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San Diego/Las Vegas/San Francisco/LA

EnglandShrimper

Manager
Joined
Sep 12, 2007
Messages
1,568
Evening Guys and Girls,

Off on a trip and taking in all these places looking for recommendations on what to see/do etc.

What should I definitely not miss?

Where should we stay between Las Vegas and SF? Yosemite?

2 Adults, no children.

Thanks in advance.

ES
 
Been to San Franscisco and LA with work. The coastal drive between them is great.

I recommend In n Out burger
 
Yosemite is majestic, absolutely huge - you could spend a month there. Definitely recommend it.
 
Monterrey aquarium, it’s just South of San Francisco. Alcatraz you had to book up the day before.
 
Yosemite is majestic, absolutely huge - you could spend a month there. Definitely recommend it.

Yosemite is a must. It's quite spectacular, and it's where I proposed to my wife!

If you stay in SF, make sure you stay in Union Square rather than Fisherman's Wharf. And be sure to visit Alcatraz.
 
Yosemite is a must. It's quite spectacular, and it's where I proposed to my wife!

If you stay in SF, make sure you stay in Union Square rather than Fisherman's Wharf. And be sure to visit Alcatraz.
If you go to union square, then the Hilton has a rooftop bar on floor 46 that's recommended
 
Hearst Castle, Junipero Serra's grave at Carmel Mission, 17 mile Drive, Monterrey Aquarium. Cannery Row, Go up the Eiffel Tower and on Gondola in Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Cabot's Pueblo Museum in Desert Hot Springs. I went to 29 Palms because of Robert Plant's song but it's a dump. Happy Travelling.
 
Regular visitor to the States. Was last in LA, SF & SD in summer of 2016. My reccos as follows;

San Diego - Downtown beautiful, get to the beaches. Head for the best fish tacos restaurant that I have EVER been to; Oscar's Mexican Seafood. Tiny 'hole in the wall' place, incredible. Beaches that are close to Oscar's are delightful. Get to a San Diego Padres baseball game if you can.

San Fran - Pricey but you can't go wrong anywhere. Park the car close by and take a wonderful stroll along the estuary line to the Golden Gate Bridge. Alcatraz is a must but do book in advanced as suggested as they nearly always sell out. With San Fran being one of the the more liberal cities in the US the LGBT bar area is great for a night out. Lovely people and great for convo.

LA - Depends where you choose to stay as I feel that much of LA is rough round the edges. I wouldn't spend too much time here, especially given the other cities that you're visiting. 2 nights max i would suggest. Enough to see a few sights and nice eateries. Traffic is a nightmare.

Yosemite - Incredible. Simply stunning. Don't underestimate the drive here, it certainly isn't a 'day trip'. I was fortunate enough to stay for a week within the park and barely scratched the surface. Airbnb have some incredible properties.

Santa Cruz & Monterey - Great little stop off places fora day or two depending on your time and budget.

Ultimately with any trip it's what you want out of your experience and what your hobbies are. If you want any more specific references to Airbnbs, restaurants etc just drop me a DM.
 
we had a walking tour of SF. We were the only people. Worth doing. Was told that all the high rise buildings in the financial district have to have a roof garden accessible to the public and free (or they would not have been allowed to be built) They don't shout about this but there are apparently some stunning gardens and views. Go on the trams, cable cars and underground. Golden Gate park and Haight Ashbury.
 
also drive all the way down to Fort Point which is basically under the golden gate bridge on the city side. You get an amazing close up view.

san-francisco-fort-point.jpg


Then drive over the bridge and up the hill on the north side for an iconic view back over the bay.

maxresdefault.jpg
 
Regular visitor to the States. Was last in LA, SF & SD in summer of 2016. My reccos as follows;

San Diego - Downtown beautiful, get to the beaches. Head for the best fish tacos restaurant that I have EVER been to; Oscar's Mexican Seafood. Tiny 'hole in the wall' place, incredible. Beaches that are close to Oscar's are delightful. Get to a San Diego Padres baseball game if you can.

San Fran - Pricey but you can't go wrong anywhere. Park the car close by and take a wonderful stroll along the estuary line to the Golden Gate Bridge. Alcatraz is a must but do book in advanced as suggested as they nearly always sell out. With San Fran being one of the the more liberal cities in the US the LGBT bar area is great for a night out. Lovely people and great for convo.

LA - Depends where you choose to stay as I feel that much of LA is rough round the edges. I wouldn't spend too much time here, especially given the other cities that you're visiting. 2 nights max i would suggest. Enough to see a few sights and nice eateries. Traffic is a nightmare.

