The Itinerary Wala
USA West in 10 days: Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco

USA West in 10 days: Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco

The second America: Hollywood and the Pacific, the neon absurdity of Las Vegas with the Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon a day-tour away, then San Francisco's fog, cable cars and Alcatraz — three flights, no rental car, and the honest maths on resort fees and 4 a.m. canyon buses.

  • United States
  • 10 days
  • ≈ AED 11,000 / person
  • Cities + canyons

Researched & checked by Nitesh Parasher Last verified

Before you go

If our East Coast guide is America’s history and skyline, this is its fantasy and geology. Los Angeles is the world’s dream factory sprawled along a beach; Las Vegas is the desert’s fever dream — and, more usefully, the gateway to the Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon; San Francisco is the beautiful, foggy, hill-stacked city every film has promised you.

The standard advice says the West needs a road trip. It doesn’t — not for this triangle. Three short flights connect the cities, day tours with hotel pickup handle the canyons, and the only driving you’ll do is in the back seat of an Uber. Ten days, no rental forms, no US traffic baptism.

Go April–May or September–October. June–August means 42–47°C in Vegas and fog-chilled 15°C summers in San Francisco (pack for both, always); winter is mild in LA, cool in Vegas, rainy-ish in SF — and everything is cheaper. All costs are in US dollars (USD).

Before you go: the admin

The visa, in one paragraph

Everything about the US visa — the ~$435 real cost per Indian passport ($185 MRV + $250 Visa Integrity Fee), the 6–12 month appointment waits at many posts since the July 2026 service suspension, the 10-year B1/B2 consolation, ESTA for Visa Waiver passports — is covered in depth in our East Coast guide. The one-line version: start the visa 8–12 months before you fly, via ustraveldocs.com, and let nothing else be booked non-refundable until it’s stamped.

Money — this route’s three traps

  • Resort fees. Vegas hotels advertise $79 rooms and then add a mandatory ~$40–55/night “resort fee” plus tax at the desk. It’s legal, it’s universal on the Strip, and it roughly doubles cheap-room maths — our budget below includes it. Compare total prices only.
  • Tipping and tax work exactly as in the East guide: sales tax added at the register, 18–20% at sit-down restaurants, $2–5 per bag/valet/housekeeping day. Budget it like a tax.
  • LA moves by ride-hailing. Public transit exists (the Metro B line does Hollywood, the E line reaches Santa Monica) and is fine by day, but this city was built for cars — expect $25–45 per Uber hop and ~$300 of the budget to go to them. Vegas and SF, by contrast, are walk-and-transit cities.

SIM, plugs, kids

  • Same as the East: eSIM ~$15–25, Type A/B plugs, 120V.
  • Kids: Universal Studios is the anchor day (check ride height cut-offs — 102–122 cm gates the big ones); under-2s fly free on laps, canyon tours usually charge from age 2–3. The Antelope Canyon day is a 14–15 hour bus marathon — glorious for photographers, brutal for under-8s. The Grand Canyon West day is the gentler pick with small children.
  • Vegas with kids is legal and common — they just can’t stop on the casino floor (walking through is fine, 21+ to gamble or drink). The Strip at night is PG spectacle: fountains, volcanoes, gondolas.

Day by day

Day 1 — Land in Los Angeles, Hollywood at sunset

Stay in Hollywood (walkable core, Universal next door) — it beats Santa Monica for a first, car-free visit.

  • Afternoon — Land at LAX (direct ~16-hour flights from the Gulf). Uber/flat-rate cab to Hollywood ~$40–60, 30–50 min by traffic mood.
  • 17:00 — First walk: the Hollywood Walk of Fame along Hollywood Blvd — the stars, the TCL Chinese Theatre hand-prints, the Dolby Theatre (Oscars’ home). Tourist-tacky and mandatory, in that order.
  • 18:30 — Uber 10 minutes up to Griffith Observatory (free, open late Tue–Sun): the Hollywood Sign on your right, the entire glittering LA basin below, telescopes on the lawn. The best first-night-in-America view on this coast.
  • 20:30 — Dinner back on the boulevard, or the In-N-Out on Sunset — the $12 burger pilgrimage (order it “animal style”).

