Anyone Drive From DL to Vegas?

[deej696]

My wife and I area heading to DL in December, and plan to drive to Vegas from there. According to Google it appears to be about 4 hours. Question is, hows the drive? I'd imagine fairly boring given it's desert right? Anywhere to stop on I-15 for a pit stop? Are we better off flying? I figure I can rent a car for $100 and the time to drive doesnt bother me. Just wonder if it's worth battling traffic in LA, etc.

Anyway, would love to hear about experiences with the drive and any tips.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

I have driven it a few times. Once when 8..once when 12, once when 16 and once at 21 (honeymoon). It was boring but not completely awful. If I can survive as a kid, anyone can

No idea on pit's..don't remember! NOT better off flying. for 4 hours? I'd totally do it. The WORST we had was heading IN to Anaheim from Vegas..not out. Ever. We live in Utah and when we drive, this is what we do. I HATE CAR TIME. HATE IT. So that said, I'd do it. If that helps at all

 

[Jedana]

We did it a couple of times back in 06-07. Lots of interesting scenery--if there is fog in that valley you go through, it is beautiful!

We usually stopped in Barstow, but you can also stop in Baker or Victorville.

 

[Tink1017]

A friend and I are planning on driving from Vegas to Disneyland and back in less than a week. I'm very excited! But I was also wondering how the drive will be and if it will only take about 4 hours as predicted online? Thanks for your help!

 

[Rynosaur]

4 hours is pretty attainable with basically not stopping. i currently live in vegas and travel to LA a fair amount, (8-10/yr) and we have driven to disneyland 2 out of the 5 years, with another trip coming this saturday!.

you dont really hit normal LA traffic when heading from anaheim to LV. You can pit stop in Bartow, i recommend the lenwood exit. it has all kinds of food and gas and is nearly midway between.

about the drive, the first couple hours are not too bad since there are cities and civilization, but basically after barstow it is an hour of nearly nothing and the Baker is in your sights. From Baker about 30 min until state line/ Primm. From Primm it is only about 30-45 in the center of the strip(tropicana and flamingo exits)

with a sit down and eat, restroom break and typical traffic 4.5 hrs is easily achievable by driving.

with 30min check in pre flight, flight 60min, if checking baggage + 20, taxi to center of strip area 20ish or 30-45min to rental car area plus 20-25 to the middle strip area. You may be able to save about 2hrs by flying. so depending on the cost of the flights versus the value of your time would be up to you

 

[GrandBob]

Yep, lots of boring driving through the desert. Drive shouldn't be too bad, as long as you don't go TO Vegas on a Friday or back to LA on a Sunday. During those times, I-15 can get backed up with bumper-to-bumper traffic. At other times, 4 hours should be right.

The main food stop along the way is Barstow Station, at the Main St exit of Barstow. Mostly fast-food joints. For pit stops, there are also a couple of rest areas along the way, and gas stations at various exits.

-Bob

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

Not to mention barstow has good outlets

 

[GhostlyHitchhiker]

We do this regularly since we live in Northern CA, have annual passes and family outside Vegas. Every time we go to Vegas to visit, we stop at DL for a few days. Every time we go to DL, we pop over to Vegas to visit. It's a lot of driving, but worth it to us to see DMIL (who is ill) and the rest of the family out there every chance we get.

The drive itself is pretty. A lot of it is desert driving, but it can still be pretty. Make sure the car you're in has really good A/C though, especially in the summer. Our A/C broke out in Vegas last summer (the metal melted and twisted - they don't know what happened and claim to have never seen anything like it though we took it to a Honda specialist) and because we were on vacation, didn't immediately have the funds available to get it fixed. We drove back to Northern CA in mid-July with no A/C. We stopped in Baker (decent pit-stop, tons of fast food and clean restrooms) to get ice cream. The giant thermometer claimed something like 113 degrees. Our ice cream melted before we got back on 15!!