Yosemite - Incredible. Simply stunning. Don't underestimate the drive here, it certainly isn't a 'day trip'. I was fortunate enough to stay for a week within the park and barely scratched the surface. Airbnb have some incredible properties.

Santa Cruz & Monterey - Great little stop off places fora day or two depending on your time and budget.

Ultimately with any trip it's what you want out of your experience and what your hobbies are. If you want any more specific references to Airbnbs, restaurants etc just drop me a DM.

Indeed. I remember the drive from the entrance to the accommodation car park was 1.5 hours itself.
 
We did a fly drive to San Diego, Vegas, San Fran and LA a good few years back.

We stopped off for a few days at Palm Springs which was a great place to visit, decent casino's too :happy:.

Took in a baseball game at both the Padres and San Fran at the Pacific Bell Park which were excellent people watching experiences.

Must do all the usual stuff of course like Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, Downtown San Diego, full on Vegas days/nights.
 
Some great information there guys. Thanks a lot! Can't wait now.

Been to Vegas 8 times, absolutely love the place. A few recommendations;

- try the Vegas Gun Store. There's plenty of shooting ranges in Vegas, but this one is by far the best for choice & value. The marshalls aren't just experts, they're friendly and welcoming. This place suits everyone, from novices to experts. It's located about 2 miles off the strip, down Tropicana Avenue, just past the (only) little British pub in the area, called Crown & Anchor. A taxi ride should be anywhere from $10-$15, and the staff at the Gun Store will gladly call you a taxi to take you back to the strip.

- The top of the Stratosphere hotel is a must see. It's 108 floors high, and they have 4 rides up there, which are guarenteed to **** you up. Even if you're not a thrill seeker, the viewing platform is spectacular. It's good during the day, but quite surreal at night.

- Skyfall Lounge at the top of Delano, next to Mandalay Bay. It's a panoramic lounge/bar set 64 floors up, which gives you beautiful views of the strip. It's been renovated lately, but back when it used to be called Mix Lounge, they used to give out complimentary champagne at sunset. Not sure if they still do, but worth checking out, for the view alone.

- See a show or two. I highly recommend David Copperfield. Don't care what anyone says, they guy can actually do real magic

- Do the open top bus tour. It costs about $30, and lasts 2 hours, stopping at multiple points up and down the strip & Downtown. It's the perfect way to see everything without walking the 5 mile strip. It's Well worth it, but as an added bonus, your ticket is valid for 2 days, so you can hop on & off whenever & wherever you like.

- If you like animals, try Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden in The Mirage Hotel. It's got a massive Dolphin arena & a White Tiger enclosure.

- whilst you're there, Catch the free Volcano show outside The Mirage. It lasts about 5 minutes, but is superb. You can feel the heat from 40 yards away.

- While I'm on free shows, don't miss The Bellagio's Fountains. This was one I never thought I'd be interested in, but I actually thought was spectacular. Every 15 minutes they play a different song, and the fountains dance to different routines. The best song by far is Andrea Bocelli's Time to say goodbye.

- Take a Helicopter tour over the Strip at night

- Never been myself, but recently Vegas aquired it's first ever big sports franchise. The Las Vegas Golden Knights are the newest NHL team, and are tearing up records left right & centre. They play at the brand new T-Mobile Arena, located between New York New York & Monte Carlo.

Tbh I could go on & on, but these are the things I'd highly recommend. If you want more specific info on restaurants, bars, clubs, gambling, hotels I'd be happy to help.
 
Evening Guys and Girls,

Off on a trip and taking in all these places looking for recommendations on what to see/do etc.

What should I definitely not miss?

Where should we stay between Las Vegas and SF? Yosemite?

2 Adults, no children.

Thanks in advance.

ES
Hookers and cocaine.
 
Been to Vegas 8 times, absolutely love the place. A few recommendations;

- try the Vegas Gun Store. There's plenty of shooting ranges in Vegas, but this one is by far the best for choice & value. The marshalls aren't just experts, they're friendly and welcoming. This place suits everyone, from novices to experts. It's located about 2 miles off the strip, down Tropicana Avenue, just past the (only) little British pub in the area, called Crown & Anchor. A taxi ride should be anywhere from $10-$15, and the staff at the Gun Store will gladly call you a taxi to take you back to the strip.

- The top of the Stratosphere hotel is a must see. It's 108 floors high, and they have 4 rides up there, which are guarenteed to **** you up. Even if you're not a thrill seeker, the viewing platform is spectacular. It's good during the day, but quite surreal at night.

