Best Vegas Day Trips, Sorted by Time
The Strip is one square mile of Las Vegas. The rest of the map is desert, canyon and reservoir, and every one of the trips below gets you back to your hotel by dinner. Here’s what’s actually a day trip and what only pretends to be one.
Red Rock Canyon, 25 to 30 minutes
The closest real wilderness to the Strip, built around a 13-mile scenic drive with trails like Calico Tanks and Ice Box Canyon. Entry is $15 per vehicle. From October 1 through May 31, the scenic drive requires a timed-entry reservation (8am-5pm) booked at recreation.gov for a $2 fee; no reservation is needed June through September, but rock surface temperatures hit 130°F in summer, so go early and skip the midday hike.
Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, 45 minutes
Thirty miles southeast on a straightforward drive. Walk the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge sidewalk free, or go inside the dam: Visitor Center $15, Powerplant Tour $30 (descends into the 650-foot turbine room), Full Guided Dam Tour $40. Lake Mead National Recreation Area adds boating, kayaking and paddleboarding for a $25 vehicle pass covering seven days. Book the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead tour on GetYourGuide if you’d rather not navigate the dam’s tour ticketing yourself.
Valley of Fire State Park, about an hour
Fifty-five miles northeast via I-15. The Fire Wave, White Domes Trail, Elephant Rock and Atlatl Rock petroglyphs are the highlights, and the park is open sunrise to sunset. Entry is $15 per vehicle for non-residents. Nevada State Parks closes the Fire Wave and Pastel Canyon trails from May through September once temperatures exceed 105°F, so check current trail status before you drive out in summer.
Grand Canyon West Rim, 2 to 2.5 hours
At 125 miles, this is the outer edge of what still counts as a day trip: figure 6 to 8 hours round trip once you add time at the rim. It’s Hualapai tribal land, not part of Grand Canyon National Park, so NPS passes don’t work here. General admission is $68, and the Skywalk package (the glass-bottomed platform 4,000 feet above the canyon floor) runs $93 and up, with a strict no-personal-camera policy on the Skywalk itself. Book Grand Canyon West Rim transportation on Viator rather than making the drive after dark.
What isn’t a day trip
Grand Canyon South Rim is 280 miles and 4.5 to 5 hours each way, or 9 to 10 hours of driving before you’ve spent any real time at the rim. Death Valley, at 120 to 140 miles, is closer, but summer temperatures there regularly hit 120°F to 130°F, and the National Park Service warns against hiking after 10am from May through September; treat it as an October-through-April day trip only. Both belong on a multi-day itinerary, not squeezed into one afternoon.
Pack a gallon of water per person no matter which trip you pick. Sweat evaporates instantly in single-digit humidity, and you’ll lose fluid faster than you notice. If Grand Canyon South Rim or Death Valley is calling, plan them properly as our multi-day trips guide lays out, rather than rushing them into a single afternoon.