How To Plan A 14 Day Roadtrip In America: Two Week Route Guide
Heading to the West Coast of America? I've got you covered with a fourteen day route guide on where to stay/eat & what to do!
Having recently returned from an EPIC two week West Coast road trip with my bestie Kat, I've been dying to share this post with you all! Our trip, although planned for around six weeks, I ended up doing the bulk of our planning the week before we left London (I work well under pressure what can I say haha!).
Most people plan trips like this for a year, and whether you've got a year to plan or a week, you'll have the BEST time as this route was just bloody amazing from start to finish!
We flew in and out of LAX, and picked up our hire care from Hertz LAX (couldn't have done it without our Jeep Wrangler Chuck!), and our first stop was Las Vegas, then Zion National Park, Horseshoe Bend & Antelope Canyon, the Grand Canyon, then onto Lake Havasu, Joshua Tree and Palm Springs before spending two more nights in LA before our flight home... PHEW!
Here's how we did it - grab yourself a cuppa... or some wine, depending on what time you're reading this ;) - and settle in as this post is a MAMMOTH one, but will be packed with our dream road trip route and everything you need to know about our trip!!
Let's go!...
Day 1-2: Downtown, Los Angeles
Downtown is about a thirty minute drive from LAX airport - you'll be fresh off the plain and feeling jet lagged so my recommendation would be to pick up your hire car and head straight to Downtown!
What to expect from Downtown LA? I loved Downtown LA, mostly because it reminded me SO much of my favourite place; NYC!! With it's food markets, cute açai breakfast joints and hip hotels, Downtown is a cool area to explore!
Where to stay? Freehand Downtown, 416 W. 8th St., Los Angeles, CA 90014
I stumbled across the Freehand Downtown hotel on Booking.com and I'm so glad I did! I booked us into the hotel for our first two nights in LA and we both loved it - it had very Hoxton / cool vibe at an affordable price! They also offer dorm rooms if you're travelling solo!
Where to eat? There is SO much food choice in Los Angeles! Whilst we were staying Downtown we checked out the following and loved them!...
Grand Central Market- A MUST! Much like Foodhallen in Amsterdam, Borough Market in London or the Chelsea Food Market in NYC, the Grand Central Market was a great place to eat, filled with lots of different vendors at affordable prices!
Backyard Bowls - We visited Backyard Bowls for an açai bowl on our first morning and loved it, it felt SO good to get some nutrients in after the long flight, I'd definitely recommend a visit - the menu looked great!
Juice Crafters - we also tried out Juice Crafters whilst in DTLA and also was a big fan of their açai bowls (their Ginger shots are great too - but be careful, they'll blow your head off haha!).
Tocaya Organica - Tocaya Organica are planning to open a store in DTLA, whilst it isn't open yet there are various locations across LA and I'd definitely recommend a visit for some healthy, delicious Mexican food!
What to do in LA:
- Hire bikes and cycle from Santa Monica Pier to Venice Beach, drive to the Griffith Observatory and see the views of the city, explore the quirky shops and cafes of Silverlake and hit up Rodeo Drive (if only for a drive along it!).
Day 3-4: LA > Las Vegas
Drive time: Roughly 4 and a half hours
From Los Angeles we drove to Las Vegas (roughly 4 and a half hour drive), although I have to say the driving in America seems to fly by and this journey went SO quickly!
What to expect from Las Vegas? Ahhhhh Las Vegas, I bloody LOVE you! I have to say it tends to be one of those love/hate places, if you've never been then all I have to say is embrace it's ridiculously and I think you'll love it!
Where to stay? Downtown Grand, 206 N. 3rd St., Las Vegas NV 89101
I booked Kat and I into the Downtown Grand in Las Vegas and it was great, priced at only £60 per night (you can get it way cheaper but I booked it so last minute). Don't get me wrong, this hotel is nothing fancy but the rooms are large and clean and it's in a great location (I'm a huge fan of Downtown Las Vegas and much prefer it to the strip for atmosphere!
I WROTE A GUIDE TO LAS VEGAS WHICH YOU CAN CHECK OUT HERE!
Where to eat? I have to say, Las Vegas isn't exactly known for it's culinary delights, it's either usually buffet dinners (which is fine but V filling), or fine dining and not a lot in between. We found a couple of gems during our time there!
During the day - Vegenation: I think Vegenation *might possibly be the only healthy place to eat in Las Vegas haha! Kat is a vegetarian so we scouted this gem out and ended up having breakfast there both mornings as we loved it so much!
