San Francisco - Yosemite - Death Valley - Las Vegas

Walter Sobchak

Walter Sobchak

Walter Sobchak

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Joined
22 Jan 2006
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710
The missus and I are thinking of doing the above sometime this year(May most likely/was thinking Sep until I saw the temps in DV ) Fancy hiring a Converible Mustang for the road trip!

Anyone here done anything similar? Does anyone have any tips on where to stay what to see etc?

1 Fly San Fran arrive 19:00ish

2 San Fran

3 San Fran

4 San Fran

5 Drive to Yosemite

6 Yosemite

7 Yosemite

8 Drive to ??????

9 Drive to Furnace Creek Death Valley

10 Drive to Vegas

11 Vegas

12 Vegas

13 Vegas

14 Fly home


The drive from Yosemite and Death Valley is around 8 hours, looks like a stopover inbetween would be a good idea. Any ideas where?

Looks like May is the best time to go to Yosemite, snow will be melting; waterfalls are nearing their peak high flows and are will be spectacular.
 
May is a risky time to do this route as Tioga Pass, the route from Yosemite to Death Valley, will probably still be closed for much of it.

I did exactly this trip in September - I'm happy to answer any questions you have but I've posted a big thread all about it in Motors:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18227057

I drove from Death Valley to Yosemite in only a few hours really - left Death Valley at about 3-4pm, got to a town called Bishop at about 6pm or so. Stayed over night. Next day Yosemite was only a 2 hour drive from Bishop. So you dont need a day to get into Death Valley, and you dont really want to stay in Death Valley either - you want to get there in the morning and get into Vegas in the evening. I did Vegas to Bishop in an easy day including looking around DV.
 
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I did a similar thing about 8 years ago, however we did a Vegas - San Fran - LA - San Diego and back to Vegas. I cant remember much of the details regarding travelling (was with family and i wasnt driving) but i can tell you that you will have a bloody good time :)

Though i do remember staying in a lovely town called Buellton, just as an overnight stop between Las Vegas and San Francisco (we drove through around LA on the way to SF, but didnt actually stop there until a few days later). Its along the coastal route if you are going that way, the town of Solvang is a Danish town beside Buellton where theres some great places to eat that arent all American cuisine.

Enjoy your trip! :)
 
I stayed in Death Valley. There are two places to stay at the Furnace Creek Resort. The Inn and The Ranch. I stayed at the Inn and even though it was the cheaper of the two options it was fantastic. I throughly recommend it. You need to book early mind because the places go quick.
 
Walter Sobchak said:
The missus and I are thinking of doing the above sometime this year(May most likely/was thinking Sep until I saw the temps in DV ) Fancy hiring a Converible Mustang for the road trip!

Anyone here done anything similar? Does anyone have any tips on where to stay what to see etc?

1 Fly San Fran arrive 19:00ish

2 San Fran

3 San Fran

4 San Fran

5 Drive to Yosemite

6 Yosemite

7 Yosemite

8 Drive to ??????

9 Drive to Furnace Creek Death Valley

10 Drive to Vegas

11 Vegas

12 Vegas

13 Vegas

14 Fly home


The drive from Yosemite and Death Valley is around 8 hours, looks like a stopover inbetween would be a good idea. Any ideas where?

Looks like May is the best time to go to Yosemite, snow will be melting; waterfalls are nearing their peak high flows and are will be spectacular.
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I lived in SF and did similar trips.
There a lot of things to do between SF and vegas, I would definitely have 1 day less in Vegas and enjoy something like Lake Tahoe.


For a place in between Yosemite and Vegas try the little town of Lone pines. A very small village, but amazing scenery, where most westerns are filmed.

From Lone Pines to Vegas can't be more than 6 hours - I drove form Lone pines to Zion NP in Utah in a day after spending a couple of hours at Death valley, and we never left so early or arrived so late (probably 5pm).


Between death valley and Vegas there is nothing.
 
[TW]Fox;18308236 said:
May is a risky time to do this route as Tioga Pass, the route from Yosemite to Death Valley, will probably still be closed for much of it.

I did exactly this trip in September - I'm happy to answer any questions you have but I've posted a big thread all about it in Motors:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18227057

I drove from Death Valley to Yosemite in only a few hours really - left Death Valley at about 3-4pm, got to a town called Bishop at about 6pm or so. Stayed over night. Next day Yosemite was only a 2 hour drive from Bishop. So you dont need a day to get into Death Valley, and you dont really want to stay in Death Valley either - you want to get there in the morning and get into Vegas in the evening. I did Vegas to Bishop in an easy day including looking around DV.
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Very good point about the time of year. Tioga pass is often closed early May - sometimes doesn't open to the end of June or July.

I would plan to drive from Yosemite up to lake tahoe and spend the day there. The drive is epic. Stay in South Lake Tahoe, very nice and you can gamble on the Nevada side. Then drive over the sierra dive into nevada desert and drive down route 395 towards lone pines/bishop, making sure to stop off at Mono Lake and the ghost gold minding town I forget the name of.


There really isn't much to do in DV in the summer. Lone Pine/Bishop to Vegas in a day leaves you plenty of time to look at the basics in DV. DV is best in the winter or early spring.
 
If your doing this you might want to get a day at the Grand Canyon south rim as well, it's one of those things you have to see :D
 
You may not need 3 full days in SF, I was there for a week on business just before xmas and I saw most of the big attractions in one day. If you want to drive to the bridge and take a trip to Alcatraz then maybe 2 days.

