Our much-loved California holiday has been the favourite of Titan clients for many years. For 2016 we have improved it further, with a newly-refreshed itinerary. The attraction of the ‘Golden State’ was neatly encapsulated in The Mamas and the Papas’ 1965 hit California Dreamin’ and we invite you to experience the enticing temperatures and warm welcome for yourself. From gold rush pioneers to film industry starlets, the optimistic, the adventurous and the ambitious have made their way to California in search of fame and fortune for two centuries – the epitome of the American Dream. We include great cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, iconic stretches of Pacific coastal road and Route 66, and the bewitching expanse of Yosemite National Park, along with the highlights of neighbouring states – the Wild West landscapes of Arizona and the extraordinary Las Vegas, America’s playground. The awe-inspiring Grand Canyon is a certain highlight; so there is plenty of time to experience this wonder of nature from your two-night base at a top Flagstaff hotel. The perfect conclusion to your holiday is a night’s stay, in seaview rooms, at the lovely Orange County resort of Huntington Beach – and you can choose to extend your holiday here too, to fully enjoy this coastal oasis.
INCLUDING…
14 nights in hotels and 1 in flight (accommodation as specified or similar)
Included excursions and visits: 13
Tour of Hollywood
Tour of San Diego with local guide
Visit to the artist colony of Sedona
Entrance to the Grand Canyon National Park
Williams Depot and shoot-out re-enactment
Visit to the Hoover Dam
Visit the Old Silver Mining Town of Calico
Entrance to Yosemite National Park
Tour of San Francisco including the Golden Gate Bridge with local guide
17 Mile Drive the beautiful coastal route
Stops at Carmel and Monterey
Big Sur coastline drive
Santa Barbara
Plus all these benefits:
Titan’s VIP Home Departure Service®
Free connecting flights from regional airports
Check-in service by Titan staff with porterage
Services of an experienced Titan tour manager
Scheduled Virgin Atlantic or British Airways direct flights
Best available coaches with experienced drivers
Hotel porterage (one bag per person)
Airport taxes, security charges and fuel surcharges
UK Air Passenger Duty (APD)
Total 14 nights
Day 1
London to Los Angeles
Titan’s VIP Home Departure Service collects you from home, for your journey to London Heathrow Airport for a direct, scheduled Virgin Atlantic or British Airways flight to Los Angeles. On arrival we transfer to the Hyatt Regency LAX.
Overnight – Los Angeles
Day 2 & 3
Los Angeles – San Diego
This morning, enjoy a brief tour of three icons of popular culture – Hollywood, Sunset Boulevard and TCL Chinese Theatre (formerly Grauman’s), where the handprints of the stars are famously immortalised, before travelling south to San Diego. On arrival, we check in to our hotel, the Sheraton Hotel and Marina. This afternoon, a tour introduces this attractive harbour city. The evening and tomorrow are at leisure to make your own explorations and sample San Diego’s superb restaurants.
Overnight – San Diego
Day 4
San Diego – Scottsdale
We travel from California to Arizona by way of cactus-studded landscapes reminiscent of countless westerns and a stop at Palm Springs, the fashionable desert resort town whose former residents include Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe. We continue to Scottsdale in the afternoon. At our hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn, a welcome drink awaits.
Overnight – Scottsdale
Day 5
Scottsdale – Sedona – Oak Creek Canyon – Flagstaff
We travel to the charming artist colony of Sedona and breathtaking Oak Creek Canyon en route to Flagstaff. We stay two nights at the superb Little America Hotel (4T), allowing us plenty of time to explore the area and experience the Grand Canyon
Overnight – Flagstaff
Day 6
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is one of the most awe-inspiring natural sights the world has to offer. This geological wonder is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide and one mile deep; a huge expanse of richly-coloured rock enclosing the silvery Colorado River far below. We visit today and perhaps enjoy a pre-bookable optional flight for even more stunning views of the canyon.
