We will be in Pomona Ca. in late July for a very short time. Would like to at least drive down Las Vegas strip one time while we are this close. We will have rental car with unlimited mileage. Can we drive to Las Vegas
for a day? Is the desert crossing a tough drive? How long a drive is it? Any advice or
infomation would br helpful.
Thank You
An East Coaster

I believe,without traffic,the drive from LA to LV is about 4-5 hours.It would be a pretty long day .And I don't remember the drive being tough,just boring

A day trip is not enough time. You're looking at 5 hours one way. There is nothing exciting to look out at during the entire trip either. At least spend one night in LV.

Driving to Vegas isn't problematic, it's the horrendous traffic on the drive back to LA... it's very inexpensive to fly Southwest (cost of premium car gasoline roundtrip)... from the airport, take a cab to Aladdin Hotel in the middle of the Strip and walk the strip, you will see so much more without the obnoxious traffic.

From Pomona, you're looking at about a 3-4 hour drive in optimum conditions. I say, go for it and take a ride there, but you may want to spend the night, not necessarily in Vegas, maybe in Jean or another border city - much cheaper there and all you really want to do in Vegas is sightsee anyway.

Or, you could check out Southwest airlines from Ontario Airport to Vegas - shouldn't run you more than $100 RT for each person. But, from home-airport, airport-strip, waiting time in airports, you're looking at about 4 hours total, 1/2 the driving time.

On the other hand, the desert is gorgeous, if lonely and desolate. I think it's spectacular.

It's a long long day. There is so much to see in Vegas that you won't want to leave until you absolutely HAVE to. Then about 1/2 hour into your drive back to Pomona you will be desperately trying to find ways to stay awake on the long desolate drive.

You should have flown INTO L.A. and OUT OF Las Vegas, then rented a car just one way. These flights still count as a round trip. You might check with the airline you are flying, a very nice supervisor might just allow you to change your tickets.

It's a very hot drive during late July, so I'd suggest that you make the drive at night after the sun's set.

We're going to make the same drive for the first time from Anaheim to Las Vegas and then from Vegas to San Diego! We don't relish the long drive in the August heat but hope it goes well. Plan to stop at the Primm, NV outlet (a little >3 hours drive from CA) before hitting Vegas -- heard that was a good stop before lunch. It's going to be our first time to go to Vegas and we'll be staying there for a couple of nights so we're definitely looking forward to the trip. Check out MapQuest online or if you're a AAA member, get a triptik online as well. They'll give you the approximate travel time for your road trip. Good luck!

The suggestion to drive at night is a good one. Less traffic and the city nevers sleeps, so it won't matter what time you arrive.

Used to live in Pasadena. REally dislike Las Vegas but it was somewhere that so many of our houseguests wanted to go. So, we would leave Pasadena about 8 pm--as I remember it was about 3 hours without traffic through Barstow on I 15. From Pomona you're even closer to Las Vegas than we were in Pasadena. Just take I 10 to I 15 and then turn east. As someone said, it doesn't matter what time you arrive in Las Vegas since it goes 24/7. If you went the night before, you could drive in the coolness of the evening, stay one day and then leave very early---like 4 am to drive back to California. Hotel rates should be way down in late July, and all you'd want is a place to sleep a couple hours before heading back to California. Bring some drinking water just in case you have problems. It's not a tough drive, but it can kill you with boredom!

From the eastern part of Los Angeles county, it takes me about 3 1/4 hours to drive to Las Vegas when there's no traffic. If you're doing the drive Friday afternoon (to LV) or Sunday afternoon (from LV) when most people from SoCal are going to Vegas for the weekend, then the drive can stretch into 4-5 hours. It's an easy drive, but a hot, boring one and a very long day. Better to spend one night or fly (the Ontario airport is really close to Pomona).