hannastok3617

Hi everyone,

we are going to travel to Las Vegas, do some travelling around LV, SF and LA, then 2 weeks in Hawaii in July and August 2025 and id love some expert advice. Spefically the time lines and if its doable and realistic, this is our itanerary, we come from Europe: any advice will be very much appreciated.

17 jul day Land in LV
day 1 18 jul Las Vegas day
day 2 19 jul Drive to Bryson Canyon, book horse trip 12.00 + Navaho trail drive to Kenab spend night (1h20)"
day 3 20 jul "Kenab to Antelope Canyon (1h30 drive) + walk 2hr then drive to North Rim Grand Canyon (2,5 hr drive)
day 4 21 jul "Morning in Grand Canyon then back to LV (5hr drive)"
day 5 22 jul Fly to SF + day in SF
day 6 23 jul SF day explore
day 7 24 jul drive to Yosemite
day 8 25 jul yosemite
day 9 26 jul yosemite
day 10 27 jul drive to SF
day 11 28 jul SF to LA pitstop 1
day 12 29 jul SF to LA pitstop 2
day 13 30 jul LA day
day 14 31 jul Fly LA to Island 1 Hawaii
day 15 - 21 1 aug - 7 aug island 1
day 22 8 aug fly from island 1 to 2 Hawaii
day 22 - 28 8 aug - 14 aug island 2 Hawaii
15 aug LA to Ams
16 aug arrive amsterdam

Thank you!!

Hanna

janisj

Welcome to Fodors;

What you have is:

17 jul day Arrive Las Vegas

18 jul Las Vegas

19 jul Drive to Bryson Bryce Canyon, book horse trip 12.00 + Navaho trail drive to Kenab spend night
Difficult. Vegas to Bryce Canyon will be about a 4.5 hour drive and Bryce to Kenab will take close to two hours. So 6.5 hours in the car.

20 jul Kenab to Antelope Canyon (1h30 drive) + walk 2hr walk. It will be VERY hot so doubtful you will want a 2 hour hike. drive to North Rim Grand Canyon (2,5 hr drive) . . . it appears you are using on-line mileage calculators - so you may have to add some time to most drives.

21 jul Morning at Grand Canyon then back to LV (5hr drive)

22 jul Fly to SF

23 jul explore SF

24 jul - 27 jul Yosemite

27 jul drive to SF -- this makes no sense if you are headed to LA No need to drive back to SF. Either drive to the Monterey area or farther south to the Morro Bay/San Luis Obispo area.

28 jul and 29 jul drive down the coast to LA with a couple of stop overs

30 jul LA - One day is almost 'why bother' so maybe instead of going to LA, consider flying to Hawaii from SF or Sacramento or Oakland and don't go south to LA at all.

31 jul Fly LA to Island 1 Hawaii -- see above re other options

31 Jul aug to 7 aug island 1

8 aug fly from island one to second Hawaii island 8 aug - 14 aug

15 Aug / 16 Aug fly LA to Ams

Jean

If the "drive down the coast to LA with a couple of stop overs" means you would like to go to Big Sur and then drive the coastal road south of that, it might not be possible. You can make a plan, but you should also have a Plan B. Highway One is very vulnerable to weather damage, landslides, etc. If there are significant storms this winter (and rain is predicted for the coming week), there could be damage or landslides that will force the closure of the road There is no way to know today what the situation will be in July, and you would need to check the status of the road in May or June.

https://roads.dot.ca.gov/roadscell.php?roadnumber=1

You could take janisj's advice to head to Morro Bay or the San Luis Obispo area which would avoid sections of Highway One that are the most vulnerable to storm damage. There are several good stops on that route, especially if you're into wine, but I agree that one day in Los Angeles is nearly pointless. Plus you'll likely pay a one-way surcharge on the car rental.

janisj mentioned how hot it will be for the hike on July 20. With the exception of San Francisco, it will be HOT everywhere you go in the first two weeks.

