I will be in Las Vegas in April and want to go on a day trip with a tour company (don't want to rent a car). I have already been to Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam and hesitate between the Valley of Fire and Death Valley. What is your opinion on each?

They are very different.

VoF has neat rock formations, interesting hikes, one to Mouse's tank that has petroglyphs all over the rocks on one side of the path, some old CCC cabins, a small VC and is about an hour from Vegas.

Death Valley is awesome. It is about 100 miles long, and north of the VC is Scotty's Castle, Ubehebe crater, Borax Works, etc , south of VC is Artist's Pallet drive, Devil's golf course, Badwater, way below sea level, the lowest point in the US, etc. It is a little over 2 hours from Vegas.

Both are well worth visiting.

Death Valley in one day would be a lot of driving, but it is the more exotic of your two options. Check Las Vegas Groupon for possible discounts.

HTTY

Thank you both for your answers. Will check Groupon.

I wouldn't do Death Valley unless I had 2-3 days. But, I don't think the Grand Canyon is a day trip either(not sure how you did it).

Another option is Red Rock Canyon. I have been to it, but not V of F. So I can't compare the two. I think both would offer nice hiking and not be very crowded.

I did it with a tour and it was a looooong day !

I've done Death Valley as a day trip several times. We start early as we are on eastern time, my favorite way to go is to go north on 95 from Vegas, go west at Beaty, stop at the ghost town Rhyolite which is just a short way off the road, spend 10 minutes or so, stop at the top of the crest where there are public toilet, and take in the panorama of DV. Then when you get down into the valley, go south, stop at the Borax works, stop at the VC, go to Devil's golf course, go to Badwater, go back north, do Artist Pallet loop, head east with a stop at Zabriski Point, then hit the road back to Vegas through Parumph.

This is an all day trip and you need to pick up drinks, snacks, and/or sandwiches before you go or on the way. We usually hit the breakfast buffet by 6:30 and get back to Vegas in the early evening.

Not sure about Death Valley, but I know Avatar Tours (www.avatartours.com) has a reasonably priced Valley of Fire Tour. Valley of Fire is probably a half day tour, Death Valley is an all day tour.

One of the better known companies that goes to the great places.
Pink Jeep tours. http://www.pinkjeep.com/jeep-tours/lasvegas/

Follow-up : fate decided for me. I booked the VoF tour but it was cancelled because there were not enough people. So I went to Death Valley instead with the same company - roughly the same itinerary as indicated by emalloy -. It was a wonderful tour. Thank you again all.

Glad you had a good trip. Thanks for the follow up.