and fly out Los Angeles the coastal drive included on the forum. Most of the time the arriving/starting location is Los Angeles or San Francisco and if you want to visit hw 1 too, you%26#39;ll have to do some backtracking. What I mean to say is, starting in SF, drive along the coast, go to Las Vegas and to SF back again (or from LA)is what%26#39;s been done most.
Maybe try this on your 17 days (that%26#39;s not very long as you will see.
Day 1: Arrive San Francisco
Day 2: San Francisco
Day 3: San Francisco
Day 4: SF to Yosemite NP
Day 5: Yosemite NP
Day 6: Yosemite NP to Lone Pine
Day 7: Lone Pine-Death Valley-Las Vegas
Day 8: Las Vegas
Day 9: Las Vegas
Day 10: Las Vegas-Sequoia NP (Three rivers)
Day 11: Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP
Day 12: Sequoia-Monterey
Day 13: Monterey-Carmel-Point Lobos SR-Big Sur-Cambria. Visit to Hearst Castle
Day 14: Cambria to Santa Barbara (or visit Hearst Castle in the morning)
Day 15: SB to LA
Day 16: LA
Day 17: LA
Day 18: Home.
Keep in mind, this will be a lot of driving. Here%26#39;s another option but you%26#39;ll miss Yosemite, Death Valley and Sequoia.
Day 1: Arrive SF
Day 2: San Francisco
Day 3: San Francisco
Day 4: San Francisco-Half Moon Bay-Santa Cruz-Monterey
Day 5: Monterey-Carmel-Point Lobos-Big Sur-Cambrai
Day 6: Cambria-Santa Barbara
Day 7: Santa Barbara-Las Vegas
Day 8: Las Vegas
Day 9: Las Vegas
Day 10: Las Vegas-Grand Canyon-South Rim
Day 11: Grand Canyon south rim-Sedona
Day 12: Sedona
Day 13: Sedona-Palm Springs
Day 14: Palm Springs
Day 15: Palm Springs-Los Angeles
Day 16: LA
Day 17: LA
Day 18: Home.
Also a lot of driving and many more possibilities.
Hpoe this helps some. Don%26#39;t hesitate to ask for more routes. We%26#39;ll always try to help you.
Tet
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