The Very Best of California and the Canyonlands

AN EXCLUSIVE 23 DAY FULLY ESCORTED TOUR - PRICES START FROM £4,495

On this tour you experience the wild extremes that make the U.S. so extraordinary First, you come into contact with the surreal glitz and glamour of Las Vegas – you have to be there to believe it! Then in total contrast, the unspoilt natural splendour of the Golden West. Then come to the awe-inspiring vistas of the Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks.

Lake Powell, second largest man-made lake in the United States The glorious 17 Mile Drive scenic drive along the stunning Californian coastline, before you pause to visit the spellbinding Yosemite National Parks – and then San Francisco.

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS

• Visit the world famous Casinos of Las Vegas

• Full day to explore Zion National Park

• Visit Bryce Canyon

• Dinner cruise on Lake Powell

• Visit Grand Canyon National Park

• Montezuma Castle National Monument

• Hollywood Boulevard and the ‘Walk of Fame’

• Scenic ‘Pacific Coast’ highway

• Full day to explore Yosemite National Park

• Farewell Dinner Cruise around San Francisco Bay

PRE-BOOKABLE HOLIDAY EXCURSIONS FROM £16 PER PERSON

Alcatraz

There’s more to Alcatraz than the prison where Al "Scarface" Capone was incarcerated. This lonely island in San Francisco Bay is home to rare flowers and plants, marine wildlife, thousands of roosting and nesting sea birds … and a host of stories.

Prices from £16 per person

Cowboy Dinner at Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse

What started as a weekend cookout in a local store has grown into the world's largest western steakhouse. The restaurant is renowned for its delicious mesquite broiled steaks, casual western atmosphere, and its "NO NECKTIE POLICY." Come and Enjoy!

Prices from £31 per person

Helicopter Rides

America is vast, with a huge variety of scenery – and there’s no more glorious way to see and appreciate it all than by helicopter. So we’ve arranged for you to take them if you wish in Las Vegas, Grand Canyon and San Francisco,

Prices from £117 per person

Lake Powell Monument Valley Air/Ground scenic tour

If you love Westerns, you’ll love this adventure. First there’s an Air Tour, soaring over Lake Powell, Rainbow Bridge and the vast expanses of the Grand Canyon and the Navajo Indian Reservation. Then you land in Monument Valley - you’ll recognise the towering red and orange sandstone buttes from countless movies. There you board your 4X4 vehicle and take a guided tour through this extraordinary landscape.

Prices from £193 per person

EXTEND YOUR HOLIDAY 3 NIGHTS FROM £985 PER PERSON

New York

3 nights - Waldorf Astoria

• San Francisco to New York flight.
• Return transfers.
• 3 nights Deluxe Room at Waldorf
Astoria with daily breakfast.
What is the perfect contrast with California and the canyons? New York, New York! And where should you stay? Why, at the Waldorf Astoria – where else? Your air conditioned limo picks you up - and takes you back. Spend three days millionaire style!

Prices from £995 per person

California Wine Country

3 nights - Napa Valley Marrio

• Return transfers.
• 3 nights at Napa Valley Marriott
Hotel & Spa with daily breakfast.
• Private wine country day tour including three winery visits with tastings and lunch at a local restaurant.

Did you miss something in California? The wine country, perhaps? It’s the ideal counterpoint to your adventures. A limo picks you up and takes you back from the Napa Valley Marriott; there’s a private tour of three wineries and lunch at an excellent restaurant. Perfect!

Prices from £985 per person

Honolulu

5 nights - Hyatt Regency Waikiki
1 night - The Palace San Francisco

• Return flights and transfers.
• 5 nights Ocean View Room at Hyatt Regency Waikiki with daily breakfast.
• Full day Pearl Harbour and North Shore of Oahu tour.
• 1 night The Palace, San Francisco.

Now you’ve done California, where can you possibly go, if not Honolulu? Let us
whisk you there to stay at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, see those fabulous volcanoes,
surfers’ beaches – and historic Pearl Harbour, then take you back to Heathrow.

Prices from £1,495 per person

Day 1 Departure from London Gatwick

Here you meet your Tour Manager and companions whilst enjoying complimentary drinks and snacks in the executive lounge. Before your Western adventure begins with a Virgin Atlantic scheduled flight from Gatwick.

Meals: Inflight
Hotel: Bellagio

Day 2 Las Vegas

You need a full day to take in things here. Join in the fun at the Bellagio, people watch on neon-lit Las Vegas Strip with its casinos, or take an optional helicopter ride. This evening why not watch the magical Bellagio fountains?

Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Bellagio

Day 3 Las Vegas to Zion

This morning you leave for Zion National Park with its soaring sandstone towers – strange geologic formations, carved out by streams over millennia. There’s plenty of time to explore. You stay for the next two nights at the nearby lodge.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: Majestic View Lodge

Day 4 Zion

Wake this morning to Zion’s unspoilt beauty. The day is yours to spend as you please. Why not take the path to the Emerald Pools with its small waterfall? Another easy hike takes you to the Court of the Patriarchs where you can view the huge sandstone outcrops it is named after.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: Majestic View Lodge

Day 5 Zion to Lake Powell

Following breakfast you visit Bryce Canyon, to marvel at the strangely shaped formations in shades of pink, orange and red they call “hoodoos”. Next come Page and Lake Powell, formed when the Glen Canyon Dam was built, transforming the mighty Colorado River into one of the largest man made bodies of water ever.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: Lake Powell Resort

