Hoping to do a TT tour to California next year. What are your favourite sights in these cities? What travel guides would you recommend for Las Vegas and Disneyland?
Many thanks
Debbie

What cities does the tour stop in?

sillytilly...
There's alot to see in L.A. and San Francisco. Unless you're into gambling, there's not much to see in Las Vegas itself. There are many huge hotels that have the Casinos but I wouldn't spend my time there. In Los Angeles, there's alot to see. I would suggest that you take a bus tour around the area to see various sites. You can spend at least 3 or 4 days just in Disneyland alone. In San Francisco, there's Fisherman's Wharf, the Cannery, Chinatown, etc. San Francisco is another place where you can spend many days just touring. Between Los Angles and San Francisco, you will have more than enough sites to visit without doing Las Vegas. Hope I've given you some thoughts.

If you should find yourself in Las Vegas with time to see things there are all kinds of tours to Hoover Dam, cruises on Lake Mead, Bus tours of the area, and all sorts of trips to the Grand Canyon by bus or air.

Las Vegas also offers some great shows- I especially liked Cirque Du Soleil's show "Mystere" but there are others of all kinds. I had a wonderful time shopping in the "Forum" in Caesar's Palace-it's a recreation of an Italian street (supposedly) with shops, restaurants, fountains-and the overhead "sky" changes from daylight to dark hourly.

It's a matter of choice. Enjoy!

Even if you don't gamble, there is plenty to see in Las Vegas. Many of the new hotels have rides of various kinds and spectacular things to see. The sinking of the pirate ship outside Treasure Island is fun to watch. My son just returned from a honeymoon there. They thought "The Venetian" hotel was fabulous. You can go on gondola rides inside it. Inside the Luxor, you can go on a ride "down the Nile." That is just to name a few of the non-gambling activities in Las Vegas.

Jo-
LOL! That old, huh?

Las Vegas is like Disneyland for adults. If you're young at heart and like fantasy lands, you'll enjoy it. Theres something for everyone. It really depends what you want to see.

I agree with RaroGirl on Las Vegas. I've been there five times and each time is different. I just spent 3 days there and hardly gambled at all. There's lots to see and do. Each hotel has a special feature plus you can take day trips to places. Bring your walking shoes! You'll need them!

And now I have been seriously delinquent and I will go and post my report on my recent tour which included Las Vegas. It will be in the Tour Tales section of the Board.

Sillytilly,

I live in Los Angeles and hopefully can offer you some wisdom. Depending on what you're doing I would reccomend some of the following to give you a feel for L.A. and the surrounding area. First of all Disneyland should not take several days like someone suggested (sorry but I completely disagree). If you want to do the whole DisneyLand deal give it 2 days max. (which would include their California Adventure Park) Unless you have a bunch of young kids don't waste your time here in Disneyland. You could check out Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and Hollywood which could all be done in one day. That gets in some of the spots they always feature in the movies and television. I would reccomend driving up the coast to Santa Barbara area which is really pretty and there is a pier up that way too. If you go into the downtown Los Angeles area you could check out Olvera Street (I may need to check my spelling on that) which will give you some of the Mexican culture as well. Okay, that's just a start and I'm sure I can give you a better list if I have a better idea of your interests and also allotted time for here. Try www.losangelescitysearch.com that will give you a way to search for shopping, restaurants, hotels, etc.

As for Vegas, everyone else's posts are right on. Take advantage of the free shows like the Pirate ship @ Treasure Island and the light show in front of the Bellagio. I know you can do an internet search for free things to do in Las Vegas (not sure of the websites). My advice, young or old is sleep/rest in the day time because Vegas doesn't come alive till the nighttime. I know there are a million great information sites for Las Vegas so you shouldn't have any trouble finding more information for there. I'm planning my bestfriend's wedding for there this October so I've been doing all my planning and booking on-line (beats the 5 hour drive).

Let me know if I can answer more for you.

I did a western USA tour in 2003 which was mainly california, although we did venture over the borders in a few places, las vegas and the grand canyon being one of them. I have also this past july been in LA Vegas and San Francisco after doing an alaskan and canadian rockies trip. Personally I enjoyed vegas far more than either LA or San fran. Vegas was clean, very busy, full of happy tourists and one of the most important facts for me I didnt see any street people at all in the time I was there. security is tops and i felt extremely safe 100% of the time. we did a day trip out to the grand canyon and hoover dam as my travelling companion (my room mate from a european tour of 2002) hadnt been and was keen to go. I am most definately not a gambler and never put one cent or dime into their machines or gambling tables, however the actual buildings are something to be seen. I see you are from melbourne so to put it into some perspective for you, many of the casinos would take up the area from flinders street up to russell street and across to bourke and back to flinders street, that being just one casino and then you go in and out of each one so as someone mentioned take those walking shoes. I had 5 days in san francisco this time and was glad when it was over - did a few day tours but personally found the beggars very difficult to cope with. we were staying at a hotel in the marina area which was supposedly quite a safe/nice area and yet even getting from the bus stop to the hotel (about a 5 min walk)we always passed the same people sitting on the streets. I found LA even more so. please no offence meant and yes we do have homeless in melbourne but as i very rarely ever go to the city it is not "in my face".

Thanks everyone for the great advice, I'm thinking of doing the Great Western tour which visits L.A., San Francisco, Monterey, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Las Vegas and then I'll have a few days in L.A.

Every place on that tour is wonderful-I may have to check this TT out for myself.