Red Rock Canyon , a scenic ,acre area dominated by red sandstone rock formations a mere 17 miles west of the Strip, is the perfect place to sweat out those booze-induced calories you picked up back in Vegas. These day-glow totems stick out like a sore thumb against the ochre-colored landscape. According to Rondinone, the location is mid-way, physically and symbolically, between the natural the mountains and the desert and the artificial the highway and ceaseless traffic that marches between Vegas and LA.
Before you lose too much sunlight, give yourself enough time to tackle the hour-and-a-half-long drive south along I S towards the Mojave National Preserve , a vast, sunbaked desert of shifting sands and rugged mountains home to coyotes, lizards, and dense forests of Joshua trees. You might want to check out the famous Kelso Dunes, among the tallest in the States. JS Tip: Make sure to stop at Nipton for supplies. The World Famous Crochet Museum is exactly what it sounds like: a run-down photo-processing booth transformed into a quirky museum that honors the art of crochet.
These dramatic, site-specific sculptures, built from recycled metal, wood, and other manmade scraps, transform with the light and are especially photogenic on sunny or dark and stormy days. A longtime destination for LA artists and outcasts, hipsters now descend in droves, and for good reason. Whether you want the full Vegas experience or just to see what all the fuss is about, every Las Vegas Vacation Package is flexible, with time to move at your own pace.
And although Las Vegas is famous for its lights, parties and fast-paced atmosphere, the city also offers access to some of the most beautiful and majestic natural scenery in the U. Each Las Vegas vacation includes a visit to the breathtaking Grand Canyon National Park, starting with a guided tour by plane, and then by ground.
If you want to keep going, California Tours will take you there! Each trip brings a world to life, with additional regional highlights available, including the Napa Valley wine region, the Pacific Coast, Disneyland or Universal Studios Tours, L. Our tours and sightseeing are designed for the independent traveler arriving in Las Vegas and wanting to tour the city and the surrounding area. The itineraries can be combined in any order and customized to any length, to suit your needs.
For each vacation, you may choose from the Classic Package, offering a carefully-planned, comfortable and comprehensive experience, or a Deluxe Package, with additional options and upgrades. Joining a bike tour or hiring a bicycle to cycle out to and over the bridge is a popular option. Although you can get also good views of the bridge from the city, particularly around the Maritime Museum area.
You can also learn about their bread making process at the free museum, and watch the bakers making bread. Other unmissable highlights of the city include the famous curvy Lombard Street , said to be the most crooked street in the world. You should also try to ride the famous street cars, visit the Chinatown and Union Square area, wander around Golden Gate Park , and peer up at the Transamerica Pyramid.
We have a guide to some great photo spots in San Francisco if you are looking for inspiration. Parking is also at a premium, and hotels with free parking are fairly rare. The plan is to spend your next couple of days visiting Yosemite National Park , which is home to some gorgeous natural scenery, including epic waterfalls and towering mountains.
With a full afternoon on day 12, and all of day 13 to visit the park, you should be able to visit many of the highlights. On the afternoon you arrive, we would suggest visiting some of the highlights near the Yosemite Valley Visitor Centre to start with, including Yosemite Falls and Bridalveil Falls. For your full day in the park, you have a few options. First, you might want to take advantage of the free Yosemite shuttle , and visit the highlights that it goes to.
You then might consider a shorter afternoon hike, such as that up to Vernal Falls. Alternatively, if you love hiking, you might consider tackling one of the longer or more strenuous day hikes.
There are plenty of these, such as the Yosemite Falls hike. Just note that some hikes, like the popular Half Dome Hike , do require an advance purchase permit. These are distributed via a lottery system as they are so popular so are difficult to obtain.
If you plan to explore the backcountry areas of the park, you will also need a permit. For more inspiration for your visit to Yosemite, see our guides to what to do in Yosemite for a day , as well as our guide to photography locations in Yosemite. There are a range of accommodation options in Yosemite National Park, ranging from campsites to canvas-sided tent cabins, through to luxury hotels.
There are 13 campsites available in the park , with a number of these available for reservation, and the rest operated on a first come first serve basis. If you want to camp, we highly recommend booking well in advance, which you can do here. There are also nine lodging options operated by Yosemite Hospitality inside the park, which are the only other accommodation options available in the park itself. These can be reserved up to a year in advance, and range from simple canvas cabins through to a high-end luxury hotel.
These can all be reserved online in advance here. We would definitely recommend staying in the park if possible, as this will put you close to the sights. However, if you struggle to find an option that works for you, some recommended lodging just outside the park is as follows. As a general rule, the closer to the park, the more expensive the property is likely to be.
