Please try:

php artisan route:clear

Laravel 5 added some route caching that can cause that headache, read more at http://laravel.com/docs/5.1/controllers#route-caching.

1. check weather you have mod_rewrite enabled on apache.
2. do you have the .htaccess on your public folder? if yes check if it matches to the correct version of apache you're using.

tkprocat said:

Please try:

php artisan route:clear

Laravel 5 added some route caching that can cause that headache, read more at http://laravel.com/docs/5.1/controllers#route-caching.

Ran

 php artisan route:clear

results: issue persists.

astroanu said:

1. check weather you have mod_rewrite enabled on apache.

Verified

admini@linux:/var/www/html$ a2enmod rewrite
Module rewrite already enable

2. do you have the .htaccess on your public folder? if yes check if it matches to the correct version of apache you're using.

Not sure here is the default one provided.

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
    <IfModule mod_negotiation.c>
        Options -MultiViews
    </IfModule>    

    RewriteEngine On    

    # Redirect Trailing Slashes If Not A Folder...
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteRule ^(.*)/$ /$1 [L,R=301]    

    # Handle Front Controller...
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
    RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
    RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]
</IfModule>

please note: I have also updated my apache2 config I have just reinstalled laravel on new vm I have also tired returning views instead of just text

Another test returning views

<?php    

Route::get('/', function () {
    return view('welcome');
});    


Route::get('test', function () {
    return view('test');
});    

Issue still persists.

<VirtualHost *:80>    

    # The location of our projects public directory.
    DocumentRoot    /var/www/html/public    

    # Useful logs for debug.
    CustomLog       /var/www/html/access.log common
    ErrorLog        /var/www/html/error.log    

    # Rewrites for pretty URLs, better not to rely on .htaccess.
    <Directory /www/var/html>
        <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
            Options -MultiViews
            RewriteEngine On
            RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
            RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]
        </IfModule>
    </Directory>    

</VirtualHost>

Also my error log is empty But access log shows 404

admini@linux:/var/www/html$ cat error.log
admini@linux:/var/www/html$ cat access.log
192.168.1.130 - - [24/Jul/2015:15:51:53 -0700] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 1448
192.168.1.130 - - [24/Jul/2015:15:54:46 -0700] "GET /test HTTP/1.1" 404 496
192.168.1.130 - - [24/Jul/2015:15:56:37 -0700] "GET /test HTTP/1.1" 404 496
192.168.1.130 - - [24/Jul/2015:15:57:11 -0700] "GET /test HTTP/1.1" 404 496
192.168.1.130 - - [24/Jul/2015:15:57:13 -0700] "GET /test HTTP/1.1" 404 495
192.168.1.130 - - [24/Jul/2015:16:14:53 -0700] "GET /test HTTP/1.1" 404 496
192.168.1.130 - - [24/Jul/2015:16:14:53 -0700] "GET /test HTTP/1.1" 404 495
192.168.1.130 - - [24/Jul/2015:16:18:16 -0700] "GET /test HTTP/1.1" 404 496
192.168.1.130 - - [24/Jul/2015:16:18:17 -0700] "GET /test HTTP/1.1" 404 495
admini@linux:/var/www/html$

Here is my views folder

/var/www/html/resources/views/
├── errors
│   └── 503.blade.php
├── test.blade.php
├── vendor
└── welcome.blade.php    

my "test" view is just a copy of the default welcome page. I can post the contents if anyone needs it