driving to vegas!!! (Phoenix, Tucson: rental car, rentals, construction)

[ibarrio]

Surprise is 265 mi from Las Vegas. So about 4-5 hours max.

The Airport is an 40-60 mins away from Surprise. you have to arrive early and check in and wait. That is maybe 2-3 hours. The you fly for an hour and get to Vegas. Then you unload and get your bags.

Total Travel Time comes out to about the same.

[crystalys]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

One hour to get to the airport, an hour in lines, an hour packed into a plane taxiing, flying, another hour getting off and getting a rental, an hour to your destination. You can drive there almost as quickly as you can fly anymore and, for my money, it is far less hassle.

I rented a car once in Vegas but never again.....the driving there is the biggest hassle going. Between the hotel shuttles, the tram, the city bus, taxis and walking....you can get to places a whole lot faster than driving yourself. I also don't think it has ever taken me an hour to get from the airport to any of the hotels no matter where they are on the strip. I think it is much less hassle to show up at the airport, wait in line, go to the gate (no baggage checking when going to Vegas...a carry on will do), go to the bar , get in line, board plane, one hour later get off plane, walk out of airport to shuttle, 20 to 30 minutes later check in at hotel.....that's about 4 hours I think. And I don't have to worry about getting hit by drivers dreaming about the big money their going to win when they get to Vegas!

[miamiman]

The drive is super sceninc. Just take Route 60 to Route 93, which will lead you right to Las Vegas. You will go over the Hoover Dam, and if you drive at night, you will see the beautiful lights in Vegas.

[verela]

I'm terribly afraid of heights and have driven through the Hoover dam 93 route from AZ into Nevada Vegas. I don't want to drive through the Hoover dam again. It gets really windy for about 45 munites before crossing the dam and I'm become petrified, a nervous wreck. Is there another alt. route that I can take? I've been told to drive from Phoenix to Needles to [URL="http://las-vegas-hotels.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g45963-Las_Vegas_Nevada-Vacations.html"]Las Vegas[/URL] and I should be ok or to take the truck route. Please help! I'm leaving tomorrow.

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[uconn99]

For a flight to vegas, you could arrive at the airport 45 minutes before the flight and be fine.

Worst case, you miss the flight and take the next one that leaves 30 minutes later. Both SW and US Airways would put you on the next flight free of charge.

Drive to Sky Harbor- 40 minutes
Wait @ Airport- 1 hour
Flight- 1 Hour
Vegas to Hotel- 30 mins

Just a little over an 3 Hours.

[ivanabacowboy]

The drive is long and boring. I went thru Surprise, Wickenburg, Kingman up to the dam. The dam was really cool tho-I have heard the actual tour into the dam is really cool. And it is cool after hours of pretty much nothing but darkness (the tail end of my drive was in the dark) once you get thru the dam and it opens up into the Vegas valley------>and literally lights EVERYWHERE.

For all those miles of nowhere in between Surprise and Wickenburg, then between Wickenburg and Kingman, then between Kingman and the dam-you need to time your refreshment, fuel and restroom breaks accordingly. ;-)

I will definitely fly before I do it again tho, unless I decide to do the tour of Hoover Dam.

[sheena]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

One hour to get to the airport, an hour in lines, an hour packed into a plane taxiing, flying, another hour getting off and getting a rental, an hour to your destination. You can drive there almost as quickly as you can fly anymore and, for my money, it is far less hassle.

I totally agree!

[sheena]

Originally Posted by ivanabacowboy

The drive is long and boring. I went thru Surprise, Wickenburg, Kingman up to the dam. The dam was really cool tho-I have heard the actual tour into the dam is really cool. And it is cool after hours of pretty much nothing but darkness (the tail end of my drive was in the dark) once you get thru the dam and it opens up into the Vegas valley------>and literally lights EVERYWHERE.

For all those miles of nowhere in between Surprise and Wickenburg, then between Wickenburg and Kingman, then between Kingman and the dam-you need to time your refreshment, fuel and restroom breaks accordingly. ;-)

I will definitely fly before I do it again tho, unless I decide to do the tour of Hoover Dam.

Just pack some good food and turn up the music

[ivanabacowboy]

That's pretty much what I did. ;-) Tho luckily I had my son fill my ipod with songs. Because at some places you couldnt get much in the way of radio. I figured out on the way home you start being able to tune into the stronger PHX stations somewhere just outside of Kingman or Wickenberg I think.

It really was scenic tho if you have never "seen" a drive like that. Absolutely gorgeous.

[HX_Guy]

If you're going by yourself, it makes sense to fly...if you're going with someone else or a family, it's much more economical to drive and it takes about the same amount of time, about 4:30. It will be better once the new bridge is done that bypasses the dam.

The best I've ever done was 3:15 from Phoenix to the hotel in Vegas, but I wasn't really going the speed limit. :P