Los Angeles

Bucket

My dad has been to San Diego a couple of times and fell completely in love with it - may be worth a look.

I've always wanted to go to San Francisco so I'd be inclined to suggest that, but I don't know.

joneve

If you fancy a venture further up the coast - I cannot recommend Seattle enough. Great musical history, great food, great people, and just an all around great city, that's small enough that you can do it in 2-3 days sight seeing if you're on a tight schedule. 

Without doubt my favourite place in the world. 

Brad

Definitely hire a car, LA is huge. Wasn't too keen myself so a few days was enough, although I am glad I went. Manhattan Beach is lovely.

I really liked San Francisco (you won't need a car there!) and San Diego. If San Francisco is on the cards I'd definitely recommend getting there via Big Sur, plus that'll allow you to stop off in loads of great little towns on the way - Solvang, San Luis Obispo, Monteray, Carmel By The Sea etc...

TheBigDipper

Santa Monica is a decent enough place to stay if you're close to the beach and have a car. Lots of good ideas given already, but Mulholland Drive is a nice cliched thing to do (and take in the view of the city). Venice is interesting to visit. A drive into the canyons to get the spirit of Joni and Neil under your skin might also be enjoyable. If you fancy something unusual, (and if it's still there) a drive through Watts and a visit to the Rodia Towers (AKA Watts Towers) might be fun. In truth, though, as a tourist I found LA to be lots of suburbs looking for a city, so I stopped looking for one and tried to adjust my attitude to accepting how it was.  

San Francisco is my favourite US city, and feels quite European. Like New York, public transport exists and works. If you get the chance, find the time. Keep a car, though, for trips out to the Bay Area.There's some pretty countryside to the south of the city. Across the bay to the north is Marin County (like the mountain bikes) - also very pretty, with the John Muir Woods and their giant redwood sequoias, and the town of Sausalito. Camden-esque, I thought. 

San Diego is also lovely and very mild weather all year round. La Jolla is pretty. Coronado is the bay where the Navy is - you can hire motor boats and get warned away from the aircraft carriers by armed guards on board. Coronado is also the site of the Hotel Del Coronado (called the 'Del" locally). Its claim to fame is it was the first hotel in California to get electric light (1900-ish). Film buffs will recognise it because it was used as the hotel for all the Florida beach scenes in "Some Like It Hot". 

Snap

@RandallFlagg

We did a three week road trip of California, north to south, from SF to San Diego, in August 2015. It was brilliant.

In LA, I would look at basing yourself in Santa Monica or Venice (they run into each other). Lovely places. Venice canals could be a good place to hire a house.

Santa Monica has a good vibe to it -  cool and relaxed, and Venice is more gritty and hipster ish, but still very smart. Huge beaches, lots of places to eat an drink and shop etc.

From SM you can get into LA central ,driving, in about 30 minutes, depending on traffic. Its about 13 miles or so. Driving there is dea easy, big roads, slow traffic. Much easier than here. The buses are a good option though.

Beverly Hills, the canyons, Bel Air, W Hollywood, Mulholland Drive, Griffith observatory - all interesting and worth a visit. Hollywood most certainly is not worth the effort - its a massive shithole. Like Blackpool with heat. Seriuosly horrible. We lasted about an hour, then drove back to SM.

Santa Barbara is a good place -  has a very mediterranean vibe to it, picturesque and buzzing.

Cambria is lovely -  a real one horse town place on the beach, and a nice break from cities.Two microbreweries though!

Morro Bay, Pismo Bay, lovely.

Big Sur - one of the most spectacular places you can drive through. Mountains and forest on one side, the Pacific on the other, complete with breaching whales etc.

Monterey- again, lovely, and we did some brilliant whale watching. Blues, fins, humpbacks.

Carmel -  fairy story pretty, a bit false, but still a lovely place to wander round, and a good beach too.

S Francisco - I liked it, but... its not all that tbh. We had three days there and that was about right. UPper Haight and Filmore are good areas, but the city is quite spread out and its a bit of an arse to get around. The Botanical Gardes are superb though.

San DIego - the city centre is not too good, but the surrounding areas are superb. We had a week, stayed in Hillcrest which is a vibrant and diverse place. We ate out around there most nights. Coronado is nice-  very civil and refined, with massive beaches. Thought Mission Bay was a bit too touristy, but loved Ocean Beach (OB) which is like a throwback to the 70s, full of bikers, beach bums, very rough and ready, but dead cool. Cracking farmer's market on a Wednesday which is basically one big street party.

