Las Vegas to San Diego
 

I have a meeting in the fall and was wondering if anyone has made the drive from San Diego to Las Vegas. If so, any comments on how long it took, milage, what level of traffic to expect, etc.? I'd be driving on the 2nd of November with a return on the 7th. Thanks.

mapquest said 5h, but it took us about 3.5h, it all depends on traffic (like always) but we were lucky enough to have less traffic. Its a quite boring drive, just sand and more sand.

Don't forget to stop in Barstow its a must. Nothing there really but good food

One long straight road north on I 15. Not a lot of opportunity for steering input. :( About 6 hrs with light traffic (off peak hrs). About ten hrs if you try to go Friday 11am to 11pm (exasperating heavy traffic). My favorite Vegas travel window is to leave at 4am and get there B4 ten. Cool temps, very light traffic and sunrise in the desert is pretty amazing.

OOPS! My mistake -- I reversed my directions when I wrote the post. Thanks for the replies -- I got some idea from Map quest but was curious about the actual experience. I'm not too worried about the boring-ness of the drive, rather it is more about actual time spent/traffic concerns. I would think that there would be more traffic going to Las Vegas than that going to San Diego...? Am I right?

I would be going TO San Diego FROM Las Vegas on Friday the 2nd and returning on the 7th. Sorry about that.

It's about 320 miles. Traffic is the terrible going from San Diego to Vegas on Friday afternoon and evening. I would avoid driving to Vegas from SD at that time if at all possible. You shouldn't have any problems coming back on 11/7 since it's a Wednesday.

There is a little section where you can take the 215 to bypass part of the 15. I think it's a few miles more but I almost always take that route.

I think it's a boring drive by yourself though since it is basically straight. More fun to bring someone along! There are some sections where you can air it out and let it rip for sure, just be safe and wary of the highway patrol. There seems to be a lot of them near temecula, barstow, and victorville and all the bigger towns. There seem to be a lot of rice rockets near victorville and barstow, so don't be suprised when one tries to race you when you're passing through :rolleyes:

If you're in no rush to get there, stop by Temecula for some wine tasting, or Perris for some sky diving/veritcal wind tunnelling or hot air ballooning. At the very least have a burger at Bun Boy and ride the roller coaster at Whiskey Pete's in Primm.

Have fun and safe travels,
Larez2

oh just saw your update. Traffic won't be much of a problem from Vegas to San Diego on a Friday. It's not normally very heavy. If you get back to San Diego during rush hour 4-6pm, traffic on the 15 can be kinda knarly by the 78 and parts further south too.

Yes. Coming here from Vegas is pretty good on Fri. The 15 fwy from Fontana to Temecula is still a parking lot both ways from 2-6pm.

Thanks for your replies and sorry about my earlier mistake -- I'll likely be solo as the wife is going to be in trial on the East Coast and the main reason for the drive (aside from the meeting) is that I'm going to visit family in Vegas on the way down and the way back to UT (starting point). I'm already quite familiar with the drive from UT to Vegas and by splitting the drives up it doesn't sound like it is too much of a drive so long as I leave Vegas relatively early on route to San Diego. I also appreciate some of the recommended stop offs -- I'll likely take a leisurely drive out of San Diego on Wednesday and try a few of the suggestions.

Watch out for bushfires on the I15 too!!! (check news before leaving)

Had a 9hr detour a few years back. And yes...Bastow!

Other than that, enjoy the boring trip :( and be safe, no sleeping!

We've already lost 300,000 acres to the Milford Flat fire. Hoping it will be put out by October. This one started on July 6th and containment was at 50% a day or so ago, but now the containment is undetermined! :eek:

Watch out for side wind gusts ( sand storms ).... and DON'T speed thru Victorville or Barstow. Stop in Barstow to have In n Out. It took me just under 6 hrs in a loaded Suburban to make the drive back to San Diego.