How much time do you want to spend there? Niagara Falls would only take a day or two to see it all.
New York- well you could spend a lot of time there....
Alaska- what time of year are you traveling? It's a very short summer tourist season there unless you are into snow..:
Might be better to concentrate on NY and Niagara rather than flit from coast to coast?

What about combining Toronto and New York and stopping off in Niagra for a night in between. We found one full day in Niagra plenty.

Toronto is a fantastic city and i would definitly consider stopping their. I would fly into Toronto stay 5 nights and either do a day trip from Toronto over to niagra (easily done in a day) then fly down to New York.

Or if you fancied a fly drive fly into Toronto stay 5 nights then drive to New York via Niagra!

Good luck with the planning!
James

The time of year you are planning to travel could have a big impact on what is best to do when. Combining Alaska with New York or Niagra would be awkward whenever you went.

Thanks for replies
His birthday is February 19th so somewhere around the 16th would be ideal.
Not to bothered about Toronto but Niagra for a day would be good then New york.

What are your thoughts on Vegas, San Fran and L/A?

I know he would love Alaska, but Feb is a bit cold!!

Would even consider Nashville Memphis etc, really am open to any suggestions.

all help needed thanks Liz.

Hi,
I spent a lot of time in California when I was a student, and for my 40th my husband planned a trip back for me. We flew to SF and it really is my favourite city on the planet. We then drove down to Montery and Carmel - amazing we spent a night in each. The coastline is so beautiful - places like Big Sur and 7 mile drive just take your breath away. I always wanted to see Hearst Castle and it blew me away - my husband was a bit " yea, if you want to ...." and he and my 9 year old son were just amazed. We then drove on down to Santa Barbara and had lunch on the old pier in a place called Longboards Grill - chilled wine, ceaser salad, while you look out on the ocean. Santa Barbara is a lovely old town and well worth spending a little time in. On the way down the Pacific Coast Highway you can view the beautiful California valleys, the "salad bowl"of America for all the fruit and veg grown there, and the California vineyards. You can end your journey in LA. Not my favourite of cities, but if you've not been there is a wealth of things to see and do - Hollywood, Universal Studios, Malibu..... The weather at any time of the year is better in California than the East Coast. A two centre fly drive would be ideal - fly into SF and fly out of LA. By the way, the driving is really a doddle. Have a "google" of all these fab places before you make up your mind. Whatever you do, enjoy!

Well New York would be fine in February- but Niagara Falls- the Maid of the Mist doesn't start running until late Spring- to me that was the highlight of the visit- might be better to look at warmer areas at that time of year.
Alaska is a continent away and not do-able in February.
Nashville and Memphis- the weather should be just about warm enough but unless you are a big Country Music or Elvis fan there's not enough there to keep you interested for a vacation- I would have said a day or two to see it.

I would also say come to California but I am biased.

Thanks you Guys

Keep em coming California is looking good!!

Have always fancies San Fran would love to see Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge, quite fancy Fishermans Wharf area.

Do you think package or travel agent to book 3 centre?

Would like San Fran/Vegas and was thinking of a chill out couple of days afterwards any ideas?

We would only have 2 weeks so how would you split up the time?

Thanks again Liz.

I would price up both a package and doing it DIY as sometimes a package can work out cheaper and other times not.

Have a look at http://www.unitedvacations.co.uk as I'm sure they do free internal flights.

When we did LA/LV/SF many years ago we went with Jetsave and had no complaints.

luci

Liz

Have a think about Hawaii, San Francisco, Vegas.

It's doable even for 2 weeks, you could split the nights up, 5-4-4 or which ever you choose.

As Luci has mentioned United Vacations do a package with the three destinations combined.

You do not have to do Hawaii, you could do any of the Hawaiian islands.

We have visited the Hawaiian twice, and can highly recommend a visit.

Should you decide on the above, I would do San Francisco, Hawaii, then Vegas, or at least do the Hawaiian trip in between the other two destinations, that way, it breaks up the outward and return to and from the UK.

LA is much more spread out, where as SF is more tourist friendly for getting around.

Whilst there are far to many tourist attractions to mention at this stage, one I will mention, if you are fit you can take a walk the length of http://Golden Gate Bridge, or cycle across hiring a cycle from Fisherman's Wharf.

Driver02

Hi Liz

We are just trying to plan our holiday for next year, we want New york for 2-3 nights, then florida/ St petes beach for 10 nights or so.
I have been looking to do internel flights, If i book a DIY to Florida for 14 nights flights, car and villa, half way through we could fly from MCO to New york for 2 nights for £495 extra ( this is for flights only for 4 adults), or fly to New York first then down to Florida for 10 nights.

