Richym99

Looking for an evaluation of a planned itinerary for a road trip based out of Las Vegas, where we'll be flying into and staying overnight the first night. Any tips on must see highlights that I've missed, would be greatly appreciated. Date of arrival in LV is April 7th, which is why the north rim of the canyon is noticably absent.

Day 1. Arrive Las Vegas from London. (overnight)

Day 2. Las Vegas to Zion NP, then via Carmel Scenic Highway to I89 and on to Bryce Canyon City (overnight)

Day 3. Sunrise in Bryce Canyon and a.m. exploring. Drive I89 South to Pink Sand Dunes NP, Vermillion Cliffs, Navaho Bridge then 89T to Page stopping at the Horseshoe Bend (overnight Page)

Day 4. Photographic Tours of Lower and Upper Antelope Slot Canyons. Late p.m. Drive south to Flagstaff. (overnight Flagstaff)

Day 5. Sedona and Flagstaff area, chill day. (overnight Flagstaff)

Day 6. Grand Canyon NP and South Rim all day. (overnight either Williams or Flagstaff)

Day 7. West to Kingsman on old route 66 remains, then via Hoover Dam to Las Vegas.

Day 8-10 Las Vegas area.

Day 11. Back to London

Lost

Day 3 sounds a little busy; otherwise I think you have a pretty good plan in place.

Do you want to spend time in Vegas at the end of the trip? If not, you could drop one of the days in Vegas and spend more time in Bryce (or somewhere else) to break up day 3.

Wilbur

I agree with Lost, this is a good plan. The best refinement would be to ditch the extra time in Vegas and use that time to stretch out the Day 3 activities a little more.

Richym99

Thanks for the input folks. To be honest, I can live without going back to Vegas, but I'm not travelling alone. The lovely lady who is my travelling companion has never been to Vegas and probably wouldn't forgive me if we didn"t spend some time in Vegas.

Besides, it's a good base for heading out to Red Rock Canyon and other attractiobs during the day.

I can always drop something like the Pink Sand Dunes NP on day three and move the Horseshoe Bend to day 4 after Antelope Canyon before heading South if we spend too much time in Bryce Canyon.

Lost

You should also work out how much all your entrance fees will be to all of the national parks you're going to visit and whether it would be cheaper to get an America the Beautiful annual pass for $80 when you get to Zion. It covers the entrance fee to ALL national parks.

This will also cover the Red Rock pass that is needed for parking on the national forest (different from national park) land around Sedona.

http://www.nps.gov/zion/planyourvisit/annual-passes.htm

http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/coconi...telprdb5416207

darthbimmer

Interesting itinerary. The attractions you list are all worthy, and you've got some of the less touristed but still very beautiful ones like Coral Pink Sand Dunes -- which is a Utah State Park, not a National Park, btw.

Have you given careful consideration to travel time between destinations? When you take the number of waking hours in a day, subtract out the travel times, and subtract out time for mundane things like meals and rest stops, you'll find that you're not left with much time to actually enjoy the parks. I think you've got too many different destinations in your plan. I recommend you drop at least two sites and spend more time at the rest.

Richym99

I've looked at travel times, and I'm not that worried. A lot can be done in early evening when the light is going off. Journeys such as Zion to Bryce, Page to Flagstaff and GC to Williams are just positioning for the next day. There is nothing over about two hours and I'm pretty used to driving long distances and find the driving in the US is a lot less stressful that it is in the UK anyway. Hell, I have a two hour drive just to get to the airport in the UK (120 miles away).

CMK10

If you're doing Route 66 and you don't mind a little extra driving on days 6 and 7, you might have fun staying here:

http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/route66..._holbrook.html

restonva

Spend more time at Zion -- just my 2 cents.

TacaCopaFlyer

Unless you plan on doing a lot of hiking, photography, or other exploration in each area, I think you have a great plan. The last few times I've been in any of those areas after a few hours, you are ready to move on.

If you can get a houseboat in Page, my opinion above might change.

Have a great trip.

Richym99

Will be doing quite a lot of photography, which is why I have allocated the whole day at Antelope Canyon. That is what attracted us to the area in the first place. There won't be a lot of hiking etc otherwise.

I tend to use trips like this as tasters. Go there, see what's available and then return for a longer duration if you really like the area to explore further. There's also the consideration that my traveling partner is seeing everything here for the first time (I've been to the Grand Canyon, Sedona and Las Vegas before). For her, it's going to be all highlights. As she is planning eventually to move back to the US, if there is anywhere that really takes her fancy, she is in a much better position to return for longer once she does.

Lost

Just be aware that US89 is closed between Page and US89A due to a rock slide that happened a few years ago. ADOT is trying to get it open before summer, but there's a good chance it'll still be closed when you're here. If you're coming from Bryce and going to Page via Marble Canyon, you'll have to go south on 89 almost to Tuba City, then come back north on 89T (for temporary) back to Page. Plan on this drive taking about 5 hours, more with stops. So you would probably need to leave Bryce by noon-1pm on day 3 to make it to Page before sunset.

You could also put Horseshoe Bend on day 4. That shouldn't take all that long to see.

Overall I still think you've planned the driving distances reasonably for what you're trying to do.

I would recommend sticking to daylight driving when possible for two reasons: 1. You are going through isolated areas where there is limited mobile phone coverage and lots of animals to hit, and 2. Just about the entire route has world class scenery that you can't see when it's dark.

Richym99

Thanks Lost.

I was aware of the I89 being closed and the need to divert via the 89T. As long as we hit Navaho Bridge before sunset, I won't be too bothered about what time we get to Page. I'm hoping that we'll be in Bryce Canyon for sunrise, so it will be a long day, but you are talking to the nutters who did a day trip to Yosemite from San Fran last year, and managed to do Glacier Point as well as a trip around the valley.

5 hour energy is brilliant stuff, and I swear by it.

Lost

That's nothin'. Last year I did Bay Area-Yosemite-Bay Area, then made it to Sacramento in time for a flight out of SMF couldn't let that National Park free day go to waste!

Nanook

We spent a lot more time at Zion than Bryce. Seemed there were more things to do there. Would have spent even less time at Bryce, but husband wanted to ride a mule...