Best Vegas Desert Day Trips

This guide covers day trips within about an hour of Las Vegas, for visitors needing a break from the Strip and locals with a free weekend. The routes head west to Red Rock Canyon, northeast to Overton, southeast to Boulder City, up into the Spring Mountains and south toward Sloan and Nelson.

Red Rock Canyon's 13-mile one-way scenic drive links trailheads like Calico Tanks and Ice Box Canyon. At Valley of Fire, Nevada's oldest state park, look for Elephant Rock, the Fire Wave and the Atlatl Rock petroglyphs. You can walk across the top of Hoover Dam for free, then take in the view from the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. Mount Charleston runs roughly 20 degrees cooler in summer, with hikes to Mary Jane Falls. Summer heat is dangerous in the desert, so hike early and bring water to Seven Magic Mountains, which has no restrooms.