G'day I've been browsing these forums for a few weeks now, and collected alot of useful information, and I have got a few questions for everyone. A mate and I (both 23 y.o) decided to head down to the US and Cancun, during Spring break (March 2010) Our current itinerary is NYC - 8 days (Mon. 28 Feb) CUN - 8 days (Mon. 8 Mar) MIA - 7 days (Tues 16 Mar) Vegas - 11 days (Sat. 23 Mar) LA - 3 days (3 April) Now we are hoping to gain the best experience in the US and Cancun during these times, so just have a few questions and looking for suggestions to improve our holidays. a) is the 8th March an ideal time to head down to Cancun, or should the trip be switched around with Miami. (16th March to 24th March) so Holiday will look like NYC>>MIA>>CUN>>LAS>>LA b) Is 8 days in Cancun enough? c) We Can't really decide what Hotel/resort to stay at and if we should go AI or not. I have read AI is useful as first timers, but is it alot more costly/complex if we go EP with a minibar and shopping at the mall for essentials e.g water AND alcohol. d) Any suggestions on which hotel/resorts we should stay at? currently looking at; Price in USD per night (for 2) Hotel Sotavento $50 - EP (real cheap) Bel Air - $75 - EP - (minibar) NH Krystal $100 - EP (minibar + nice resort, next to party zone.) Flamingo $85 - EP Flamingo AI was $130 a week ago, but now changed to $160 Dos Playas $130 - AI Hotetur - $120 - AI We are looking to spend most of our time at the beach and/or resort pool, clubs Coco Bongos, Daddy O and The City, might head down to Oasis Cancun, for a day. (don't think we will go to any jungle tours) And lastly, if anyone can recommend improvements to our itinerary or what/where we should visit whether in Cancun or in USA, would be greatly appreciated. cheers. 133 Days to GO.
February is a tough time to be in NYC. It's damn cold then. What do you plan to do there? Museums are warm and wonderful anytime of year in NYC. I am struck by your choice of US cities. Why did you chose them? Do you know people there? You are pretty much going to miss the most beautiful places in the US with your choices. No National Parks? Going to the US and missing Moab, Utah should be a crime imho. And I'm a little embarrassed that a foreigner would go to the US and make a priority out of Las Vegas and Miami, but would miss the Grand Canyon, or Yosemite, or Seattle, or Acadia National Park or Boston or pretty much anywhere in Colorado. Anytime is fine in Cancun...that's the great thing about tropical weather.
In my humble opinion, 11 days in Las Vegas is too much. 5 days is much more adequate. I would subtract the number of days in Vegas and add them to Cancun. There are a lot more things to do in Cancun than in Vegas.
I agree with Carlosjm. 11 days in Vegas is way too many. I think that three (3) full days is more than enough. I would spend more time in Cancun or stop in other US cities, Chicago, Boston etc. 3 days in each would be sufficient just so you get a taste of the city. Go Chelsea.
First Vegas for 11 nights is way too long. 3-4 nights are the best. Spring break is around the middle of March so you may want to extend your Cancun stay a few days, extend Miami a few days and the rest in LA. NYC is cold in February. You never know what you will get. LA can be a bit chilly at night but otherwise ok. Vegas is cool during the day and chilly at night. Cancun is wonderful and Miami could be great or cool. That is the one city where you never know what you will get, though most likely it will be warm to hot. The other option is do LA and Vegas first then Cancun and Miami and finally NYC last since it will be a bit warmer near the end of March compared to February early March. Plus you will get the option of Cancun in full spring break.
Thanks for the replies. We initially were only going for a couple of weeks to the US, then decided to add Cancun and extend our stay. At the moment the only day tours we decided, would be Niagara Falls Grand canyon/south rim Key West We will be also grabbing on of the NYC day pass's, which will include admission into a few museums. We have not gone into that much detail as of yet. Boston does seem like an good idea, close to NYC, we could travel there for a few days prior to arriving in Cancun. I might actually look into Yosmite, and/or Moab, we are looking at the most efficient way to travel to cut down on costs, would one night in Yosmite be efficient? Any further advice on 'what to do' / 'must see' in the US or Cancun would be appreciated. So far the new itinerary looks like New York City - 8 days Boston - 3 days Cancun - 11 days South Beach Miami - 7 days (this week lies on UMF weekend) Las Vegas - 7 days Los Angeles - 2 days I do have some family in Vegas, I don't think they will like it if I cut down the Vegas trip any shorter then a week.