Where to stay in Los Angeles (three nights)

  • Luxury: The Hollywood Roosevelt — 4.4/5 on TripAdvisor (~4,200 reviews), the 1927 hotel that hosted the first Oscars, David-Hockney-painted pool, directly on the Walk of Fame. ~$300–420.
  • Mid-range: The Garland — 4.4/5 (~4,600 reviews), retro family favourite with a free Universal Studios shuttle. ~$200–270.
  • Budget-boutique: Magic Castle Hotel — 4.7/5 (~3,900 reviews), plain outside, legendary service inside (free snacks, poolside popsicle hotline — really). ~$180–240.

Day 2 — Universal Studios Hollywood

  • 08:45 — Be at the gates before the 9:00–10:00 opening (Tue–Thu are the quiet days). Dated online tickets $109–154 — buy ahead, gate prices start ~$169. Express pass ($209+) is worth it only in school holidays.
  • The must-dos: Super Nintendo World’s Mario Kart, the Studio Tour (60 min through real working backlots — Jaws, Psycho house, King Kong; included with every ticket), Harry Potter’s Forbidden Journey and a butterbeer, Jurassic World’s splash finale.
  • Strategy: big rides before 11:00, Studio Tour and shows in the crowded middle, re-rides after 17:00.
  • 19:00 — Exit into CityWalk for a neon dinner (~$20–30), five minutes’ walk. If you stayed at The Garland, the shuttle takes you home.

Day 3 — The Pacific day: Getty, Santa Monica, Venice

  • 09:30 — Uber west to the Getty Center (museum free; Van Gogh’s Irises, Monet, and the architecture-garden-view trio worth the trip alone). Two hours.
  • 12:30 — Optional 20-minute detour through Beverly Hills: Rodeo Drive’s three absurd blocks, the sign photo.
  • 14:00 — Santa Monica Pier: the Ferris wheel over the Pacific, the official end-of-Route-66 sign, fish tacos on the boardwalk (~$15).
  • 16:00 — Rent beach cruisers and ride the oceanfront path 25 minutes south to Venice Beach: skate park, Muscle Beach, the canals two streets back — LA’s weirdness reserve.
  • 18:30 — Sunset from the sand or the pier’s wheel, dinner on Abbot Kinney Blvd (~$25–40), Uber home.

Day 4 — Fly to Las Vegas, first Strip night

  • 10:00 — LAX → LAS: ~1h10, from ~$50–90 booked a few weeks out. You’ll see the desert switch on beneath you.
  • 13:00 — Check in mid-Strip. Two Vegas rules: drink water constantly, and treat posted room rates as fiction until the resort fee is added.
  • 15:00 — The south Strip loop on foot (it’s further than it looks — 5 km feels like 10 in July): the Bellagio Conservatory (free), Paris’s half-scale Eiffel Tower, the Venetian’s canals and painted sky.
  • 19:00 — Dinner at a buffet (Wicked Spoon, ~$40–50) or food court (~$15), then the Bellagio Fountains — shows every 15–30 min through midnight, and the greatest free spectacle in America. Watch three.

Where to stay in Las Vegas (three nights)

  • Luxury: The Venetian Resort — 4.3/5 (~36,700 reviews), all-suite rooms twice normal size, canals indoors. ~$180–320 plus fees.
  • Mid-range: Paris Las Vegas — 3.9/5 (~39,900 reviews), centre-Strip under the Eiffel replica, fountain views across the street. ~$90–170 plus fees.
  • Budget: The LINQ Hotel — 3.7/5 (~19,800 reviews), modern rooms at motel prices, dead-centre location by the High Roller wheel. ~$50–120 plus fees.
  • All three add the ~$40–55/night resort fee — no Strip hotel spares you.

