USA in 3 weeks.

Hi Everyone!
A Friend and I are travelling to the States in August this year. We are planning to travel for 3 weeks (however I'm trying to push for 4 weeks!). I would really appreciate any advice you can give, as this is my first time going to the States and I really want to try and fit a lot in. However I would like to be realistic about the time we have and how we use it!

The places we want to visit are:
Chicargo (3 nights)
New York (5 nights - including Niagara Falls)
Washington DC (1 night or a day trip)
Miami (3 nights - including disneyworld)

Then drive the West Coast from Seattle or Vancovour (As we have a friend there) down to LA and of course stopping of at Vegas! About 7 nights to do this length of the trip.

My question really is what does everyone think of the plan and are we spending enough time at each place or are we over doing it ???

Help Please

You won't see much of the West Coast in seven days, just a lot of highway.

Take your time down the scenic coast and if you really want to see Las Vegas recommend you catch a short flight (less than one hour) from any LA area airport to LV for a day trip. You really won't need more than 24 hours there in most cases.

Southwest Airlines has numerous hops over to LV. It will save you about 10 hours driving time, more on a Friday night or Sunday afternoon when the Californians hit the highway for the weekend.

Great! Thanks for the tip!

Do you think 5 nights enough time for NY?

Is there anything you would definitly recommend doing?

5 days in New York is doable but it is a bit of drive from NYC to Niagra Falls. You can get a good feel for NYC in 3 days though you can spend weeks there and not see everything.

Not a hope Jackie.
You've named 10 places, which means 2 days/nights in each maximum - if you had a teleport machine.
In reality, you'll spend 10 days travelling which is half your holiday.

Do either east or west, not both. Come back some day to do the other one.

I'd fly into New York and do Manhattan, 3 or 4 days at least, more if you've money to shop.
Niagara Falls is only a two day-er, but be sure to visit Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Chicago is another city-break, and then you could fly out after chilling in Miami and visiting Disneyworld.

Relax a bit and enjoy it more

I tend to be a see it all traveller, I wake up early, go to bed late, and cram in as much as I can during the day. Your itinerary can be done, just make sure to take into account travel time between destinations. Living in Seattle I am definitely partial to you visiting this side of the USA as it will give you a very different experience than the East Coast. Enjoy your trip!

I'd have to agree with stevieh - what's the rush? I think you'll find more than enough to keep you busy on one coast or another. Save the other coast for another trip. I took 6 weeks to see Australia and only did the coastal highlights. I've lived on both coasts in the USA and far prefer the west, but I do so miss the food back east! Chicago - do you know someone there? We have far more interesting places for a first trip!

Miami in 3 nights, including Disney World... that's not realistic. Disney World is a four hour drive from Miami, and Disney World itself has four theme parks and two water parks. And you're going in August? It will be insanely hot and crowded. You aren't going to see much of Disney World at that time of year with only a day or two.

Disney World is huge,budget a day for each theme park. About halfway through your east coast itinerary you will start to realize the wisdom of doing each coast of America as a separate trip..
I'd consider chopping the Chicago and Washington portions of your trip to give you more time on the west coast.I assume you will be flying from the northeast to the Miami area.if driving add another 2 days to the trip.
When driving down the west coast on the coastal highway there is so much to see and do that i would plan on using the LA area just for the airport to save time for other adventures along the way..
Good luck and let us know how it turned out

[ Edit: Edited on 20-Feb-2010, at 10:46 by jambo101 ]

Ok so here is the latest...

Over the weekend, we sat down and looked over our itinerary with our travel agent and we have decided to go for 4 weeks in September now!!! (less people since its not school holidays and a lot cheaper!!) PLUS 4 weeks!! I won

We have decided to cut out Chicargo and Vancovour, so we can spend more time in other places...

So this is our itinerary now..
- Fly out of Brisbane on the 2nd Sept.. land in NY
- Spend 7 days in NY and do a one day trip to Washington DC.
- Fly down to Florida, spend 5 days in florida & miami - Including 1 or 2 days at Disneyworld
- Then fly accross to Seatle (stay there maybe 2 nights), rent a car and drive down
- Drive time over 2 nights/3 days
- then 11 days in Sanfran, LA and Vegas > Fly home.

YAY! So excited!

Now just gotta plan places to stay and fun tours to do!