This deal is based on 2 people flying from London Gatwick on The Dreamliner to Los Angeles with 1 20kg suitcase to share and driving around the West Coast and Las Vegas. Price based travelling on 31st January and returning 14th February.
This price includes flights from Gatwick to Los Angeles, car hire for 14 nights, all hotels include free parking and some include breakfast.
This deal is purely a base guide and hotels and destinations can be changed to what you prefer. If you would like to change the car hire you can find some slightly cheaper however if you want a convertible or a people carrier it will be slightly more, the car I've chosen is a Ford Focus sized car which is a nice size for travelling around.
Deal summary
31st January 2016 - Land in LAX, pick up car and head to the hotel to check in.
1st February - 3rd February - Explore LA.
4rd February - Start your drive up the Pacific Coast Highway up towards Pismo Beach.
5th February - Drive up to Monterey Bay and stay here for 2 nights.
6th February - Explore Monterey Bay
7th February - Drive up to San Francisco and stay here for 3 nights.
8th - 9th February - Explore San Francisco.
10th February - Drive to Las Vegas.
11th - 12th February - Explore Las Vegas.
13th February - Spend majority of day in Las Vegas then drive down to Anaheim.
14th February - Check out and explore before heading to the airport.
This is just a guide and there are many ways you can chance this itinerary!
There is so much to do in LA don't forget the amount of theme parks, studio tours and Hollywood tours, make sure you plan ahead before you visit LA to make the most of it.
Driving up the Pacific Coast Highway is one of the most beautiful drives I've ever done and there are so many photo stops and places to explore along the way.
Pismo beach is a lovely little area and a nice place to stop and spend the night before heading onwards.
Monterey bay is a beautiful little town and there are many whale watching excursions which are amazing, when I went we saw killer whales, a ton of dolphins and sea lions and some humpbacks, a must do when in the Monterey area!
San Francisco is a stupidly expensive city to stay in and bumps the price of the trip up considerably but I love this city and feel it is worth every penny, so much to see and do, don't forget to visit Alcatraz and the sea lions on the pier!
Spend a day driving to Las Vegas, make sure you leave early, the drive isn't very pretty especially after doing the beautiful PCH but it'll be worth it when you get to Vegas.
Las Vegas is an amazing city, so much to see and do, don't forget to keep an eye on your watch, the casinos don't have clocks and you can get very easily carried away!
The last place I've chosen is Anaheim, there are many places around LA to stay on the last night but this is on the outskirts so the price is a little nicer and it's not too far to drive to LAX the next day.
Make sure you plan the trip properly and spend the right amount of time in each place to what you prefer to do!
Price breakdown
LA flights bookable though Norwegian inc 20kg between 2 people - £712.60
Car hire bookable though AtlasChoice inc unlimited mileage - £184.16
Los Angeles hotel Super 8 Alhambra bookable through Expedia - £191.64
Pismo beach hotel Ocean Palms Motel bookable through Booking.com - £38
Monterey Bay hotel Days Inn Monterey Downtown bookable through TripAdvisor - £100
San Francisco hotel Great Highway Inn bookable through Expedia - £221.49
Las Vegas hotel Harrahs bookable through LowCostUsa - £142
Anaheim hotel Baymont Inn and Suites bookable through Expedia - £44.47
Total price - £1634.36
Total price each - £827.18
Don't forget to look for valid voucher codes at time of booking for an even cheaper trip!!
Also Las Vegas hotels charge a resort fee which has to be paid at the hotel in cash, each hotel has different fees so make sure you keep some $$ spare for the fees!
The drive between San Francisco and Las Vegas is around 8 hours and between Las Vegas and LA is around 4.5 so make sure you keep and eye on your sat nav and traffic when making these long drives.