La Jolla for us was dull - its all a bit manufactured and twee. And it gets rammed, you can't park. We left and went back to OB.

Balboa Park is good - very impressive.

The whole area around SD is good, its about the beaches really. Whilst the city is big, its not upto much really. Gaslamp Quarter is the main part, but its busy and rowdy, and a bit brash. I


Favourite place of the whole triop was Santa MOnica & Venice. Venice boardwalk, down the beach is mad, but good. Abbot Kinney boulevard is full of achingly cool bars and shops and restaurant, but v relaxed, and the canals are beautful and peaceful. IMO, the area has everything you'd want for a good holiday.

have a great trip!

ronnyb

RandallFlagg said:

ronnyb said:

Everybody has a different take on things but last year I found LA to be a bit tacky if anything the walk of fame and the shops reminded me of the sea front in Blackpool. We didn't use a car in LA until we left the place to travel up to San Francisco and used the metro system to get around. Downtown is just like any other city and there are plenty of weirdos about and I wouldn't have fancied travelling on the metro at night. Santa Monica is well worth a visit and we wished we could have spent more time there. Went back to San Francisco this year and love the place.  

What's the climate like in SF, isn't it supposed to be a bit chilly? The wife is looking for hot weather

We went at the beginning of April and it was just right. It can get hot but it seems to have its own micro climate from the rest of California. We hired some bikes near Union square intending to cycle along the Embarcadero to Sausalito across the Golden gate bridge. When we got to the bridge a sea mist descended (of which it's well known for) and you couldn't see your nose in front of you so we abandoned that bit. We'd walked across it the year before so we weren't too disappointed. Hotels are quite expensive but we stopped a few miles outside at a place called Millbrae and travelled in every day on the BART system ,bay rapid transport. Lovely hotel there can recommend it. Found San Diego to be a bit too modern, full of office blocks in the centre but there is a lot to do there. They have an excellent tram system so its easy to get around by car, travelled down on it all the way to the Mexican border at Tijuana for about £4 each. Got to go again next year and it'll be SF again and probably head north this time. Wouldn't go again to LA but it's everybody to their own. 

Snap

Differnt parts of SF have different weahter. The Mission is the warmest. Cos of all the hills (43 I think), there is a variation all over the city.

In AUgust, it was low 20s during the day, but a little too cool to sit out in the evening. When we left we had lunch out on the beach at SF, the car was reading 70 degrees. As we headed south, stopped at Gilroy, which is maybe 40 miles south, but in the valley, it was 115!

RandallFlagg

Thanks all, lots to consider, and the whale watching at Big Sur/Monterey really appeals. After a bit more research I think Las Vegas isn't being ruled out as I would love to see the Hoover Dam and could take a day trip from LV.

Lots to think about and lots of saving to do!

Daneff

My easy circuit route would be the following: 

Other than Universal Studios (awesome) I found LA a bit meh. A lot of conflicting scenes of obscene wealth then 100 metres away people living in tents on the freeway. Expensive to stay there also. We had a hire car (Mustang ), but ended up just taking ubers everywhere as the jammed up 6+ lane wide freeways are no fun for driving in. Uber often ended up about 7/8$ for half hour ride. Well worth not having to stress. We left a few days earlier then planned for greener pastures. Just head up Pacific Coast Highway, it'll be the best drive of your life. See the beaches populated by hundreds of seals along the way. Pismo beach is lovely, you can get a hotel room 10 metres from the sand. Amazing bbq place around the corner, had dinner with fire helicopter crews in the area waiting for fires to break out. Carry on up to Big Sur and pray its not closed for wildfires (both times for me ). Definitely stay at Monterey, wonderful town. Whale watching is a bargain at around $40 each for 3 hour trip. We saw a 6/7 whales, dolphins and seals feeding at close distance. Sample all the clam chowders being foisted at you on the pier. Carry on up to San Francisco, really great for a big city. Drive the golden gate, take ferrys around, ride the cable cars. Deffo go Alcatraz. The piers stretch for literal miles. Weird seeing homeless/strung out people with laptops though. You can then go through Nappa wine valleys, down through Yosemite National park, stay at little mountain town ski resorts, hopefully see a bear or two. Then carry on down to Las Vegas and do all that crazy stuff. I thought i'd hate Vegas. I never gambled a dollar but the sheer spectacle of it is something to see. Stayed in the pyramid Luxor, pretty cool, a bit tired inside but was very reasonably priced comparatively. No such thing as a free dinner/ticket, they're trying to con you into watching a time share presentation :P Each hotel is its own bizarre universe. Next time i'll stay at Ceasers. Then you can drive back to LA, drop off the car and fly home. 

