Zorak

While I agree with their worth (though I've only been to Death Valley a couple times and not made it to Sequoia yet), and they would be reasonable side trips, DV is a significant detour from driving LAS to LAX, and there is no sense of the phrase in which Sequoia/Kings Canyon are "on the way"

Mojave National Preserve is most directly on the route, of course.

In the "reasonable side trip" category there's also Joshua Tree.

​​​​​​I second the recommendation to spend extra time at Grand Canyon.

DenverBrian

Stay in Sedona instead. Laughlin/Bullhead City are way out of the way from Las Vegas and the GC.

_fx

Ok, you're right it's not technically on the way :-P. But consider this -- OP is thinking of driving out-and-back to Death Valley, which takes 5 hours (2.5 hours each way). Meanwhile, LAX -> southern part of Sequoia NF (near Lake Isabella) -> Death Valley -> LAS is 8 hours. So for just an extra 3 hours driving, he gets a beautiful ride thru Sequoia NF and avoids flying completely (which will certainly take more than 3 hours once everything is factored in).

Edit: One negative is this requires a one-way car rental, which might cost more. Also, I think OP already booked his plane tickets. But hopefully this comment is useful for any future itineraries. I did this exact route when I had 1-2 days to get from LAS-LAX and I thought it was quite nice.

HMPS

You would like the Gold Coast too ! Across from Palms & Rio Suites, shuttle to the strip.Cheaper food and $ 3 - 5 Blackjack, sometimes two decks.

bwiadca

The reason for Laughlin was to be within 2 hours of GC. Also, I want to spend couple of hours one afternoon at Kingman
Sedona seems nice, but it's 4 hours from LAS airport. I'm still working on the itinerary. I will have to finalize everything today.

Thanks

DenverBrian

Why?

Zorak

I concur it's only ~4.5 hrs by car from LV to either rim of the Grand Canyon.

WillCAD

Okay, I just got back from my trip and can add a recommendation: I stayed at the Eastside Cannery, a small casino hotel way off the Strip on Boulder Highway, on the east side of Vegas. It's about a 15-20 minute drive to the Strip, but the lower cost made it well worth the location for me - my room averaged under $60 a night, plus a $20 resort fee. The hotel itself looks pretty new, and the quality of the rooms (I did two stays, before and after my RV road trip) were excellent. Only one dining option, a casual place called Snaps which had very good food and very low prices (by Vegas standards - I'd rate them equal to a chain restaurant like Fridays or PF Changs but cheaper). But other dining options, as well as a movie theater and bigger casino, are just up the street at Sam's Town. The Cannery is the only high rise in the neighborhood, so views from the upper floors are spectacular - the Strip to the west, and mountains everywhere else. The casino is small, so it's a short walk from the parking lot to the guest elevators (park on the north side of the hotel next to Harmon Ave for easy access plus easy entry/exit from the parking lot).

Eastside Cannery on Google Maps



While staying at the Cannery, I also discovered a really nice nearby attraction - the Clark County Wetlands Park, a beautiful strip of greenery in the middle of the desert with paved walking paths, free admission, and almost no crowds. Well worth a couple of hours of your time, IMHO.

bwiadca

My trip was also completed mid May and I can tell you how it was
Arrived at LAS airport Wednesday around 10am. Took Uber to Paris hotel ($11). Had option to check in early for $20 which we did. Had new, renovated Burgundy room for $85 a night. With resort fees, taxes it came out to be $280 for the stay. I can't believe they get away with resort fees. Why government wont regulate them like they did with airlines? $42 a night for what?
Friday we checked out and took Uber back to the airport ($12). Flew to LAX for the weekend using Delta miles.
In LA stayed in DoubleTree by Manhattan Beach. Saturday morning went to the city for the first time ever (I've been to LA 28 times before). By coincidence we had family members in town the same weekend.
Obligatory stop at the Hollywood sign, then we went to Beverly Hills and to Santa Monica pier. I'm actually happy now that I haven't been to the city before. I can compare LA to Richmond VA but with bigger traffic.
Flew back to LAS on Sunday evening. Rented a car (got upgrade to Mercedes C300 convertible at Hertz), and drove to Laughlin where we stayed at Harrah's. Total for 2 nights at Harrah's was $80 including resort fee with free parking. Room was nice and clean, maybe recently renovated. Food choices at Harrah's were very limited. We wanted to eat at Guy Fiery's Mexican restaurant, but they closed it by 8pm! The only other option was Shake Shack which is open till 10pm. Also, we were probably the youngest people in that casino. Monday morning, at 6am I saw about 10 buses picking up senior citizens from the side casino door.
From Laughlin we went to see Grand Canyon (another rip off if you go to Eagle View point - only $120 for 2 tickets)), went to Joshua Tree Forest and aircraft boneyard at Kingman airport.
Our last day we've spent at Westin Lake Las Vegas using my Bonvoy points. Nice hotel if you want to relax from the poker machines. Only 30 minutes away from LAS airport.

Overall it was fun trip. Enjoyed our time spent on the West coast, but it's definitely last time that I've stayed at any hotel in Las Vegas which charges resort fee and for the parking.
My wife didn't like LA and LAS, but she really liked Arizona. So our next visit to the left coast will be to Sedona.

Thanks again for your posts with the info

Tanic

Eagle point and Skywalk is pretty much a carnival atmosphere heavily marketed as "Grand Canyon West". In reality it is on the Hualapai (Indian) Reservation about 100 miles from GCN.

Go see the real GC National Park on your next trip.

DenverBrian

Although it's now $30 to get into a national park.

Zorak

It varies by park. Some, including Grand Canyon, have gone up to $35. (There are others that are less than $30)

https://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/fees.htm

An annual parks pass (good for all National Parks and "Federal recreation sites that charge an Entrance or Standard Amenity Fee") is $80, worth it if you think you will visit a couple high-fee parks, or just as a worthy cause.

Loren Pechtel

Yup. The parks keep going up, the annual pass doesn't.

United16

Haha yeah this tends to be an older and somewhat of a "redneck" crowd; especially when comparing it to LV. From where I am it's a slightly shorter drive than going to LV and tends to be quite a bit cheaper. There are some fun things in the area, like renting Seadoo and going on the river or renting a boat on Lake Mohave. We usually will go there to meet up with the in-laws since they like it more than LV