Route 66 Tour

Route 66 Tour Itinerary

Day 1 - UK / Chicago
Your holiday begins with a non-stop flight to Chicago, where you are met on arrival and transferred to your hotel.
Hotel: Best Western Grant Park

Day 2 - Chicago
Skyscraper sightseeing from the water is included this morning, with a cruise of the harbour, Lake Michigan and the Chicago River. This afternoon explore the contrasts of the Windy City at your own pace – Sears Tower, one of the world’s tallest buildings, the acres of parks and forestry, museums of science and natural history, bicycle paths along the 29-mile lake shore and the Navy Pier, America’s largest recreational pier. This evening don’t miss your chance to choose from countless jazz and blues clubs.
Hotel: Best Western Grant Park

Day 3 – Chicago / St. Louis
We begin our Route 66 tour today, heading southwest towards St. Louis. We will pass by Bloomington, where Abraham Lincoln gave one of his most famous speeches, ‘Lost’. Springfield is the state capital of Illinois and is the resting-place of Lincoln. We will stop for a visit to Lincoln’s home and tomb, before continuing on to our evening’s destination St. Louis.
Hotel: Millennium Hotel

Day 4 - St. Louis
Explore Missouri’s largest city and America’s busiest inland port on an included orientation tour this morning, taking you past the 630ft Gateway Arch on the riverfront, the old Union Station, now a marketplace of shops and restaurants and other such diversities as the mosaics of the basilica. The remainder of the day is at leisure to lap up St. Louis’ love affair with the mighty Mississippi and listen to ragtime jazz along the river bank.
Hotel: Millennium Hotel

Day 5 – St. Louis / Springfield
We leave the jazz city of St. Louis behind and head out to Springfield, Missouri. We will stop in Stanton, to show you the Meramec Caverns. The Caverns, nestled among the lush foothills of Missouri’s rolling Ozark’s, are home to complex mineral formations with colours as rare and unique as they are beautiful. After time to explore, we are back following the “Mother Road” to Springfield. After arriving in Springfield you will have the afternoon to relax and enjoy your surroundings.
Hotel: Baymont Inn & Suites (B)

Day 6 – Springfield / Oklahoma City
Following the contours of the land over rivers, round rolling hills and in between the lakes, these old cowboy country trails are an exciting and extensive leg of the journey. We pass through Tulsa, often referred to as the cultural capital of the state, before continuing to Oklahoma City for an overnight stay.
Hotel: Ramada North (B)

Day 7 – Oklahoma City / Amarillo
Departing from Oklahoma City, our first stop will be for a visit to the Oklahoma Route 66 museum where you can soak up some memorabilia to carry along the route with you. Following this, we journey East to West, crossing Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian country and entering a land of cattle, cotton, tumbleweed and oil millionaires. Amarillo, our overnight venue, hosts one of America’s largest livestock auctions, is home to one of the world’s biggest helium plants, and is the hub of the Texas Panhandle oil industry.
Hotel: Days Inn Downtown East (B)

Day 8 – Amarillo / Albuquerque
West of the city at Cadillac Ranch, look for the ‘Hood Ornament of Route 66’. This pop art sculpture of ten cars embedded tail-up in a wheat field is said to represent dolphin fins in a sea of swaying grain. Soon we enter New Mexico and Comanche country, stopping at Tucumcari, where an annual Route 66 festival parade and rodeo draws the August crowds, and continuing through the Land of Enchantment to our two night stay in historic Albuquerque.
Hotel: Days Inn Albuquerque (B)

Day 9 – Albuquerque / Santa Fe / Albuquerque
An included tour today is a short journey to sharp contrasts, as we take you to America’s oldest and highest State Capital, Santa Fe. The day is yours for independent exploration, perhaps to visit the Loretto Chapel and Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, or to shop for traditional souvenirs among the Hispanic and Native American crafts. We return to Albuquerque for the evening at leisure.
Hotel: Days Inn Albuquerque

Day 10 – Albuquerque / Flagstaff
Enthralling scenery accompanies us on our journey today as we drive tracing the northern edges of the Petrified Forest National Park and enter the badlands of the Painted Desert. This haunting landscape earned its name as it changes colour throughout the day, splashed with pinks, reds and gold’s by the sun’s penetrating rays. We arrive in Flagstaff for an evening at leisure and overnight stay.
Hotel: Ramada West (B)

Day 11 - Flagstaff / Williams / Grand Canyon
Board the coach for a drive to Bill Williams Mountain and the town of Williams, home of the Grand Canyon Railway. This special train’s route cuts through ponderosa pines and open plains to bring you to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. By recreating the historic trip by rail to the Grand Canyon, you will have the opportunity to relive an important part of American history. We will depart from the historic Williams Depot and arrive at the Grand Canyon Depot, the last operating log depot in the United States.
Hotel: Grand Canyon National Park Lodges

Day 12 – Grand Canyon / Las Vegas
Leaving the natural beauty of the Grand Canyon behind, we head for the man made metropolis of Las Vegas. An optional flight seeing tour to our next destination is available to see more of the canyon itself by air before arriving in Las Vegas with time to spare. For everybody not taking the optional flight seeing excursion, coach transportation will be provided. Glitzy Las Vegas will be our base for the next two nights.
Hotel: Imperial Palace

Day 13 – Las Vegas
The undisputed world capital of gambling, Las Vegas is as much renowned for its 24/7 lifestyle, its top class cabarets, and its lavishly over-the-top hotels on ever more imaginative themes.
Hotel: Imperial Palace

Day 14 – Las Vegas / Los Angeles
The last leg of your long-distance discovery takes us through the Mojave Desert and into the San Bernardino Mountains, to call at Calico Wild West Ghost Town. Between 1881 and 1896, Calico (named after the varicoloured surrounding mountains) was a booming silver-mining town of more than 3,500 people, with mines producing more than $13 million of ore. In 1895 the price of silver dropped, the mines stopped producing, and Calico became a ghost town. The town was restored in 1954 and provides an interesting glimpse of the Gold Rush era. From here we drive over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and arrive in Los Angeles, where we start with an included sightseeing trip. You will see many famous sights such as the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Mann’s Chinese Theatre, Sunset Boulevard, Rodeo Drive and the Santa Monica Pier, the official end of Route 66.
Hotel: Hollywood Heights Hotel

Day 15 - Los Angeles
Enjoy a full day at leisure in Los Angeles. Universal Studios and Disneyland’s Magic Kingdom provide a fantasy world in the city of silver screen stars. Optional excursions are available.
Hotel: Hollywood Heights Hotel

Day 16 – Los Angeles / UK
Transfer to the airport for your overnight return flight to the UK.

Day 17 – Return Landing
Morning arrival at your chosen UK airport. Times vary.

Inclusions

• ■ Trans-Atlantic flights on scheduled airlines
• ■ 15 nights hotel accommodation
• ■ Services of a professional Jetsave Tour Director days 1-16
• ■ Excursions described as included in the itinerary
• ■ Baggage Porterage
• ■ Meals as detailed: Breakfast (B)

Please be aware:
2010 itineraries may vary slightly to the 2009 itinerary shown. Please contact reservations for more information.

Please note:
Alternative but similar hotels may be used at certain times of the year.

FREE Transfers to your nearest international airport with National Express. Simply request your vouchers at time of booking.