Top comments
khufu to husain_kola
1 Nov 154#16
motels have free bedbugs and will charge by the hour if you ask
All comments (44)
srp111
1 Nov 15#1
That's amazing, would love to do that :smile:
scottydoobuy
1 Nov 15#2
heat for the effort we want to do one of these road trips around california/nevada one day just been to vegas loved it so cant wait but bummer is we have to go in school hols as my missus is a Ta :disappointed:
BlueSkies
1 Nov 15#3
BlueSkies
1 Nov 15#4
wisle77
1 Nov 15#5
that sounds great just puts me off driving other side of road never done it get confused enough driving normally :smile:
generationz to wisle77
2 Nov 15#32
Don't get put off. Driving in the US is really easy. No roundabouts or complicated junctions just long straight roads. Have done over 6000 miles in 3 holidays and the only issue was getting used to automatic gearbox after picking up a car in san francisco city centre. Takes a while if you havent driven one before
coziamjames
1 Nov 15#6
Heat added. Incredible deal. FLAMES!!
Hooked99
1 Nov 15#7
Eh would you need an American license or what? :sunglasses:
brownbear86
1 Nov 15#8
Though this deal was for a TV with the picture :wink:
Have some heat
Straycat1967
1 Nov 15#9
Your rental days dont add up with Atlas car rental compared to your itinerary...
and for those that prefer to fly from Heathrow the flights are only £15 more with a scheduled airline (Air New Zealand) http://www.kayak.co.uk/flights/LON-LAX/2016-01-31-flexible/2016-02-14-flexible
*and be aware for the above priced flights with Norwegian, no meals are included on the flight, nor drinks I would assume.
So personally I would rather pay for a scheduled airline with the usual inclusions for similar money.
Thehugger
1 Nov 151#10
Heat for the effort alone!
I prefer driving down from San Fran to LA though as you are then on the correct side of the road to enjoy the views more!
BlueSkies
1 Nov 15#11
Thanks the screen shot and price have been modified now!
JPS
1 Nov 15#12
Wow. Hot.
antg34340
1 Nov 15#13
great work.
hot to trot.
SarahJo786
1 Nov 15#14
Brilliant, top effort!!
husain_kola
1 Nov 15#15
Always wondered - what is the difference between a hotel and a motel?
khufu to husain_kola
1 Nov 154#16
motels have free bedbugs and will charge by the hour if you ask
M0rg0th to husain_kola
1 Nov 152#17
A motel room is directly accessible from outside without going through a lobby.
skdotcom
2 Nov 15#18
San Fran To LV in one day? Thats a big drive! Personally i'd split that up by going via Yosemite
Phila4 to skdotcom
2 Nov 15#20
You won't get anywhere near Yosemite that time of year due to snow!
rstaniforth1 to skdotcom
2 Nov 15#24
Tioga road which you would take to LV from Yosemite is closed at that time of the year of year due to snow. In the summer it is the most amazing drive through the mountains. We got sidetracked at a lake for a few hours shortly before you leave Yosemite and it is maybe the most beautiful place I've ever been. Also drove to mammoth lakes where we stopped for a night same as comment above, it would be a long dive from SF but with an early start would be do able.
SF can be expensive you could also stay in Berkeley and save a good amount for a very short drive out of the main SF area.
Phila4
2 Nov 151#19
It's about 560 miles between SF and Vegas, so realistically you need to allow at least 2 days. Being in winter you could have a lot of snow - you never know, so may need longer. The trip to vegas could well have snow in places and will possibly be very cold in January/February. Much of vegas and surrounding areas are roughly at sea level, but you may well have to drive up and over mountain ranges (which could be snowy/icy that time of year) to get to Vegas (depending on which way you go).
We did a trip in October from SF down the coast to about halfway between SF and LA (A place called San Simeon), then headed up towards Yosemite, through Yosemite then down to Mammoth Lakes (Fantastic alpine type town). Our brakes failed on the way down from Yosemite and we almost went over the edge of the cliff - managed to use gears and sheer brute force on the brakes to stop around 10ft from the edge of the run off area! The drop was probably 1000ft or so, give or take a couple of hundred feet. I managed to slowly nurse the car down to Mammoth Lakes and we were holed up there for about 36 hours waiting for a replacement car, which came from the other side of Yosemite!
While we were there it started snowing and the hire company driver drove over Yosemite with a lowloader and new car on board, delivered it and loaded the broken one. He had some BIG nuts for doing that trip in the snow up to 12,000ft!