Day 5 — Grand Canyon day

  • 06:30 — Hotel pickup for the Grand Canyon West Rim bus tour: $109 including entry (Hualapai tribal lands), a Hoover Dam photo stop, and ~3.5 hours at the canyon — Eagle Point and Guano Point’s 360° drop. Add the Skywalk, the glass horseshoe 1,200 m over the floor, for $35 (book with the tour; phones go in lockers — buy the photo or trust your memory).
  • The honest choice: the West Rim is not the national park — it’s the closest rim (2.5 h vs 4.5 h each way) and the right call for a day trip. Purists wanting the classic South Rim panoramas can take the longer coach day (~$120–150, 14–15 h) — more canyon, much more bus.
  • 18:00 — Back on the Strip. Shower, then a show night: the Sphere (Postcard from Earth or 2026’s Wizard of Oz, from ~$99 — the 160,000-sq-ft interior screen must be seen to be believed), or Cirque du Soleil’s “O” (~$120+).

Day 6 — Antelope Canyon, or the mercy day

Two very different Day 6s — pick by stamina:

  • The marathon: the Lower Antelope Canyon + Horseshoe Bend tour — from ~$165 including the Navajo-guided slot-canyon walk and the Colorado’s great bend. It is every desert photo you’ve ever saved, and it costs a 4–5 a.m. pickup and a 14–15-hour day. Photographers won’t regret it; small kids might.
  • The mercy version: sleep in, pool morning, then a half-day Hoover Dam tour (~$60–90) or the High Roller wheel (~$25–35) and Venetian gondolas.
  • 19:30 — Either way, end downtown at the Fremont Street Experience (old Vegas): the LED canopy show hourly, live bands, vintage neon — free, and more fun than half the Strip.

Day 7 — Fly to San Francisco, cable cars by evening

  • 10:00 — LAS → SFO: ~1h35, from ~$60–110. BART train from the airport into the city, $11, 30 min — welcome to a US city where transit just works.
  • 13:00 — Check in at Fisherman’s Wharf (flat, walkable, Alcatraz on the doorstep — the right first-timer base; Union Square is more central but edges the Tenderloin’s rough blocks).
  • 15:00 — Ride the Powell–Hyde cable car ($8 a tap, day passes ~$13 on the MuniMobile app) from the Wharf turnaround over Russian Hill — stand on the running board, obviously — hop off for Lombard Street’s zigzag block.
  • 17:30 — Chinatown: the Dragon Gate, Waverly Place lanterns, the fortune-cookie factory in Ross Alley (the oldest Chinatown outside Asia).
  • 19:30 — Dinner in North Beach, the Italian quarter next door — Tony’s pizza if the queue allows (~$25–35).

Where to stay in San Francisco (three nights)

  • Luxury: Argonaut Hotel — 4.5/5 (~8,100 reviews), timber-and-brick cannery conversion on the Wharf, bay views. ~$280–400.
  • Mid-range: Hotel Caza Fisherman’s Wharf — 4.3/5 (~1,300 reviews), fresh family-styled rooms, two blocks from Pier 39. ~$180–260.
  • Budget: Chancellor Hotel on Union Square — 4.5/5 (~6,100 reviews), 1914 charmer on the cable-car line, the city’s best-rated honest bargain. ~$140–200.

Day 8 — Alcatraz and the waterfront

  • 08:45 — First ferry from Pier 33 to Alcatraz (day tour ~$48, kids 5–11 discounted, the superb cellhouse audio tour included — narrated by former guards and inmates). Book the moment your dates fix: tickets release 90 days out and sell out weeks ahead. Only buy from cityexperiences.com — street resellers sell bay cruises, not the island.
  • 12:30 — Back ashore: Pier 39’s sea lions (free comedy), clam chowder in a sourdough bowl at Boudin (~$14), the WWII submarine USS Pampanito if the kids vote.
  • 15:00 — Walk west along the water to the Ghirardelli Square hot-fudge sundae and Hyde Street Pier’s tall ships.
  • 17:00 — Golden Gate viewpoint hour: bus/Uber to Fort Point or Crissy Field as the fog lifts (or rolls in — both are the postcard).
  • 19:30 — Dinner at the Wharf or a Mission-style burrito the size of your forearm (~$15) — the city’s great food argument settles nothing.