 

[cyclenut]

Yep, lots of boring driving through the desert. Drive shouldn't be too bad, as long as you don't go TO Vegas on a Friday or back to LA on a Sunday. During those times, I-15 can get backed up with bumper-to-bumper traffic. At other times, 4 hours should be right.

The main food stop along the way is Barstow Station, at the Main St exit of Barstow. Mostly fast-food joints. For pit stops, there are also a couple of rest areas along the way, and gas stations at various exits.

-Bob

Agreed with the above. I live in OC and we make it out to Vegas about once a year or so. Stay away from leaving on a Friday, unless it is well before noon. Also, if you plan to to return from Vegas, don't even try to come back on Sunday afternoon (or Monday if Monday is a Holiday). That is, unless you want that 4 hours to turn into 6.

The first hour or more will get you through the Cajon pass and to a city called Victorville. This is where your trek through the desert really begins. Victorville is referred to as the "High Desert". Once you leave Victorville you will come across a few small communities (I guess you can call them that) but for the most part you will be driving through a pretty desolate area.

Your next opportunity to stop is Barstow. This is often considered the midway point to Vegas but I always feel that once I get to Barstow, I'm almost there. This is a good place for a pit stop and you may even enjoy going into Barstow Station. There are a couple of shops there and a McDonald's where some of the dining rooms are old dining cars.

After you leave Barstow, you'll still be heading through desert into Vegas. You'll actually get to a place called Stateline a few miles outside of Vegas. This is where the first casinos are located and they actually have a very interesting rollercoaster there and about three hotels with casinos. Sort of a neat place. We've stopped there when we were planning to head straight through Vegas into Utah or when we wanted to get out of Vegas early and stop for breakfast on the way back to Orange County.

I think it is worth the drive. You'll see plenty of desert, but you'll also see some parts of California that are really pretty interesting.

I'd plan on taking about 5 hours. I've done it in just over 3 hours before, but those were my younger, more adventureous (read stupid) days.

 

[marvel]

This might seem a weird response coming from an Aussie, but we have done this drive 6 times ! We love the drive, but then again just stopping anywhere is a treat. We stopped at Peggy Sue's Diner which is like a twilight zone episode, but has really good cherry pie!

 

[Carmatts]

I have made the drive several times (I have a gambling problem.) With no traffic it takes me 3 1/2 to 4 hours with no stopping.
If you are going in December you are likely to see snow on the mountains while going over the Cajon pass which is always nice to see. As others have said, the drive past Barstow is open desert although there are several mountains around so it is not a flat desert drive. One thing I always get a kick out of is the abandoned water park just north of Yermo. Who thought putting a water park in the middle of nowhere would make money?
Possible pit stops are Barstow, Peggie Sue's 50's diner in Yermo, Baker (home of the worlds largest thermometer), and Primm. If you are interested in a small side trip Calico ghost town is a neat little attraction.
As far as traffic, you have to time it so you will not hit typical rush hour traffic on the outskirts of LA, especially on Friday afternoon. As said before, do not come back from Vegas on Sunday afternoon.
I say go for it. It is not a bad drive at all.

 

[Pinocchio #1 Fan]

In Baker there is a place called Alien Beef Jerky. You have to stop there. They have tons of merchandise dedicated to the rumored Alien visits to the desert, as well as dozens of flavors of jerky in a variety of meats(beef, turkey, pork, alligator, buffalo, etc), as well as assorted dried fruits and snacks. The restrooms there are very clean as well. On your first visit, you'll probably snap about 30 pictures of all the stuff there. If this is your first OC to Vegas drive, it's a must!

 

[robinjh7]

Stay away from leaving on a Friday, unless it is well before noon. Also, if you plan to to return from Vegas, don't even try to come back on Sunday afternoon (or Monday if Monday is a Holiday). That is, unless you want that 4 hours to turn into 6.

