Going to California for the first time.. what to do?

[Woosta]

Disclaimer: I've been on the East Coast all my life ever since I came here from Russia at a young age. The western most state I've been to is Kentucky.

I'm going with a group of friends to LA and we will be renting a car. The trip starts this Saturday and we will stay for a week. We plan to hit up Vegas, LA, San Fran but we don't have anything set in concrete.

Can anyone recommend places to go, visit (touristy things)? And general things to know about California/West side?

I suspect for the first 2-3 days we will be in LA, after that I have no idea in what order we'll go or where.

Things on my list:

- Venice Beach
- Sunset Strip
- Malibu
- In and Out burger

If anyone has general travel tips, I would greatly appreciate it. Ever since coming to America ( 16+ years ago ), I've never been on an airplane since.

I just bought http://www.amazon.com/Osprey-Porter-...prey+porter+46 from REI today, I hope this is good enough for the trip as I don't want to be hauling luggage around.

PS - kind of a retarded question but is it common for people to have cell phone coverage issues in different states? I suspect it'll work flawlessly ( on Virgin Mobile ) but wouldn't hurt inquiring.
EDIT: Checked http://www.virginmobileusa.com/check-cell-phone-coverage and it seems fine.. just over-worrying I guess.

 

[Destiny]

The coffee shops in Orange County, CA is way better than Dunkin Donuts in the east coast:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/cafe-lu-santa-ana

 

[GJCornish]

In and Out Burger, LOL I live here and haven't been to one. I Suppose you wouldn't be interested in the wine country and hour and a half north of San Francisco, but if you are, see Sonoma, the birthplace of California and then Napa Valley.

 

[JBT]

In and Out Burger is VERY over rated lol.

 

[NiceCold]

what? in and out burger dont have in the east coast? never knew that.

in and out burger taste like generic burger nothing special. their frys is dry and taste like fish.

if you want taste, try double cheese burger at del taco. best tasting burger ever! their frys rocks too!

 

[Craig234]

Yes, in and out is way overrated.

Thing is, it's a huge place and there's tons of great stuff but not easy to find.

One thing I'd say is get in coastal driving. Take 101 travelling the state.

There's Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. There's Hollywood (and you can see shows taped if you want). There are great restaurants.

Museums? Check the Getty, check the Huntington with its old texts (an original Guutenberg IIRC) and its gardens in the LA area.

Check Golden Gate Park's de Young art museum and the new science museum - indoor rain forest, amazing aquarium and much more, in San Francisco.

There'e wine country - with great restaurants including the arguably best in the country, the French Laundry but you can't eat there (months in advance reservation process).

Yosemite is arguably the most beautiful national park in the US - we have great Redwoods in places.

When in San Francisco, why not see, say, the Ferry Building with its gourmet stores, great restaurant near, and of course ferries to places like the art town of Sausilito?

Try to get some 'best of' lists so you can try an ACTUAL great burger or pizza (several reportedly world class in SF)?

In Vegas, do go to all the Cirque du Soleil you can, except Zumanity.

 

[GJCornish]

Very good suggestion Craig

 

[randomrogue]

Yosemite - arguably the most beautiful place in the world (in the spring) and worth going year 'round

PCH - This is Highway 1. In the south you will go past Baywatch beaches and mansions seeing more Lamborghini than you can count. In the north you get the coast and some awesome scenery. It's a great way to drive to Oregon. Make stops in San Luis Obispo, Monterrey, Carmel, etc.

Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park. - I've done these the same day. General Sherman is the largest tree in the world. It's ginormous.

Avenue of the Giants - This is off Highway 101 in No California and it has the worlds tallest tree. They don't ever tell you exactly where it is but you'll see very tall trees and there are several that you can drive through. This is within driving distance of the Wine Country.

Death Valley - World's hottest place. Pretty cool place (he he). Has some awesome topography and is worth a visit. I drive through here on my way to Vegas.

Mohave Dessert - Not worth visiting unless there's something going on there like a space ship launch or the flower bloom but you might find it a worthy sidetrip on your way to any of these places.

The Sierra Nevadas - Has decent skiing and beautiful places to visit on a drive through them.

Ghost Towns - Some of the old silver/gold mine towns are still around and can be worth a drive through.

