where would you spend a week on the west coast

since starting planning this adventure I have been persuaded not to try and add a week in florida after a road trip. so with this in mind, flying into vegas and out of vegas, where would you spend a week. I would like the coast, love bobbin around in those warm florida seas!!

on the wish list is 2 beds, access to pool and or sea. easily pleased me thinks!!

A few questions if I may:

What time of year?
Are the Vegas flights already booked or could we do an Open Jaw?
Where will you already have visited on the road trip?
Adults only or kids too?

we are there august next year for just over 2 weeks. 9th-25th we have booked the flights using miles and are now fixed.
2 kids in tow of 13 and 10
I am looking to go from vegas to zion bryce and grand canyon then back to vegas then across to the coast, haven't worked this bit out yet!! but would like to go to yosemite and death valley and also to see some sequoia's. not too bothered about the big cities. kids love to swim so wanted to get some cool swimming experiences in, like swimming at night in the dessert!! also the odd water park.

It really depends on your budget and what you want holiday wise. Laguna beach (south of la in Orange County) and la Jolla ( just north of San Diego proper)!are lovely, walkable towns but hotels are expensive there. If you're happy with a house/apartment you could try Airbnb as they tend to be cheaper than 2 hotel rooms. If you want warm water you really need to be between LA and San Diego. Pacific or mission beach in San Diego have reasonable priced options, based here you're close to the new sea world water park (actual water park not sea life) as well as actual sea world, Legoland, San Diego zoo and wildlife park. It's a 4 hour drive from here to Vegas or you can make a daylong scenic drive through the salton sea, Joshua tree park and the mojave dessert preserve. La Jolla is worth a visit if you're in San Diego even if you're not staying there, there's a beach called children's pool where the seals and sea lions hang out, you can get really close to them. Newport Beach is just north of Laguna, (also Orange County) about 1 hour south of LA and has cheaper options than Laguna, it has a lovely long beach with lots of activities for the kids, as does Huntington Beach. Further north towards SF, you have Santa Cruz (very reasonable price wise) and Monterey. The sea is cold here though. Based in Santa Cruz you are about 1/2 hour drive from Henry cowell redwood park, you can see the giant redwoods there and even go zip lining in them. There is a lovely walk in the woods over a railway track to a swimming hole surrounded by the redwoods, with rocks to jump off if you want an unusual swimming experience. There are a couple of waterparks close to Santa Cruz too. Wherever you stay I'd recommend a whale watching trip, we went on one from Dana point, south of Laguna with an underwater viewing area to watch the Dolphins zooming alongside the boat. The area around Laguna is known for its mega pods of dolphins and they're amazing to see. August is blue whale time too, we were lucky enough to see a mother and baby. I'll shut up gushing now before I bore you to death! Any more info, just ask.

Give yourself enough time in Zion and Bryce. We had one night in each and it wasn't enough! From there we drove for 8 hours to the edge of Yosemite. A long drive, but we did it so we could have longer in San Fran at the end of our trip. In hindsight I should have planned for longer in Bryce and Zion and just flew back from Vegas, but we love San Fran and couldn't resist driving through Yosemite again!

You can usually pick up a second hand America the Beautiful Annual Pass for the National Parks on eBay . The pass can have two holders.

You may want to book Furness creek in Death Valley for a night too

You don't have to go to the coast. Lake Tahoe is beautiful at any time of year and August has plenty to do on/in the water and the beaches.

You may want to book Furness creek in Death Valley for a night too

The Furnace Creek Ranch has a spring fed swimming pool, and it is definitely in the desert.

Hoover Dam and Lake Mead are both quite near to Las Vegas and worth seeing. Can easily be covered on day trips.

Just got back from doing Las Vegas to Zion to Bryce to Monument Valley to Grand Canyon to Palm Springs via Route 66. in previous years have done coast Route 1 north to south and south to north, including Sequoia national park, Giant Forest , Yosemite and Lake Tahoe. Where would I return to ? not Yosemite in August - sorry much too busy.

We just did Zion in one day , but stayed two nights in the area to give us a full day there. But we did Bryce in one day easily, driving from Zion we drove the 16 mile road within the Park to the end then worked our way back stopping at every view point, then ate a meal at the Canyon Lodge and then set off up the R12 Scenic ByWay on our way to MV. Driving back to Vegas from Bryce would take about 4 hrs I guesstimate. But a good road, not too many bends.

I loved Tahoe and would return but that is 7 hrs to LAS and my kids liked the forest drives, seeing the huge redwoods but that is over 6 hrs. So I would keep the driving to the minimum - it is tempting to do great distances but with kids that age they will hate it. So Zion and Bryce are possible over 3 days and much closer to your final destination.