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USA Packer Adventure — West Coast to Deep South highlights

Thirty days, thirteen cities, three time zones. From the Golden Gate to South Beach with a small group, a rolling home and someone who actually knows where the good BBQ is.

★★★★★ 4.9 · based on 312 traveller reviews
From
$3,299 / person
30
Days
13
Cities
4,700
Miles
3
Time zones
What’s in the bag

Everything we take care of.

You show up with a passport and a sense of humour. We handle the rest — sleeping, rolling, eating, getting you in the right place when the light’s best.

🛏️

Accommodation

29 nights in hostels, motels & one night under the stars.

🚐

Transportation

Private 12-seat van, fuel, tolls and parking covered.

🍳

Meals

All breakfasts, 6 dinners, BBQ night in Austin included.

🧢

Trip leader

A local USA Packer guide with you every day, end to end.

Also included

  • Grand Canyon South Rim entry & sunrise hike
  • Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe Bend guided tour
  • Vegas Strip night-walk with your guide
  • Live-music ticket in Austin (SXSW-style venue)
  • Mississippi juke-joint night in Clarksdale
  • Everglades airboat safari before Miami
  • 24/7 on-trip support line

Not included

  • Flights to San Francisco & from Miami
  • Travel insurance (required — we’ll help you sort it)
  • Most lunches & some dinners (budget ~$20–30/day)
  • Optional add-ons: skydive Vegas, Alcatraz, helicopter
  • Personal spending & tips for local drivers
Day by day

The route.

Thirteen anchor cities and a ton of detours. Tap any day to open it up — you can see where you’re sleeping, what you’re doing and what’s optional.

Day 01 · California San Francisco — arrival & the Golden Gate Welcome meeting · overnight: Mission District

Meet the crew at 6pm at our Mission District base. Quick icebreaker, paperwork out of the way, then walk down to a low-key taqueria for dinner. If you land early, you can squeeze in Fisherman’s Wharf, cable cars or Lombard Street.

🌉 Golden Gate🚋 Cable Cars🦀 Seafood
Days 02–03 · California SF → Big Sur → Los Angeles Pacific Coast Highway · overnight: Hollywood

One of the great drives on the planet. We hug the cliffs through Big Sur, stop at McWay Falls, crash at a roadside motel in San Luis Obispo, and roll into LA the next afternoon. Griffith Observatory at sunset is the move.

🌊 Big Sur🎬 Hollywood🏖️ Venice
Day 04 · California San Diego — Pacific send-off Fish tacos & border views · overnight: Gaslamp

Last day on the Pacific. Breakfast in La Jolla with the sea lions, taco crawl through Oceanside, then an evening on Coronado Beach. Tomorrow we turn east.

🌮 Tacos🦭 La Jolla🌊 Pacific
Days 05–06 · Arizona Joshua Tree → Phoenix → Sedona Desert crossing · overnight: Scottsdale & Sedona

Into the Sonoran. Sunrise stroll through Joshua Tree, a long hot drive to Phoenix, and up the red rocks of Sedona the next day. This is where the landscape starts showing off.

🌵 Sonoran🔴 Red Rocks☀️ 100°F+
Day 07 · Arizona Grand Canyon — South Rim sunrise Park entry included · overnight: near Tusayan

Early start. We’re at Mather Point before the sun clears the North Rim. Optional rim-to-rim hike (strong hikers), or the Bright Angel out-and-back to Cedar Ridge for the rest of us. Quiet cabins in the pines that night.

⛰️ South Rim🥾 Bright Angel🌅 Sunrise
Day 08 · Nevada Las Vegas — neon & Hoover Dam Strip walk with guide · overnight: off-Strip hostel

Hoover Dam on the way in. Check-in, nap, then a guided Strip walk from the Bellagio fountains to the Fremont Street canopy. Optional add-ons: helicopter night flight, comedy show, skydive next morning.

🎰 Casinos💡 Neon🚁 Heli
Days 09–10 · Arizona / Utah Antelope Canyon & Monument Valley Navajo-guided slot canyon · overnight: Kayenta

Upper Antelope with a Navajo guide, then Horseshoe Bend at golden hour. The next day, the mittens of Monument Valley from the scenic loop — the most filmed landscape in America.

🏜️ Slot Canyon📸 Horseshoe Bend🎞️ Monument Valley
Day 11 · Colorado Colorado Springs & Pikes Peak Garden of the Gods · overnight: downtown Colorado Springs

From red desert to alpine air in one long drive. Garden of the Gods at sunset, optional cog-railway up Pikes Peak the next morning if weather cooperates.

⛰️ 14,000 ft🌲 Rockies🥾 Hiking
Days 12–13 · New Mexico Taos Pueblo → Santa Fe Adobe town · overnight: Santa Fe old quarter

Drop down through Taos Pueblo (continuously inhabited for 1,000 years) into Santa Fe. Gallery-hop Canyon Road, eat green chile on everything, watch the sun do what it does at 7,000 ft.

🏜️ Adobe🎨 Art🌶️ Green Chile
Days 14–15 · Texas White Sands → El Paso Rio Grande border · overnight: downtown El Paso

White Sands in the cool of the morning (sand-sledding is free, boards on loan). Cross into Texas by afternoon. Dinner in El Paso with Ciudad Juárez glittering across the river.