Overnight – Grand Canyon
Day 7 & 8
Flagstaff – Las Vegas
Following a brief visit to the historic train depot at Williams, we proceed to Las Vegas, America’s entertainment capital. By turns chic, glamorous and awe-inspiring, brash, excessive and outrageous, Las Vegas is certainly never boring. You don’t need to be a high roller or slots wizard to enjoy this shimmering neon mirage in the heart of the forbidding Mojave Desert – there are shows that dazzle, from the famous Cirque du Soleil and the Beatles-inspired ‘Love’ to the regular open-air spectacles, as each iconic hotel along the famous Strip tries to outdo the next in the extravagance of their performances. Some of the world’s best restaurants may be found here, along with a vibrant nightlife, relaxing spa centres, immaculate golf courses and quirky museums. Our chosen hotel is the Tropicana, located on the Las Vegas Strip – perfect for discovering an extraordinary, unique city which somehow manages to live up and down to its various reputations simultaneously and in enthralling style. Included for those who wish, is a short morning excursion to the Hoover Dam – a spectacular engineering achievement built in the 1930s. This huge dam is an awesome sight and its construction created Lake Mead, which is 100 miles long and 500 feet deep.
Overnight – Las Vegas
Day 9
Calico – Visalia
We cross the Mojave Desert en route to Calico, a once-thriving centre of silver mining, now an enjoyable reminder of the days when cowboys roamed its streets. Visalia is our destination, where we stay at the Holiday Inn.
Overnight – Visalia
Day 10
Yosemite National Park
One of the world’s great natural sanctuaries is Yosemite National Park, in the Sierra Nevada. With its craggy mountains, postcard-perfect lakes and verdant forests of dogwood, sugar pine and white fir, Yosemite is endlessly photogenic – the reason why it so appealed to the great photographer and environmentalist Ansel Adams. Adams visited Yosemite for more than 50 consecutive years, recording luminously beautiful photographs of the park’s dramatic landscapes, many of which have become instantly recognisable icons of the American wilderness. After a memorable day, we continue west to our hotel, the DoubleTree Modesto.
Overnight – Yosemite National Park
Day 11 – 12
San Francisco
Tony Bennett left his heart in San Francisco as many others have before and since. A sightseeing tour presents an orientation of this most cosmopolitan, liberal and attractive American city, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Union Square and vibrant Chinatown. We stay for two nights. The following day at leisure offers opportunities for relaxation or further exploration – perhaps a boat trip to notorious Alcatraz Island, where visitors may explore the remnants of the federal prison, learn about its famous inmates, discover the story behind the Native American occupation of 1969-71, or take a walk around the quaint district of Haight-Ashbury, so beloved of ‘hippies’, artists, writers and musicians, which became the crucible of ‘counterculture’ in the 1960s. Our hotel is the Hyatt Regency or Holiday Inn Golden Gateway.
Overnight – San Francisco
Day 13
Monterey – 17 Mile Drive – Carmel – Cambria
We travel south to Monterey, the old Spanish and Mexican capital of upper California, then proceed along the famous 17 Mile Drive, one of the loveliest coastal routes in the world. After lunch in the delightful town of Carmel, we continue south to Cambria by way of the curving Big Sur coastline, inspiration for Jack Kerouac’s autobiographical novel, where the dramatic Pacific breakers crash against the rocky shoreline. Our hotel for the night is the Cambria Pines Lodge.
Overnight – Cambria
Day 14
Santa Barbara – Huntington Beach
Santa Barbara, a town favoured by artists, with an appealing harbour promenade and palm-fringed streets, makes a memorable lunch stop en route from Cambria to Huntington Beach. Our hotel is the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort, where we stay in seaview rooms. This seaside city in California’s Orange County is known for it long stretch of sandy beach and beach culture.
Overnight – Huntington Beach
Day 15
Huntington Beach – Los Angeles – London
We travel on to Los Angeles Airport for a direct, scheduled, overnight Virgin Atlantic or British Airways flight to London.
Day 16
London
Arrival at London Heathrow Airport where you will be met and guided to your Titan vehicle, for the journey home.
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