California living – How to travel the Westcoast in 3 week’s

As I love the sunny summer life I preferred to start in San Francisco the north of California to travel down with the heat.

San Francisco is a beautiful city which offers a lot to see. As it is mostly windy up there, 1 day was enough for us & we did our sightseeing tour in one full day by walk. „18.5 Km”up & down the popular step streets trough the city.

Highlights of San Francisco:

Cable Car’s – walking or driving down the flower full Lombard Street – watching the Seals relaxing at Pier 39 – Fish & Chips at Fisherman’s Wharf – visiting the „Full House“ House (for the fans) – & of course get a picture from the Golden Gate Bridge.

2 Hours down we spend a day in Santa Cruz at the Beach Boardwalk & in Monterey at the port. A few Minutes from Monterey is a park called Point Lobos State Reserve, where you can explore the typical Westcoast Cliffs at beautiful and easy trails along the Coast.  The spot is also popular to see Seals & wales if you’re lucky.

But also, there is was still kind of cold & windy, so the next day we drove straight down to Santa Barbara. Where the real Summer- Cali – feeling finally appeared.  We spent the 4 of July in Santa Barbara, as they celebrated the birthday of the US with a huge Firework at the beach. The city has nice coffee’s, restaurant’s & shops.

Our next stop Santa Monica belongs to my favorite of California. I love the variedness of mixed cultures & creatures in Venice beach. Everybody is accepted the way they are. Also, Santa Monica offered great activities as cycle around between the endless sandy beach & the crazy boulevard, which just coasts about 6$ per hour for a fancy bike. Another Must Do is visiting the Santa Monica’s Pier, a park with a lot of talented Artists and roller coaster for the action lovers out there.

After some ”more or less” relaxing beach days, we used our energy for 3 days in Las Vegas. We planned our Nights there between the week to save some money, as the prices increase for the weekends. We stayed at the MGM Hotel & the Planet Hollywood Resort. Both of them were great. As the Planet Hollywood Resort is located vis a vis from the Bellagio Hotel, we had a perfect view down to the watershow with the dancing fountains and the “Eifelturm”. We used the application Discotech for the party’s during our stay. There are all party’s listed & you can put yourself on almost all the guestlist for free. For Girls most of the entries are for free, but we even got to go to concerts for free & profited from free drinks. J

3 Days were totally enough for us, as it is hot till 40 degrees, even in the night it doesn’t cool down. So, we looked forward for *regular temperature’s after a few days in Nevada J

When you’re already in the desert, you have to visit at least one canyon. We picked 2 canyons from a huge choice. The first we visited for half a day was called valley of fire and just 1 hour away from Las Vegas by car. The entry coast 10 $ per vehicle which is nothing compared with the entry for the Grand Canyon which costs 50$ per person. But not just the price was the reason, we chose the valley of fire. We appreciate the flexibility & variants of that canyon. You could drive & walk through different trails and all the rocks looked different and beautiful in their own way. I recommend it J

Another full day we planned for the Bryce Canyon, which was huge and marvelous too. One way takes about 4 hours, why we decided to stay there overnight J What was totally worth it too.

Our Next Stop was San Diego another favorite place, where we spent the most days at. For me a city you can’t get bored off.  It offers beautiful beaches – surf spots – hikes – shopping and a good nightlife.

My Highlights were the Potato Chips Rock Hike and La Jolla Beach where the seals relax too.

On our way back to LA we stopped in Laguna Beach. Where the most beautiful beaches & the least tourists were! Definitely also worth it to stop at.

Last but not least we spend our last days in the City of Angles. I didn’t expect to much, as most people always told me that it isn’t that special. We were so lucky & a local friend took us around the city to such great spots.

Of Corse we did the tourist spots too, the walk of fame & the Hollywood sign is a Must Do if you’re in Los Angeles. We did the back hike to the Hollywood Signs, which was pretty hard because of the heat. We picked the hottest day in LA in the past 40 years and hikes the trail by 36 Degrees without any shadow possibility’s in 2 hours. But the view up there is amazing. Another nice spot we got to visit was the observatory, where you had a nice outlook down to LA and u to the Hollywood sign too.