During the night - Tao: Oh my GOD we had the most INSANE meal at Tao in Las Vegas! If you're a fan of Sushi / Asian food then this is a must for you! It's a little on the pricier side, but oh so worth it!
What to do in Las Vegas? Okay so I *might have raved about it over on my Instagram (but judging by the response you girls were also fans!), but a MUST if you're visiting Vegas is the Magic Mike show (I mean probably leave your boyfriends at home for this one!) - it's AMAZING you absolutely have to go! *Tip: we drove to the Hard Rock Cafe and bought our tickets there as it's cheaper!
If you're not feeling too hungover then get yourself booked into a Soul Cycle class (located inside the Wynn hotel), for an early morning spin - it's the perfect way to kick start your day before the next leg of your road trip!
Oh, and if you've got spare time then definitely check out the Neon Museum - it's an old junk yard full of the Las Vegas signs, it's SO cool and well worth a trip (great photo spot too!). - $20 entry per adult.
Day 5-6: Valley of Fire > Zion National Park
Drive time: 3 hours from Las Vegas to Zion National Park / 1 hour from Las Vegas to Valley of Fire then a further 2 hours to Zion if you're planning to stop at the Valley of Fire like we did
What to expect from Zion? Our plan was always to drive to Paige in Arizona from Las Vegas (to explore the Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon), BUT we decided to break up the long drive and spend one night at the Zion National Park and I'm telling you it was the BEST thing we ever did!!
Zion was one of my favourite places we visited on our road trip, it absolutely took my breath away! The drive on your departing day, heading towards Paige will be around 20 miles of utter "WOW" moments!
From Las Vegas en route to Zion, we also stopped of at the Valley of Fire (roughly one hour into the journey), it's well worth a stop as it's so beautiful and it breaks up the 3 hour journey to Zion!
Oh, and Zion is actually in Utah which is pretty cool as we covered four states during our two week road trip!
Where to stay? Cliffrose Lodge & Gardens, 281 Zion Park Blvd Springdale, UT 84767
We were booked to camp under the stars on our night in Zion (sounds cute doesn't it?!), but LUCKILY Kat decided to check the temperatures at night before we set off to camp and as they reached a *slightly chilly -7 at night, we hastily booked a hotel!
Luckily we stumbled across the BEAUTIFUL Cliffrose Lodge & Gardens, we were given a mountain view room which was just the most insane view to wake up to! I'd highly recommend this hotel if you're heading to Zion (it also happens to be the second closest hotel to the park entrance which makes it so much easier if you're driving / getting the shuttle bus to the national park!).
Where to eat? We only spent one night in Zion National Park so only sampled one restaurant, we had a look on Google reviews (and also had a confirmation that it was good from the lovely hotel staff), and dined at The Bit and Spur for dinner, it's a Mexican restaurant and the food was good (lots of carbs which is great if you're hiking the next day!).
What to do in Zion? TAKE IN THE BEAUTY!!! Oh my god Zion was just so insane, the only thing to do there is soak it all up! Whether you want to hike or drive through the park - make sure you stop off on your road trip!
Day 6-7: Antelope Canyon > Horseshoe Bend > Page, Arizona
Drive time: Just under 2 hours from Zion National Park to Page
Okay so the next few days of our trip were super full on with lots of driving, but some of the most beautiful days!
Day 6 we got up early and drove through the Zion National Park (allow at least 1-2 hours for this, guaranteed you'll be stopping off loads as it's SO picturesque and breathtaking!).
We then drove to Page in Arizona which was around an hour and 45 minute drive, we planned to arrive at Page by midday as we'd booked onto a tour of the Antelope Canyon (a MUST!!!), and a *tip - you HAVE to book onto a tour as the canyon is on Najavo Nation.
We booked our tour with Antelope Canyon Navajo Tours and would highly recommend them (it cost around £60 per person for the guided tour, but our guide was wonderful and I'd do it again in a heart beat, so worth it!).
Our tour lasted around an hour and a half, so we headed for some lunch then checked into our hotel for the night; Wingate by Wyndham Page Lake Powell then freshened up before a trip to the infamous Horseshoe Bend (another MUST if you're in Page - it was only five minutes from our hotel and insanely beautiful, a great picture spot!).