thecolourbox

I'd say LA is one of those places worth seeing but not worth going to see, if that makes sense. It is massive and a lot of dramatic disparity from street to street - ie you could be walking down one street and you feel like you're in 90210 or a movie set, take one wrong turn and it looks like Straight Outta Compton or a Snoop Dog video and fear you may get shot or something.

Highlights for me were eating al fresco on sunset strip where the people there seemed very chatty, also a must for me if I went back again would be the Griffiths Observatory on the hill. Not only great views, but a cool space observatory with an actual working Tesla Coil inside! It's brilliant and a lovely break from the manic streets in the city.

Amusingly/anecdotally, my missus was determined to spot somebody from a film or TV show so we walked around some of the shopping parts a fair few times. She was getting really annoyed at not seeing anybody, when this chap stands next to us at the traffic lights, looking quite smart and clearly expensively turned out. Just in time for him to hear my missus say something like "I haven't even seen any Z list British actors tring to look flash, how rubbish!", to which he huffed quite dramatically and walked off in a bit of a stroppy fashion. I thought at the time...he looks familiar somehow, where do I know him from? Ahhhhhhhh he looks like the dude in Red Dragaon...it's bloody Ralph Fiennes! I had to explain to my missus that she'd just insulted Lord Voldermort and she was devastated, much to my amusement.

Anyway...other places nearby. Monterey was fun for Whale watching but didn't seem to be a lot else there. The Big Sur was amazing, breathtaking, and has a hot water spa thing that you can only go to in the early hours of the morning. However the place we went to for that was very badly affected by the fires there recently so I'm not sure it's that easy to visit as a tourist at present.

TimmyO

Either SF or Hawaii (in fact I'd skip LA and do those 2)

thecolourbox

San Francisco was lovely, had a more European vibe to it for me. Definitely not somewhere to go for some hot weather though, very windy and a bit chilly

RandallFlagg

nocasternoproblem said:

LA is wonderful, my favorite city in the world.  You must do the obvious Universal Studio (get VIP passes), Santa Monica, drive down sunset strip, head into the Hollywood hills, see the Chinese theatre, people watch on Rodeo Drive.  Ok, it's sprawled out but, er - hire a car!  Avoid the rush hours and you'll be fine.  Good hotels in Century City that's central.  Check out Korea town too.  Roscoes Chicken and Waffle Shack dies great breakfasts.

second city to go to is Vegas.  Fly there in an hour, worth paying more for a high end hotel.  Visit the Grand Canyon, go by helicopter not coach.  Hire a car and drive out to the Hoover Dam. See a proper show.  I thought I'd hate vegas but loved it.    

Thread revival!

@nocasternoproblem pretty much summed up the holiday we have planned and got booked, 8 nights in Los Angeles (Loews Hollywood) and 7 nights in Las Vegas (MGM Grand), will be heading down to Gatwick in a few weeks.

Have planned plenty of things to do in LA, out and about every day and will be chilling by the pool in Vegas with a couple of days out at Hoover Dam/Lake Mead and Grand Canyon and may well be taking in a show or two while we are there.

Costing a small fortune but can't wait...!

grungebob

RandallFlagg said:

nocasternoproblem said:

LA is wonderful, my favorite city in the world.  You must do the obvious Universal Studio (get VIP passes), Santa Monica, drive down sunset strip, head into the Hollywood hills, see the Chinese theatre, people watch on Rodeo Drive.  Ok, it's sprawled out but, er - hire a car!  Avoid the rush hours and you'll be fine.  Good hotels in Century City that's central.  Check out Korea town too.  Roscoes Chicken and Waffle Shack dies great breakfasts.

second city to go to is Vegas.  Fly there in an hour, worth paying more for a high end hotel.  Visit the Grand Canyon, go by helicopter not coach.  Hire a car and drive out to the Hoover Dam. See a proper show.  I thought I'd hate vegas but loved it.    

Thread revival!

@nocasternoproblem pretty much summed up the holiday we have planned and got booked, 8 nights in Los Angeles (Loews Hollywood) and 7 nights in Las Vegas (MGM Grand), will be heading down to Gatwick in a few weeks.

