1.Los Angeles – Santa Monica

• 06.00 Wake up at Hollywood
• 06.30 Uber to Downtown LA – Breakfast accross the Bradburry Building – Bradburry Building – Open Market – Walt Disney Concert Hall – Skypace – The last bookstore – Grab some coffee
• 10.00 Uber to Hollywood – Walk of fame – Highland Mall – Dolby Theater – Hollywood sign – Chinese Theater
• 12.00 Ride Proper Sightseeing (Hop on – off bus) see the whole itinerary here
• 14.00 Beverly Hills – Rodeo Drive – LACMA
• 15.30 Uber to Santa Monica
• 16.00 Bike Center Santa Monica for more info click here – Santa Monica beach – Santa Monica Pier – Little Venice – Muscle beach – Boardwalk
• 20.30 Uber to Hollywood

2.Los Angeles – Malibu – San Barbara –  San Simeon- Bixby bridge – Big Sur – Karmel

• 06.00 Wake up at Hollywood
• 06.30 To Griffith Observatory  – Donuts for breakfast & black coffee
• 08.30 Universal Studios – grab a light lunch at Universal park
• 13.00 Maibu – Lululemon – Farm deck – Pier – Lighhouse – Pacific Ocean view
• 14.00 Santa Barbara – San Simeon – Elephants seals view – Piedras blancas light station – – Bixby bridge – Big Sur – Rocky point
• 22.00 Carmel by the sea

california roadtrip

3.Karmel- Silicon Valley – San Francisco

• 06.00 Wake up at Karmel – Donuts for breakfast & black coffee
• 06.30 Carmel by the sea –  Lone Cypress (or just other trees… free of charge) – Mission
• 10.00 To Silicon Valley
• 14.00 To Premium Outlets San Francisco – Lunch
• 20.30 San Francisco

california roadtrip

4.San Francisco

• 06.00 Wake up in San Francisco (Guerrero street)
• 06.30 Uber to Painted Ladies – Uber to SF Downtown – Civic Center city hall – Powel Station – Cable car turnaround –  Financial District – Ferry Building
• 12.00 Uber  to Fisherman’s Wharf – Pier 39 – Sea lions – Lunch at Bubba Gump
• 14.00 Jump Bikes to Ghirardeli chocolate factory – Golden Gate Bridge – Lombard Street
• 18.00 Cable car towards Powel Station – Try both 3 lines – Dinner

5. San Francisco – Wine country – Mendocino Country – Redwood Valley – Fair Oaks

• 07.00 Wake up – Cereal Bars for breakfast & black coffee
• 08.00 Uber to Dylan’s tours
• 09.00 Dylan’s tours – Original 6 hours City Loop Electric Bikes – For the whole itinerary check here (Golden gate park, Height – Ashburry, Golden Gate Bridge etc.)
• 15.00 Lunch – San Francisco to Wine country – Stop at Sausalito – Battery Spencer – Bonita Light house – Muir Woods
• 16.00 Wineries

california roadtrip

6.Wine country – Mendocino Country – Redwood Valley – Fair Oaks

• 09.00 Wake up – Breakfast
• 12.00 Wineries

7.Fair Oaks – Sacramento – Amador city – Sutter creek – Columbia State Park – Sonora – Jamestown

• 07.00 Wake up – Brunch by the Lake
• 12.00 Placerville – Shutter Creek
• 17.00 Columbia State Historic Park
• 18.30 James Town – Dinner

8.Yosemite National Park – Tunnel view – Bridalveil fall viewing point – El capitan meadow – Lower Yosemite Fall -Vista Point – Mirror lake – Tuolumne Grove Trailhead – Olmsted point – Whoa Nellie Deli – Mono Lake – South Tufa Area 

• 06.00 Wake up – Donuts again for breakfast
• 07.00 Yosemite Entrance
• 08.5 Yosemite Valley – Tunnel view – Bridal veil fall – El Capitan Weadow – Vernal falls – Mirror lakes – Lower Yosemite Fall – Tuolumne grove trailhead – Tenaya lake – Whoa Nellie Deli – Mono lake South Tufa Area
• 19.30 Mammoth lake – Dinner

california roadtrip

9 Mammoth lakes – Devil’s Postpile National Monument – Bishop – Lone Pine – Death Valley National Park (Devils Golf Course, Badwater Basin, Artist’s Palette, Zabriskie Point) – Las Vegas

