Day trips from Las Vegas

Every day trip by drive time

Drive times are one way from Las Vegas Blvd and Flamingo Road with no stops or traffic, so add time for fuel, food and the I-15 crawl out of town. Where the agency that runs the place quotes a different figure, both are given.

Drive yourself or book a tour?

If you have a car, the trips under 75 minutes are cheap to do on your own: $15 gets a whole car into Valley of Fire, and Seven Magic Mountains costs nothing. A tour to the same places costs several times that per person. A tour buys you a driver, park entry and usually lunch, and someone else deals with this season's changes, like the Valley of Fire detour or Red Rock's reservation.

The 2 h 40 min trips are different. Zion and Death Valley are 5 hours or more of round-trip driving before you've walked anywhere, and Bryce Canyon is over 8. Drive yourself to Zion only if you're happy to start before dawn and come back in the dark. For Bryce, I'd book a tour unless you're staying overnight in Utah.

Rideshare is a poor fit for any of these. Nevada State Parks warns that Uber and Lyft can leave you stranded at Valley of Fire because return rides are often unavailable, and the same logic applies to anywhere an hour or more into the desert.

The top-rated day-trip tours

These are the best-reviewed tours to the places on this page, ranked by a score that weights each rating by how many reviews back it, so a 4.9 across 800 reviews sits above a 5.0 across ten. Tours with fewer than 15 reviews are left out.

Red Rock Canyon

Red Rock Canyon is about 35 minutes from the Strip. The National Conservation Area is run by the Bureau of Land Management, and its 13-mile Scenic Drive is paved and one-way. From October 1 to May 31, you need a timed-entry reservation to enter the drive between 8am and 5pm. Outside those hours you don't, and from June 1 to September 30 you need no reservation at all; you pay at the entrance station.

The Scenic Drive opens at 6am all year. It closes at 5pm from November to February, 7pm in March and October, and 8pm from April to September (noon on Thanksgiving and Christmas). That means the after-5pm window only exists in March, April, May and October; in winter the gate closes at the same hour the reservation requirement ends. The before-8am window works every day of the season, and it's the one I'd use: two hours with no booking needed.

Reservations are on Recreation.gov or by phone at 877-444-6777. Slots open up to 30 days ahead at 7am Pacific on a rolling basis, a second batch is released two days ahead at 7am, and you can book right up to your entry time if any are left. You may arrive up to 30 minutes early, and once you're in you can stay all day. A small reservation fee may apply on top of the entrance fee, which is usually $20 per car. Two fee-free days remain in 2026, October 27 and November 11, and both still need a reservation. The Visitor Center (8am to 4:30pm) is inside the reservation zone, so in season you need the same ticket to reach it.

Tours aren't exempt. Commercial vehicles must book timed entry too, pay $5 per person extra, and may stop only at the Visitor Center, Calico I, Willow Spring and Pine Creek. That limits what any Scenic Drive tour can show you, and it's the main reason I'd drive Red Rock myself if I had a car.

Seven Magic Mountains

Seven Magic Mountains is an art installation off I-15 near Jean Dry Lake, about 35 minutes south of the Strip. It's free (the organizers ask for donations) and there's no reservation, so it's easy to add to a drive south or a Hoover Dam day.

It may not be there much longer. The piece opened on May 11, 2016 for a planned two years, and its BLM lease has been renewed through December 2026 but cannot be renewed again. The Nevada Museum of Art and the artist dropped a plan to move it to Washoe County and say it will stay in southern Nevada, but no new site and no plan for 2027 has been announced. You'll see a May 2027 extension quoted online, with no primary source behind it. If it's on your list, go before December.

Hoover Dam

The Bureau of Reclamation calls Hoover Dam "30 miles southeast of Las Vegas," and from the middle of the Strip it's about 45 minutes before the security checkpoint. Walking across the top is free; the Nevada-side parking garage is $10. The one-hour Guided Dam Tour ($40) is sold only on site, first come first served, and none of the tour companies can sell it. Lake Mead read 1,037.43 feet on October 16, 2026, about 192 feet under its high-water line, which is the pale band you'll see on the canyon walls. The Hoover Dam tours guide covers which ticket and which tour to choose.

Emerald Cave and Willow Beach

Willow Beach, Arizona, is about 70 minutes from the Strip, and Emerald Cave is 2 miles upriver from it in Black Canyon, so the paddle is about 4 miles round trip. Willow Beach is off US-93 about 11 miles south of Hoover Dam, inside Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and it's a fee station: a car costs $25 for one to seven days.

