Planning a Road Trip to Vegas?

The United States are a cluster of stunning, varied and ever-changing geography; this is why, more than any other country in the world (in our experience), it is a phenomenal pleasure to drive through it and across it. Another reason for it is that the United States are extremely well equipped with an excellent infrastructure for drivers: great road, a huge number of stop areas where you can park, enjoy free wi-fi and even take a free shower in a perfectly clean, perfectly pleasant environments.

Some are official cafes, restaurants, stores for all budgets, but others are simplic public services at times offering free wireless, free overnight parking, free showers and even free hot drinks. I was amazed at how organized, well-kept, high-end the infrastructure for drivers in the US is! Much better than Canada, much better than Europe and indeed better than anywhere else in the world.

So, if you have a few spare days and a good car, driving to Vegas may be an excellent option.

We traveled to Vegas from Florida and, earlier on, from British Columbia in Canada. They were very different trips, obviously, given the remarkable differences between the states we drove through. If you are into US history, driving from the South or the South East, especially crossing Arizona, will provide endless possibilities to view, breathe and walk around ‘Wild West Ghost Towns’ such as Chloride (near Vegas), Steins and GoldField (the latter is a bit ‘fake’ but it can be real fun for the whole family). We will write more on Steins and Goldfield in the near future; do not hesitate to nudge us if you don’t see more information on those ghost towns. Besides those, you will be spoilt for choice in terms of what else to see on your trip to Vegas; if you happen to cross Arizona, we strongly recommend you give yourselves more days than expected because we found Arizona to be absolutely filled with interesting sites (you will find easy-to-spot signs as you drive), museums, meteorite craters, caves and so on. Our only ‘regret’ during our last drive (Florida to Nevada) was that we did not allocate enough time to enjoy and explore Arizona as much as we would have liked, especially its natural & historical wonders.

If you are planning to rent a car and you come from Europe, for example, you will be amazed at how cheap gas (petrol) in the US is; but, if you can, we’d recommend you rent a hybrid car, especially if you plan to drive for hundreds of miles: during our last trip from Florida to Las Vegas we used a Prius (hybrid car) and we saved a ton of money; besides finding the Prius very comfortable and with very nice features.

Some states such as Texas or Arizona will not have fully equipped stop areas all the time because you will find yourselves crossing semi-barren (albeit extremely interesting and well worth visiting) territories. So, make sure you have plenty of water and make sure you don’t drive with a half-empty gas tank just in case.

On one of our our road trips we stopped at Twin Falls, which gave us a glimpse of what the Grand Canyon looks like (in a miniature way); you can watch our video if it.

Ghost Town near Vegas  –  Must-see & Must-do in Vegas  –  How to do anything in Vegas