I am looking for a travel company who would do this but havnt come accross one yet.
If i were you i would do Toronto via Niagra then New york like James said.
It sounds lovely.
Good look and keep us posted.
Ali

Thanks everyone

Lucie
Just checked out jetsave, thanks for info on that it looks ideal, and the prices are inclusive of flights! The prices are really good, not much on there for 2009 yet but have saved the site to my favourites to keep having a peek.
Does anyone else know of any more sites like jetsaVE?
Think because it is Feb I am swaying towards San Fran, Vegas and LA/Hawwaii not really sure on going to LA as we have done Disney/Universal Studios can't see there being a lot to do for us there.
But I am sure there is someone out there who can advise.
Cheers Liz,

Liz.

Hi Liz Mc, ,me again. Just reading through the recommendations. I've been to Hawaii about three or four times, though just Oahu, the main island. It would be a great place for a week or so. Kuoni do some great 3 centre packages e.g SF for perhaps 3 days, fly to Hawaii for a week and then back to somewhere like Vegas for the remainder of the holdiay. The hotels they suggest are excellent - in SF I would recommed the Holiday Inn right next to the Transamerica Building - its a great location for North Beach, Fishermans Wharf, Chinatown etc. - very central and a nice hotel. In Honolulu, we stayed at the Pacific Beach and the Princess Kaiulani, both excellent, though the Princess is right on Waikiki Beach and has a lovely cocktail bar where you can sit and listen to the ocean. Even if you dont stay there, you can walk along the beach and drop in for a drink.
All of these hotels are in the Kuoni brochure. The flight / hotel package is good value if you want nice hotels, schelduled flights and dont want the bother of having to arrange things yourself.
Good luck.

Hi Liz, me and my hubby did a 3 centre last may, we both celebrated our 40th birdays last June..We did 3 nights in Vegas, stayed at The Mirage...FAB! loved every minute..Then we flew to Hawaii for 7 nights, stayed at the Hilton in Oahu...FAB..Then we flew to San Fran, stayed in the Holiday Inn..again it was very close to everything..We went with Virgin for this holiday and have to say loved the whole experience!!
Good luck in what you choose...
Tracey..

Thanks again Guys!

Tracy that sounds perfect, would you mind giving me a run down on costs and what you did in each destination please?

Was the Hawaii hotel A/Inclusive?

Where about did you stay in the resorts you mentioned? Did you book online?

Mary Mary you sound like you had a fab time, what daytrips did you do etc?

I quite like the idea of the beach in the middle of the holiday, thanks again.

Liz.

Hi, me again!
We hired a car each time and travelled around the island. We went to Haunauma Bay and enjoyed the snorkelling. We went to the North Shore, stopping along the way at numerous beautiful beaches where we just couldnt resist having a dip. Almost every day we just got in the car and headed out of Honolulu, usually towards the West and North of the island. We went to Pearl Harbour, and on one occasion went to a Laau at the Polynesian Cultural Centre. This is quite an expensive evening, the dancing / performances are excellent but the food is not so good. The whole thing is a little too fake for me but it obviously appeals to many.
Its very easy to drive around the island, and if you stick to the coastline you cannot go too far wrong. The beaches away from Honolulu ( apart from Haunauma Bay) are largely deserted. Honolulu is fairly lively at night time, and is very Americanised. You should eat at Dukes, and the Hard Rock Cafe in Honolulu is one of the nicest I have been to (dont usually recommend HRC's). Hope this helps

If you are still thinking of canada this is my report on our trip in 2006. We were 2 adults with a 14 year old daughter

All Hotels and Car hire were booked on line before we left. Our Local travel agent did the air tickets matching the best online offer I could find.
The plans for the trip came together with the flights booked with Air Canada arriving Toronto 30th August and leaving from Montreal 14th September. All the hotels were in walking distance of downtown.

We spent 6 nights in Toronto at The Holiday Inn Express on Lombard Street Total Price C$984 for a Huge room including buffet breakfast
Three nights at The Killarney Lodge in Algonquin Park. Total cost C$1626 for a log cabin, canoe and full board.
Two Nights in Ottawa at Best Western Victoria suites, O'Connor Street. Total cost C$298 for a Suite with 2 rooms (including a kitchen) including buffet breakfast.
Four nights in Montreal at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites, Blvd Rene-Levesque East. Total cost C$703 for a huge room with kitchen including buffet breakfast.
We picked up our Alamo rental car when we left Toronto to drive to Algoquin Park and dropped it off when we arrived in Montreal. Total Cost C$656 for 7 days

