Hi, I am Bhaswati

Do you have only 4 days in hand and want to cover three spots in one trip? Here is one itinerary which you might try for a quick fun-filled break with casinos, desert, and trails. Vegas, Death Valley and Zion might not be best place to visit in summer but don’t let others tell you it is the worst option. We had a pretty exhilarating experience and we are sure you will also not disagree after your trip.

With an exception of long weekends and major holidays, airtickets are pretty cheap for Vegas from most of the cities. Few things to keep in mind while planning the trip.
1. You have to keep yourself hydrated so keep electrolyte powder which you can quickly dissolve in water and recharge yourself.
2. Don’t forget to keep some cash money with you (unless you are pretty sure the first thing you will do is win some money in a casino).
3. Like in any other trip, always keep your ID with you.
4. Keep sunglasses, sunscreen lotion, stole wrap to cope up with the heat.
5. Keep some medicines with you for emergency.
6. Make sure you stay in a hotel/airbnb with proper airconditioning.
7. Convertibles are great when driving through death valley but keep in mind the temperature. You might end up grilling yourself at 110° F or higher. The moment you rent the car, get a multipack of water bottles and store it in the trunk.
8. Predecide where you will park, remember in aisle you have parked, the lots are huge and kind of hard to follow.

We will discuss only our itinerary and exclude details of each and every point that we visited (you can find plenty of information about them simply by googling).

Day 0: We call it day zero as we reached pretty late and didn’t have anything planned for this day. We just got in the airbnb, which was 15 minutes from the strip and slept off.

Day 1: We started pretty late for Zion National Park but the ideal time should be around 9 am, due to the fact that you will be in mountain time zone losing one hour on the way. It’s a 2:30-3:00 hours journey depending on your staring location. People who are interested in hikes should start even earlier. Either fill your stomach before you leave or keep some some take outs in the car for the journey because there are not many food options on the way.

Zion has a shuttle service which covers all the spots and viewpoints. Private vehicles are not allowed along this route so you have to park your car at the visitor center parking lot and take the shuttle. Check shuttle information here. The trails and scenic drives have different accessibility during different times of the year. Make sure you plan ahead on which point you want to cover. We directly went to the last stop which leads to the riverside walk, a short trail (~2 miles). On the way back we stopped at the big bend for some good photos.

We started driving back to Vegas around 7 pm, had some food on the way back and reached Vegas around 10:00. We refreshed ourselves after reaching Vegas (there are many 24/7 Denny’s around the strip for quick coffee and food) and directly went to Stratosphere. The Strat or Stratosphere is a casino which also includes a 1149 ft tall observation tower. The view from the top is amazing and you can also go for thrill rides if your schedule matches their hours. Quick tip for ladies: keep one Vegas-Y dress and change before starting your night venture, you might not want to wear the same one in Zion and the Strip. We took a drink and went to the top of Stratosphere and lied down for a long time, such relaxing feeling after a long day of driving and trails. We returned to Airbnb around 2:30 am.

Day 2: We had a pool party booked at NOMAD starting 11 am. One Gazebo costs around $400 for 4 hours (towels provided, drinks not included). Definitely pack your swimwear and sandals (it is impossible to step on the floor barefoot) if you are booking this. Have some booze, relax inside the pool and don’t forget to make some videos.

We went back to airbnb after the pool, to get dressed for the casino venture in the evening. Personal choices may differ but we decided to stick to maximum two casinos per evening rather than trying to cover everything. MGM and Cosmopolitan was on our list for this night. For the casino tours we can just say enjoy and GOOD LUCK! We planned on enjoying in the nightclub at cosmopolitan, but didn’t have prior booking. So after 2 hours long wait we gave up and returned to airbnb.

Day 3: This was our Death Valley Day. We started around 10:30 for Death Valley which is ~2.30 hours drive. We loaded enough dry food for the entire day before we started to drive. The drive is straight and mostly scenic. The dry and rocky nature of the roadside is mesmerizing under the bright bright sunlight. You will find a lot of photospots on the way, we just stopped at one with an interest to reach the final destination on time. Death Valley has a lot of viewpoints and you can decide which ones you want to visit but make sure you have a perfect plan and don’t forget to get the offline map as the network connectivity is zero at death valley. We covered the following points as a loop
1. Mesquite flat sand dune: proper sand desert feel.
2. Zabriskie point: hilltop view of the dry hilly landscape.
3. Twenty Mule Team Canyon: the rocky landscape view.
4. Artists pallete: colorful formation of rocks.
5. Natural bridge: drive through the colorful landscape.
6. Badwater basin (sunset): flatland desert and basin.
7. Zabriskie point (repeat, till almost dark): proper sunset point.

Our choice of casino for the night was Paris. We got fresh in our usual Denny’s, changed and then entered the Casino around 11 pm. Spent 3 hours there and returned around 2 pm.

Day 4: We had a quick visit to the blue water of Lake Mead and the red rocks of Valley of Fire on the fourth day. Lake mead was about 40 minutes from our stay. We liked the view of the lake while we were driving towards it more than when we reached the lakeshore. We just captured few photos and rushed towards Valley of Fire which was about 1 hour drive from lake mead.

It was mostly the signature desert landscape of Nevada with cactuses growing on the roadsides when we started, but as we approached our destinations, the roads became more tortuous and the orange-red rock formations slowly started to appear in view.
There were quite a few viewpoints along the route. We stopped at the Rainbow Vista which offers a panoramic view of the park and the Elephant Rock – a large sandstone formation that resembles an elephant. The rock formations in Valley of Fire are made of massive sandstone chunks showing layers of white, pink, and orange. The area looks lit, quite literally, giving it its name. We drove past the Atlatl Rocks and the Mouse’s Tank trail while quickly recording visual memories on our phone cameras. Soon we knew it’s time to return considering our next plan of the day.

We reached Venetian just on time for our Gondola ride at The Venetian. We took the indoor ride considering it was cheaper than the outdoor one. Don’t forget to book it beforehand because it is one of the key attractions of Vegas casino hopping. The ride is for 30 minutes and pretty satisfying.

The Gondola ride concludes our trip to Vegas. We bid Adieu to Vegas and rushed towards the airport right after finishing it.

I hope you find this itinerary helpful. Good luck with an amazing trip!