LA - Death Valley - Mammoth

Hi Guys, wonder if you can help at all.

We%26#39;re flying to LA in mid January and hiring a car to travel up to Mammoth for a weeks skiing. We%26#39;d really like to spend a night on route in Death Valley. Could you advise as to driving distances? We pick up the hire car in the morning and had hoped to drive to Stovepipe Wells to stay over, continuing the drive to Mammoth the next day. I%26#39;ve done some searches which suggest the drive to each destination will be 6 hours. Do you think it%26#39;s worth our while, or should we stick to the 395 and do Death Valley on another holiday.

Thanks, any advice really appreciated.

LA - Death Valley - Mammoth

You%26#39;ve got a week%26#39;s skiing....I%26#39;d spend tone day in Death Valley...hopefully you get one of those sunny winter days....

and stay one night in Death Valley. It would be wonderful and its a good plan to include it on this trip.

Then continue the next for Mammoth Lakes - leave early enough and you%26#39;ll still be able to get in an afternoon ski run.

Distance:

Los Angeles to Death Valley 389 miles 6 hours

Death Valley to Los Angeles: 205 miles 4 hours

(Note: If you prefer, you could drive from LA to Las Vegas and spend the night...270 miles 4 hours) and then just drive through Death Valley to Mammoth Lakes the next...360 miles, 7 hours the next if you wanted to consider that alternative also.)

Have fun planning!

LA - Death Valley - Mammoth

Looking at mini%26#39;s travel distances makes it seem like driving from La to Death Valley is longer than driving Death Valley to LA. Here%26#39;s some clarification:

LA to Stovepipe is 5 hours

Stovepipe to Mammoth is 4 hours

LA to Mammoth is 6.5 hours.

Suzie-Travels: Thanks (I meant to say Mammoth and the time is approximate due to where you start in LA). =thanks for the correction.)

Jacb, I agree with Mini, that stop and overnight in Death Valley waould be great. You will need to book right away though, because the hotels in the National Park fill up quickly. It would be a beautiful drive from Death Valley to Mammoth. Sounds like a terrific trip!

Check out the reports on the Furnace Creek Inn (fancy), Furnace Creek Ranch ( comfortable and try to get a golf course view room or by the pool as after all the desert landscapes the green is easy on the eyes!!!) and Stovepipe Wells which is pretty basic and has had mixed reviews here on the forum and in the hotels section of Trip Advisor. Then as the previous poster said, book now!

Are you prepared to drive with chains and have you checked on that with your rental car agency? You may want to rent four wheel drive and ask about snow tires/ chains etc before you confirm the booking. You probably won%26#39;t need them as far as Bishop but after that the odds are high that they will be mandatory in January.

Thanks so much to all for your advice. We now feel reassured the distances aren%26#39;t too much, have booked accomodation and are checking out the tyre chains with Dollar. We%26#39;ll raise our glass to you all in Kauai on our second part of the trip.

You ';Geordies'; sure know how to live - getting out of gloomy old England - like this ';yellow belly'; did over forty years ago! You are visiting all my favorite places! Couple of more tips! Be sure to go to the NaPili Cliffs on Kauai by boat or helicopter, but remember when we did it in the 60s it was a long, muddy, glorious trek of 11 miles up and down the steep cliffs to the beach with the fresh water waterfall! The drive to PoliHale Beach past Barking Sands and through the cane fields is an adventure but it is a wild place and worth the effort. Make the most of the favorable sterling to dollar rate!

Thanks again Juday, we%26#39;ll certainly check out your Kauai tips. We hadn%26#39;t originally planned on car hire but the more I read the more it seems a %26#39;must%26#39; (we%26#39;ll be based in Lihue).

Great to know someone has %26#39;been there, done that, got the t-shirt%26#39; and loved it all . Just can%26#39;t wait to get out there!

Thanks again and %26#39;gan canny%26#39;

P.S. Seems are holiday preferences aren%26#39;t the only thing we have in common. We are currently planning to escape England, like you, and relocate to New Zealand.....unless of course our Calfornia experiences changes our minds! :-)

Know that rental car agencies don%26#39;t allow you to use tire chains on their cars, so be sure to rent a 4 wheel drive car/suv. You%26#39;ll definitely need it in Mammoth in January - the California Highway Patrol will make you carry tire chains (and are known to stop all cars exiting at th Mammoth Lakes off-ramp to check that everyone has chains, 4WD or not), but you%26#39;ll have to buy the chains yourself (they run about $50).

Death Valley is about 3 hours off of the 395 highway (the highway you take from LA to Mammoth), so it will be a 6 hour roundtrip side-trip.

You certainly need a car on Kauai to get to Kokee up in the mountains and pine trees and seeing Waimea Canyon on the way. Poipu Beach is where you will likely find sunshine, even if clouds are hanging over Kokee and Princeville and Hanalei but it is still a wonderful drive all the way there to Haena Beach.

When you have been on your travels post any special tips for others to use, please!