City wise - San Francisco, San Diego. Skip LA if you can - you say 3 days but I'd get out since it'll give you a false impression of the state - only go there for museums and amusement parks or driving through on PCH. If you're into clubbing or certain restaurants it might be worth a stop. You could of course go to Melrose and sign up to be an extra in a movie or on a TV show. Hit up the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park if you like Animals. A day trip out to Catalina Island off the coast of LA is pretty nice. The wine country (Napa and Sonoma County) are beautiful.

Just some ideas. With the amount of time you have you'll barely scratch any of these off your list but food for thought.

 

[randomrogue]

Oh and although In N Out is a California staple I think you'll get better burgers elsewhere. Ocean Beach in San Diego has an awesome burger joint. I can't remember the name but if you ask around for the Burger joint with the license plates on the wall people will know. If you're down that way anyways check out the gaslamp district.

 

[dawp]

get a prescription for medical MMJ and indulge yourself.

 

[DesiPower]

damn, 10 posts and no customary response???

H&BJ OP

 

[manimal]

damn, 10 posts and no customary response???

H&BJ OP

Stay at the standard and head over to they sky bar and invite every girl you see to an afterparty in you hotel room. Cheaper than paying for it.

 

[Harvey]

If you want really great Mexican food and THE best margarita in North America (nothing short of COSMIC), try El Chavo, on the east end of Hollywood.

They don't serve good Mexican food; they serve great food, and the cuisine just happens to be Mexican and THE best margarita in North America. The menu goes well beyond tacos, enchiladas and burritos, although they have those. A couple of my favorites are the red snapper veracruz and the scallops enchilada. If you want to get more exotic, try the lengua in mole sauce. That's beef tongue in unsweetened dark chocolate sauce.

If you're borderline between having your margarita with or without salt, go for no salt. The citrus flavor is tart and intense.

I've been going there for around 40 years. The waiter shown at the upper right corner of their homepage is Julian. He's been there as long as I can remember. I usually order the red snapper so, if you go there, you can tell him "Señor Pescado" sent you.

I'll probably be there on Friday, Sept. 30 or Oct. 5 (or both) to celebrate my birthday so, if you happen be here, then, PM me if you want to say howdy.

 

[nageov3t]

I really loved visiting Watts Tower in LA (note: time your visit so that you'll be there during the daytime and not driving home in the area after dark)

the one thing I really regret not doing when I was in LA was a studio tour.

edit: I fucking hated every single cup of coffee I had out in LA, but I seem to be the minority in that regard, so it may just be me.

 

[CrackRabbit]

Oh and although In N Out is a California staple I think you'll get better burgers elsewhere. Ocean Beach in San Diego has an awesome burger joint. I can't remember the name but if you ask around for the Burger joint with the license plates on the wall people will know. If you're down that way anyways check out the gaslamp district.

Hodad's
http://hodadies.com/home/

 

[Ns1]

Guys, they have a week for 3 locations: Vegas, LA, San Fran

You will be missing stuff wherever you go.

You go to CA and have InO for the same reason you go eat Shake Shack in NY, White Castle in the East Coast, Skyline in Ohio, etc...

 

[rasczak]

Oh and although In N Out is a California staple I think you'll get better burgers elsewhere. Ocean Beach in San Diego has an awesome burger joint. I can't remember the name but if you ask around for the Burger joint with the license plates on the wall people will know. If you're down that way anyways check out the gaslamp district.

Hodad's

 

[Ns1]

As far as eating in LA...here you go:

http://la.eater.com/tags/eater-maps

 

[JulesMaximus]

Los Angeles to Vegas – 280 miles, 5 hours, 10 hours round trip

Los Angeles to San Diego – 120 miles, 2 hours, 4 hours round trip

Los Angeles to San Francisco – 382 miles, 6+ hours, 12 hours round trip (assuming you return to Los Angeles for your flight home)

So, you’re looking at spending the better part of 3 days of your week long trip just in the car… and there isn’t much to look at between any of these cities unless you are driving up the coast to San Francisco in which case you better double the amount of time that will take.

Oh, and In-N-Out is good. Double Double with grilled onions baby!

 

[Ns1]

Los Angeles to Vegas – 280 miles, 5 hours, 10 hours round trip

Los Angeles to San Diego – 120 miles, 2 hours, 4 hours round trip

Los Angeles to San Francisco – 382 miles, 6+ hours, 12 hours round trip (assuming you return to Los Angeles for your flight home)

So, you’re looking at spending the better part of 3 days of your week long trip just in the car… and there isn’t much to look at between any of these cities unless you are driving up the coast to San Francisco in which case you better double the amount of time that will take.