Have planned plenty of things to do in LA, out and about every day and will be chilling by the pool in Vegas with a couple of days out at Hoover Dam/Lake Mead and Grand Canyon and may well be taking in a show or two while we are there.

Costing a small fortune but can't wait...!

Can recommend ka at the mgm. Great show. 

RandallFlagg

grungebob said:

RandallFlagg said:

nocasternoproblem said:

LA is wonderful, my favorite city in the world.  You must do the obvious Universal Studio (get VIP passes), Santa Monica, drive down sunset strip, head into the Hollywood hills, see the Chinese theatre, people watch on Rodeo Drive.  Ok, it's sprawled out but, er - hire a car!  Avoid the rush hours and you'll be fine.  Good hotels in Century City that's central.  Check out Korea town too.  Roscoes Chicken and Waffle Shack dies great breakfasts.

second city to go to is Vegas.  Fly there in an hour, worth paying more for a high end hotel.  Visit the Grand Canyon, go by helicopter not coach.  Hire a car and drive out to the Hoover Dam. See a proper show.  I thought I'd hate vegas but loved it.    

Thread revival!

@nocasternoproblem pretty much summed up the holiday we have planned and got booked, 8 nights in Los Angeles (Loews Hollywood) and 7 nights in Las Vegas (MGM Grand), will be heading down to Gatwick in a few weeks.

Have planned plenty of things to do in LA, out and about every day and will be chilling by the pool in Vegas with a couple of days out at Hoover Dam/Lake Mead and Grand Canyon and may well be taking in a show or two while we are there.

Costing a small fortune but can't wait...!

Can recommend ka at the mgm. Great show. 

Is it suitable for teenage kids? (15 & 17)

designerseye88

I would head to San Diego specifically Mission beach. Id probably also head along the big sur if you have time too. Central LA is good fun, worth doing the touristy stuff. 
Beware though downtown LA isn't the prettiest of places and you may be shocked by the disparity of wealth. 

Personally if you're making a big trip of it Id take a long drive up through the big sur and Visit San Francisco, beautiful city. Also if you can then Yosemite is a must see, One of the most beautiful places i have been. 

designerseye88

RandallFlagg said:

Thanks all, lots to consider, and the whale watching at Big Sur/Monterey really appeals. After a bit more research I think Las Vegas isn't being ruled out as I would love to see the Hoover Dam and could take a day trip from LV.

Lots to think about and lots of saving to do!

In my Early 20's I did a road trip. LA - San Diego - Lake Havasu - Gran Canyon - Las Vegas - Yosemite - San Francisco - Monterey Bay. 

Any of these places is superb

grungebob

RandallFlagg said:

grungebob said:

RandallFlagg said:

nocasternoproblem said:

LA is wonderful, my favorite city in the world.  You must do the obvious Universal Studio (get VIP passes), Santa Monica, drive down sunset strip, head into the Hollywood hills, see the Chinese theatre, people watch on Rodeo Drive.  Ok, it's sprawled out but, er - hire a car!  Avoid the rush hours and you'll be fine.  Good hotels in Century City that's central.  Check out Korea town too.  Roscoes Chicken and Waffle Shack dies great breakfasts.

second city to go to is Vegas.  Fly there in an hour, worth paying more for a high end hotel.  Visit the Grand Canyon, go by helicopter not coach.  Hire a car and drive out to the Hoover Dam. See a proper show.  I thought I'd hate vegas but loved it.    

Thread revival!

@nocasternoproblem pretty much summed up the holiday we have planned and got booked, 8 nights in Los Angeles (Loews Hollywood) and 7 nights in Las Vegas (MGM Grand), will be heading down to Gatwick in a few weeks.

Have planned plenty of things to do in LA, out and about every day and will be chilling by the pool in Vegas with a couple of days out at Hoover Dam/Lake Mead and Grand Canyon and may well be taking in a show or two while we are there.

Costing a small fortune but can't wait...!

Can recommend ka at the mgm. Great show. 

Is it suitable for teenage kids? (15 & 17)

Yes, they’ll love it too. Well no guarantees but it is ace. 


If we are also offering places to visit then South Lake Tahoe is a beautiful place. I lived in the area back in 2000 and would go back in a heart beat. 
Its between Reno and San Fransico right on the cali/ Nevada state line.