What to expect from Page? Page itself isn't much to write home about, just another cute American town. BUT it's a great base for both the Antelope Canyon and Horshoe Bend, both are absolute must-visits if you're thinking of doing this route or a similar one, our trip wouldn't have been the same without a stop at both!
Where to stay? Wingate by Wyndham Page Lake Powell, 671 Scenic View Rd Page, Arizona 86040
The hotel is pretty basic, but the rooms were super spacious and clean, the hotel was in a great location (just 5 minutes from both Horshoebend and the Antelope Canyon), and it was super affordable! I think I paid around £50 per night for a double Queen room with breakfast included (breakfast again is super basic, but enough to see you through the morning!).
Day 7-8: Grand Canyon > Seligman > Lake Havasu
Drive time: around 6 hours
Again, another busy day (this was actually our busiest day in terms of driving as we were nearly on the road for 6 hours!), this day was mainly about driving and less site seeing as we were heading to our next destination; Joshua Tree - these places just seemed to break up the drive nicely and see us on our way to the next place!
Our first leg of the drive was from Page to the Grand Canyon which took around an hour and 45 minutes (we entered from the East entrance and drove down to the south exit). I'd visited the Canyon last year during my Trek America tour and couldn't wait to take Kat to visit, the day we visited it was bloody freezing so we didn't stay too long and observed most of it from the car!).
*TIP: The national park fees cost around $30, something we didn't think to factor into our costs!
Then from the Grand Canyon we drove to Seligman - a historic town on the Route 66, it was really just a pit stop so we could get out and stretch our legs and grab some food (it happened to be on Remembrance Sunday and everything was closed other than a restaurant called 'Road Kill Cafe'... surprisingly it was pretty good haha!).
The drive from the Grand Canyon to Seligman was around another hour and 50 minutes.
After dinner we hit the road again for the last leg of our journey which was from Seligman to Lake Havasu which took 2 hours (there isn't really much at Lake Havasu, it just seemed to be the biggest town that we could spent the night before our onward journey to Joshua Tree!).
There's plenty of hotels and food places in Lake Havasu so it seemed like a good place to stop, we booked into the Travelodge which was SUPER basic but did the job for around £40 per night!
Day 8-10: Lake Havasu > Joshua Tree
Drive time: 2 and a half hours
After a busy few days of seeing some of the most beautiful sights I think I'll ever lay my eyes on, and some SOLID miles on the car, we wanted a super lazy day so we had a lie in, checked out around 11am then drove to Joshua Tree.
The drive was around two and a half hour (some of the longest/ straightest/nothing-ness roads on this leg of the trip ever but still super cool to see!).
We decided to spend two nights in Joshua Tree as we wanted to spend some time shooting in the National Park and relaxing, I decided to book us into two separate Air bnbs (both looked so cool for pictures so we decided to be extra and spend a night in each!).
For our first night we stayed in The Caravan House which was stunning (it sleeps up to six so great if there's a group of you!), it had the most stunning decor and an outdoor hot tub - it's a YES from us!
For our second night, I wanted to book us into an Airstream, I'd seen so many cute ones and we decided to book the Piece of the Sky 1975 Airstream - we absolutely loved it! The airstream was on a little camp site with four other airstreams and it had a communal shower/lounge/ kitchen/ BBQ and hot tub - it was SO cute! I'd definitely recommend for a night of star gazing!
Where to eat in Joshua Tree? There was a pretty good selection of food in Joshua Tree considering it's a pretty small town! We found a super cute healthy cafe called The Natural Sisters Cafe and we also found a great pizza joint too!
During the day - The Natural Sisters Cafe: We ate here both days as the food was SO good, delicious, healthy and affordable!
During the night - Pie For The People: One night we really fancied pizza and had seen that Pie For The People had great reviews so we went to check it out and loved it! It was only $8 for two large slicers it was so cheap too!
What to do in Joshua Tree? Joshua Tree is SO beautiful so make sure you pay for access to the national park (It's $30 per car and that will last you for 7 days so you can come and go as much as you please!), make sure you drive through both at day and during sunset (the sunsets in the park are some of the most beautiful I've ever seen!).
Joshua Tree Rock Shop - Make sure you take a trip to the Joshua Tree Rock Shop to collect some beautiful rocks as souvenirs! I didn't intend to buy any but they were so beautiful I ended up spending $50.. OOPS!
Day 10-12: Joshua Tree > Salvation Mountain > Palm Springs
Drive time: 3 hours (or 50 minutes if you want to drive from Joshua Tree straight to palm Springs!).