• 06.00 Wake up at Mammoth lake
• 06.50 Devil’s Postpile
• 9.10 Bishop for gas and breakfast at Schats Bakery
• 10.25 Lone Pine – Badwater – Artist’s pallete – Devils golf course
• 14.15 Zabriskie Point
• 17.00 Las Vegas – Dinner

california roadtrip

10.Las Vegas – Route 66 California Highway – Hooover Dam – Grand Canyon – Grand Canyon Village and Navajo Point – Page

• 06.00 Wake up – Breakfast at Motel (oh yeah)
• 06.30 Welcome to fabulous las Vegas sign
• 07.50 Hoover Dam
• 08.20 Route 66 entrance
• 12.40 Grand canyon village – Bright Angel Lodge parking – Shuttle bus to Mojave – Maricopa – Powell – Hop – By car to Yavapai point – Mother point- Pipe creek vista – Yaki point – Grandview, Moran, Lipan, Navajo, Desert view watch
• 19.30 Page – Dinner

11.Horseshoe Bend – Antelope Canyon – Gooseneck’s state park – Glen Canyon Dam Overlook – Mexican Hat – Monument Valley

• 06.00 Wake up – breakfast
• 06.45 Horse shoe bend – Sunrise
• 07.45 Antelope Canyon Upper
• 12.45 Goosenecks state park – Mexican hat
• 15.00 Forrest Gump poin – Monument Valley
• Camping Night at Monument Valley – booked through airbnb platform

california roadtrip

12. Monument Valley – Monument Valley Safari – Las Vegas

• 07.00 Wake up
• 08.00 Monument Valley Safari
• 12.00 Glen Canyon Dam overlook – If theres is time see Toadstool Hoodoos – Kanab – Valley of state park
• 19.20 Las Vegas Airport

We hope you enjoyed our detailed itinerary and we would be very happy to know that you tried it yourself! The final total cost of airtickets, accommodation, transportation, Internet, water, food etc… was approximately  €3,700, not bad ha??? If some of you would like to send you an even more detailed itinerary with miles, the exact times etc. Send us an email via our contact form and we will be happy to share it with you!

Finally, we will be glad to have you in our travel company! You can subscribe to our newsletter here:

The post USA – 12 DAYS ROADTRIP ITINERARY appeared first on Nonstoptravellers.

We chose The Bike Center in Santa Monica, the perfect place for the lovers of cycling, for their years of experience and values in promoting a culture of sustainable environmentally friendly means of transportation such as bikes!

At the entrance of the Bike Center, two wonderful bicycles with the necessary equipment (helmets and locks) were waiting for us! That’s where we met four amazing people, the Bike Center team! Meet sweet Sandie, the most adventurous Sandra, eager-to-help Iggy and of course Ron the owner of the Bike Center in Santa Monica, who was rather helpful, friendly and willing to show us around The Bike Center, and share his ideas and values of using the bike as a part of our daily life! After having explored the Bike Center, they explained to us that their moto “Why not take the bike, instead of the car?” is more than just a moto, it’s a way of thinking and living!

They are actively participating in the transformation of Santa Monica into a community of bicycle travelling both for the tourists and the locals. They positively see the prevalence of cycling in the future offering, not only unforgettable cycling rides, but tours as well! The main aim of The Bike Center is to establish the use of bikes in everyone’s mind, whether it is for a tourist who wants to enjoy the wonderful beach through an interesting cycling experience, or for the locals who commute to and from their workplace! For this reason they have prepared special facilities with safety lockers, showers and storage lockers where the personal objects of cyclists can be safely stored!

In addition to bicycle and equipment rentals, The Bike Center in Santa Monica offers various tours and cycling experiences that feature Santa Monica and Los Angeles’ main attractions, which include tours that combine food tasting experiences, segway tours and walking food tours! The Bike Center covers all the needs associated with cycling! In addition to renting and selling bicycles and equipment, they offer a number of other services. Experienced specialists are there for you to help or advice you and let you know about their bike travel programs. And of course, while you are cycling or exploring the city on foot, your luggage and personal stuff is safe in the special lockers we mentioned above!

We did not join any tours, we chose to take a bike ride instead, but we got all the necessary instructions and tips from the tour expert Sandra, a real bike enthusiast who shared with us her favorite spots to live the experience in the best possible way! The California Incline bicycle path is a wonderful place where you leave the city and its roads through a unique circular descent by bike, and you find yourself suddenly in front of an extraordinary beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean! Wonderful and indescribable view… The feeling was awesome!