You don't need a tour. Willow Beach is a public launch with kayak and canoe rentals, and the only launch the Park Service says needs a permit is the one directly below Hoover Dam. What decides it is your paddling experience. The water below the dam is a continuous 54°F according to the Park Service, cold enough that a capsize is serious, and fall and winter often bring high winds that make paddling hard.

Watch the clock. Willow Beach is in Arizona, which doesn't observe daylight saving time. Until November 1, 2026 it shows the same time as Las Vegas; from November 1 until DST resumes in March, it's an hour ahead. A 9am launch on a winter booking is 8am on your phone if it's still on Las Vegas time.

The three options below differ mainly in how much is done for you. The self-guided rental is the lowest price, but it needs your own car, assumes you've paddled before and includes no tow back if you tire. GreenWave's guided tour meets you at Willow Beach (pickup from eight Strip hotels is an option), puts under-14s in a tandem with a parent, and has weight limits of 240 pounds in a single and 450 in a tandem. If you're driving yourself, the $25 Lake Mead fee is on you. The tour with the most reviews runs a van from ARIA or Excalibur, about an hour each way, with about 3.5 hours on the water, snacks and water but no lunch; children under 6 can't go.

Valley of Fire

Valley of Fire is about 70 minutes from the Strip through the West Entrance. It is a Nevada state park, open daily from sunrise to sunset (only campers may stay after dark), with a visitor center open 9am to 4pm. Day use is $10 per vehicle with Nevada plates and $15 for everyone else, and there's no reservation.

Two closures matter this season. The West Entrance off I-15, the one everyone coming from the Strip normally uses, is closed Monday through Thursday from August 3, 2026 through the expected end of 2026 while a new lane and fee booth are built. It's open Friday to Sunday. On weekdays you go in through the East Entrance via SR 169 or SR 167, which adds roughly 20 minutes each way. The whole park also closes to all visitors from December 1 to 14 every year for maintenance.

The summer rule catches people too. From May 15 to September 30 every year, the park closes most of its best-known trails: White Domes Loop; the Fire Wave, Seven Wonders Loop, Pastel Canyon and Pink Canyon; Pinnacles Loop; Prospect Trail; Arrowhead Trail; Natural Arch Trail (Arch Rock excepted); and Charlie's Spring.

Self-drive is $15 for the car. The tours below cost several times that per person and buy you the driving (including the weekday detour), with park entry and lunch or snacks on most. The deli-lunch tour is the value pick. The guided hike lets you choose easy, moderate or difficult when you book and caps the group at 12, but it isn't for children under 8 and its listing doesn't say park entry is included. The combined trip with Red Rock starts at sunrise from one of 34 Strip pickup points and includes park entry fees, but spends only about 30 minutes at Red Rock.

Death Valley

Furnace Creek, the center of Death Valley National Park, is about 118 miles and 2 hours 40 minutes from the Strip. Some guides call it an hour away; it isn't. Entry is $30 per car for seven days ($15 per person, $25 per motorcycle), there's no reservation, and Death Valley is not one of the parks that charge the new $100 nonresident fee.

Season is the whole decision. Average highs at Furnace Creek are 110°F in June, 116°F in July, 115°F in August and 106°F in September, summer often tops 120°F in the shade, and nights stay between 85 and 95°F. The highest air temperature on record, 134°F, was measured at Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913. October averages 93°F. November, December, January and March average between 65 and 82°F, and that's when I'd go.

Of the long day trips, this is where I'd most readily pay for a tour. Both tours below include park entry, so what you're paying to avoid is more than five hours behind the wheel. The guided day tour includes a breakfast buffet and stops at the Rhyolite ghost town, the Mesquite Flat dunes, Artist's Palette and Furnace Creek. The Rhyolite day trip goes to Dante's View, Zabriskie Point and Badwater Basin, and from July 1 to September 1 it leaves earlier to beat the heat. It includes unlimited drinks but not meals, and its pickups are limited to Excalibur, Circus Circus, Treasure Island and Horseshoe.

Zion

Springdale, at Zion's south entrance, is about 164 miles and 2 hours 40 minutes from the Strip without stops. Utah is on Mountain Time, an hour ahead of Las Vegas all year, so leave at 6am and it's about 9:40am when you arrive. The Park Service gives permit and shuttle times in Mountain Time.

Entry is $35 per private vehicle, valid seven days ($20 per person, $30 per motorcycle). On top of that, visitors who aren't US residents and are 16 or older pay $100 each.

In most years the Zion Canyon shuttle runs daily from March through November, and while it runs, the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive is closed to private cars. The shuttle is free and needs no ticket. The current schedule: first bus at 7am, last bus from the visitor center at 6pm through October 24, then 5pm from October 25 to November 28. There's no service from November 29 to December 25, when cars can usually drive the canyon road (the Park Service may close it for a while when parking fills), and holiday service runs December 26 to January 2 from 8am to 4:30pm.

