I would like to go skiing to Mammoth Lakes at end of March.We would like to drive from Las Vegas.Can somebody tell me if the drive is scenic or boring.Is it worthy to fly to Vegas and spend 1 night and drive?Or is it better to fly to Fresno?Flight tickets are significantly cheaper to LV.

You most definitely DON"T want to fly into Fresno. You cannot get to the east side of the Sierra w/o driving all the way south to Bakersfield and then up 395. That is nearly 400 miles by road. Half of this route is booooring down the central alley.

The drive over from Las vegas is also nearly 400 miles but is very scenic.

But even better - fly into Reno which is only about 160 miles.

oops - "Central Valley. . . ."

If you go via Pahrump, NV into Death Valley and thence across to Lone Pine and up 395 to Mammoth you'll have a very scenic trip. Only one lone outpost for food, etc betweem Stove Pipe Wells in the Park and Lone Pine.
That time of the year, as janisj says from Fresno you have to go north to Sacrament or south to Bakersfield to find a pass across the Sierra that's open.
Reno is the best bet if you want to fly to LV. You could also fly United to LAX and United Express to IYK, but that's still about 200 miles from Mammoth.
The new Mammoth Village built by Intrawest is a great base for Mammoth Mountain. nice condos upstairs with shops and restaurants on the ground floor.

Thanks for the input.I was thinking,that we would fly to LAS,spend night,drive to Mammoth Lakes spend 4 or 5 nights and drive back to Las and spend a night there and fly back home.Do you think is it feasible at end of the March?And where do you think we should stay?We are 2 adults with 8 y. old who never seen snow,but we ski.

That is a plan - but it is a loooong drive over from Vegas. Can you get good flights/fares to Reno instead? It would take half as long to drive down from Reno. Maybe 5.5 or 6 hours from LV, about 3 hours from Reno.

W/ a child along, a 6 hour drive could be a real pain. . . .

Take a look at Alligiant airlines flying out of Stockton to LAS. I don't know where you are coming from but that is a pretty cheap and quick flight.

The drive from LAS to Mammoth in March would be great. Most of the drive is low so you shouldn't have much issue with snow.

You can drive from the central valley via Hwy 88 to Hwy 395 which is really a pretty awesome drive. It just depends on where you are coming from on "this" side of the Sierra's.

Why are you sending these poor people to Stockton? That is worse than Bakersfield

janisj - it's even worse than Fresno!

"it's even worse than Fresno!"

Yeah - true enough!

jilkovina: In winter your best bets are

1) fly into Reno and drive down in about 3 hours,

or 2) IF you can't get a good fare into Reno, fly into Vegas and drive up in about 6 hours.

Forget about flying into Fresno, Stockton or really anywhere else in CA. Sacramento wouldn't be terrible - but still a loooooooong drive. So stick to options #1 and #2 above -- and #1 if at all possible.

>>oops - "Central Valley. . . ." <<

I don't know - driving on Hwy. 99 feels like you're driving down the Central alley...

Lee Ann, who will be doing just that in a little over a week

OK ,we will fly from Tallahassee Florida to Atlanta and than LAS.To Reno we would have to fly through ATL to Los Angeles and than to Reno.
Even if I would like to go to Mammoth,my DH don't want to spend to much time in the car.
Now I am thinking to go to Breckenridge instead,since we will go at the spring break(beginning at April)these 2 places and also possible Mount Hood will have snow.
But we are 2 skiing adults and 8 y. old who never seen snow,we also would like some accomodation what would have kids club as well.So where to go?