California Coast & Vegas

Fourteen nights from San Francisco to Las Vegas, which gives you the whole central California coast and then swaps the quiet finish for three nights on the Strip. Flights, car and hotels are arranged together from the UK with a road book for the route.

Three nights in San Francisco open it, with Conzelman Road up in the Marin headlands for the view back across the Golden Gate that ends up as everyone’s photograph. Then two nights at Carmel, with the 17-Mile Drive past Pebble Beach and the trails at Point Lobos. Big Sur follows, then Santa Barbara, then three nights in Los Angeles.

The last leg turns inland and the landscape changes completely. Palm Springs sits at the edge of the Colorado Desert, and the drive on from there crosses Joshua Tree and the Mojave before Las Vegas. Three nights there is enough for the Strip to stop being novel and start being interesting: the Neon Museum’s boneyard of salvaged signs is a better hour than most of the casinos.

Around 790 miles over a fortnight, which is modest for the ground covered, and five of the seven stops run to two nights or three. The Joshua Tree and Mojave leg crosses real desert, so the time of year is worth raising when you enquire. The itinerary is bespoke, with nights addable and stops removable, and departures are arranged around your dates. It suits anyone who wants the coast but would rather finish somewhere loud than somewhere restful. The contrast between Big Sur and the Strip is the whole point.