I am trying tofind the fastest way to get to Las Vegas from the Palm Desert/Palm Springs area. From looking at the map it seems there are 2 options-one being back tracking a bit on rte. 10 and picking up rte. 15, and the other being smaller roads such as rte. 62 to 40 to 15.Doea anyone have any advice as to which is faster? Thanks.

Take the 10 W to the 215 North then 15 north all the way. Don't do this between 12 noon on a Friday and 7pm on a Saturday because you will hit terrible traffic...and dangerous because of road construction that's going on there.

Doing the return trip on a Sunday is also not recommended.

A year ago I went from PalmDesert to Laughlin by taking 10 East, picking up 177 to 62 to 95 North. I shaved off about an hour this way, believe it or not.I asked the locals and this is what they suggested. There was no problem with these roads. There's no way I'd backtrack to take 15 N.

Thanks for the info. How long of a drive is it?

Fastest way:

Take any of the major north-south arterials from Palm Desert to I-10, i.e. Cook, Monterey or Bob Hope. Go west on I-10 and exit at the junction with Highway 62, going north toward Yucca Valley. In Yucca Valley, take Highway 247 (Old Woman Springs Road) west to the junction with Highway 18. Stay on 247, which turns to the north and goes into Barstow. Then, get on Interstate 15 to Vegas. This will save time compared to going up I-10 to San Bernardino and taking the I-215 and I-15 through the Cajon Pass.

We just drove from the Indio area to Las Vegas on backroads -- it was totally desolate and very fast, hardly any traffic. Plus, amazing scenery. We took I-10 east to Desert Center and headed north on 177 to 62, which we took east to Vidal Junction, then took U.S. 95 north to Vegas and got on I-515 to get into town. (I'm sure those directions work just as well in reverse.) Like I said, hardly any traffic and great scenery. Just gas up, because it's a long way from place to place out there.