Ditto! Do not leave the LA area for Vegas on a Friday afternoon. I cannot stress that enough. We had the extreme misfortune of doing that in April, and it took us SEVEN HOURS to get to Las Vegas!

So now I avoid going North on Friday afternoon and going South on Sunday afternoon. (Got caught in the southbound mess out of Vegas last August. It took three hours to get from Vegas to Primm. I am not exaggerating. Live and learn.)

 

[Club33forme]

We drive it a few times a year. Our drive to Disneyland from home takes us 24 hours so when we hit Vegas we feels like we are there. yes 4 hours should do it. Check out the Disney outlet in Vegas. If you drive the strip South on the way out of Vegas you will drive right past the outlets. Take Blue Diamond Road and you are back on the 15 off to Disneyland.

 

[deej696]

Thanks for the great info everyone. We are making the drive on a Monday, so it sounds like traffic shouldn't be much of an issue. I'm intrigued by Peggy Sue diner also...depending on what time it is, we may stop for lunch. Then again, I'll be so anxious to get to Vegas, we'll probably leave DL at 5am

 

[GhostlyHitchhiker]

Thanks for the great info everyone. We are making the drive on a Monday, so it sounds like traffic shouldn't be much of an issue. I'm intrigued by Peggy Sue diner also...depending on what time it is, we may stop for lunch. Then again, I'll be so anxious to get to Vegas, we'll probably leave DL at 5am

We've been stuck on horrible holiday traffic, but normal weekly traffic (friday-sunday) isn't as awful, especially going INTO Vegas.

Last year when we were coming home through the pass my oldest DD got a stomach bug *right* as we were coming through (I think it was the end of Thanksgiving weekened).

We stopped at the Jack-in-the-Box in the Tejon Pass and she wasn't able to make it out of the pass without getting sick. What is usually a 2-hour car ride took us 6 hours to trek. We can usually make the ride from Vegas to Northern CA in 7 hours, that trip took us 12+ hours...

 

[GrandBob]

We stopped at Peggy Sue's Diner which is like a twilight zone episode, but has really good cherry pie!

I'm intrigued by Peggy Sue diner also...depending on what time it is, we may stop for lunch. Then again, I'll be so anxious to get to Vegas, we'll probably leave DL at 5am

Glad you had a good pie at Peggy Sue's, Marvel. I agree that the ambiance is great, and IIRC they have good shakes. But I made the mistake of stopping by there for lunch on my way to Vegas just once. I expected a nice juicy '50's style burger. What I got was a dry, cardboard, processed burger. I wasn't impressed by the food. But yes, the decor is great.

-Bob

 

[DeluxePrincess]

. We stopped at Peggy Sue's Diner which is like a twilight zone episode, but has really good cherry pie!

We saw that place and were tempted to stop, but didn't. Wish we were more adventurous.

Last month we flew in and out of Vegas because the airfare was much cheaper than going one way to Vegas and one way back home from California. So after our Vegas fun we drove to Disneyland, stayed for 5 nights and drove back. We enjoyed the ride, but we don't have the same scenery here in Ohio. DD thought the desert was cool. I must say driving with some of those mountains in the horizon was breathtaking for us. Ride took us about 3:45 each way with stops.

 

[DeluxePrincess]

In Baker there is a place called Alien Beef Jerky. You have to stop there. They have tons of merchandise dedicated to the rumored Alien visits to the desert, as well as dozens of flavors of jerky in a variety of meats(beef, turkey, pork, alligator, buffalo, etc), as well as assorted dried fruits and snacks. The restrooms there are very clean as well. On your first visit, you'll probably snap about 30 pictures of all the stuff there. If this is your first OC to Vegas drive, it's a must!

We just saw the outside. Now I wish we would have gone in. DD snapped a pic.

 

[disneydreamerbelle]

Sorry to hijack, but we are doing Vegas/Henderson to DL on a Sunday. If we leave early in the AM will we miss most of the traffic? Or is it bad all day?