🏜️ Gypsum Dunes🇲🇽 Border🌵 Chihuahuan
Days 16–19 · Texas Marfa → San Antonio → Austin BBQ night · overnight: South Congress

A pit-stop in Marfa for the weird lights and the Prada installation, a nod to the Alamo in San Antonio, and three full nights in Austin. Live music every evening, the included brisket night at a Franklin-style pit, bat-bridge at dusk.

🎸 Live Music🍖 BBQ🦇 Bat Bridge
Days 20–22 · Louisiana New Orleans — French Quarter & bayou Jazz night included · overnight: Marigny

Beignets at Café du Monde, gumbo for lunch, jazz at Frenchmen Street after dark. Optional bayou swamp tour. A city that does not stop humming.

🎺 Jazz🍤 Creole🎭 French Quarter
Days 23–24 · Mississippi Clarksdale — the crossroads Juke-joint night · overnight: The Shack Up Inn

The birthplace of the blues. You’ll sleep in a restored sharecropper shack, eat catfish at a country café, and catch a juke-joint set at Red’s. Optional detour to Graceland in Memphis next morning.

🎸 Blues🛤️ Crossroads🎤 Juke Joints
Days 25–27 · Georgia Savannah → Brunswick & the Golden Isles Coastal leg · overnight: St. Simons Island

Spanish moss, live oaks, fried shrimp. A day in Savannah to wander squares, then south to the Golden Isles — bikes on Jekyll, a quiet evening on the marshes of Glynn.

🌊 Atlantic🦐 Shrimp🌳 Spanish Moss
Days 28–30 · Florida Everglades → Miami — end of the road Airboat safari · overnight: South Beach

Everglades airboat before lunch. Art Deco South Beach in the afternoon. Little Havana cafecito crawl, farewell dinner, ocean swim at 7am the next morning. Trip ends mid-morning on Day 30 — fly home, or stay longer. Key West is three hours south.

🐊 Everglades🏝️ South Beach☕ Cafecito
Dates & availability

Pick a departure.

Small group — max 12 travellers per van. Prices in USD, per person, twin-share.

May 3 → Jun 1, 2026
30 days · San Francisco → Miami
Available
$3,299 per person
Jun 14 → Jul 13, 2026
30 days · San Francisco → Miami
Only 3 left
$3,499 per person
Aug 2 → Aug 31, 2026
30 days · San Francisco → Miami
Available
$3,599 per person
Sep 20 → Oct 19, 2026
30 days · San Francisco → Miami
Sold out
?
Oct 25 → Nov 23, 2026
30 days · San Francisco → Miami
Available
$3,199 per person
Before you go

Meeting point & the fine print.

📍 Meeting point

Day 1, 6:00 PM — USA Packer Base, Mission District, San Francisco.

2231 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
Closest BART: 24th St Mission · 6 min walk from the hostel.

🛬 Getting there

Fly into SFO or OAK. We offer a paid shuttle (add-on at booking), or the BART runs right from SFO to 24th Street — about 35 minutes.

Arriving a day early? We can hold a room at our base rate — just ask.

🛡️
Fully insured & route-tested.

Our vans carry full US liability cover, our guides are WFR-certified, and every stop on this route has been driven by a human (not just an algorithm) in the last 6 months. Travel insurance is required for every traveller — we’ll connect you with our preferred provider if you don’t already have it.

What packers say

Reviews from the road.

JM
Jamie M. · UK
Travelled May 2025
★★★★★

“Best thirty days of my life. Our guide Danny could find a decent diner in a town of 300 people. The Grand Canyon sunrise alone would have been worth the money.”

AR
Ana R. · Spain
Travelled August 2025
★★★★★

“Was nervous about doing a group trip — turned out the group became the trip. Austin BBQ night and the Clarksdale juke joint are things I’ll be telling people about for years.”

TK
Theo K. · Germany
Travelled October 2024
★★★★☆

“Everything delivered as promised. Only note — book a couple of Austin dinners on your own budget, the best BBQ queues open at 11am. Otherwise perfect pacing for the mileage.”

Good to know

Frequently asked.

Who’s this trip for?
Solo travellers, couples and pairs of friends aged 18–39. Group size is capped at 12 in a 15-seat van, so there’s space for gear and a little elbow room. Average age on past trips is 27.
Do I need a US visa?
Most EU/UK passport holders can travel on an ESTA (apply online, ~$21). Everyone else should check requirements well in advance. We’ll send a pre-trip checklist as soon as you book.
How much extra spending money should I budget?
Plan on roughly $20–30 per day for lunches and meals not included, plus whatever you want to spend on optional activities (Vegas helicopter, skydive, Alcatraz, etc.). $600–900 for the whole 30 days is a comfortable number.
What happens if a national park or stop is closed?
This route has alternates built in for every anchor stop — wildfire closures in the Grand Canyon, hurricane detours in the Gulf, etc. Your guide has the final call on safety, and we’ll always swap in something good.
Can I join solo?
Absolutely — more than half of our travellers come alone. You’ll share a twin room with someone of the same gender by default, or pay a single supplement if you’d prefer your own room.
Can I win this trip instead of paying for it?
Yes — see the USA Packer Contest. Submit a short video, post three pieces of content, and you and your travel buddy could win the whole adventure for free.

Ready to ride shotgun?

Spots go fast — especially the May and June departures. Pick a date, hold your place with a small deposit, pay the rest up to 60 days before departure.

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