Wonders of Western USA

Twenty-one nights across the western United States by car, from Los Angeles to San Francisco, with the flights and all the hotels included.

Los Angeles takes the first three nights, with the Walk of Fame, Rodeo Drive and Santa Monica, then Palm Springs for two, with the aerial tramway up the San Jacinto mountains and Joshua Tree nearby. Phoenix follows for two, with the golf and spas of Scottsdale.

The Grand Canyon comes next for two nights by way of Sedona, with hiking on the south rim and a helicopter flight optional, then Monument Valley and Lake Powell. Zion takes two nights, where the canyon walls close in and the hanging gardens grow out of the sandstone, then Las Vegas for two, Death Valley, and Yosemite for two, with El Capitan, Half Dome, the sequoias and the waterfalls. San Francisco closes the route with two nights, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Flights, nineteen days of compact car hire with roadside assistance and twenty nights of three and four-star accommodation are included. Twenty-two days with two or three nights nearly everywhere is a comfortable pace, and this is a hotel trip rather than a motorhome one, which suits anyone who would rather not drive something seven metres long through Los Angeles. Spring and autumn are the seasons, since Death Valley and Phoenix in summer are extreme and the Yosemite high roads close in winter. Twenty-two days also means the long legs between the parks are broken up rather than driven in one go, which is the main argument for a trip of this length.