Stops between LA & Vegas

[HelloCheekyCat]

We're planning on driving from LA to Vegas (and back!) next year and there seem to be a lot of recommendations of places to stop on the way, are there any must do/not worth it stops?

We went from Newport to Vegas - set off at 6am & arrived in Vegas for lunchtime.

I will echo the others in that LA isn't really worth going to. We spent 2 days there inbetween Vegas and Monterey and it's a shithole. Santa Monica beach or gorgeous but that's about it. I would consider skipping LA and heading up to somewhere like Sequoia instead.

We've gone through Joshua Tree and stopped at Palm Desert on the way to San Diego - I also much prefer San Diego to LA, although we've stayed at Marina Del Rey and used it as a base to visit Venice Beach, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Griffith Observatory, The Getty, Universal Studios etc.

Definitely do the Hoover Dam tour (although be aware in the height of summer walking across the top of the dam can be scorching hot).

We've also gone up through Death Valley to Kings Canyon and Sequoia, staying at Pahrump and Bakersfield en route (nothing to recommend either of these places, other than they were useful overnight stops).