California

[Bigbluebear]

Thinking of going to California, and vegas, next summer and having a stop at Disneyland and Universal studios out there.

Anybody any recommendations on the best company to book this with?

Best to just book a fly drive and sort accomodation ourself or book a package?

 

[wayneg]

Been twice, both times booked flight only and then car and hotel seperate. Just as easy as booking DIY to Florida, my friend did a package to West Coast, paid about double what we paid DIY but price up all options.

Will be hot out there in August, our trips were Oct, great time to go.

 

[Bigbluebear]

I'm going back to uni to do a post graduate degree next year so has to be the summer we go, probably july.

My girlfriend wants to book via a travel agent however id rather do it DIY and save some money for the casinos!

 

[tinks86]

Hi, virgin to packages and tours to the west coast, have a nose on their site for some prices, but if you can get a good deal on flights then DIY may be cheaper!

 

[Lizzybear]

We did California and Las Vegas last year and really enjoyed it (well, not Vegas so much but California is amazing ) I DIYed it all and definitely think I got a better deal than if i'd booked a package. I think it's so easy nowadays to price things up and compare online and it's all part of the holiday build up It's very hot in southern California and Nevada but it's a dry heat, we found it more bearable than Florida's humidity.

 

[kieras nana]

i would definately not recommend virgin,for a package.we wanted to go to hawaii & florida & they wanted about £3000 more,than united holidays,who we ended up,going with.also priced up san francisco & florida,with them & again,the difference was amazing £2500.
i would definately d.i.y your trip,
tracy

 

[heatherbelle]

we went on a package with Virgin this year. For three of us it cost 4300.00 that included internal flights from Manchester to LHR, at 90.00.

I have to say if I had done it myself, it would have been far much cheaper.

Prices for flights would have been 1300.00, plus the hotel at around 700.00 and the internal flights would have been a bit cheaper too. However, Mr Tesco paid for my holiday.

I didn't care for LA myself or Anaheim, but I loved San Diego.

If you have a look on the Dibb, they have a whole section dedicated to the West Coast.

I stayed at the Staybridge Suites in Anaheim, and Humphries Half Moon Hotel in San Diego.

If we were to put the clock back it would have been better to stay in Santa Monica for a few days, as its very close to the centre of LA, then stay in Anaheim and then San Diego.

I've been looking at flights to San Diego from Manchester and they are coming up at around 450.00 each at the moment, stopping off somewhere on the way.

Honestly you don't need a package you will save a fortune on DIY. Have a look on the dibb for posts by Mazzy, she's a bit of an expert and is going again for the second time. Here up and coming trip looks great.

 

[rpbert1]

I booked flights for July/Aug to Orlando flying back from LA, and booked an internal flight from Tampa to Vegas, booked my car rental and hotels in Florida, need to get hotel sorted for Vegas, and car rental.much cheaper than a TA

 

[disneyholic family]

summer in vegas is beyond hot - if you want to know what it's like, turn on your oven to 400 degrees, open the door, get in...

it's H-O-T...
108 degress in the shade...seriously....no joke...

we found it so hot, we took taxis just to go a few blocks - we never do that...

and keep in mind that we live in a very hot hot hot climate...

so take my word for it when i say that it's HOT in vegas in july..

having said that, i wouldn't hesitate to go back then...
the only problem with going to that area in the height of the summer, it's a bit more difficult to get to the really good hikes in the area...

for me, vegas is interesting, but what i really enjoy is the hiking to be found around there.....for example, the red canyon is outstanding...
and all the nearby national parks...
and the grand canyon..

i could go on and on and on...

as you can tell, i'm a road trip/hiking sort of person...
the ideal vacation (other than WDW) is a long road trip to various national parks, filled with hiking to my hearts content!!

 

[catherine]

DH's family live in CA, both No and So (I lived there for 10 years) and just over the LV border so we have been lots of times. IMHO I would say not to book a package it's really simple to book everything separately and you will save a lots of £s. Just do some research and you will be fine. If you're going in Aug. I would say not to plan many outdoor activities in LV because it's incredibley HOT! However everwhere indoors is very well air conditioned. We only went to stay there once in Aug and that was enough and I was used to the CA heat!

CA is a great place to visit there is lots of stuff to do and see. I don't really like LA however I did the touristy things when I first moved to CA, but I never went back unless family or friends where over for a visit. I'm more of San Fran girl! I also love Yosemite.

Good luck with your planning, I know that you'll have a great time!

 

[Bigbluebear]

Thanks for the replies.

I have no idea where would be best to go.

Im pretty sure we'll start in San Francisco, however i dont know whether to head down the coast to LA, then to Vegas.

Or whether to just go nuts and got for longer and go from SF to Lake Tahoe, then to Yosemite, Vegas, GC and make our way down to LA, then drive up the coast to SF to fly home.

Or we start in LA and go home from LA and do all that in reverse!

Theres so many places i want to see.

 

[Sarah84]

WE are just back from a 16 night trip to California & Vegas (we stayed in Anaheim, Vegas, San Diego & Hollywood) and had such a fantastic time.
We booked it all ourselves which was very easy to sort all out and cost us just over £2000 which was for flights with Virgin to LA, all good hotels, internal flights from Vegas to San Diego, car hire, park tickets basically everything but our spends.

 

[Lizzybear]

Thanks for the replies.

I have no idea where would be best to go.

Im pretty sure we'll start in San Francisco, however i dont know whether to head down the coast to LA, then to Vegas.

Or whether to just go nuts and got for longer and go from SF to Lake Tahoe, then to Yosemite, Vegas, GC and make our way down to LA, then drive up the coast to SF to fly home.

Or we start in LA and go home from LA and do all that in reverse!

Theres so many places i want to see.

We did San Fran-LA-Vegas but we didn't do Yosemite (didn't feel we had enough time in 18 nights for our first trip, will defo fit it in next time we visit California though), if we had we probably would have done it San Fran-Vegas-LA or Vegas-San Fran-LA instead. It's really hard to narrow it down, there are so many interesting places in California... I reckon we could do exactly the same trip again and have a totally different experience