Our US Road Trip Itinerary: California, Vegas and the Grand Canyons

After a 15 hours Singapore to San Francisco flight and a 17 hours flight back, we really did not want to take any more flights in the US. So a Road Trip made total sense, not to mention that we love road tripping. Secondly, every time we thought about travelling to the US, we always thought of visiting the National Parks. And so combining these two factors and the fact that we had to spend time in California for work, we planned a 14 days travel itinerary – 11 days on the road, 2 days for San Francisco sight seeing and 1 day for air travel – so in all it was a 2 weeks trip.

The trip turned out to be better than what we had anticipated. Yosemite was beautiful and Grand Canyon was stunning. The canyons are every bit worth the hype and we were glad we spent an extra day there. Vegas was fun and Los Angeles was a pleasant surprise. And the drive from Morro Bay to San Francisco via the Pacific Coast Highway was more gorgeous than we thought it would be.

In this post, we are sharing a summarised version of the trip. Too see what the drives looked like and what we did at each destination, you may hop onto to our vlogs – US Road Trip playlist here.

Here’s a Google Map of our US Road Trip – the purple markers / blue circles were our main stops on this route.

Here’s the breakdown of how we divided our time on this trip:

Day 1: Singapore to San Francisco

We took a Singapore to San Francisco direct flight with United Airlines. Landed in SFO, collected our rental car from National Rental. Then drove down to Travelodge by Wyndham where we only spent the night.

Day 2 – 4: Yosemite National Park

Had breakfast at IHOP, right at the lodge. Then left for Yosemite, comfortably at 10:00 am to avoid rush hour. The drive from SF to Groveland is about 147 Miles / 237 km which took us about 4 hours and is a fairly easy drive.

Checked-in to this Airbnb near Groveland. As lodges inside the park village were quite pricey, we chose to stay just outside one of the entrances to the park. Inside the park, we spent the days doing easy hikes, spending time in the Yosemite valley and visiting different vista points such as Tunnel view, Olmstead point, Lake Tenaya, Tuolomne Meadows etc.

Day 5: Las Vegas

It was a fairly long drive from Yosemite to Las Vegas (342 miles / 550 km) so we started early around 8:30 am and it took us about 8 hours driving time. We drove through Tioga Pass and entered Nevada state. The drive from Yosemite across Tioga Pass is slightly tricky with curves and bends but gets easy after a while when you start entering the desert region. Driving though miles and miles of desert was a different and interesting experience and a bit unnerving with no mobile network and no other cars or people in sight for long stretches.

In Vegas, we stayed near the strip in this very nice Airbnb and mostly spent time at Fremont Street Experience and Casinos and Hotels at the Strip and had fun doing the usual Vegas activities.

Day 6 – 8: Grand Canyon National Park

We started early-ish around 9:00am and drove down to the South Rim which is around 275 miles / 440 km and took us about 5.5 hours with a couple of pit stops. Checked-in to Yavapai Lodge inside the park village which made it really comfortable as the temperatures plunged to -13 C during our time there. The drive to the park and inside it is fairly easy as well.

Spent the days at Grand Canyon doing easy-moderate hikes, visiting the different vista points and places of interest such as Mather point, Hopi point, Desert view tower, Tusayan ruin etc. – and enjoying sunsets over the canyons.

Day 9 – 10: Los Angeles

Grand Canyon South Rim to Los Angeles was the longest of our drives – 491 miles / 790 km. We left early around 8:00 am but it still took us about 10 hours with 2-3 stops in between. The drive was long and got a bit monotonous through the desert after a while, as the views don’t change much. Overall it’s easy until you hit the freeways about 200 miles before LA. This stretch is quite strenuous as you manoeuvre through quite a bit of traffic. If you have more time at hand, we suggest that you break this journey with a night halt, somewhere along the way.

In LA, checked-in to this great Airbnb in Westwood and had a good rest. Los Angeles was great, we took a hop-on-hop-off bus tour with Big Bus and visited Hollywood, Beverly Hills and spent the evening in Santa Monica.

Day 11: Morro Bay

Took California State Route 1 from LA towards San Francisco, to make the most of the drive and stopped midway in Morro Bay where we went to the beach, had dinner at a lively mexican eatery and spent the night at this Airbnb. The views on this drive are not the most amazing but they get better eventually.

Day 12 – 13: San Francisco

After Morro Bay, the drive on California 1 turned all the more scenic with many vista points to stop at and enjoy the costal views. This was the most beautiful drive in the entire itinerary for us, but it’s quite hilly so factor in some extra driving time. In San Fran, spent a couple of days sight seeing and enjoying the city.

Day 14: San Francisco to Singapore

Endured another long flight and got back home 🙂

Frequently Asked Questions and Tips:

• When did we visit: we visited in October 2019 as we extended a work related travel. It turned out to be a good time to visit as the National Parks were not very crowded during this time and weather was not too extreme.

• Where did we stay: we mostly stayed in Airbnbs (links already included above). In San Francisco, we stayed at a motel, the Travelodge by Wyndham.

• Where did we rent a car from: we rented one from National Car Rental. We had booked a compact SUV but they didn’t have one so we opted for a sedan – a Nissan Altima which was excellent throughout the trip.

• Mobile / Internet Connectivity: Quite often there will be no mobile signal especially inside National Parks or in-between destinations on the road. So we suggest to download offline maps where available or put the google maps route on before you start. Keep navigation on which will work even without internet and is a big help when you have to take exits and turns.

• Fuel up your vehicle at the nearest station after your tank goes below half full. Don’t wait for the next station as it may come-up after many miles, depending on where and on which route you are. Better to be safe than sorry, just make sure you have enough fuel at all times.

• Carry enough water and some food or at least snacks with you, all the time. On some stretches you’ll find cafes and restaurants every few miles and on some nothing at all.

We hope this post was helpful and gives you some ideas to plan your own trip. Have fun and bon voyage! And if you have any questions, leave them in the comments and we’ll try to answer as best as we can.