Quote Originally Posted by faen420
Im traveling from Puerto Rico to do a road trip from Las Vegas to San Francisco ; stopping in Los Angeles (Santa Monica). I have done other road trips
Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum.
My main concern is the route to take from Las Vegas to Santa Monica. I have the option to take the I-15 and I-10 for just a 5 hour drive to Santa Monica.
It is technically possible to cover that distance in five hours, but more likely it would be 5.5 hours.
Or my preferred option to go across Death Valley. From Las Vegas - # 95 then # 373 - Death Valley Junction - # 190 . Stops at Furnace Creek , Dante's View , Stovepipe Wells and continue # 190 until # 395 and drive south to Santa Monica . That route is like 9 hour drive , plus the stops , maybe gets up to 12 hours or more.
It would be about seven hours and 3-4 for stops, so you could figure 10 hours more or less. But it is really out of the way to go to Death Valley Junction on US-95 from Las Vegas. You would want to go NV-160 to Pahrump and then to Shoshone and into the park. That way you could stop at Artist's Palette, Devil's Golfcourse, etc. Dante's View is still closed -- the road was washed out a year ago. When you reach SR-14 (from US-395) at Inyokern you will actually save time if you head SW on SR-14 to I-5 to I-405 to Santa Monica.
Im visiting in early August , will it be dangerously hot in the valley ? should i avoid that route ??
Hundreds of tourists visit Death Valley in August. Read these tips and you will be fine.

Mark