The Bike Center in Santa Monica is located in a fairly accessible area, near the Pier of Santa Monica and very close to the Metro station! The team is willing and ready to help you choose and customize the right bike for you or show you around the shower facilities, so dont you worry about anything!

The thing that also characterizes this team is the moto “locals too, not just tourists” and we hope this great team can inspire both locals and travellers to use bikes because it truly stands out by building a community of unique cyclists both in Santa Monica and Los Angeles!

A wonderful experience that we highly recommend to anyone of you who is lucky enough to travel to Santa Monica! For those of you who live or work there already, no further recommendations are needed. The Bike Center in Santa Monica and its wonderful team are waiting for you in their modern and friendly Bike Center to initiate you in the world of bikes! The team is more than eager to share its secrets and tips for a more sustainable way of travel! We fully support such efforts and it is a pleasure and an honour to be able to promote such professionals to the wide travelling audience!

Many, many sincere thanks to the Bike Center of Santa Monica for their kind offer to us! The bike ride was complimentary by The Bike Center of Santa Monica but all the opinions expressed above is our personal view which was based on our personal experience of the excellent service and quality bicycles that we got from The Bike Center!

The post THE BIKE CENTER SANTA MONICA “WHY TAKE THE BIKE INSTEAD OF THE CAR?” appeared first on Nonstoptravellers.

We woke up at 6.00 am and in one day tried to explore the whole city! Did we make it? Read further to find out!

With some goodwill, luck, planning and Uber help, we started from Hollywood and headed to downtown Los Angeles. There we wandered at the highlights of LA, including Walt Disney Theater, the Bradburry Building, the Open Market where you can grab a cup of coffee and enjoy a good breakfast to keep you strong during the busy day, MOMCA and the Last bookstore (definetely a new post will be released)!

los angeles griffith observatory

After we explored almost everything, have to admit that we were going kind of “fast forwardly”, we took an Uber ride again back to Hollywood and headed to the Walk of Fame, walking around the stars and finally got ourselves at the Dolby theater, the historic theater where the Oscar awards are hosted for the past years!

There you can find a small “bridge” that connects the two buildings of Dolby theater and take some views of the Hollywood sign! Actually there are a lot of spots for you to grab the perfect Hollywood sign photo and we ll share them with you later. Till then keep in mind that this sign is more than just nine white letters spelling out a city’s name it’s one of the world’s most evocative symbols, a universal metaphor for ambition, success, glamour for this dazzling place, industry and dream we call HOLLYWOOD.

malibu

Then we visited the Chinese theater famous for the Hollywood stars’ handprints and foodprints and after we met some crazy Batmen, Catwomen, Elvises etc. we passed across the street to relax and enjoy a two-hour Hop on off Bus tour from Ride Proper Sightseeing. A two-hour tour from Hollywood to Beverly Hills and beyond (we also made a stop at the unique LACMA museum)! This ride was a good opportunity to take a quick and stress-free look at some Hollywood secrets and gossips!

After we ve seen almost all of Hollywood, we headed on Uber to the seaside area of Santa Monica where the famous movie series Baywatch was shot!

Santa Monica is a coastal city west of downtown Los Angeles. Santa Monica Beach is fringed by Palisades Park, with views over the Pacific Ocean. Santa Monica Pier is home to the Pacific Park amusement park, historic Hippodrome Carousel and Santa Monica Pier Aquarium.

So what’s the best way to explore Santa Monica? The right answer is… on bikes! We chose The Bike Center Santa Monica, the perfect place for the lovers of cycling, with years of experience and the values of promoting the culture of sustainable way travelling and environmentally friendly means of transport such are bikes!

Find out more about the new Santa Monica project for sustainable travel and our adventures there!

It is almost 20.00 pm and it is time to return to our hostel at the Walk of fame safely with an Uber cab, to a quite expensive, small and not that clean room, with shared bathroom, and bass sounds from the clubs but… honey this is Hollywood!

Next day will find us early in the morning ar Griffth Observatory the famous place where La La Land was filmed and after that our next stop will be at the Universal Studios, the studios where thousands of films have been filmed, we will tour in the sceneries, we will see the studios where even today productions and series are filmed and we will become kids again! Read more about Universal Studios!

The post LOS ANGELES THE CITY OF ANGELS appeared first on Nonstoptravellers.