Vegas to Austin Road Trip. Need some help. (San Antonio, Lubbock: apartment, hotel)

[Independentthinking]

So we are finally in route to Austin. We secured an apartment and will move in on Dec 26th. We will be leaving Vegas on Friday and are planning on taking 3 days to get there (that comes out to a little over 400 miles of driving a day). I'm curious if anyone has made this trek and the following:

-What route did you take?

-Do you have hotel suggestions on where you stopped?

When we arrive in town (12/19), we will be looking to stay either in a hotel for 8 nights or possibly an AirBnB or VRBO:

-Any suggestions on that?

[ashbeeigh]

You're probably kind of late for a AirBnB. I'd start looking now for one. That's all I got.

[leorah]

We tend to avoid I-10 whenever possible. We head down I-40 toward Lubbock or San Angelo and on to Austin.

[RoamingTX]

40 will be a total crapshoot this time of year. Make sure you check the weather.

[TexasRedneck]

Personally, I'd drop down to I-10 and then I-35 to Austin. 290 outside of Fredericksburg will look like a viable shortcut - but it's NOT, IMO. We've done the trip from SA to Vegas 3 times by motorcycle, and countless times going the direction of Vegas - but this time of year, dropping down to I-10 will help you avoid weather concerns and some of the traffic you would otherwise encounter, IMO.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by RoamingTX

40 will be a total crapshoot this time of year. Make sure you check the weather.

10 is incredibly boring compared to 40, but this time of year there is no way I would take 40. In the spring I would do vegas to the grand canyon, then santa fe nm, palo duro (amarillo), austin.
on the 10 we would typically go from vegas to tucson and stay at the westin la paloma. From there we would typically drive straight through. A cool detour is to go to carlsbad caverns.

El paso can have significant snow, so you might not escape the snow as you go through the mountains.

All the towns between el paso and fredricksburg barely exist. Places like van horn, fort stockton, etc

If you want a more even split, do las vegas to el paso, el paso to austin

[Independentthinking]

Thanks for the info so far. Let me add, I'm not concerned about how scenic the drive is. I simply want the most efficient route, the safest route (so the snow concerns are definitely warranted), and a decent hotel along the way. I'm also not sure how flat the drive is and what the speed limits are. We drove from the Tahoe/Reno area to Vegas and were surprised how easy the drive was. It was roughly 450 miles, but because the speed limit was 70 and it was basically straight and flat, it only took 7 1/2 hours. If the drive was like that, we might attempt a 2 day run (but I was thinking 3 days was more plausible). There is no rush to get there quickly as we will just be paying for a hotel in Austin anyway. With that said, I don't want to end up in some hole-in-the-wall town to stop at and have to stay at some weird hotel.

[RoamingTX]

Much of this depends on what you’re driving. Is it just you and your car? UHaul w/kids? Somewhere in between?

Personally, I’d make a road trip out of it and explore your new state.

[Independentthinking]

Originally Posted by RoamingTX

Much of this depends on what you’re driving. Is it just you and your car? UHaul w/kids? Somewhere in between?

Personally, I’d make a road trip out of it and explore your new state.

Both myself and wife driving our own vehicles. No kids.

[RoamingTX]

Definitely just do two days then, unless you feel like spending night two in San Antonio and checking out the city before running North. Between Tucson and San Antonio, it’s pretty bleak.

The other option would be LV>TUC>ELP>AUS

81-82 mph is usually safe on the bulk of that drive.