The roads to Yosemite are usually shut between late October and late March/early April due to snow - but then the roads are at altitude. It was a bit bizarre - driving from Fresno towards Yosemite you go through stunning scenery (desert, lush greenery, mountains, rivers, lakes etc.) then uphill endlessly until you flatten out and enter Yosemite National Park. When you leave the main park area to continue towards Vegas you think you're just going to go downhill. Well you do slightly at first, then you just go up, up, up and up again further into the mountains, with sheer drops of anything from 100ft to probably well over 2000ft with very little in the way of safety barriers! I was shocked - you think the US is all health and safety mad - well not on the mountain roads. There was often literally NOTHING between the road and the sheer drop! The highest we got to was I think 3,419m above sea level - which is around 12,000ft! You find it hard to breathe properly and everything takes much more effort due to lack of oxygen compared to being around sea level. But then you start heading downhill but at times quite steep! And yes, we did see a bear in Yosemite - a 'baby' bear walked out directly in front of our car!
Would I do it again? Yep! It was fantastic! Quite unnerving at times, but really thrilling and something to look back on as an achievement.
My advice? Book hotels as you go along as you may be curtailed by winter weather, plus you WILL find so many things and places to stop at that you really don't want to be rushed to get to a hotel when you would like to stop longer somewhere. To be honest, January/February isn't the best time for a road trip!
skdotcom
2 Nov 15#21
Fair enough. Just saying 600 miles without a stop aint much of a holiday!
Phila4
2 Nov 15#22
The Hoover dam is quite interesting. There's a relatively new bridge nearby you go over which has been dedicated to a famous Americal football player that gave everything up to go fight in Afghanistan (or was it Iraq?). He got killed there sadly.
It was about a year after we went that I saw a documentary on Youtube about it - and how he was apparently either shot by one of his own colleagues, or was essentially left to die in no man's land as it was decided it was too risky to rescue him. And apparently it was all covered up by the US military. Very sad actually.
You'll see in my other comment I say the same thing - you'd need at least 2 days, and possibly more depending on weather. We travelled 2000 miles in 15 days and we felt rushed at times!
Phila4
2 Nov 15#25
Yep that's it - Tioga Road/Pass. I think I know the lake you're referring to - it was quite simply a stunning place to see. Hoping to do it again next summer!
rstaniforth1
2 Nov 15#26
Tenaya Lake, just found its name. We spent 28 days and way to much money touring round last summer so still paying it off otherwise we would be going straight back. Can't recommend driving yourself enough when it comes to seeing America
Phila4
2 Nov 15#27
I don't recall the name of the lake but I bet it's the same as I'm thinking of. Totally agree - we just can't do 'beach' holidays any more. California and Nevada were stunning - looking to try and take in Arizona and Utah next time. I could easily fill up 28 days over there, just a shame the wife can only take 2 weeks off at a time! Driving is so easy out there (apart from the mountain roads!) and the sense of freedom, often with little other traffic about, is amazing. Best holiday we've ever had and cannot recommend it highly enough. We brought back some fir cones from the giant redwoods just north of SF - over 11 inches tall! If you were walking under them when they fall it would do you quite a bit of damage!
NFS
2 Nov 15#28
Anyone that is put off by staying in a motel I'd say give it a try as you might be pleasantly surprised.
Me and my mate done route 66 3 years back and half the places we stayed along the way we're motels and they were just fine as bear in mind you are only going to stop for the night and the ones we stayed in were clean.
I'd certainly do another road trip again so it's just getting the time off work. The one thing I'd do different is hire a better cat as last time we ended up with a Toyota corolla as we weren't sure of the petrol prices before going but think we spent about $200 on the whole trip for fuel so next time I would hire a convertable or a muscle car and do it properly as you might not do it again
maradona86
2 Nov 151#29
Very good deal, but be warned California is forecast to have one of the wettest winters on record due to the "El Niño" effect. I recently moved to California and they are literally talking about this every day on the news!!
They could of course be wrong, but worth taking into account.
mickey_brock
2 Nov 15#30
what a great holiday you have set out for everyone , wish i had the money ive always wanted to go to alcatraz , me and my mate was only talking about it the other night , heat added
vfdvdd
2 Nov 15#31
I am doing this in two weeks. Fly from Sweden and ended up costing about £400
generationz
2 Nov 151#33
Mono lake at the other side of the pass is incredible too. watching the birds chasing the brine flies and seeing all the vents created by the salt water percolating up. happy memories.