Kat and I decided to take a trip to Salvation Mountain as Kat had seen the pictures and wanted to check it out, it's definitely worth a drive and is so cool to see! It's a man made and over 100 gallons of paint was used to create it! (also a cool picture spot).
The drive to Salvation Mountain from Joshua Tree was around an hour and a half, then an hour and a half back to Palm Springs, but if you're not wanted to visit Salvation Mountain then the drive from Joshua Tree to Palm Springs is 50 minutes!
I have to say I absolutely LOVED Palm Springs! I'd heard such great things but it definitely exceeded any expectations I had, it was so beautiful and there was SO much to do! I won't go into *too much detail here as I'm working on a detailed guide but I'll cover everything we did and where we ate then I'll link to my guide once it's live for you all!
Where to stay? V Palm Springs, 333 E PALM CANYON DR. PALM SPRINGS, CA 92264
Kat and I where due to stay at the V Palm Springs for two nights (we were being kindly hosted by the tourism board), and we ended up staying 3 nights because we loved Palm Springs so much (we had allowed an extra day as we didn't know whether we wanted to spend it in Palm Springs or LA!). You could definitely allow 3 days for Palm Springs as there's so much to do!
Our hotel was super centrally located, just a 5/10 minute drive from most places, the decor was stunning (v minimal and in keeping with the Palm Springs architecture - it was beautiful!). I'd definitely recommend staying here if you're planning to visit!
Where to eat? There's SO much choice when it comes to food in Palm Springs - everything you're looking for, they'll have!
Tommy Bahamas: Tommy Bahama was my favourite place we ate in Palm Springs, the food was so delicious that we went back the second day to eat there again! I ordered a Mahi Mahi bowl and a Mojito - it was so good!
Alebrije: We dined at Alebrije on our first night, and had a wonderful evening! An authentic Mexican restaurant run by the loveliest staff! I'd 100% recommend it and would love to return one day!
Fruit Wonders: We went to Fruit Wonders on our last morning before we left Palm Springs to pick up some açai bowls and ginger shots before we hit to
What to do in Palm Springs? Well, where do I start?! There is SO much to do in Palm Springs, from Saki tasting at Wabi Sabi Japan Living, to wandering around the Palm Springs Art Museum (free entry on a Thursday evening!), if you're interested in Architecture (or even if you're not!), then the Mid Mod Design Tour is a MUST! The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is great too!
Day 12-14: Palm Springs > LA
Drive time: One hour and 40 minutes
We decided to spend our last few days of our road trip in Los Angeles as we were so jet lagged the first few days there, we wanted to go back and explore a little. It was also nice to have a couple of slow days at the end of our trip to unwind and reflect!
The middle of our trip consisted of so much driving and lots of shoots which whilst it was CRAZY fun we were both knackered and looking forward to a couple of lazy days in LA!
Where to stay? W Hollywood, 6250 Hollywood Boulevard, 90028
This time around we stayed at the W Hollywood (we were guests of the hotel for one night then paid for our second night), it was in a great location which made it super easy to get around!
CHECK OUT MY POST ON THE W HOLLYWOOD FOR A FULL REVIEW & PICTURES!
Where to eat? As I mentioned previous, there are SO many amazing food places to eat in LA! This time around we took it pretty easy and dined out on our last night at Gracias Madre (a delicious, healthy Mexican restaurant - SO worth a visit!).
What to do in LA? Our last few days in LA were super chilled, we drove around Beverly Hills (and of course stopped off for some snaps at the hotel!), we wandered around Silverlake (a really cool area to explore!), and drove to the Griffith Observatory to see the views of LA from above! It was the perfect end to our trip and a great few days to unwind!
PHEW! There we have it guys my HUGE two week road trip guide - this has taken me nearly two days to put together and if you're still with me at the end of this post then I SALUTE YOU!!
I'd absolutely LOVE to know if you found this guide helpful! Are you planning a trip similar to this one? I'd love to know if you check out any of the places we stayed or things we did! I hope you have the BEST time if you're taking this trip!
Car hire tips: Car rental from hertz.co.uk starts from £22 per day. For more road trip inspiration, iconic and off-the-beaten track routes, downloadable maps and insider guides, head to the Hertz American Road Trip Planner!
Flight tips: We got a really good deal on flights with Virgin Atlantic for around £350 each return from London to LAX, Norwegian and Air New Zealand have some great deals too - I always check Skyscanner for the cheapest offers!