TORONTO.
Toronto Airport was a dream as there were no delays in getting into the country, surprisingly Canadian passport holders were not segregated so all the queues moved very quickly and we even felt welcomed by the officials (unlike the USA) The trip to our hotel was by Taxi (no queue ) Cost Can $46 gave C$55 incl tip.
Toronto is a great city and the shopping is almost as good as New York. Amongst the many things we enjoyed were The Eaton Centre Shopping (a few times!). Eating at The Hardrock cafe, China Town, and Baton Rouge. Visiting The CN Tower (glass floor, scary!!), The Bata Shoe Museum. The Distillery District was a huge disappointment, do not waste your time. The description hinted at a Covent Garden feel, the reality was more like a Convent.
We took a day out to Niagara falls using public transport. This was very simple to do and much cheaper and more fun than taking an organised tour. We had lunch at The Keg Steakhouse and the service was dreadful.
Niagara is a town of two halves. The falls are amazing and the trip on the Maid Of The Mist was even better than we could have imagined. The other side of Niagara Clifton Hill is very tatty in the extreme. What sort of tourists they feel they are catering for I can not imagine. With all respect to British seaside resorts it was like Blackpool GONE BAD.
We took a day out to Paramount Wonderland a huge amusement park. It is not as pretty as a Disney, however if you have a teenager or like scary rides this is a must visit. Again we used public transport, very efficient and good value.
During our time in Toronto we found a great fresh food store called Dominion. Great place for picking up snacks http://www.freshobsessed.com . They have a few outlets.

ALGONQUIN PARK.
Algonquin park http://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/service/ser_lodges.html is a gigantic state park 4 hour relaxed drive north of Toronto. We had a wonderful time. Killarney Lodge is a great place to stay. It is not cheap but provided a great experience. This was the great outdoors for Townies. Each cabin has its own canoe. And more than enough lakes to explore. The park itself has many trails for walking or biking from easy to hard, ideal for a mixed group. We walked and also rented bikes This gives you a real taste of Canada. We understand that during high summer there are quite a lot of mosquitoes

OTTAWA
It was a relaxed 4 hour drive to Ottawa. This is the capital city and is well worth a visit. Our Hotel was a 15 minute stroll to Parliament Hill. This was along Elgin which is a lively street with many restaurants and bars. We did a tour of the Parliament Building (you have to book and normally come back a couple of hours later for the tour) We also did a boat tour of the river. A great place to visit is Byward market. We had lunch there at Tuckers "amazing" highly recommended.
MONTREAL.
This was a relaxed 3 hour drive from Ottawa. On our first day we visited the Old Town and Port this was rather disappointing. We also visited Notre Dame Basilica, a rather strange experience as we had to buy a ticket to get in. What proved a great day out was the visit to the Jardin Botanique. WOW this was a great place. We were lucky with the weather. The experience may not be so good on a wet day. We also visited the Museum of fine Arts which was a worthwhile visit and co-in sided with a wet afternoon. Found a great place for fresh food and snacks IGA. They have a web site http://www.iga.net It was interesting to see that Montreal is not as rich as Toronto (all the money moved away during the independence troubles in the 70's) There are many beggars on and around St Catherine Street and a lot of evidence of homeless people. These latter facts may also to be to do with the attitude of the Police as there were no beggars to be seen on the "posh" Rue Sherbrooke. We ate worthy of mention at St Hubert, Rue Sainte Catherine, Les 3 Brasseurs in the latin quarter, Baton Rouge (again). Bocochina near "The Bay" all very good.
When we left the hotel for the airport the Taxi cost C$35 I gave C$40. The journey was 35 minutes in the rain.

The timing of our trip was dictated by School Holidays as our daughter starting her new term in mid September. We were Lucky that the Canadian School kids had gone back at the end of August. This time also appeared to fall between the Tourist big Summer season and the Autumn season when there are tens of thousands of visitors for the "colours of the trees". This meant we had a relaxed and queue free time during our trip. All the driving was done at a very relaxed pace keeping to the speed limits 95% of the time. All the journeys could have been made in a shorter time but we were on holiday.
Overall Canada proved to be a great place to visit and we all would recommend it. We will be going back. The food and shopping was great value. Tipping was the same as the USA. The people are absolutely wonderful, very, very friendly and helpful.
Very important to remember that most of the sales tax of about 5% is refundable by either making a claim on returning home or for a small fee we did ours on the last day at a booth in "The Bay" Department Store.
You should go to CANADA if you can.

Many thanks for posting your report

Pippy

Wow GFPLUX that sounds like a fantastic holiday!
Thanks very much for taking the time to itemise all your holiday experience.

As we are going in Feb time, taking into account the weather etc we are swayed towards San Fran, Hawaii and Las Vegas.But appreciate any trip reports of three centre holidays.
The other reason for not going to Toronto is my Husband has already been before, although he loved it and said he would return one day, I want to go somewhere we both haven't been for his 40th Birthday.

Cheers Liz.