3 weeks to explore california and arizona fr 18/10 to 13/11

I am planning a 3 week vacation to the above plces and hoping to take in as many national parks as possible. my intinery are as follows can someone advise me of an laternative route or a better plan or a different park to see to avoid the cold PLS.

THANKS

18 oct-fly into LA Need to be in LA till 24/10

25/10 drive to grand canyon ( pls suggest a stopover,thks)

26/10 continue journey to grand canyon and plnning to stay there for 3 nights in kachina lodge.

27/10 n 28/10 in grand canyon

29/10 drive to bruce canyon for 2 nights ( pls advise if it will be too cold)

31/10 drive to zion park for 2 nights. ( can someone advise of a place to stay pls)

2/11 drive to death valley for 2 nights ( pls recommend a place to stay thks)

4/11 drive to las vegas for 3 nights

7/11 fly from LV TO SAN FRANSCISCO FOR ?2 OR 3 NIGHTS

10/11 frive from SF to LA via pacific coast highway. staying halfway for 1-2 nights.

12/11 stay in venice beach for 1 night

13/11 fly home from LA to singapore.

I was going to do san diego as well but run out of time. If anyone can advise me of a different route taking in different parks i would be most grateful. Am i trying to achieve too much and is there too much driving??? will i just fly from LA TO LV???

Thanks for all yr help in advance.

YSH

3 weeks to explore california and arizona fr 18/10 to 13/11

you might have time to get to san diego. you%26#39;ve planned too much time in some of these places.

25/10 drive to grand canyon ( pls suggest a stopover,thks) - just drive straight through; if you must stop, then Barstow CA, Needles CA or Kingman AZ.

26/10 continue journey to grand canyon and plnning to stay there for 3 nights in kachina lodge. - 2 nights is plenty - if you haven%26#39;t already, make your reservation for a lodge now. go to sedona for at least a night and trim the other parks as well

27/10 n 28/10 in grand canyon

29/10 drive to bryce canyon for 2 nights ( pls advise if it will be too cold) - one night is enough; yes, it will be quite cool

31/10 drive to zion park for 2 nights. ( can someone advise of a place to stay pls) - one night is enough; and cool here as well; there are hotels in the town of springdale

2/11 drive to death valley for 2 nights ( pls recommend a place to stay thks) - one night is enough; there aren%26#39;t many places to stay

4/11 drive to las vegas for 3 nights

7/11 fly from LV TO SAN FRANSCISCO FOR ?2 OR 3 NIGHTS

10/11 drive from SF to LA via pacific coast highway. staying halfway for 1-2 nights.

12/11 stay in venice beach for 1 night - do you have a place to stay there? i don%26#39;t recall any that are nice; this is primarily a residential neighborhood in la

13/11 fly home from LA to singapore.

3 weeks to explore california and arizona fr 18/10 to 13/11

I agree with bobbear--you are spending too many nights in each park.

1. Drive from LA to Grand Canyon. You can do this in one day if you get started early and don%26#39;t get caught in LA morning traffic. However, it is an 8 hr drive and in late October it is dark by 6 p.m., so perhaps a stopover in Kingman or Barstow.

2. Three nights in GC is not necessary unless you plan to do some extended hiking into the canyon. I would go to Sedona first, and spend one or two night, then two nights in CG.

3. Bryce, Zion, and Death Valley--one night stay should be enough unless you plan lots of hiking. You can leave Death Valley in the late afternoon and spend the 2nd night in Las Vegas. It%26#39;s just couple hours drive. Place to stay in Death Valley--suggest Furnace Creek Ranch (the resort, not the Inn)

www.furnacecreekresort.com

By cutting out the extra 3 nights in these parks, you will have time to see San Diego. Two or 3 nights there would be excellent.

We go to AZ in late Oct/Nov every year. Great time to visit, no crowds. Grand Canyon should be nice weather, but chilly at night. Bryce and Zion, somewhat cooler. They have cool nights even in the summer. Death Valley will be WARM. Make reservations for accomodations at Grand Canyon and Death Valley, as soon as possible.

Along the Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Barbara is a nice stopover, or Cambria. Recommend that you try to visit Hearst Castle (San Simeon, near Cambria).

www.hearstcastle.org

Thanks so much for both yr input and thanks for yr sugfgestions. will certainly cut short my stay in the parks. can u recommend and nice places to go to since i now have a few days to spare?? would yosemite park be a good idea? can u pls tell me if there is alot of difference between the parks i ve chosen aprt from grand canyon??

thanks again.

I highly recommend that you go to the top of the Arizona forum and click on the Sticky for trip reports. If you go to page 3 by clicking on the 3 at the bottom, you will find David4758%26#39;s report.

This is a good one for someone coming over the pond to the southwest for the first time. It contains lots of good information, and it%26#39;s very amusing, too!

Hope that you have a great trip, and read some of the other trip reports, too, if you have the time....

Thks will do that now.

ysh