Oh, and In-N-Out is good. Double Double with grilled onions baby!

Assuming flying into LAX...

Spend 24-48 hours in LAX, drive up to SF. Bonus points for taking PCH but this will turn the drive to 9-11 hours.
Spend 24-48 hours in SF, drive through Death Valley and get to LV
Spend 24-48 hours in LV, drive to SD (bonus points for driving through Joshua Tree/Salton Sea)
Spend 24-48 hours in SD, drive back to LA

They need to go city to city, and not back to LA as a hub.

Personally I'd drop SD from the trip.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Assuming flying into LAX...

Spend 24-48 hours in LAX, drive up to SF. Bonus points for taking PCH but this will turn the drive to 9-11 hours.
Spend 24-48 hours in SF, drive through Death Valley and get to LV
Spend 24-48 hours in LV, drive to SD (bonus points for driving through Joshua Tree/Salton Sea)
Spend 24-48 hours in SD, drive back to LA

They need to go city to city, and not back to LA as a hub.

Personally I'd drop SD from the trip.

Driving from San Fran to Vegas is almost 600 miles and will take over 10 hours.

He said the first couple days will be in L.A. so I assumed he would be flying into L.A. I would hope he's not flying out of L.A. too because if he is he's going to spend practically his entire vacation in the car.

Honestly, if I wanted to hit all 3 of those I would have landed in Vegas or San Fran and flown back from the the opposite to spend the least amount of time in the car.

Fly to Vegas, spend 2 days there. Drive to Los Angeles (5 hours) spend 2-3 days there. Drive to San Francisco (6 hours), spend 2 days there. Fly home from San Fran.

Add traffic to any of your journeys and you could easily add a couple to a few hours to the trip.

 

[Ns1]

^^

Yeah I would do that too. But if he's already flying into/out of LA...


I visited 4 cities in 10 days (NYC, dc, buffallo, Vegas) then back home to LA. Flew into/out of a different city everytime.

 

[Anonemous]

Good thing he's not doing the trip during Carmageddon 2.

 

[randomrogue]

Hodads! Thanks!

Yeah driving...about that. Now that I think about your trip a bit more...

Traffic is something you're going to want to be really aware of. I just drove LA to San Francisco to visit some friends and because of some construction or shit right after the grapevine it took me several extra hours. That was not how I wanted to spend my vacation. There is NOTHING between LA and San Francisco unless you take PCH and that's time consuming.

I once had a buddy fly into LAX and want me to take him to Vegas after work on a Friday. That's like a 4 hour drive. Well on Fridays it takes about 8-9 hours. Was the worst drive of my life.

Get a smart phone with gps and active traffic monitoring and be on top of that. I would HIGHLY suggest you get out of LA as fast as possible. You simply don't know the freeways or where congestion is. For example if you get on the 405 in the afternoon and don't get off around Howard Hughes you will take days just to get to the 10. It's not fun. You will spend a disproportional amount of time in the car there and all the good stuff is elsewhere. If you had 3 months I would have no problem telling you places in LA like the Getty, Griffith Park, etc (hell I think the Space Shuttle will be there by then) but not with the amount of time you have. Los Angeles is an absolutely ginormous city. Driving through it in the middle of the night with zero cars on the road still takes hours.

Your mission should be to see Yosemite. Really, that's your mission. Plan your trip around that and get out of LA.

 

[Ns1]

Traffic is something you're going to want to be really aware of. I just drove LA to San Francisco to visit some friends and because of some construction or shit right after the grapevine it took me several extra hours. That was not how I wanted to spend my vacation. There is NOTHING between LA and San Francisco unless you take PCH and that's time consuming.

There are 3 ways from LA -> SF

5N, 4-5 hours driving through BFE cows
101N, driving somewhat close to the beach. Pleasant drive, 6-8 hours
PCH 1, drives dangerously close to the edge of the water. At points in Big Sur, if you go over the barricade you fall off the cliff and into the water hundreds of feet below. 8-12 hours, depending on stops.

If you got time, you can make the trip "relatively" quickly while enjoying the journey, using a combination of PCH/101. There is no point going on the PCH at night because you can't see anything.