Day 9 — Bike the bridge, then the painted city

  • 09:00 — Rent bikes at the Wharf (~$40/day) and ride the flat waterfront to the Golden Gate Bridge, then across it — 2.7 km of orange steel and Pacific wind — downhill into Sausalito, the Mediterranean-pretty ferry town. Lunch on the harbour (~$20–30), ferry back with skyline views (bikes ride free). Half a day, zero regret; e-bikes flatten the one real hill.
  • 15:00 — The photogenic afternoon: the Painted Ladies at Alamo Square, then the Mission District’s mural alleys (Balmy and Clarion) and a proper espresso; with kids swap in Golden Gate Park’s California Academy of Sciences (~$40, penguins-to-planetarium).
  • 19:00 — Farewell dinner: North Beach Italian, Mission Mexican, or crab at the Wharf — book the one you’ll dream about two weeks ahead.

Day 10 — Home from SFO

  • Morning — Last fog-and-sourdough breakfast; BART or Uber to SFO, which flies non-stop to most long-haul hubs. Triangle closed — and you never touched a steering wheel.

Costs and practicalities

Best time to visit

April–May and September–October, and the coastal fog and the mountain snow are the two scheduling constraints.

  • April–May — spring: wildflowers in the desert parks, the Pacific Northwest greening, and the crowds not yet arrived. Some high mountain roads still closed.
  • June–August — the busiest. The coast from San Francisco to Oregon is frequently fogged in, while inland and the desert are very hot. The Pacific Northwest is at its best and driest now.
  • September–October — the best of the year. The fog lifts, the parks are quiet after Labor Day, and the Pacific Northwest stays dry into early October.
  • November–March — the rainy season from northern California to Seattle, and Cascade passes and some park roads close with snow. Mount Rainier and Crater Lake are effectively winter-only for skiers.

Crater Lake’s rim road is usually open only from July to October.

Travel tips

  • Check park road status before you go. Rainier, Crater Lake and the Cascades close seasonally and the detours are long.
  • Book national park lodging a year ahead, and campsites the day they release on recreation.gov.
  • An America the Beautiful annual pass pays for itself in about three parks and covers a whole vehicle.
  • Seattle and Portland are cold and wet from October to May. Layers and a waterproof, not an umbrella — locals do not use them.
  • Tipping is 18–20%, and sales tax is added at the register except in Oregon, which has none.
  • Fuel in Oregon used to be attendant-served — the law has relaxed, but do not be surprised either way.
  • Distances are large. Seattle to San Francisco is 13 hours of driving; pick a section rather than the whole coast.

What this trip actually costs

Two people, 9 nights (3+3+3), mid-range comfort, international flights excluded:

ItemCost
US visa fees for two (~$185 MRV + ~$250 Integrity Fee each)USD 870 (≈ AED 3,195)
Hotels, 9 nights (incl. Vegas resort fees and taxes)USD 1,800 (≈ AED 6,611)
Flights LAX→LAS and LAS→SFO, two seatsUSD 300 (≈ AED 1,102)
Local transport: LA Ubers (the big one), BART, Muni, cable cars, transfersUSD 450 (≈ AED 1,653)
Universal Studios Hollywood × 2USD 250 (≈ AED 918)
Grand Canyon West tour + Skywalk × 2USD 290 (≈ AED 1,065)
Antelope Canyon + Horseshoe Bend tour × 2USD 330 (≈ AED 1,212)
Alcatraz + cable-car day passes × 2USD 130 (≈ AED 477)
Food and tips, 10 daysUSD 1,100 (≈ AED 4,040)
Buffer: a Sphere or Cirque night, Getty is free, shoppingUSD 480 (≈ AED 1,763)
Total for twoUSD 6,000 (≈ AED 22,035)
  • Roughly USD 3,000 (≈ AED 11,018) per person — about USD 400 (≈ AED 1,469) more than our East Coast route, and the canyons are why: the two desert tours alone are USD 620 (≈ AED 2,277) for two. Skip Antelope and ride only the West Rim and it drops toward USD 2,700 (≈ AED 9,916); Venetian suites and Sphere floor seats push past USD 4,000 (≈ AED 14,690). Vegas midweek is startlingly cheap; Vegas weekends are not.
  • Book in this order: US visa (8–12 months out — it gates everything) → international flights (into LAX, home from SFO — open-jaw) → hotels with free cancellation → Alcatraz at exactly 90 days → Universal dated ticket → canyon tours (2–4 weeks out, free cancellation is standard) → internal flights → Sphere/show seats last, prices move like airfares.
  • Hotel and restaurant picks here are unsponsored — no affiliate links in this article. Chosen on location and current ratings; always check prices and recent reviews before booking.

