California\Las Vegas I blame DisneyPrincess

[davec]

I was toying with the idea of California and Las Vegas for our wedding anniversary, DisneyPrincess talking about it has finally swung it.

We have the flights booked and I am now in the process of hotel booking, any advice on this would be a help. We do not need top notch hotels firstly to keep the cost down secondly we won’t spend that much time in the place, it’s a bed for the night. So no need for all the frills, as long as it is clean and half decent we can always eat and drink elsewhere.

Fly into San Diego last week of August (pick up hire car, not yet booked)
I will post a question in the hire cars section.
Stay 4 nights on Shelter Island, so we can have quiet evenings (hotel booked direct)
We both like wildlife and I have always wanted to visit San Diego Zoo, that’s one day. They also now have a separate wildlife park with a must do very long zip line so that’s at least a half day. The remaining time not decided but shopping might get a mention [msncry]
Drive to LA and spend the day looking round the area (I am not interested in looking at famous people’s houses or movie stars, hence only one day)
Spend the night in Long Beach, for a novelty staying on the Queen Mary
One night about half way or so between long beach and Monterey spending a few hours looking at the wine area possibly staying in the Santa Maria area (not booked)
Coming south out of Santa Maria to drive on the coastal route to Monterey spend the night, hotel not yet booked
Spend the day in Monterey then drive the rest of the coastal route to San Francisco
Drop off the hire car on arrival, if it’s before 9pm it works out at 7 days. We have been advised a car is not necessary in San Francisco and parking can get expensive.
4 days in San Francisco hotel not booked but I was looking at Union Square area possibly the chancellor at £500, or something about £350 (advice welcome)
We decided against driving down to Las Vegas it was 2 long days or 3 more comfartable days. We would not mind seeing Yosemite but I have been told it is not the best time to see it and the extra nights can be used else where.
The flights from San Francisco to Las Vegas was only £25 each, another reason not to drive.
We then have 4 nights in Las Vegas the hotels are good value compared to California the hotels I was looking at are: the MGM staying in the west wing. New York New York, one of the refurbished view rooms. The Excalibur, again one of the decent rooms. All of these hotels are about £250 for the 4 nights. One off the wall choice would be Bill’s for low cost and location.
Off strip in downtown area I have looked at the Golden Nugget in the new wing again £250ish, that fish\shark tank looks fantastic. Again off the wall low cost choice would be Main Street Station. Any advice on any of these would be a help (so many choices)
Trips wise Grand Canyon I would like to do the west rim to include helicopter landing and a boat ride. Again anyone with any experience or advice on which trip or company would be useful.
That’s the master plan flights are booked so it’s just the final hotels and any must see does and don’t suggestion I need now.
As I said this is all DisneyPrincess fault , a sincere thank you I appreciate that final little push. (Only 3 months to go)

[sammibabe]

Sounds amazing. Can't help with any info but have a great time

[DaveL]

San Deigo:- Visit Loma point, interesting place + wild life
Have afternoon tea in Coronado Hotel and visit 'Gas Light' area for meal in evening.
DON'T be tempted to take a short trip over the border into Mexico.

San Franciso:- Not sure of the current price but the St Fancis is very nice. Lift goes through the roof of the old building up the side of the newer tower.

Regards Dave

[erowlands]

Were off in two weeks to do Vegasand San Fransisco then back to orlando, stsying at Paris hotel right in the middle of the strip, £80 per night, in SF were staying at the club Donatello, one block from union square, both were on advice from friends who has stayed there. If your planning Alcatraz book in advance,it'd $26 each but gets booked out weeks in advance at busy times
Ob a countdown now!!

Eric

[florida4sun]

Hi,

if your doing 4 nights in Vegas I would advise paying a little extra and staying on strip. We went to the Golden Nugget and it is a nice hotel but very dodgy area. As soon as you go off strip you really need your wits about you.

On strip hotels can be affordable. We had a luxury 2 bed suite in Mandalay Bay at Xmas for $150 a night and 2 adjoining rooms with kind beds, jacuzzis, Tvs in bathrooms etc for $99 each, plus free drinks and useful vouchers worth around $30 per day per room. The Luxor was running at around $60 per night.
There are others middle strip that would be affordable, you just need to hunt out the deals. We found the helicopter flights we discounted considerably if you just turned up and filled empty seats (we did not fly though as weather looked iffy).

Everything we did I found very good discounts for online. Blue Man Group 50% off, Cirque 'o' 50% off, variety show free (thus is a brilliant cheap show and well worth doing).

We started off without a car but soon hired one and found it great as we hopped around a lot, free valet parking everywhere. If I went back in would be mid strip, preferably Cesars Palace (this one costs).

Staying the best hotel you can afford otherwise you will be walking around wishing you had done so. Plus speeding the difference and more on taxis. First two days we spent £100 on taxis then got a car.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by davec
I was toying with the idea of California and Las Vegas for our wedding anniversary, DisneyPrincess talking about it has finally swung it.

We have the flights booked and I am now in the process of hotel booking, any advice on this would be a help. We do not need top notch hotels firstly to keep the cost down secondly we won’t spend that much time in the place, it’s a bed for the night. So no need for all the frills, as long as it is clean and half decent we can always eat and drink elsewhere.