CETD
2 Nov 15#34
Did this 2 years ago in the spring, one of the best drives I've done, no shortage of motels, just keep an eye on trip advisor so you don't get any dives
bhunterno1
2 Nov 15#35
Heat for effort.
Group of us did road trip from LA to Vegas. Would recommend hiring an SUV.
Kez64
2 Nov 15#36
This is a good deal. I am going to LA & San Fran for New Year.
We looked at Booking with Atlas Choice for the Car hire & although it was cheapest there were some terrible reviews.It seemed if it looks too good to be true it probably is.
I personally like a little luxury in Vegas so Harrahs although Cheap would not be my choice. We stayed in a Celebrity suite in MGM a few years back it was approx £75 per night but you do need to shop around on hotels. We also got an amazing deal on Planet Hollywood - the Panoramic suite. When they got there no suites available facing Belagio (which I had requested at booking) so they updated us to Boulevard suite at no extra cost (even though we already had a brilliant deal on Panoramic). Bliss. I would not rate the service at Stratosphere after they let us down for New Year 2014/15
We are travelling up to San Fran via Pacific coast road to Monteray so journey will be approx 6 hours.(3 hours to Pismo Bay) then after New Year fast road back to LA/anaheim. To travel from Vegas back to LA is 4.5/5 hours so bear this in mind with a flight back to the UK.It is a very long, very straight road. We usuall Stop at Barstow for a break/food
wisle77
2 Nov 15#37
cheers i might give it a go in the future
manbearpig
2 Nov 15#38
10kg per person allowance for 2 weeks? LOL what a joke.
I just did a trip to LA and Vegas a week a go, Spent 11 days there total. The suggested itinerary is too busy for 2 weeks imo.
Depends on your needs though.. Driving from LA to Vegas was boring 80% of the trip, except when you get close to Vegas and you drive through the valleys of the mountains / desert. That part is phenomenal, its makes you realise just how vast the US is.
Kez64
2 Nov 15#39
One other thing to mention. I don't think I have ever paid resort fees in Vegas in cash. We have been to Vegas 4 times staying at Luxor,MGM twice, Planet Hollywood & Stratosphere. (May look as though I can't count but we stayed at MGM , went to Grand Canyon & Utah then back to Vegas for Planet Hollywood (same trip). Only once was flight direct other times have been via LAX. Last NY we were badly delayed with traffic/roadworks in LA area.
Alexandre77
2 Nov 15#40
nice deal OP thanks
Username50
2 Nov 15#41
Explore Las Vegas and San Francisco in a day?
rechercher
2 Nov 15#42
We did a trip by coach with all locations and hotels arranged. The only independent excursion being to Alcatraz. It was fairly tiring due to the long distances even with someone else driving and they knew where they were going. Good luck if you think you can cope.
Neanderthal
2 Nov 15#43
This is the kind of trip I dreamed of doing with the wife but now we've got a kiddie going to school it doesn't look like we'll ever get to do it.
nickbooth
3 Nov 15#44
If you need help planning the route for your roadtrip, Furkot is awesome (although it is a little complicated to get in to at first). You tell it roughly where you want to go and how long you want to drive each day and it plans the optimum route, recommends hotels (and optionally books them!) and can suggest other places to visit near to your route. Well worth the effort to learn how to use this amazing tool.
Made our 3-week, 3,000 mile East Coast, Miami-to-Boston road trip a breeze to plan and we were able to edit and update the route as we went along (and always had the assurance that we had enough days left to comfortably make it to Boston for our return flight).
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Opening post
This price includes flights from Gatwick to Los Angeles, car hire for 14 nights, all hotels include free parking and some include breakfast.
This deal is purely a base guide and hotels and destinations can be changed to what you prefer. If you would like to change the car hire you can find some slightly cheaper however if you want a convertible or a people carrier it will be slightly more, the car I've chosen is a Ford Focus sized car which is a nice size for travelling around.