What to pack

  • Layers beat logic here: one suitcase must serve 45°C Vegas pavement and 15°C San Francisco fog — light clothes plus a real jacket, always.
  • Serious sunscreen, cap and a refillable bottle for the desert days; the canyon tours are dehydration machines.
  • Comfortable shoes (Universal is 15,000 steps; SF’s hills are free gym), plus sandals for pools.
  • Type A/B adapter, contactless card for BART/Muni taps, power bank for the 15-hour tour days.
  • A dressier outfit if a Vegas show or nice dinner is planned — and ID/passport copies: Vegas cards everyone who looks under 35.

FAQ

Can this really be done without a car? This exact route, yes — that’s why it’s built as 3+3+3 with flights and pickup-included tours. What a car adds is the Pacific Coast Highway drive (LA→SF along Big Sur, 2 extra days) — the greatest road on the continent and first in line for a future guide. If you’d do that, you need an IDP alongside your licence and nerves for US freeways.

West Rim or South Rim for the Grand Canyon? Day-trippers: West Rim — 2.5 h away, 3.5 h at the canyon, back for dinner. The South Rim is the deeper, grander national-park experience but costs 9+ hours of bus for 3 hours of rim. The no-compromise answer is an overnight South Rim add-on — that’s a different (wonderful) trip.

Is the Skywalk worth $35? Split verdict, honestly: the glass floor is a genuine stomach drop, but cameras are banned (lockers provided) and the queue can eat 45 minutes. Guano Point, included free, has the better raw view. Thrill-seekers yes; photographers save the money.

Is San Francisco safe? We’ve read things. The tourist city — Wharf, North Beach, Chinatown, the parks, the bridge — is walkable and fine with ordinary city sense. The rough sights are concentrated: the Tenderloin and parts of SoMa look hard and are best simply not wandered at night. Carless visitors dodge the city’s actual crime headline (car break-ins) entirely.

Vegas with a Muslim family — realistic? Yes, on your own terms: the spectacle (fountains, conservatory, Fremont’s canopy, the Sphere) is alcohol-and-gambling-optional, halal restaurants cluster on and off Strip, and no one blinks at families. It’s loud and billboard-racy — some families love the circus, some cap it at two nights, which is exactly what this route does.

Halal and vegetarian food? All three cities are easy. LA is a halal heavyweight (halal In-N-Out it isn’t, but Westwood’s Persian row and endless zabiha spots are); Vegas buffets always run vegetarian lines and halal steak/shawarma houses sit just off-Strip; SF’s Tenderloin edge hides superb Pakistani-Indian kitchens and the Mission does vegetarian burritos. Apps (Zabihah) beat guesswork.

Add Yosemite from San Francisco? Resist the day-trip temptation: it’s 4+ hours each way for a drive-through glimpse. Yosemite deserves 2 nights and a car — we’d rather you did this trip properly and came back. (See the PCH answer above — the same future guide.)

Prices and entry rules change, and what you need depends on your passport; last checked 8 October 2026, so confirm with the embassy or your airline before booking.