Have you booked lodging in Yosemite National Park for your dates? Reservations open a year in advance and go quickly. I just checked availability for your dates, and the only options right now are tent cabins which are OK for summer, but the tents do not have a private bathroom. Availability will likely change over the coming months. If you prefer a hotel-type accommodation, you need to keep checking. The lodging concessionaire's website:

https://www.travelyosemite.com/

mrwunrfl

day 13 30 jul LA day

Is it really that? Looks like it should be listed as:
day 13 30 jul drive pitstop 2 to LA

That is not an "LA day". The "why bother" with LA question was a good one.

StantonHyde

Bryce Canyon in July will be tolerable because it is higher up. Do NOT go to Kanab or Page/Antelope Canyon--way too hot. Also, you do NOT want to drive at dusk or after dark in Utah. Many places have open grazing--that means there are cows on the road. The cows are often black Angus so not very visible at night. If you hit the cow, you are at fault and you have to pay the rancher for the cow. Meanwhile your car is totaled etc. If it isn't cows, then it is deer. You will have plenty of day light from 7am-7p every day.

I would drive to Bryce and spend time there on July 19, You can hike the Bristlecone Pine trail and go to the visitors center. Then do the first horseback ride the next morning when it will be cooler. You can then drive to the Grand Canyon through Jacob's Lake and the Vermillion Cliffs--very beautiful drive. If you have time, you could stop in at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

If you click on my user name you will see trip reports for Las Vegas, Bryce Canyon, and Kanab.

janisj

In case you are wondering about the warnings about heat -- in Page, Las Vegas, Kenab you can expect 43°-50° C

The North Rim and Bryce would be fine -- due to the altitude it will be cooler.

Madam397

I would also suggest that once you finalize the itinerary, book your hotel for Yosemite and the Grand Canyon as soon as you can as there are limited places to stay. In Yosemite, one of the lodges is closed for the year for extensive repairs.

PrairieHikerI

As Janis said, why bother with LA? There are nonstop flights from Sacramento to Honolulu. The Sacremento airport would be much easier to negotiate than LAX or SFO and you avoid the drive down to LA.

suze

The drive down the California coast is beautiful, but I would not bother with Los Angeles for only one day there. Can you fly to Hawaii from San Francisco? Or t hat is why you are driving to LA, to fly out of LAX?

Which two Hawaiian islands are you going to? What is "island 1" and "island 2"?

janisj

I hope we haven't lost the OP

tom_mn

If you are flying HNL>>LAX to get a flight to AMS on a second ticket, I suggest doing your LA visit here at the end, unless you want to do the approximately 17 hour journey in one go.

Note that any Delta hub will have nonstops to Amsterdam. Seattle or Portland would be a shorter distance way to go, but for it to be less time the connections have to work well. Inland Delta hubs like Salt Lake City or Minneapolis I don’t think have Hawaii nonstops in the summer.

Correction: Minneapolis, Detroit, and JFK (New York) all offer one-stop connections HNL >> AMS in August.

mlgb

You have two nights in LV. I would consider spending the night of the 18th in Mesquite or better yet Springdale.

From Springdale you are 2 hours from the entrance to Bryce (eg Ruby's or Best Western) and the drive on SR 9 is extremely scenic with opportunities for pullouts
https://www.visitutah.com/places-to-...mt-carmel-road

Ruby's to Kanab is only 90 minutes but I agree that those desert locations could be very hot during your time frame. Might be better to spend a second night at Bryce (june 19-20). This allows for some hiking in Bryce as well as a second opportunity at sunset, should you miss the first one.

Then go straight to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (there isn't really much hiking to be done, it's mainly some short ones) so one night is fine. (june 21)

Flying from LV to SF (Yes SMF is closer but there is stuff to see in SF). Or you could reverse your order and fly (or drive) to LA instead of SF, depending on car and flights.

See what you can lock down for Yosemite lodging.

As mentioned you do not need to drive back to SF to get to LA. If you are not afraid of mountain driving, you can go over Tioga Pass and then down the east side of the Sierra Nevada on US 395.

As far as flying to Hawaii, it is too early to know whether Alaska/Hawaiian and Southwest will be flying nonstop out of Long Beach Airport. But if they do, that is a good option and avoids the time suck that it LAX.