Las Vegas to Austin, Texas

Which route should I TAKE 1-40 OR I-10?

I prefer the route that has more to see along the route and has better options for places to stay and eat.

Thanks

Welcome to RTA!

No matter which way you go, you will be traveling through some very sparsely settled areas. There are 2 efficient ways to do it, both take 2.5 days:

US-93 to Kingman/I-40 to Santa Rosa/US-84/I-20 to Abilene/TX-36/US-183
Overnights in Albuquerque and Abilene.

US-93 to Phoenix/I-10/US-290
Overnights in Tucson and Fort Stockton.

I don't know of anything that would recommend one way over the other unless you wanted to spend an extra day on the road and go to the Grand Canyon.

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Realizing, of course, that you can't take either I-10 or I-40 all the way from Las Vegas to Austin (Neither Interstate goes through Austin, after all) you're question is really whether it would be better to take a southerly route through Phoenix and El Paso, or a northerly route through Albuquerque and Lubbock. Both would take about two and a half days to drive, leaving you with a few hours to see some things and still make Austin by the end of the your third day on the road. So what would the tow drives look like, roughly?

The southerly route would have you perhaps spending overnights in Tucson AZ and Fort Stockton TX. Stops on the first day could be at Hoover Dam, Phoenix, or Casa Grande National Monument; on the second day at Kartchner Caverns or Guadeloupe Mountains National Park; and on the third day at the Fort Lancaster State Historic Site and/or the LBJ Ranch outside Fredericksburg.

The northerly route would have you perhaps spending overnights in Gallup NM and Lubbock TX. Stops on the first day could be at Hoover Dam, Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, or Petrified Forest National Park; on the second day at Petroglyph National Monument outside Albuquerque, in Fort Sumner, or at the Buddy Holly Museum in Lubbock; and on the third day at the Big Springs State Park and/or (again) the LBJ Ranch outside Fredericksburg.

There really is no wrong way, just whichever way suits you best.

AZBuck

I was told 1-10 would be the preferred way, seems like either way cant go wrong, I think I will go the I-10 route. All the best.

In the springtime, I-10 would be a great route. From experience, though, if your trip is in June or any of the summer months, make sure that the A/C in your car is working well. Between Phoenix and western Texas in the summer, it can get pretty HOT.


Donna