Tour Overview
| Duration | 7 Days / 6 Nights |
|---|---|
| Country | United States — California |
| Route | Los Angeles → Santa Barbara → Yosemite NP → Death Valley NP → Las Vegas |
| Tour Type | Group Tour — Budget Adventure (camping/glamping, small group max 13, all camping gear provided) |
| Best Season | March–May, September–November (avoid Death Valley in summer — 49°C+ is dangerous) |
| Price | From US$879 per person (budget camping, twin share, includes transport, camping equipment, guide, and park fees) — great value for budget adventurers |
Data source: TourRadar — G Adventures — “California Dreaming: Yosemite, Death Valley & Coastal Camping.” 7 days, $879 (20% off $1,099). Budget-friendly California adventure covering three iconic landscapes.
Day 1: Los Angeles to Santa Barbara — The American Riviera
- Depart Los Angeles, drive the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara sits between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific, with Spanish Colonial Revival architecture (white stucco, red-tile roofs, wrought iron) mandated by law since 1925. Visit the Old Mission Santa Barbara (1786) — the “Queen of the Missions,” with its distinctive twin bell towers and beautiful gardens. Walk Stearns Wharf (California’s oldest working wooden wharf, 1872) and the beachfront
- Continue to the Central Coast for camping — the sounds of the Pacific to lull you to sleep
Camp near San Luis Obispo or Morro Bay.
Day 2-3: Yosemite National Park
- Day 2: Drive through California’s agricultural heartland to Yosemite. Afternoon in the valley — Tunnel View (the iconic postcard view), Bridalveil Fall, El Capitan Meadow (watch climbers on the 900m granite face). Short hike to Lower Yosemite Fall
- Day 3: Full day hiking — Mist Trail to Vernal Fall, Yosemite Falls trail, or Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias. Optional bike rental to explore the valley floor car-free. Evening campfire with s’mores
Camp in Yosemite area (2 nights).
Day 4-5: Death Valley — The Hottest Place on Earth
- Day 4: Drive east, descending from the High Sierra (3,000m+) to below sea level. Enter Death Valley National Park — the hottest, driest, and lowest national park in the United States. The world’s highest reliably recorded air temperature (56.7°C/134°F) was measured here at Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913
- Badwater Basin — at 86m (282 feet) below sea level, it’s the lowest point in North America. The salt flats stretch for nearly 322km, a vast white expanse that looks like snow but is pure salt. The sign on the cliff marking sea level seems impossibly high. In summer, you can see heat mirages shimmering across the basin — the air temperature can exceed 49°C
- Zabriskie Point — the most photographed spot in Death Valley. The golden, eroded badlands — ancient lake bed deposits folded and twisted by geological forces — create a landscape of surreal beauty, especially at sunrise and sunset when the colors shift from pale yellow to deep gold to purple. The view was immortalized in Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1970 film “Zabriskie Point”
- Artist’s Palette — a 14.5km one-way road through a landscape painted in green (from decomposing mica), purple, pink, and gold (iron oxides and other minerals), looking like a giant’s paint box spilled across the hills. The colors are most vivid in late afternoon light
- Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes — rising dunes of fine sand near Stovepipe Wells. The dunes shift and reform with the wind, creating an ever-changing landscape. Walk among them at sunset for the most dramatic shadows and the most comfortable temperatures. Star Wars (Tatooine) was filmed in Death Valley — the desert planet landscape needs no CGI
- Day 5: Dante’s View at sunrise — from 1,669m (5,475 feet) above the valley floor, the view encompasses the entire Panamint Range to the west and the salt flats of Badwater stretching far below. The temperature difference between the viewpoint and the valley floor can be 20°C+
- Afternoon exploration of Devil’s Golf Course — a vast salt pan with jagged crystalline formations. The salt crystals expand and contract with temperature changes, creating a crackling, popping sound in the silence of the desert. “Only the devil could play golf on such rough links” — the 1934 guidebook said it best
Camp in Death Valley (2 nights).
Day 6: Death Valley to Las Vegas
- Final Death Valley sunrise at Zabriskie Point, then drive east to Las Vegas. Afternoon at leisure to explore the Strip — see the Bellagio’s dancing fountains, the Venetian’s Grand Canal, the volcano at the Mirage. The sensory assault of Las Vegas after days in the desert and mountains is intentional and surreal — a neon oasis in the Mojave Desert
- Farewell dinner — from camp food to a celebratory meal on the Strip, reflecting on a journey from California’s Pacific Coast through Sierra Nevada granite to the lowest, hottest place in America
Overnight at hotel in Las Vegas.
Day 7: Departure
- Transfer to Harry Reid International Airport (LAS). California coast, Sierra Nevada, Death Valley — three iconic American landscapes in one unforgettable week.
Tour ends. Airport transfer included.
