Montreal to Las Vegas and back

[iwhat]

Hey guys,

I stumbled across this great, informative forum while researching ideas for a road trip I am planning for July 2011.

My girlfriend and I have 15 days to travel from Montreal to Las Vegas for an event, and back.

I'm hoping to get some of your suggestions for must-see attractions and best scenic roads.

We are not into the whole touristy thing, we prefer a local experience in all the cities we'll visit.

Here is a rough itinerary for the way there.

- Head down to Boston
- Drive west to Chicago, stopping at whatever city/town along the way that seems interesting
- Head west through Omaha or Kansas City
- Keep going west to Utah where we will drive down State Route 12
- Arrive in Vegas

Is this feasible in a week? We'd maybe do 3 overnight stops on the way.

On the way back, we will go through the southern US

- Head to AZ (either Flagstaff, Phoenix or Tucson) (?)
- Then Albuquerque and Santa Fe
- Dallas or Austin, Texas
- Then Memphis, maybe Nashville
- Depending on time, either keep going east to NC or northeast towards home

As you can see, this is a very rough itinerary and I'm open to any suggestions on scenic routes and interesting cities for this trip.

I know 15 days is not much time, but we'll try to make the most of it.

Our choices were either fly to Vegas just for the weekend to attend the event, or make this a more memorable trip by driving instead.

I appreciate your time and suggestions. :)

Cheers!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

It is certainly possible to drive to Vegas in a week, however, your current route and the idea that you'd only stop overnight "maybe 3" times is not reasonable.

Going the most direct route, via Toronto and Chicago, you're looking at 2600 miles which is at least a 5 day trip, especially if you spend any time off the interstate. Going to Boston adds a full 500 miles, which is a full day on the road all by itself.

Similarly, going via Austin also makes it a 3200 mile trip, which is a 6 day trip, and adding in NC pushes it to 7 days - again these are full days using interstate freeways only.

What you certainly could do is a loop where you head out basically the way you described, excluding Boston, and then head back via I-40 as far as Nashville, and then head north through Cleveland and Buffalo. That's going to likely be a 6 day trip too, but at least you'd have time to possibly make some short stops for exploration along the way. Any stops on the east coast really have to wait for another day.

Another idea, if you've got 2 weeks available would be to fly to Vegas, and then spend your two weeks exploring the west, including California and the many national parks of the region.