Fly into San Diego last week of August (pick up hire car, not yet booked)
I will post a question in the hire cars section.
Stay 4 nights on Shelter Island, so we can have quiet evenings (hotel booked direct)
We both like wildlife and I have always wanted to visit San Diego Zoo, that’s one day. They also now have a separate wildlife park with a must do very long zip line so that’s at least a half day. The remaining time not decided but shopping might get a mention [msncry]
Drive to LA and spend the day looking round the area (I am not interested in looking at famous people’s houses or movie stars, hence only one day)
Spend the night in Long Beach, for a novelty staying on the Queen Mary
One night about half way or so between long beach and Monterey spending a few hours looking at the wine area possibly staying in the Santa Maria area (not booked)
Coming south out of Santa Maria to drive on the coastal route to Monterey spend the night, hotel not yet booked
Spend the day in Monterey then drive the rest of the coastal route to San Francisco
Drop off the hire car on arrival, if it’s before 9pm it works out at 7 days. We have been advised a car is not necessary in San Francisco and parking can get expensive.
4 days in San Francisco hotel not booked but I was looking at Union Square area possibly the chancellor at £500, or something about £350 (advice welcome)
We decided against driving down to Las Vegas it was 2 long days or 3 more comfartable days. We would not mind seeing Yosemite but I have been told it is not the best time to see it and the extra nights can be used else where.
The flights from San Francisco to Las Vegas was only £25 each, another reason not to drive.
We then have 4 nights in Las Vegas the hotels are good value compared to California the hotels I was looking at are: the MGM staying in the west wing. New York New York, one of the refurbished view rooms. The Excalibur, again one of the decent rooms. All of these hotels are about £250 for the 4 nights. One off the wall choice would be Bill’s for low cost and locatio

[Katys Grandad]

Las Vegas hotels are a lot cheaper during the week. It's not difficult to get a 5 star property on the Strip for less than $100 a night Monday to Thursday so if you can avoid the weekend, you'll save a lot of money.

[florida4sun]

Also avoid when big conventions or sports events are in town, that is when they charge rack rates. Plus the place would be heaving.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Katys Grandad
Las Vegas hotels are a lot cheaper during the week. It's not difficult to get a 5 star property on the Strip for less than $100 a night Monday to Thursday so if you can avoid the weekend, you'll save a lot of money.
[/quote]

[Jill]

San Francisco - we did not have a car and walked everywhere or used public transport. Visited Ghirardelli Square for wonderful ice cream sundaes. We walked up Telegraph Hill (400 steps from bottom to top) in the morning and then up Coit Tower for fabulous bay views (until the fog rolled in).

We took a wine tour from San Fran which came back part of the way on a boat across the bay.


Las Vegas - we stayed in the Paris hotel as, at the time, it was roughly in the middle although a lot of the building at the top of the strip is probably now complete.

The nightly light show at Fremont Street is well worth seeing

We enjoyed visiting the Ethel M Chocolate Factory (very nice chocolate) and walked off the free samples afterwards in the cactus garden (this made a change from normal botanical gardens and it was fascinating to see all the different cacti)

We bought bus tickets in Vegas they were not expensive and are valid for 24 hours so if it is too hot you can jump on a bus plus they go to Fremont Street

San Diego - Highly recommend the zoo - we spent all day there. We also did Sea World

Another vote for Loma Point State Park plus highly recommend Point Loma Seafoods for fabulous fish and chips it is always busy - only better to sit inside than out as seagulls can be a problem!

Monterey - we visited the Aquarium located in Cannery Row which is excellent and you can sit outside and watch the otters in the bay

Have a wonderful trip - we really enjoyed our trip to the west coast and would love to go back and see some more

[floridadreamvilla.co.uk]

We loved San Diego Zoo and also loved Balboa Park with it's wide open spaces and many museums. Some first class facilities and lots to keep anyone interested. Another place well worth a visit but slightly out of San Diego is the Wild Animal Park - http://www.sdzsafaripark.org/ - which comes highly recommended.

We loved Point Loma too. If you choose the streets up the hill on the way to it wisely, you'll get some of the best cityscapes we've ever seen if you look back over your shoulder (or better still, stop a while to take it all in).

[DANESKA18]

We've just got back from Las Vegas - stayed at the Bellagio which was absolutely gorgeous.

We did a fantastic Grand Canyon trip to the West Rim - were picked up from our hotel and taken to Boulder airport where we got a light aircraft to the Canyon (flying over the Hoover Dam), then took a helicopter into the Canyon and a boat along the river at the bottom. Then it was helicopter out again and a short coach ride to Guano Point which has some of the most amazing views of the Canyon and where we had lunch (all included in the price).

Finally we coached it back to the West Rim airport and got a flight back before being returned to our hotel.

Fantastic day and all for around USD300 (it was a bit cheaper than normal as we were a group of 14 and you need to book online to get the better rates) but it was worth every single penny. The organisation was fantastic - we weren't kept hanging around at all and I would highly recommend it. The company we used (I hope I can put this link on - if not and it gets deleted DM me) were http://www.papillon.com/popris/show_...=25&lang=en-US - we did the Grand Voyager Tour but they do lots of different ones. Hope this helps and enjoy!!