Las Vegas Travel Forum

OK folks, hope you can help.
I'm planning a trip to Vegas next year. Although I have been to Vegas several times, I have not explored the area around the city.

We are hiring a car and have 4 days (3 nights) to travel around and about away from Vegas I have been told to go to the national parks, BUT I would really like to hear any/all suggestions.

Thank you.
Graeme.

If you haven't been to the Grand Canyon, that would be my first suggestion. From there, keep heading south to Sedona, AZ. Or there are the parks in Utah - Zion, Bryce. If LA interests you, that's also do-able in that amount of time. Go to Death Valley. Lake Mead - rent a houseboat and just float.

Also you have got Hoover Dam/Lake Mead in Boulder which is a half an hour drive away. That's well worth it, but won't take too long to look around.

I would suggest the others...

Lake Powell
Grand Canyon
Death Valley
Yosemite

All them I have been to, and I know are all well worth it. All depends on how much time you have to spare and how much driving you are willing to do.

I recommend Grand Canyon first, Sedona / Prescott second, Lake Mead and the Valley of Fire third.

Yosemite is a bit far away. You could do it, but you would spend half your time in transit and only half your time visiting.

Death Valley, IMHO, is only for geologists and masochists.

The suggestions are excellent, but will require more driving.

When we used to come to Vegas often we found it was nice to "break up the craziness" - so onet time we stayed in Vegas for a full day or so, got some sleep, then went to Zion National Park - this is not too far.

http://www.nps.gov/zion/

You can remove the "zion" part and get a list of all US parks.

You could come back to Vegas for another night, then take a trip to Hoover Dam - going down into the turbines is worth it - pretty exciting, but do it during the morning as it's nicer and cooler.

Be careful when using restrooms in rest areas as snakes tend to come in from the desert to cool off. Not a problem, and in all the years we traveled we never saw one (we only ran into a *huge* dark scorpion in New Mexico) - but it's just good to know, keep an eye out before choosing a place to use the bathroom.

Hoover Dam and Zion are on opposite ends, but I think it will make for a more relaxing trip than going to the farther ones ... alhtough the Grand Canyon is hard to resist. Maybe you can find a flight or something from Vegas over the canyon ...

Also, these are pretty hilly places so make sure you have the driving on the other side of the road part down packed.

Enjoy!

Graeme, What time of year will you be travelling ? That can be a determining factor in which areas you may be able to visit. For example, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon can be closed due to snows for almost half a year at times. The other parks, at elevation, can have closures as well. A good links page for Las Vegas is: www.a2zlasvegas.com. Gary

The two main choices for a longer trip are to Death Valley or to the Utah National Parks (Zion, Bryce, Grand Staircase Escalante). They are in opposite directions, so you have to choose one or the other.

Death Valley is a 2 1/2 hour drive and requires 2 days to see because it is a huge park and the attractions are spread out. Stay in Furnace Creek, which is near many of the attractions (except for Scotty's Castle and the Ubehebe Crater, which are about 70 miles north and make for a good day trip from Furnace Creek). We enjoyed Death Valley because it is so vast and empty, which we don't get to experience on the East Coast.

The Utah National Parks are also great and will give you a little nore variety, but are impacted by weather if you choose to go in the winter. The best way to see them is to stay in Kanab, which is a small town that is centrally located between Bryce and Zion. Spend a day each at Bryce and Zion National Parks. The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is a 2 1/2 hour drive south from Kanab (but is closed in winter). If you have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, take a day and drive through the dirt and gravel roads of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, which is a 50x125 mile wilderness region with no paved roads or people. Also, Coral Pink Sand Dunes and Kodachrome Basin are two nice little state parks that are worth visiting (spend about an hour at each). You can also drive to Lake Powell, which is about 75 miles southeast of Kanab.

Closer to Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the Red Rock Canyon are good little side trips.

Feel free to visit our Death Valley, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon,Kanab, Kodachrome Basin, and Grand Staircase Escalante pages for more details.

Well it really depends when you are coming if your coming in the summer, last week it was 110 so you don't want to be walking around Death Valley where it gets to 130 at times in the summer.They don't call it Death Valley for nothing. The Grand Canyon is about 8 hours around trip just driving time so you would need 2 days thats half your time there. If you're staying in Vegas I would go for short day trips.Red Rock Canyon, Valley Of Fire, Mt. Charslton, theres a raft trip down The Colorado that I've heard is nice but in the summer it is DAMN HOTTT theres the Dam ,Boulder City the only city that does'nt have gaming.Drive to Summerland or Green Valley and see how the locals live we don't live in casinos. You can google all of these to get information.All of these would be day trips that you can see and get back to Vegas in a day. If you want to go to a National Park fly to San Franiciso and drive to Yosemite.LA if you want to go there fly to LAX but I've lived there 30 years and still hav'nt seen it all.

Firstly, Thank you to all who have replied your help is much appreciated.

We are Going to be in Vegas mid March.

I have driven in America before and enjoy driving, although the purpose of the trip is to see as much as possible but spend time enjoying it, I don't want to drive for 2 days to only spend one at my destination.

All suggestions are being noted, so once again thanks to all!

Graeme.

Hi Graeme, you can use www.mapquest.com to get approximage driving times.

Enjoy your trip!

Graeme, In mid-March, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon will almost surely be closed by snows. The Utah parks will have areas which are closed as well. Gary