Key West will be nice in Feb, that's a good choice. It's a long drive from Miami for just one day imho. You might want to stay a night there. Niagra Falls is pretty far from NYC, and driving across upstate NY state in Feb could mean bad road conditions. It will probably be deserted then too, you might check with some local businesses there to make sure stuff is open, some restaurants there are closed in the low season. Boston and NYC are so interesting that weather doesn't have to be much of a factor. There's tons to do in both places. Moab is pretty far from a major airport, and February would be a pretty tough time to be there, I think. Moab is a late spring or early fall place to go. It's an oven in the summer and deserted and cold in winter. But the land there is always spectacular. If you go be sure to go to Arches National Park and also to Canyonlands National Park. I went backpacking for two weeks there once and it was just magical. The Grand Canyon is amazing. I was there in mid-June and it snowed on us, which I wasn't expecting. Along the south rim is high desert, so weather changes fast and it gets cold at night, even in summer. The US is a big, diverse country. So is Mexico, for that matter. There are a ton of great places to visit in both countries.
You are looking to do too much in too short of a time since I do not think you know the distances between the locations you are speaking of. Niagra Falls is about 7 hours from NYC each way on a summer day. During the winter that area is heavily covered with snow(couple of feet is normal). So driving could be as much as 9 plus hours each way. Grand Canyon section near Las Vegas is closed in the winter. Arizona side is open but not much to see and ride to Arizona side is about 5 hours each way if not more. Key west is a good 2-3 hours each way from Miami. You cannot possibly see much in NYC with a day pass of any kind. And I do not think they have any sort of day passes around. Maybe day tours but no passes. Boston is a good 4 plus hour drive each way from NYC and again it takes more then a day to see Boston. Moab is totally out of your way. Yosemite is about 4 hours north of LA and 3 hours plus from San Francisco. Again out of your way and you will not see much at the time of your trip. I think you are forgetting that other then Miami and Cancun the rest of your trip is basically in the winter, possible snow storms to slow you down and heavily disrupt your travel plans. I think you need to realistically redo your agenda to fit with the enviroment you are about to come into. Then worry about what to see once you made those adjustments. By the way family or not, 7 nights in Vegas is still way too long and you will scream to get out after 3 nights there.
This is an interesting read and you have a lot of varied opinions. I agree to cut down on Vegas but not sure I would add the extra days to Cancun. When Rivergirl asked why you chose your destinations, the obvious answer to me was that you select the most popular tourist destinations in the US, with the noticable exclusion of Orlando, which is where I would add the days you are eliminating from Vegas. But 38 days is a lot of time and I have been to everywhere on your original list, plus I have a home in Orlando. First, you can fly pretty cheap between Vegas and LA. Also between Fort Lauderdale, FL (airport code FLL) and Orlando. You can take cheap shuttles between Miami and Fort Lauderdale and the savings on airfare is dramatic. Check Spirit and Jetblue. That said, I would do 10 days in Cancun with a Friday arrival. That way you get two weekends although we rock through the week as well. There will be time to take some day trips as well as hang on the beach. The Krystal has a nice pool area and you can walk to The City, Coco Bongo and DadyO's in only minutes. I would limit Vegas to 4 days maximum and add more days to LA, depending on what you want to do there. There are tons of theme parks, and it is a serious party area. But Orlando is a similar tourist destination, a big city but nowhere near LA big so is less time consuming getting around. I used to spend a month each summer in LA on business and absolutely love it. I <3 NY and have been there more times than I can count. I am a theater junkie and have had great success with hotels on Priceline but it helps to know where you want to stay. I select the 4 star option in Midtown West and go from there. But this is the Theater District / Times Square / Central Park (close) / Rockefeller Center (technically Midtown East but just across Broadway from Midtown West). Point being you can walk to tons of popular destinations plus the subway system is great. You have to avoid certain places late night and certain places all together but overall I would go most anyplace during the day and most places at night. I think 5-7 days in NYC would be ideal, for me anyway. Boston does nothing for me compared to the other potential destinations. Key West, as it was pointed out, is really a hike from Miami, mostly on 2 lane roads where a traffic incident can cause significant delay. With all due respect to gabesz, no way you can make it from Miami to KW in 2-3 hours by car or bus. 4 is more realistic. There are flights but on incredibly small aircraft and it's hard to find bargains. And the beaches there are only so-so. Get off Duval Street and there is pretty much nothing happening, IMHO. I am trying to figure how I would personally allocate 38 days. Here goes: NYC - 7 days MIA - 5 days MCO (Orlando) - 4 days CUN - 10 days LA - 7 days Vegas - 5 days I would go in this order as I think it would afford the least expensive airline ticket prices. I know it defeats my two weekends in Cancun however. Sorry about that. Feel free to PM me if you want to ramble with some questions, ideas, etc. Cheers,
