Boise to Los Angeles

[michr]

Hello! I (female) am planning a trip from Boise, ID to Los Angeles this summer with my two children who will be 14 and 12. I will be renting a car. I think that I have decided to take the 15 through Salt Lake to Vegas onto L.A. My question is what time should I plan to leave Boise, how long should I plan to drive and where should we stop along the way. We do have friends in Vegas so that is an option. Thanks in advance!

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to RTA !

It really depends on your goals for the road trip, is it to get there as soon as possible or to sight see along the way. If it's to get there quickly then Las Vegas is right on the limit of what we would recommend as a safe journey and I would say only if your kids are good travellers. However if you wanted to go to SLC it adds another 140 miles and over an hour of extra driving over using the US93 option and then you would be looking to stop before Vegas. You would need to get an early start and expect to be on the road for around 12 hours with regular breaks, plus gas, bathroom and fuel stops using US93. If you took I5 and wanted to complete the journey in 2 days then Cedar City would be a good overnight area, although a 3 day trip would be more relaxed and fun for the family.

[DonnaR57]

If you took I5 and wanted to complete the journey in 2 days then Cedar City would be a good overnight area, although a 3 day trip would be more relaxed and fun for the family.

Using I-15, another thought: Cedar City is about 592 miles from Boise. If you wanted to take a shorter day, Beaver (50 miles before Cedar City, heading south) has a number of choices -- Best Western, Day's Inn, Rodeway, Super 8, some mom-and-pops, Quality Inn, Comfort Inn.

If you wanted to stay with your friends in LV, then you could split the Boise to LV portion into 2 days by staying overnight in Salt Lake City -- 340 miles -- then going into LV the following day -- 420 miles. That's what we'd do! We'd use that shorter day by doing some sightseeing around SLC.

As Dave said, "it really depends on your goals for the road trip".


Donna

[michr]

My goal is to get there as soon as possible. The kids are great travelers. We go to Salt Lake every year so Im not interested in sight seeing. I really just want the quickest and safest route with civilization. I would feel safer knowing that that gas, food and a hotel are not far away if needed.
Also, what if my destination was not Los Angeles but Valencia, Ca?

[Midwest Michael]

If you're going to Valencia, I'd actually look at heading across Northern Nevada, instead of going via Las Vegas.

I think the route that would work best for you would be to take US-95 south to Winnemucca, Nevada, and then use I-80 and I-5 all the way to SoCal. This would be more than 100 miles shorter than using I-15 through SLC, and would still be all freeway except for that first section down to I-80. The Sacramento area is where I would look to spend the night.

Another alternative would be to use US-395 and come past Lake Tahoe and go down the east side of the Sierras, which is going to mean more two lane roads, but it isn't as remote as some of the options driving down through Nevada. There would still be a fair amount of services this way, but not as many as if you stick to the freeway.

[DonnaR57]

FWIW, I concur with MMichael: take US 95 to Winnemucca, I-80 west through Sparks, Truckee, then I-5 south to Valencia. It is about 920 miles so it is a 1-1/2 to 2 day drive. With the traffic between Sparks and Sacramento on 80, and then the traffic on the 5 until after the connection to 205/580, though, you may not just speed through very easily.


Donna

[glc]

My software concurs with the US-95/I-80/I-5 recommendation, with an overnight in Reno.

If you are going to Valencia and want to go through Las Vegas, you can take I-84/I-15 to LV, then I-15 to Victorville, then CA-18/CA-138/CA-14. However, trying to make it to LV the first day is too much of a stretch, Cedar City is as far as you should try for.