Road Trip Rental Car From AZ to CA

Hi folks

The Wife and I are planning a "babymoon" in January 2015. Things are pretty flexible, so I'm looking for suggestions.

The basic plan is to fly into AZ/NV (probably PHX or LAS) and driving around mostly Northern AZ (I want to show her the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Jerome and Prescott). Then drive cross country to San Jose/Silicone Valley/San Francisco Area. Visit some family there and fly back home.

We have a week for the entire trip and don't want to break the bank but still have a good time.

I went to college in AZ and drove all around AZ, some CA and NV. There are/were some awesome driving roads around there. We'll be going in Jan so the higher altitude areas might have some snow.

Recommendations would be very much appreciated on: 1) Airports to use 2) RENTAL CARS 3) Places to stay 4) Routes etc.

I'd fly into Lost Wages if you want a one-way rental to SF. One way rentals between NV and CA don't incur a one-way charge, not sure if that's also the case from AZ. You can usually get better fares into LV, though.

A week is a bit tight but should be doable, just about. Ideally, I'd try to find a few more days unless you want to drive for 15h straight. Sedona - San Jose is a two day trip if you're not on the run.

Oh, and it's Silicon Valley, Silicone Valley is further South .

As mentioned, shop around because one-way rentals are not priced like typical rentals where you pick up and drop off at the same place.

Also be mindful that rentals picked up at airports (or near airports) typically are hit with additional fees and taxes which can as much as double your daily rate. These fees are voted in by the locals to pretty much only tax tourists (who have no local vote) and not tax the typical local who may rent a car from a neighborhood location.

Check out Sixt car rental. They tend to have interesting cars at unusually low prices. They also only rarely have a one-way charge.

I was going to suggest running up the backside (!) of the Sierras and either going through Tahoe or Yosemite. January though... maybe not.

The other obvious suggestion would be to cut over to PCH and get some good coastal views.. but January... it could nice (it is California) but probably not (might just be a lot of coastal fog). You probably should at least cut over to the 101 in the Monterey area to get some nicer views there.

If you do drive up the San Joaquin valley I personally like the 99 over the 5. The 5 is a bit faster (not by much) but is REALLY boring. The 99 goes through a lot of towns, many more places to stop. You wouldn't want to miss seeing Fresno or Galt would you?

Via Tahoe should be possible, but that's a two day drive from Vegas to the Bay Area. A beautiful one, but it's going to be tight for a week with all the other stuff.

If you're going to do Prescott, Jerome, Sedona, Flag/GC, I'd fly in to PHX and go from there. If you were to fly in to Vegas, you'd do a lot of doubling back.

Using the google map feature, Flag to San Jose looks like 10.5 hours, so a long days drive, but, that also looked like you'd be picking up the 5 coming out of Bakersfield. Looks like if you keep heading west instead of taking the 5 you'd run straight in to San Luis Obispo, and of course that's a neat little town. The coast is prettier, but depends on time available.

2-3 days in AZ, a day to the bay, there should be time enough for fun stuff.

I dunno, I've done North Las Vegas to Santa Clara and that was a "real" 9h drive via I-5. I think 10.5h from Flagstaff to San Jose is a little optimistic.

I think we can increase it from 7 to 8 days total. Leave Friday night or Sat morning Jan 17/18. Come home on Sun Jan 24/25.

I don't think we will spend much time with the family in San Jose, probably 2/3 days.

So maybe 3 days in AZ, 2 driving to CA, then 2/3 with the fam.

Another option is to fly into Las Vegas (or Phoenix, which ever is cheaper for flights, car and hotel - I think LV would be) drive in a big clockwise loop to the aforementioned places then back to point or origin to avoid extra fees.

Loop would be LV - Grand Canyon ( Route 66 and I40)- I40 and 89A to Sedona - 89A to Jerome - Prescott - 69 and I17 to Phoenix - I10 West out of Phoenix - 95 to LV.

Fly to San Jose. I would really miss the drive through the desert though.

Sixt looks great! Excellent car options for a great price. Will definitely try them first.

BoxheadTim wrote: I dunno, I've done North Las Vegas to Santa Clara and that was a "real" 9h drive via I-5. I think 10.5h from Flagstaff to San Jose is a little optimistic.

For fun, checked the ol' googlemaps on that, 8hr 40min, so it's reasonably in the ball park. 11 hours or so driving isn't a picnic, by any stretch, but doable.

OP, be sure to let us know how the trip went.

Cheers.

I don't have any recommendations for that part of the country but for a rental car, I'd look at a new Mazda 6. That looks like a great highway car/mile muncher.

Berkeley renting a car, buy an FC RX7 turbo that won't pass smog, drive it for a week and ship it home as a memento for the cost of the rental

If you are looking for things to do around SF I can suggest a few. But for routes from San Jose to SF I suggest you a) take 280 over 101 purely for the better views and b) if you have time try to get over to US1 on the coast as people suggested or Skyline Blvd aka route 35. US1 and 35 are detours, but nice drives. If you guys want to go to downtown SF or Fisherman's Wharf, try a form or public transportation or Uber. You don't want to be driving around downtown SF, it's not worth it, park somewhere else.