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“Best of the West self drive tour- May 2013”

written by on 13/05/2013

First the bad bits- car hire firm, Dollar, were very inefficient, it took nearly 2 hours to get car after arriving in their office, this is unacceptable, I will never use a tour involving Dollar again.
Quality of hotels was varied, Hacienda in LA was dingy & on main road near airport, but there is a great beach approx 1 mile.
The Curve at Palm Springs is undergoing an update, rooms poor but nice pool area.
Holiday Inn Express at Scottsdale- excellent room, we were given a suite, free bus to town centre & free beer/ wine in 'happy hour' 5 till 7. Scottsdale has attractive centre with western theme.
Holiday Inn Express at Grand Canyon, usual HI standard, breakfast crowded.
Excalibur @ Las Vegas- dingy interior, stay further up the strip.
Stovepipe Wells @ Death Valley- basic but comfortable oasis, with good swimming pool in the middle of the desert.
Chuckchansi Gold resort @ Yosemite- Vegas style casino is comfortable but better to stay in town nearby, actually 20 miles south of the park.
Holiday Inn, Golden Gate, San Francisco- usual HI standard but currently under improvement.
Travel lodge Monterey, basic accommodation next to gas station, also currently under improvement.
Crowne Plaza Ventura- very comfortable, but I did blag an upgrade to a suite, on beach but quite along way from town & restaurants.
General comment is that all hotels were not central and so there was some effort to find decent places to eat and most restaurants close early by European standards. Returning to LA for last night was a bit of a waste, would have preferred to go to LA airport from Ventura as check in was 14:30, then have extra night somewhere else. Overall the tour was a little rushed, we covered 2500 miles in 13 days. This was our first holiday in USA and it is BIG. Even so we saw many amazing sights, flew over the Grand Canyon, visited Alcatraz etc.