Deal summary
31st January 2016 - Land in LAX, pick up car and head to the hotel to check in.
1st February - 3rd February - Explore LA.
4rd February - Start your drive up the Pacific Coast Highway up towards Pismo Beach.
5th February - Drive up to Monterey Bay and stay here for 2 nights.
6th February - Explore Monterey Bay
7th February - Drive up to San Francisco and stay here for 3 nights.
8th - 9th February - Explore San Francisco.
10th February - Drive to Las Vegas.
11th - 12th February - Explore Las Vegas.
13th February - Spend majority of day in Las Vegas then drive down to Anaheim.
14th February - Check out and explore before heading to the airport.
This is just a guide and there are many ways you can chance this itinerary!
There is so much to do in LA don't forget the amount of theme parks, studio tours and Hollywood tours, make sure you plan ahead before you visit LA to make the most of it.
Driving up the Pacific Coast Highway is one of the most beautiful drives I've ever done and there are so many photo stops and places to explore along the way.
Pismo beach is a lovely little area and a nice place to stop and spend the night before heading onwards.
Monterey bay is a beautiful little town and there are many whale watching excursions which are amazing, when I went we saw killer whales, a ton of dolphins and sea lions and some humpbacks, a must do when in the Monterey area!
San Francisco is a stupidly expensive city to stay in and bumps the price of the trip up considerably but I love this city and feel it is worth every penny, so much to see and do, don't forget to visit Alcatraz and the sea lions on the pier!
Spend a day driving to Las Vegas, make sure you leave early, the drive isn't very pretty especially after doing the beautiful PCH but it'll be worth it when you get to Vegas.
Las Vegas is an amazing city, so much to see and do, don't forget to keep an eye on your watch, the casinos don't have clocks and you can get very easily carried away!
The last place I've chosen is Anaheim, there are many places around LA to stay on the last night but this is on the outskirts so the price is a little nicer and it's not too far to drive to LAX the next day.
Make sure you plan the trip properly and spend the right amount of time in each place to what you prefer to do!
Price breakdown
LA flights bookable though Norwegian inc 20kg between 2 people - £712.60
Car hire bookable though AtlasChoice inc unlimited mileage - £184.16
Los Angeles hotel Super 8 Alhambra bookable through Expedia - £191.64
Pismo beach hotel Ocean Palms Motel bookable through Booking.com - £38
Monterey Bay hotel Days Inn Monterey Downtown bookable through TripAdvisor - £100
San Francisco hotel Great Highway Inn bookable through Expedia - £221.49
Las Vegas hotel Harrahs bookable through LowCostUsa - £142
Anaheim hotel Baymont Inn and Suites bookable through Expedia - £44.47
Total price - £1634.36
Total price each - £827.18
Don't forget to look for valid voucher codes at time of booking for an even cheaper trip!!
Also Las Vegas hotels charge a resort fee which has to be paid at the hotel in cash, each hotel has different fees so make sure you keep some $$ spare for the fees!
The drive between San Francisco and Las Vegas is around 8 hours and between Las Vegas and LA is around 4.5 so make sure you keep and eye on your sat nav and traffic when making these long drives.
Top comments
All comments (44)
Have some heat
and for those that prefer to fly from Heathrow the flights are only £15 more with a scheduled airline (Air New Zealand) http://www.kayak.co.uk/flights/LON-LAX/2016-01-31-flexible/2016-02-14-flexible
*and be aware for the above priced flights with Norwegian, no meals are included on the flight, nor drinks I would assume.
So personally I would rather pay for a scheduled airline with the usual inclusions for similar money.
I prefer driving down from San Fran to LA though as you are then on the correct side of the road to enjoy the views more!
hot to trot.
SF can be expensive you could also stay in Berkeley and save a good amount for a very short drive out of the main SF area.
We did a trip in October from SF down the coast to about halfway between SF and LA (A place called San Simeon), then headed up towards Yosemite, through Yosemite then down to Mammoth Lakes (Fantastic alpine type town). Our brakes failed on the way down from Yosemite and we almost went over the edge of the cliff - managed to use gears and sheer brute force on the brakes to stop around 10ft from the edge of the run off area! The drop was probably 1000ft or so, give or take a couple of hundred feet. I managed to slowly nurse the car down to Mammoth Lakes and we were holed up there for about 36 hours waiting for a replacement car, which came from the other side of Yosemite!