Angels Landing needs a permit for everyone going beyond Scout Lookout. The day-before lottery opens at 12:01am and closes at 3pm Mountain Time, with results after 4pm. The seasonal lottery for December 1 to February 28 is open October 1 to 20, with results on October 25. It costs $6 to apply for up to six people, plus $3 per person if you win, all on Recreation.gov.

Check conditions before you go. A large rockfall closed the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway (SR-9, from Canyon Junction to the East Entrance) on September 30, 2026. It reopened on October 9 on a temporary gravel surface, with repaving still to come. Hidden Canyon is closed, the East Rim Trail is partly closed by rockfall, and Observation Point can only be reached from the east side.

Zion is the one long trip where driving yourself is reasonable, since from March to November the free shuttle does the canyon for you. Book a tour if you don't want five-plus hours at the wheel. The Zion-only small-group tour gives you the most time in this one park, with set stops at the visitor center (40 minutes), the Canyon Overlook Trail (90 minutes) and the Riverside Walk (40 minutes). Zion entry and lunch are included; tips of 15 to 20% and the nonresident fee are not. The Bryce and Zion tour has far more reviews and covers both parks in about 13 hours in a Mercedes Sprinter built to fit through the Zion tunnel, but reviewers say it leaves little time in Zion. During F1 week, November 18 to 22, its pickups are limited to Excalibur, Park MGM and Treasure Island.

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon's visitor center is about 265 miles from the Strip, so a day trip is about eight and a half hours of driving. It's on the nonresident fee list with Zion and the Grand Canyon. As a day trip it only makes sense combined with Zion, which is how the Bryce and Zion tour above does it. If you have more than a day, the three-day tour below covers the Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, Bryce and Zion with entry to all four and two hotel nights included, meals not included, and a 6:30am pickup at the Luxor North Entrance.

The Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon West, home of the Skywalk, is about 127 miles and 2 hours 45 minutes away; the Park Service says about 2 hours 15 minutes and the operator says 2 to 2.5. It's on the Hualapai Reservation, not in the national park, so national park passes don't work there and the $100 nonresident fee doesn't apply. The South Rim, inside Grand Canyon National Park, is about 4 hours 45 minutes each way, with $35 per car entry plus the nonresident fee. The Grand Canyon tours from Las Vegas guide compares the two rims, and the Skywalk guide covers tickets.

One drawback of the combo tours: the 17-hour Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend day spends about an hour at the Grand Canyon. It has 2,074 reviews at 4.8 stars, but go in knowing it's mostly a day on a bus.

Antelope Canyon

Page, Arizona, is about 277 miles and 4 hours 30 minutes from the Strip, and the canyons are visited on Navajo tours: Lower Antelope is $80.50 all-in at both of its operators. Canyon tours run on Arizona time, which matches Las Vegas until November 1, 2026 and is an hour ahead from then until March 14, 2027. The Antelope Canyon tours guide explains which day tours include the Navajo permit; the most-reviewed one does not.

Lake Mead boat tours

Lake Mead National Recreation Area charges $25 per car for one to seven days ($15 per person, $20 per motorcycle). Non-motorized boats such as kayaks need no vessel pass. The main sightseeing boat is the Desert Princess, a paddle-wheeler run by Lake Mead Cruises, the Park Service's concessioner, which sells a Lake Mead cruise, a Hoover Dam sightseeing cruise and a dinner cruise.

The 90-minute midday cruise below is the Desert Princess trip to the upstream face of Hoover Dam. It leaves from Hemenway Harbor in Boulder City, there's no transport from the Strip, and you need the $25 Lake Mead pass for your car.

Who pays the $100 nonresident fee

New for 2026, visitors who are not US residents and are 16 or older pay a $100 per-person nonresident fee on top of the normal entrance fee at 11 national parks. From Las Vegas, the ones that matter are Zion, Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon National Park (the South and North Rims). Children under 16 pay nothing.

It applies on commercial tours as well. Both Zion tours sold on GetYourGuide say the fee is not in the tour price, so plan to pay it at the gate or carry a pass. The alternative is the $250 America the Beautiful nonresident annual pass, which covers the holder plus three nonresidents in a commercial group. For four adults from overseas, that's $400 in fees for one South Rim or Zion day; on a tour, a single $250 annual pass covers the holder and three others.

Plenty of day trips skip it entirely. Death Valley and Lake Mead are national park units that are not on the list. Grand Canyon West is Hualapai land. Red Rock Canyon is run by the BLM and Valley of Fire by Nevada State Parks, so neither has the fee. Horseshoe Bend, in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, is not on the list either.