Blythe

Blythe is a city in Riverside County in the Desert region of California.

By car
Blythe is the center of the southwest desert. From here, you can travel north for 4 hours to Las Vegas, west 2 hours to Palm Springs (4 to Los Angeles), south 2 hours to the Imperial Valley or Yuma (or 4 to San Diego) and 2 hours east to Phoenix.

Interstate 10 (I-10)/Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Fwy passes through Blythe in an east/west direction. It is the main stopping area when traveling from Phoenix through to any major city in California. When heading west on I-10, you will pass directly over the Colorado River. Be prepared to stop and possibly have your vehicle inspected by the State of California Department of Agriculture as you enter the state. California is one of the few states in the United States that has natural barriers against "outside" contamination (i.e. fruit-fly, fire-ants, etc.) that could potentially harm California's delicate environment, and the Blythe inspection station is the first and best at stopping them.

Hobsonsway serves as local road access into downtown Blythe as a local (business) street and as the old US Routes 60 & 70 that used to go (concurrently) through town before the freeway was built to bypass the town. Going west it is the first exit (Exit 242) past the agricultural inspection station and parallels north of I-10, through downtown, towards Mesa Dr (Exit 232 of I-10) as Hobsonway. Eastbound access are at Mesa Dr (#232) and Riviera Dr (#243).

Intake Blvd is locally called "the California side" because the south-bound lanes travel through Arizona. US-95 starts from the intersection of Intake Blvd and I-10 (Exit 240) and heads north on Intake Blvd (at eastern edge of town) to Needles and I-40 (approximately a 2-hour drive), Laughlin (2½ hr-drive), and Las Vegas (approximately a 4-hour drive). This road is very windy, curvy, and hilly! It is only a 2-lane highway. Going south on US-95, it goes concurrently on I-10 to Quartzsite, AZ (at Exit 17) and through Quartzsite on W Main St to Central Blvd (AZ/US 95). Going north on Central Blvd the road becomes AZ-95 towards Parker and south as US-95 towards Yuma.

Neighbours Blvd starts on I-10 (at Exit 236) and travels south. Careful: this road is windy, curvy, hilly and is only a 2-lane highway. During your drive, you will run into the world-famous Glamis (approx 1 hr south of Blythe). 78 will take you to the Imperial Valley (including Brawley, El Centro, Imperial and Calexico).

By bus

 * on 400 S Lovekin Rd, on S Lovekin & Wells, south of Exit #239 of I-10 in the outskirts of town serves as a de facto bus station for:

Get around
While in town there are a couple of ways to get around: the (only) Blythe Cab or the Desert Roadrunner. Both of these companies are very dependable and are readily available.

See




Do
The locals like to cool down along the shores of the Colorado River. Bring a personal-water craft (which can be rented at of the river-front stores) to ride, or just head down to a river-park to swim and relax in the shade. The off-roading is also very entertaining, with a strip of pristine sand called "7-mile dune" just 11 miles west of town. There, all 4x4's (including sand-rails, quads, buggies & dirt-bikes) can range in fun from following simple trails to challenging extreme sand dunes.

Buy
There isn't much to buy in Blythe. The small-town mentality has kept most major stores away from this town and shopping has suffered the consequences. It's alright though, keep heading west towards the Indio/Palm Springs area (it's only 108 miles)

Eat
Dining has a wide variety of food. As this town is located 108 miles from the nearest mall, the locals have become accustomed to local-made foods. If you're looking for the same-ol' usual stuff (McDonald's, Jack-In-The-Box, Carl's, etc.) try Lovekin Blvd. You can't miss it with all of the advertising signs.



Sleep
Blythe has over 1,200 hotel & motel rooms. Almost all of the hotels can be seen from I-10, as they all have sky-sign displays. Some of the common companies are: