Las Vegas Vacation Rentals - Round Trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco Via Las Vegas?

US$6000 will cover it as long as you gamble no more than say $100 in Las Vegas.

I live in LA and have driven all over these places. Been to Vegas far too many times.

You should be ok on 6K. Hotels are cheap in Las Vegas and LA. SF is a little pricey. Food is also cheap. Do your research and save money where ever you can. Las Vegas has lots of free attractions. and so does LA & SF. Try and squeeze in a trip to San Diego, it’s beautiful down there and only an hour and half from LA

That budget seems pretty reasonable. If you can book on hotwire or expedia, you might save some money but you’ll have to actually decide where you want to be each night and be on a schedule (instead of winging it and deciding each night where you want to stay– which I don’t advise doing in San Fran, LA, or Vegas because hotels do book up fast).

Here are some nice but more affordable hotels you might want to check out while on your trip:

Vegas: You have to stay in a casino hotel to get the full experience. Here are some good ones that aren’t at the top end of price ranges: Monte Carlo, New York New York, MGM. A little cheaper: Bally’s (still a great location), Excalibur. My fave for the price is Monte Carlo because of its location on the strip. Do go see the Blue Man Group show in Vegas while you’re there - it’s really amazing and be sure to eat at least once at the Bellagio Buffet.

Los Angeles: Try FogHorn hotel in Marina del Rey (centrally located to attractions, decent, clean, good/safe area, and it’s on the swimming beach. You can also walk to Venice beach from there. That’s if you want to stay by the beach. It’s a good place to start your trip because you’ll be close to LAX. If you want to stay in Hollywood, try the Sunset Plaza Hotel on Sunset Blvd. - great location, it’s a best western hotel so it’s a bit cheaper than the others, close to all the hollywood attractions.

San Francisco: I suggest you stay near the wharf because you can do a lot of walking and sight-seeing from that area. Parking is very expensive in San Fran. More than LA and Vegas — the hotels charge about $30 per day to park and then every time you go out, you have to park again. You won’t have that problem in LA so much or Vegas. Tons of free parking in Vegas which is nice.

When driving back down the coast from San Fran to LA– it’s about a 9 hour drive on PCH. You might want to stop in Santa Barbara or Santa Ynez. There’s also a cute little town in which all the buildings are Swiss called Solvang. Fun to stay the night there. Carmel/San Simeon is also beautiful and a great place to stay the night to break up that trip.

I hope that helps. Sounds like an amazing trip. I’m hoping to do the same kind of trip in Australia in the next two years.

Yep, should be plenty. CONGRATULATIONS—You are one of the few people EVER to ask questions here that has had a sensible budget. Think about this, if possible. I would do this trip as Las Vegas then to LA then up the coast to San Fran. then turn in the rental car and fly back to LA…..The problem is the LONG journey from Las Vegas to San Fran through the desert is a waste of time…..I would blow off Yosemite and do the Wine Country tour in San Fran….or do Yosemite as kind of a day trip thing…out of SF……You can fly from LAX to Vegas for like $100 bucks…

Something’s not right here. Maybe it’s me. Perhaps I’ve been the top Travel Answerer too long, and it’s going to my head. Maybe I spend too much on vacation. But I was looking at all these positive answers, and wondering what people are thinking. Maybe they don’t get out that much.

As for me, I’m a numbers guy. I drive my family crazy, asking them “how much?” for everything. But the math can be a cruel master. And numbers don’t lie. Let’s review my calculations.

Let me start out by saying that I think this can be done, but it’s going to be VERY close, and you’ll have to watch your money.

The trip itself is about 2000 miles. Sorry, I’ll let you convert units here since I’m giving free travel advice. In a car with decent mileage, that should take about 100 gallons. At $3.00US per gallon, that’s $300. Seven of your days will consist of mostly driving between destinations. The longest leg will be from Grand Canyon to Yosemite, a total of 700 miles or so, which I recommend breaking up into two legs. I recommend staying in Laughlin, NV, which is about 200 miles from the Grand Canyon. Barstow, CA, is a little more towards half way, but it’s nothing special. Same with Bakersfield, CA, which is nothing special, but it gets you closer to Yosemite for that part of your leg.

October is a good time to travel in that part of the US. You might get some rain, and even snow in higher elevations like Grand Canyon and Yosemite. But the weather is generally mild in California. Hotel rates will be way down from summer peak season. But you should figure on $100-$150 per night. That’s an average of about $2700 US. That’s $3000 so far.

You should be able to get a car with good mileage for about $150-$200 per week. That’s $600, for a total of $3600 so far.

For food, I usually budget $50 per person per day. That’s two fast food meals and one sit-down meal. For two people for 21 days, that’s about $2100, putting you at $5700.

And $300 in souvenir money goes faster than you might think. So $6000 should be a good budget, but you should post some more questions in the various city forums to get specific ideas.

As already mentioned, it can be rather expensive to park in San Francisco. I was just left there yesterday, and can make a few recommendations. You might want to find a cheap place outside the city if you don’t want to pay the high parking fees. SF has GREAT public transportation, and we used it all while we visited. If you can stay around Fisherman’s Wharf, great. Otherwise, check out some of the cheaper outlying cities. We stayed in Marin County, in Corte Madera, and took the Larkspur Ferry into the city each day. It runs dozens of times each day. Once you are at the Ferry building, your options are virtually limitless: Streetcar, bus, Muni train, BART, or even walking. We also took a ride on a cable car, strictly for the experience. One great deal is the San Francisco City Pass, which we used while we were there. For $59, it gives you 7 days of MUNI passage (bus, cable car, streetcar, or muni train), and admission to 5 major attractions in the city. It’s a great deal.

Check out some of my other answers in this forum for LA recommendations. I usually recommend hotels around Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Anaheim.

Have fun!