You say you don't have time for a vacation? Do you have 2 days? Yes, I do. That was me not too long ago. Can you do a quick 2 day vacation from LA to Grand Canyon to Vegas and back in 2 days? I did and I lived to tell about it (and what to look out for next time)
When you do a last minute trip, it can be costly because you don't have the luxury to compare prices and research reviews. So you do what I did, do it the night before or day of (just kidding, don't do that).
The itinerary is as follows:
Friday
- Leave 12:00 midnight on bus to Las Vegas
- arrive 5:30 am and uber/lyft to the car rental place and head to Grand Canyon/Valley of Fire
- arrive 9:30 am Valley of Fire stay for 2 hours and leave at 11:30am to Grand Canyon
- arrive 3:00 pm Grand Canyon stay for 2 hours leave to Las Vegas
- Return 7:00pm to Las Vegas and check in to hotel
- check Las Vegas nightlife 10:00 pm
Saturday
- check out hotel 12:00 pm
- Walk around Las Vegas
Sunday
- Leave 12:30 am midnight/morning Sunday on bus back to LA
Note to self | No matter how short the vacation period is, giving yourself enough time to plan will make the trip less stressful and you don't have to run around with your head cut off.
Step 1) Planning last minute...I mean planning
Keep it close to home but far enough to feel like you're going somewhere pretty far.
Packing | Keep it light (couple of clothes, shoes, toiletries, etc)
Transportation | Taking the midnight bus from LA to Las Vegas.
Thursday night, we used the Flix Bus (Megabus, Greyhound or Amtrak) which was around $62.00 for two people and takes 5 hours. Why the bus and not fly or drive?
Flying is more expensive but saves time (find a good deal before hand)
Driving is less expensive but mentally/physically tiring
Driving with a rental (same as above)
Use those driving hours for sleep and you can use
They have bus departure in the middle of the night
Friday morning, arrived around 5:30 am and realized that the car rental places do not open until 6:00 am so we went into the Wynn Hotel to get some breakfast.
Uber/lyft to the McCarran Car Rental Center (7135 Gilespie St, Las Vegas, NV 89119) which is several car rental place in one, like airport but for cars...carport. Note that they state that the price changes so be careful if you go during high traffic season.
We got our car and went straight for the Valley of Fire state park first (warning: make sure you google Valley of Fire state park or Valley of Fire visitor center and not "Valley of Fire", we almost off roaded and the tire got stuck (spoiler, we got ourselves unstuck). DO NOT BE DECEIVED! NOT AN ACTUAL SPOT.
There's an actual road you can take and entrance. Go google, Valley of Fire visitor center. Especially if it is your first, it has a bathroom and little shop. Also informational on which hiking trails to take or history of the park.
We went to the Valley of Fire first because it was only 56.1 mile (1 h 4 min) from Las Vegas. We left the car rental around 7:00 am and got there around 9:00 am (if we didn't take the wrong route, we would have been there earlier)
We went to the visitor center and afterwards we drove a little further and saw some rams so please drive slowly. We didn't want take too long in Valley of fire so we just drove for a bit and then started to head towards Grand Canyon.
I saw online about the Skywalk so I googled directions there which is Grand Canyon West. When we got there after 2.5 hours of driving (Beautiful scenic drive btw), you had to park in this area and you see helicopters and a huge tent. Apparently, you cannot drive in, you need purchase a shuttle ticket that takes you to 3 points of the canyon and you can buy the skywalk ticket. We did buy it because why not.
The total was $88.63 for both the shuttle and skywalk. I think it was run by the Native Americans there so it was cool in that sense. However the skywalk was ok, the clear floor was hard to see thru after many scratches and you can't take photos (no cameras or phones allowed).
Outside of the premise was historical Native American homes which was pretty cool and a reminder that they graced this land before "us".
If you just want to experience the Grand Canyon as a tourist, this is a great introduction but not a hiking spot, you will need to go through a different entrance. Great place for photoshoots!
Afterwards, we took the shuttle back to the main tent and drove back to Las Vegas around 4:30pm. It's good to have another person that can drive so you can switch. We slept while the other person drove for an hour and switched.
We arrived at our hotel around 6:30pm (just in time to check in which was at 3:00pm). The reason why we went to Grand canyon first was we knew we couldn't check in until after 3:00 pm).
Our hotel was a quite a bit off the strip and the hotel was called Baymont by Wyndham. They offered free breakfast which was fruits, yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, bread, waffles and coffee (so don't expect too much). The plan was to go out to the strip and check the nightlife. However the long drive took a toll on us and we took a nap.
Next morning, we woke up around 6:00 am to return the car back to the rental since we need to return within 24 hours. I returned the car and ubered back to the hotel. Got breakfast around 8:00 am and relaxed until our check out around 12:00 pm (They will charge you if you are a minute late).
Got our stuff and started our first stop to Luxor which is the edge of the strip via uber/lyft. We took so many photos and we were trying to find an ATM. Note the ATM at the casinos will charge you crazy fees so try to find a 7-11.
You can book shows since we had the whole day from 12:00 noon to 12:00 midnight to explore Las Vegas. There's so many amazing shows, casinos and hotels to check out and even free shows like ballegio's water show and the mirage volcano show.
We went the cheap route and explore the place and take photos. We went to the Linq around where the big wheel is and ate at Maxi and got the Turkey club. Should have ordered one because it was huge.
Then we got tired and headed to the bus stop and left Las Vegas around midnight.
Afterwards, we were tired especially carrying our bags around, sometimes the concierge at the hotel can keep your bags even after you check out (depends on the hotel).
Overall, the trip was great for two days of exploring nature and the city. There's a few things I would do differently.
Plan ahead and book the hotel and car rental before hand.
Choose a hotel closer to the strip, there are cheaper option (then you won't need an uber)
Find hotel to hold your luggage, just tip them
Grand Canyon entrance to the state park (skywalk is not necessary)
Map your route ahead of time and research
Have fun
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