Today you have a fair old drive ahead of you — around 6 hours in total. Due to its elevation and exposure to snow, this road is closed over winter, usually from November to late May. You can see the latest road conditions here. If this road is closed, then you are looking at a significant detour to get to Death Valley, requiring you to exit the park to the south or west, and then to loop a long way south via Bakersfield to get around the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
In this case, instead of driving all the way back to Las Vegas, you might prefer just to return to San Francisco. We suggest taking a left onto the , and driving to the Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve, a couple of miles up the road. Mono Lake is a saline soda lake is home to many limestone columns, known as tufa towers, which are a popular visitor attraction.
Definitely worth a photo stop. This is home to over 3 million acres of desert and mountains, and was named during the California Gold Rush. During this time, a group of wagons became lost in the valley, and though they eventually found their way out, it was only after they gave up their wagons and ate their oxen.
Today, Death Valley is a popular place for visitors to experience an extreme desert environment. One thing to note — if you visit California in the summer months, particularly late June to early September, it can be incredibly hot in Death Valley. We hope you had a great time!
Now you can either fly home, or spend some more time in Vegas. Now, onto some practicalities for your trip. You can also see this on Google Maps here. We would suggest that for this itinerary, the best time of year would be May through June, or September and October.
You could also do this trip in winter of course, but it will be a lot cooler. In addition, some of the national parks, and especially Yosemite, can have restricted access in winter if there is a lot of snow. In particular, the east exit from Yosemite, the Tioga road, is usually closed from November through May. In this scenario you would be looking at a lengthy detour to travel to Death Valley, and might instead prefer to return to San Francisco.
Instead, maybe plan more time along the coast, at higher altitudes, and exploring city attractions. However, I appreciate not everyone will want to drive. The good news is that there are a number of tours which follow a fairly similar route to our itinerary. The advantage of a tour is that you can let someone else handle all the logistics, from booking hotels to handling the transport, and you can just relax and enjoy the experience.
If you are visiting from outside the USA, we wanted to share some tips that should help make planning and preparing for you US road trip a little easier. In the USA , you drive on the right hand side of the road, and the majority of vehicles are automatic.
Compared to Europe, fuel prices are low. To do so, you will need a valid drivers license, and many rental car companies also have a minimum age for renters, which can start as high as Some visitors may also need an International Drivers Permit from to drive in the USA, which needs to be arranged in advance from your home country. We have a complete guide to driving in the USA , which you might want to read if this is your first time driving in the United States.
However, if you decide to skip the cities and focus on the great outdoors, then a motorhome might be more practical. For car rental in the US, we usually use either Priceline or Enterprise. For RV rental, we recommend checking out Motorhome Republic.
They compare prices across all the major suppliers so you can find the right rental for you. You can see their USA listings here. Similar options include Outdoorsy and RVEzy. Coins are also widely used, which range from a cent to a dollar. There are ATM machines available throughout the country. Credit and debit cards are widely accepted, however it is worth keeping some bills to hand for tipping. In addition, the 25 cent coin, known as a quarter, is widely used for short stay parking meters, so you will want to have some of these handy as well.
Tips are expected for a great many service based roles, from restaurant service through to valet parking. The USA uses a v electrical system. If you are coming from a country that uses a v to v system, this means that some of your electrical items might not work.
In our experience, the majority of smaller electronics, like laptops and cell phone chargers, are compatible with v — v and will work in the USA. You can check on the charger, it should tell you.
However, higher powered devices like hair dryers, flat irons, and electric kettles are unlikely to work, unless you have a dual voltage model specifically designed for international travel or have a voltage converter. In addition, if you are visiting from outside the USA, you will likely need a travel adaptor like this.
See our comprehensive guide to travel adaptors for recommendations. There is a huge range of accommodation options in the USA across a wide range of budgets. As this is a road trip, we can recommend trying to find places which include free parking where possible, although in the major cities you are likely going to have to pay for a parking service.
This is definitely the case in and around popular national parks like Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, where even campsites can book out months in advance.
We generally use booking. For the most part, the USA is a safe destination to travel in, and we have never had any problems travelling here. Violent crime against tourists is quite unusual, and the most common types of crime are opportunistic ones like pickpocketing, theft, and auto break-ins. Of course, every country has crime, and areas where you would be wiser to avoid, however if you practice basic safety precautions, keep your valuables out of sight, and behave with some caution, you should be fine!
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