Bullhead City on the Colorado
Bullhead city on the Colorado River is a small city in the north western part of Arizona long the Colorado River and just across the river from Laughlin, Nevada. It is a nice little town with all of the services that one might need while spending the winter away from the cold, snow and ice of the northern winters.
One interesting fact about Bullhead is that it is on Mountain Time and just across the river in Nevada, they are on Pacific Time, a one hour difference. Many people live in Arizona in the city of Bullhead and work in Laughlin in one of the casinos just across the river and must keep track of the one hour time zone difference.
Bullhead City on the Colorado
Winter Time Temperatures
Bullhead is a great place to spend the winter. Of course they will get some cool temperatures; however we have been there for a couple of weeks in January and experienced temperatures in the 80’s during the day and cool 50’s at night. They get well over 300 days of sun in a year, so you are pretty much guaranteed to have sunshine on your vacation. There are quite a few condo’s to rent, however there seems to be much more locations which cater to RV’s and trailers for people who move around and live in their trailers for the winter.
Summer Time Temperatures
We have not been there in the summer time, however we are told that the temperatures are routinely well into the 100’s and that there are literally hundreds of boats and sea do’s out on the water along the Colorado River. We also have seen people swimming in the Colorado in March, however there are a couple of things to keep in mind when you swim in the Colorado River at this location.
First of all this is a very fast flowing river and anyone swimming must keep in mind that they can lose their footing and be carried away by the current. Secondly the water is very cold. It is fed by melting snow up in the mountains and the water is ice cold. Anyone swimming will experience hypothermia very quickly so it can be very dangerous even for strong swimmers.
No Gambling in Bullhead
There are no casinos in Bullhead. You have to go across the river to Laughlin to play in the casinos. Fortunately there are several bridges from the Bullhead side to the Nevada side that will take you across to Laughlin and to a point several miles south of Laughlin. Patrons of the casinos can also take a free water taxi across the river to Don Laughlin’s casino. There is free parking on the Arizona side of the river and both tourists as well as people working at the casinos will take the water taxi back and forth to the Laughlin side of the river.
Tourists can also take a water taxi from several of the water front condos over to the casinos. They can also take a water taxi from one casino to another one along the river. There is a small charge per person for the water taxi and it is a neat thing to do once and awhile to get out on the river if you do not have access to a boat.
RV & Trailer Parks
Parks abound for people who are spending the winter in their trailers traveling around the south-west in both Laughlin and Bullhead. There are large RV parks within walking distance of the casinos on the Laughlin side of the Colorado River and also in Bullhead.
Even the casinos have set aside parking space for trailers with no hook ups for patrons to spend a few nights. There are no hookups so you see people with generators and solar panels to generate electricity for their trailers and RV’s. This is not my idea of a vacation; however this is a great place to stop over for a few days without having to pay hookup fees for your RV or Trailer.
Every year we go to Laughlin and stay in one of the casino hotels. We go to Bullhead to fill up with gas and do our laundry. It is cheaper; there are fewer taxes on the Arizona side. We gill up with gas at a gas station called Terribles were you can get your oil changed for $29 and this comes with a free car wash. Gas is always cheaper on the Arizona side. For more posts about Bullhead and Arizona, click here.
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