If you have your own car or rent one in the city, you can do many of the colorful day trips from Las Vegas on your own. Some of the most attractive and their distances from the Vegas Strip include:

Red Rock Recreation Area - 20 miles
Lake Mead - 30 miles
Hoover Dam - 30 miles
Valley of Fire State Park - 60 miles
Laughlin - 60 miles
Death Valley - 121 miles
Zion National Park - 160 miles
Grand Canyon - 180 miles

Most destinations require driving through dry, uninhabited desert areas. Cars with air conditioning are recommended. Drivers should be prepared with adequate gas tank fill-up, as well as a cold box with one or two day's supply of food and drink per person. Well-charged smartphones, with emergency numbers and detailed cyber maps are a must. You may prefer the convenience of being picked up at your Las Vegas hotel for a scheduled tour. Or a short taxi ride to the airport to enjoy an escorted, all-inclusive helicopter day trip. You can book any of a great variety of interesting and exciting group excursions.

For making plans, ask a clerk at your hotel desk and check the internet for day trips. Scan the entertainment magazines in your room or look for day trip companies in the city phone book.

There are scores of adventuresome scenarios for day trips, including skydiving, hiking, biking, motorcycling, dune buggies, hot air updraft gliding, fixed-wing aircraft rides and other exotic trips. Some examples:

Six-hour van or Humvee tour of Red Rock Canyon. Just a 30-minute drive from the Strip, but a world away in natural scenery. It rises out of the hot, dry Mojave Desert to cool Mount Charleston, offering tree-lined hiking trails and many native plants and animal life.

Van or bus ride to Hoover Dam includes strolling on the walkway at the top rim of the dam and viewing the Colorado River on one side and man-made Lake Mead on the other. There are lectures at the visitor's center, exploring the enormous hydroelectric facilities and a walk along the eerie tunnel at the bottom of the dam.

Helicopter flights from Las Vegas airport to the Grand Canyon and return. Some include a brief landing on one of the canyon's soaring rims to admire the spectacular views, plus time for photo/video and souvenir shopping.