While we were there it started snowing and the hire company driver drove over Yosemite with a lowloader and new car on board, delivered it and loaded the broken one. He had some BIG nuts for doing that trip in the snow up to 12,000ft!
The roads to Yosemite are usually shut between late October and late March/early April due to snow - but then the roads are at altitude. It was a bit bizarre - driving from Fresno towards Yosemite you go through stunning scenery (desert, lush greenery, mountains, rivers, lakes etc.) then uphill endlessly until you flatten out and enter Yosemite National Park. When you leave the main park area to continue towards Vegas you think you're just going to go downhill. Well you do slightly at first, then you just go up, up, up and up again further into the mountains, with sheer drops of anything from 100ft to probably well over 2000ft with very little in the way of safety barriers! I was shocked - you think the US is all health and safety mad - well not on the mountain roads. There was often literally NOTHING between the road and the sheer drop! The highest we got to was I think 3,419m above sea level - which is around 12,000ft! You find it hard to breathe properly and everything takes much more effort due to lack of oxygen compared to being around sea level. But then you start heading downhill but at times quite steep! And yes, we did see a bear in Yosemite - a 'baby' bear walked out directly in front of our car!
Would I do it again? Yep! It was fantastic! Quite unnerving at times, but really thrilling and something to look back on as an achievement.
My advice? Book hotels as you go along as you may be curtailed by winter weather, plus you WILL find so many things and places to stop at that you really don't want to be rushed to get to a hotel when you would like to stop longer somewhere. To be honest, January/February isn't the best time for a road trip!
It was about a year after we went that I saw a documentary on Youtube about it - and how he was apparently either shot by one of his own colleagues, or was essentially left to die in no man's land as it was decided it was too risky to rescue him. And apparently it was all covered up by the US military. Very sad actually.
Just googled it - he was Pat Tillman.
Me and my mate done route 66 3 years back and half the places we stayed along the way we're motels and they were just fine as bear in mind you are only going to stop for the night and the ones we stayed in were clean.
I'd certainly do another road trip again so it's just getting the time off work. The one thing I'd do different is hire a better cat as last time we ended up with a Toyota corolla as we weren't sure of the petrol prices before going but think we spent about $200 on the whole trip for fuel so next time I would hire a convertable or a muscle car and do it properly as you might not do it again
They could of course be wrong, but worth taking into account.
Group of us did road trip from LA to Vegas. Would recommend hiring an SUV.
We looked at Booking with Atlas Choice for the Car hire & although it was cheapest there were some terrible reviews.It seemed if it looks too good to be true it probably is.
I personally like a little luxury in Vegas so Harrahs although Cheap would not be my choice. We stayed in a Celebrity suite in MGM a few years back it was approx £75 per night but you do need to shop around on hotels. We also got an amazing deal on Planet Hollywood - the Panoramic suite. When they got there no suites available facing Belagio (which I had requested at booking) so they updated us to Boulevard suite at no extra cost (even though we already had a brilliant deal on Panoramic). Bliss. I would not rate the service at Stratosphere after they let us down for New Year 2014/15
We are travelling up to San Fran via Pacific coast road to Monteray so journey will be approx 6 hours.(3 hours to Pismo Bay) then after New Year fast road back to LA/anaheim. To travel from Vegas back to LA is 4.5/5 hours so bear this in mind with a flight back to the UK.It is a very long, very straight road. We usuall Stop at Barstow for a break/food
I just did a trip to LA and Vegas a week a go, Spent 11 days there total. The suggested itinerary is too busy for 2 weeks imo.
Depends on your needs though.. Driving from LA to Vegas was boring 80% of the trip, except when you get close to Vegas and you drive through the valleys of the mountains / desert. That part is phenomenal, its makes you realise just how vast the US is.
Made our 3-week, 3,000 mile East Coast, Miami-to-Boston road trip a breeze to plan and we were able to edit and update the route as we went along (and always had the assurance that we had enough days left to comfortably make it to Boston for our return flight).
Furkot