Getting Off The Strip: The Best Day Trips Out Of Las Vegas

Whether you want to get off the Strip to enjoy Western scenery, to go boating or fishing, to learn about the history of the West, or to spend a special day with your kids, you can make an easy day trip from Las Vegas. Many interesting destinations are less than 50 miles from the Strip, yet seem like a world away.

The Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is only a half hour’s drive from the Strip. It is an area of spectacular Western scenery. Easy and intermediate hiking trails wend their way through its magnificent rock canyons, and its lofty sandstone walls and peaks can be climbed.

Along with its various rock formations, its petrified wood fossils and its sand dunes which make it a geologist’s dream, Red Rock is home to a wide variety of desert plants and animals.

Open year round, Red Rock welcomes guests with a fully accessible Visitors’ Center. Pets are welcomed and picnic areas are available. A scenic 13 mile loop road through the park allows both motorists and bicyclists to enjoy the stunning landscape.

Located near Red Rock is the . Formerly a privately owned ranch, this park offers guided tours of its historic ranch house and out buildings. There is a shaded picnic area at the park. Living history programs are presented in the spring and fall. In June, July and August, there is a summer theater.

Bonnie Springs Ranch, west of Red Rock, can provide a day of education and fun for kids and adults. The Old Nevada Western Town, an authentic replica of a 1880s mining town, is on the ranch. Melodramas, reenacted street fights and mock hangings are performed in the town Wednesdays through Sundays both summer and winter. A train ride runs through the town on weekends.

Bonnie Springs Ranch has a petting zoo, open seven days a week, featuring animals native to the area. Horseback riding is available. The Ranch boasts a full service restaurant featuring barbecue cooking.

Further south, in Eldorado Canyon, tours are given of the historic Techatticup Mine, the oldest and richest gold mine in the area. The temperature in the mine is 70 degrees year round so this walking tour can provide a relief from the desert heat in the summer.

Another way to beat the heat is participating in the many water activities, including boating, swimming, fishing and water skiing, at Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir which was formed by the building of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s. Hiking, biking, picnicking and camping are other popular activities in this National Recreation Area.

Tours of Hoover Dam and its power plant are available to those visiting this engineering marvel that has brought hydroelectric power and irrigation to much of the southwest.

Boulder City, originally built as a model city for the construction workers for the Dam, is the home of the Nevada State Railroad Museum, which features railroad themed exhibits and offers seven mile railroad excursions in 1911 cars along the Boulder Branch Line to Railroad Pass in the River Mountain Range on weekends.

Railroad buffs can also make reservations to experience running a diesel electric locomotive as an engineer for an hour on weekdays. These trips easily provide an interesting day away from the Las Vegas Strip.

About the Author:

John is a travel writer currently working on a new Las Vegas travel guide which will provide lots more useful information on day trips around Vegas.

Image credits: Red Rock Canyon by Nicola since 1972, Spring Mountain Ranch State Park by GSEC and Hoover Dam by dherrera_96.