Day 6 Lake Powell

A morning is at leisure – we recommend an optional “flight-seeing” excursion from Page over Monument Valley’s stark desert landscapes. Later, there’s a dinner cruise on Lake Powell, watching the dramatic colour changes of the sandstone plateaus.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: Lake Powell Resort

Day 7 Lake Powell to Grand Canyon National Park

Today’s journey takes us to one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Here you will be staying in one of our 3 lodges within the National Park.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: Kachina Lodge, Thunderbird Lodge or Maswick North

Day 8 Grand Canyon National Park to Scottsdale

Sunrise at the canyon is a sight to behold before we wend our way to the Montezuma Castle National Monument, with Indian cliff dwellings abandoned since around 1425 AD. Next stop is Scottsdale, with two nights stay.

Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Fairmont Scottsdale

Day 9 Scottsdale

Scottsdale – called “a desert version of Miami's South Beach” – nestles in the foothills of splendid mountain ranges. Explore, or spend the day enjoying your hotel’s Spanish Colonial ambiance.

Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Fairmont Scottsdale

Day 10 San Diego

Today, is real western movie scenery in Yuma Valley with its giant saguaro cacti, before you cross the Colorado River en route to San Diego.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: US Grant

Day 11 San Diego

Spend today as you please. For shopping and eating, try the Gaslamp Quarter and Horton Plaza. The Zoo is absolutely superb.

Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: US Grant

Day 12 San Diego to Los Angeles

This morning it’s north via the old Spanish mission of San Juan Capistrano where you can visit the mission house (for a small additional charge). Later comes Long Beach,
home of the Queen Mary, and on via Santa Monica with its wonderful beaches for two nights.

Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: InterContinental Century City

Day 13 Los Angeles

This morning we show you the sights. There’s Beverly Hills, home to the rich and famous, and Hollywood Boulevard. The 'Walk of Fame' has over 3,800 stars’ foot and hand prints.

Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: InterContinental Century City

Day 14 Los Angeles to Shell Beach

You can see why people fall in love with California as you travel past bays and beaches to Santa Barbara – the “American Riviera”, with its backdrop of mountains and mix of Mediterranean, Spanish Colonial, Monterey, Moorish, and Islamic styles.
Stroll around before going to Pismo where you stay overnight on Shell Beach with its fabulous Pacific views.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: Cliffs Resort

Day 15 Shell Beach to Monterey

The names alone spell romance! You pass San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay
to San Simeon for a tour of Hearst Castle, one of the largest 'house museums' in America, once the extravagant estate of publisher William Randolph Hearst. After
lunch, yet more breathtaking views along Pacific Coast Highway 1, where the road weaves its way beside the ocean past Big Sur till you reach your hotel for the next two nights.

Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Marriott

Day 16 Monterey

This is the climax of your coastal trip – the famous 17 Mile Drive. You’ll find numerous photographic and wildlife viewpoints during the day. The most famous is at Cypress Point with the Lone Cypress, possibly the most photographed tree in the  world. Stroll round the artists’ colony at Carmel by the Sea before returning to Monterey.

Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Marriott

Day 17 Monterey to Yosemite

Today you visit one of the first wilderness parks in the U.S. – Yosemite, with its waterfalls, deep valleys, meadows and giant sequoias. At Mariposa Grove you see Grizzly Giant - a 2,700 year old giant sequoia so tall it has been struck numerous
times by lightning.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: Tenaya Lodge

Day 18 Yosemite

You have a full day to explore Yosemite National Park. Nowhere else in the world are there so many major waterfalls. At Yosemite Falls a short trail leads to the highest in the park. From a bridge you can watch the falls cascade some 2,425 ft over three
stages. There’s time to meander or look round the Visitor's Centre before you return to the Lodge.

Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: Tenaya Lodge.

Day 19 Yosemite to San Francisco

After a leisurely breakfast we make our way to the final destination of our tour,
the Golden Gate city of San Francisco.

Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: The Palace

Day 20 San Francisco

This morning we show you round San Francisco. Remember those scenes from the movies? Telegraph Hill, the Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown, the incredible view from Twin Peaks, Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf with views of Alcatraz – they’re all here. This afternoon you’re free. Trolley car ride maybe?

Meals: Breakfast
Hotel: The Palace

Day 21 San Francisco

On this last day, enjoy the city. Maybe take a trip across the bay to Alcatraz – or perhaps a little last-minute shopping. This evening there’s a farewell dinner cruise round San Francisco Bay.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Hotel: The Palace

Day 22 San Francisco

Say a fond farewell to a beautiful city as you leave for your Virgin Atlantic flight to Heathrow.

Meals: Breakfast, Inflight

Day 23 Arrival into London Heathrow

You’re scheduled to arrive at Heathrow in the morning. The end of your adventure – and time for farewells to your travelling companions.

Meals: Inflight

Destination introduction

There are many different Americas, but none of them beats California. It’s sunny, crazy, friendly, exotic – with the most spectacular coastline. And just a drive away from the razzle-dazzle of Las Vegas, then – in vivid contrast – the glorious National Parks. This is one experience you owe yourself.

Did You Know? Castroville is known as the Artichoke Capital of the World. In 1947 a young woman named Norma Jean was crowned Castroville's first Artichoke Queen. She went on to become actress Marilyn Monroe.