How long would it take to drive *leisurely* from Las Vegas to Zion? We will be stopping at Hoover Dam (just to see it) and the Valley of Fire.

Bobbie

Just in driving time you are looking at 5 1/2 to 6 hours.

Utahtea

Utahtea, are you sure? I thought LV to Zion was about 2.5-3 hours. I've done it several times.

However, Hoover Dam is NOT on the way...it's in the opposite direction.

Suzanne,

Hoover dam is out of the way and then you either have to double back to I-15 or take the slow going route along Lake Mead. Time wise it's a toss up. (I'm not at home so I don't have my map software handy).

Then it takes time to drive to Valley of Fire because it's a little out of the way or if you came up along Lake Mead then you have to drive in and back out.

Utahtea

I'm the original poster. Here's what I had planned. We would drive to Hoover Dam and then take Rte. 169N to I15 stopping at Valley of Fire on the way. It appears on the map that I can get to Valley of Fire off Rte. 169. Am I correct? Okay, now that you know the route we are planning on taking, would would be your estimate on leisurely driving time to Zion from Vegas? Would the 5 1/2-6 hours be about right?

Is Hoover Dam worth seeing? I think I actually selected that route because it appeared that Rte. 169 is a scenic route. Am I mistaken?

Bobbie

Just got back from Hoover Dam. It is awesome!! You must stop and take the tour. You will be so glad you did it.

Hi Bobbie,

I plugged in the stops and I upped the speed limits and the fastest I got was 4 hours 40 minutes.

It's been a long time since we drove Hwy 169. It was just a slow going two lane highway. It's a nice drive but you don't see much of Lake Mead from what I remember. You won't save much time by going back to I-15 so I would go this route.

I haven't taken this damm tour but I always think it's interesting to see the damms.

Utahtea

I finally got smart and moved a road atlas to near the computer.

It looks like 169 does a loop on I-15, from Glendale in the north, around through the Valley of Fire. 167 seems to be the road running south, from the east end of VofF, along Lake Mead down toward Las Vegas.

To be honest (and we didn't take the tour,) we weren't really impressed with Hoover Dam. Got a picture of both front and back. The back is nice, but the front has enough iron cages hanging on it to provide a fair-size zoo. Pix at http://community.webshots.com/user/bookhall .

We went through the area going south. Came off I-15, spent 2-3 hours in the Valley of Fire, then onto 167. Stopped at a nice marina, breaking up that drive along the 2-lane blacktop. Utahtea's right--most of the time you don't even know the lake's off to the left. Better than backtracking, though.

Just got back on Sat. from Vegas. We've done the drive to Zion and it's about 2.5 hrs. North. Also worth seeing is Bryce - just past Zion & totally different -- we loved that. It was about 3 hrs. to there.

In order to truly enjoy Zion & Valley of Fire, you almost should make 2 separate trips. Valley of Fire is awesome & is 1 hr. North of the City. To allow time to drive through all of it and get out and do some walking, I personally feel I'd rather do that one day & leave a day for the other. That way you might be able to enjoy Zion & Bryce as well.

We were in Vegas for one week & 2 different day trips still allows plenty of time to enjoy everything in Vegas.

This year we went to Valley of Fire one day & then drove 2.5 hrs. west to enjoy Death Valley.