I walked from my Hotel in Union Sq. to Lombard St., Fort Mason, Fisherman's wharf, Pier 45 and then Pier 39 in a morning, taking in views of Alcatraz and the bridge along the way. It was ok but I wouldn't go mad about the place, the people were really nice and it had a nice atmosphere though. It may be a good place to finish at as it's a very laid back city.
 
[TW]Fox;18308236 said:
May is a risky time to do this route as Tioga Pass, the route from Yosemite to Death Valley, will probably still be closed for much of it.

I did exactly this trip in September - I'm happy to answer any questions you have but I've posted a big thread all about it in Motors:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18227057

I drove from Death Valley to Yosemite in only a few hours really - left Death Valley at about 3-4pm, got to a town called Bishop at about 6pm or so. Stayed over night. Next day Yosemite was only a 2 hour drive from Bishop. So you dont need a day to get into Death Valley, and you dont really want to stay in Death Valley either - you want to get there in the morning and get into Vegas in the evening. I did Vegas to Bishop in an easy day including looking around DV.
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Great thread! :) Thanks

Think we are going to go in September now to make sure the Tioga Pass is open. Thanks for the Lake Tahoe suggestion, I shall check it out later! :)
 
I did roughly the same route in 2005 with two mates. I loved every minute.

San Francisco is the best city I have visited and Death Valley / Yosemite is the most stunning natural beauty I have seen.

I stayed in Bishop as well Fox. I got asked for ID for a beer and was 30 at the time. People there were very welcoming though.
 
When you're travelling from Yosemite to Death Valley, you could break up the journey by staying 1 night at Lee Vining (East of Yosemite) or even at Mammoth Lakes (which is further South).
You could visit Mono Lake and Bodie Ghost Town.


Also instead of staying at Furnace Creek in DV, you could stay in Beatty which would be cheaper, plus you could also visit Rhyolite.

(See www.marksykesphotography.co.uk for my photos).
 
I went to SF and yosemite for my honeymoon last September. Had an awesome time! We stayed in the yosemite lodge hotel in El Portal about a mile from the entrance. Nice and relaxing place.
Check out the giant trees in Mariposa Grove. Worth seeing.
 
qqg3 said:
Exactly what I was going to suggest, once you're in Vegas its only a few hours drive.
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No, it really isn't. It's a 6 hour drive to the South Rim from Vegas and then 6 hours back. It's one heck of a day. I too thought the South Rim was near Vegas, it isnt, its hundreds and hundreds of miles.

In the end i elected to fly from Vegas to the South Rim - it just worked out far better.
 
There is no way you can do Death Valley in one day, i'd suggest getting rid of a day in Vegas and spending the extra night in Furnace Creek.

Lone Pine is a beautiful little village/township, especially with the mountains in the background so well worth a stopover, then again Mammoth was nice as well (can go and see the hot springs).


Once in Death Valley there are quite a few places to go, obviously the salt flats but also Zabriskie Point, Dantes View (for a view of the entire valley), Mesquite Sand Dunes (awesome dunes, just double/triple the time you think it will take to get to the main one ;)), Racetrack Playa (where the rocks move on their own) and smaller places like Artists Palette. The area is so large that it takes a while to get from place to place, I recommend you have a walk on one of the big Alluvial fans at the side of the valley too.

Some more info here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Places_of_interest_in_the_Death_Valley_area

Unless you're going to gamble a lot then you really don't need 4 days in Vegas, one day will let you see all the casinos, another day for a trip to Hoover dam/grand canyan flight (didn't do these:() and then... not much else unless you want to shop and gamble.

EDIT: And just reading Fox's trip thread definately hit the McDonalds in the middle of nowhere (Mohave desert). A couple of random buildings in the middle of nowhere. :D
 
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Amp34 said:
There is no way you can do Death Valley in one day,
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This really isn't true. There is no way you can cover every square inch in a single day but it's perfectly possible to do Death Valley in a day without missing crucial sites and getting a brilliant feel for the place. It's only 2-3 hours from Vegas and then another 2 hours the other side to Bishop. This gives you hours and hours inside Death Valley itself.

I wasn't rushed for time at all and managed to cover Dantes View, Badwater Basin, Furnace Creek, Stovepipe Wells, Mesquite, etc.
 
Out of interest did you actually walk on the dunes? It took us about 3 hours to walk to the star dune and back, we probably spent an hour at Zabriskie point too. Guess it depends if you just want to drive to the location, stand around next to the car for a few minutes and drive to the next*.

*That's not a slight on you, just people have different opinions on how to do things, for example we wondered around a few of the gullies at Zabriskie point and walked to the star dune in the middle of Mesquite.
 
I can't remember that much, went with the parents over a decade ago, flew to San Fran then did a circle of Cali by car, Yosemite was from what I recall, just fantastic to see. Had to look up a map, we went through Sequoia National park and Kings Canyon, both of which were great to see, I'd recommend swinging buy them and cutting a day out elsewhere.

Though its been so long the memories are a bit mixed up, California is just awesome for national parks and places to go for walks.

It completely depends what you want to do, if you want to see a lot but spend more time in cities your plan in the op seems decent. If you want to go for some walks in the national parks, I'd cut out some time from San Fran and Vegas. My parents are drive/see/take the pic/see the next place types so we didn't do that much and just raced past too much stuff.

I'd love to go back and really go around the national parks more thoroughly.
 
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