- Skyfall Lounge at the top of Delano, next to Mandalay Bay. It's a panoramic lounge/bar set 64 floors up, which gives you beautiful views of the strip. It's been renovated lately, but back when it used to be called Mix Lounge, they used to give out complimentary champagne at sunset. Not sure if they still do, but worth checking out, for the view alone.

- See a show or two. I highly recommend David Copperfield. Don't care what anyone says, they guy can actually do real magic

- Do the open top bus tour. It costs about $30, and lasts 2 hours, stopping at multiple points up and down the strip & Downtown. It's the perfect way to see everything without walking the 5 mile strip. It's Well worth it, but as an added bonus, your ticket is valid for 2 days, so you can hop on & off whenever & wherever you like.

- If you like animals, try Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden in The Mirage Hotel. It's got a massive Dolphin arena & a White Tiger enclosure.

- whilst you're there, Catch the free Volcano show outside The Mirage. It lasts about 5 minutes, but is superb. You can feel the heat from 40 yards away.

- While I'm on free shows, don't miss The Bellagio's Fountains. This was one I never thought I'd be interested in, but I actually thought was spectacular. Every 15 minutes they play a different song, and the fountains dance to different routines. The best song by far is Andrea Bocelli's Time to say goodbye.

- Take a Helicopter tour over the Strip at night

- Never been myself, but recently Vegas aquired it's first ever big sports franchise. The Las Vegas Golden Knights are the newest NHL team, and are tearing up records left right & centre. They play at the brand new T-Mobile Arena, located between New York New York & Monte Carlo.

Tbh I could go on & on, but these are the things I'd highly recommend. If you want more specific info on restaurants, bars, clubs, gambling, hotels I'd be happy to help.

Been twice myself mate but didn't know about the Gun store just been on their site,talk about John Wayne for an hour that's a bit of me.:gun:
,
.
 
Been twice myself mate but didn't know about the Gun store just been on their site,talk about John Wayne for an hour that's a bit of me.:gun:
,
.

Been to that one 3-4 times now Dave. Easily the best of the lot in Vegas, IMO. Think the last time I went to that one, (2013ish) I got to grips with a sniper rifle, Desert Eagle, MP5, Scar, Dirty Harry Magnum .44 & the M16 carbine. All for the price of $100, which back then would have been about £60

I love Vegas
 
If you have a chance go to the Grand Canyon National Park, bit more touristy than Yosemite but so worth it. If you don't have time to stay there, there are helicopter trips from Vegas. Vegas is well worth the experience, if you're not a gambler (like me) it's not really worth staying longer than a night or two.

LA, my wife's home town, Griffith Park is well worth a visit, great views of the City, the Hollywood sign and the Observatory is there which has featured in a lot of films, plus lots of walking/hiking trails if you like that. Disneyland is a lot of fun too. Universal studios is somewhere I really want to go but haven't yet.

If you're going after April try to get to a baseball game, San Diego, LA (2) and San Fran all have teams, and it's a truly american experience.

San Fran, Alcatraz is of course a big tourist thing although we didn't do it. We stayed near the waterfront right by Cannery Row (recommend Jack's Cannery Bar, so many taps and really old school pub), Pier 39 is fun - shops, bars, restaurants and the famous sea lions. We visited City Lights Book Store as I'm a big fan of Jack Kerouac and the Beat poets from the 60's, and Cafe Vesuvio next door is a great bar where many writers used to hang out - that may just be me though! You can also take coach trips from the booths on the waterfront to the Redwood Forests to the north.

Have fun!
 
When are you travelling 'England'?

I'd echo a lot of what's been said.

Alcatraz definitely book early. At least two weeks or so. The Audio Tour is excellent.

Toss up where to stay in SF. Union Square and Fisherman's Wharf both have plus points. I stayed on the Wharf.

The Cable Cars are a must and if you get the chance go over the bridge to Sausalito. Fantastic place. Scoma's Restaurant is pricey there, but well worth it :-

http://www.scomassausalito.com/

On the way back, as 'Pubey' mentions, take the slip road up to Marin Point. If you go right to the top the views are something else. Same with Twin Peaks in the city :-

https://www.nps.gov/goga/marin-headlands.htm

Driving from Vegas to SF, I'd do it the other way. Start in Vegas and drive to San Diego and just drive the whole coast road to SF. You can add Yosemite as a side trip.

Plenty of overnight stop off points en-route or just lunchtime visits. Santa Monica for LA and then maybe Solvang, Pismo Beach and Monterey. Santa Cruz, even.

Definite must is the Nepenthe Restaurant on the Big Sur. Extraordinary views :-

https://www.nepenthe.com/

Have fun, mate. :thumbsup:
 
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