Visiting the desert southwest was like leaving planet Earth (at least how we know it) and entering an entirely different, but spectacular, place.
The trip as a whole spanned 10 nights, 7 different hotels, 6 national parks, 2 state parks, and several other major landmarks. It was an amazing trip and we were just in awe the whole time about the size and scale of the landscape. Our kids (age 8 and 4 at the time) were total troopers through all the hotel changes, driving distances, and steps walked each day.
I will admit that I was nervous going into this trip. Wondering had I planned enough, forgotten some major piece of the puzzle, or if we would hit an unexpected snag. Thankfully things went according to plan, and I think we built an ideal itinerary for exploring the parks of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona.
Getting There
We live in Alabama and quickly decided that flying to the Southwest would be the best fit for us. However if you live closer, or really love road trips, driving might be a good option for you and it would allow you to have your vehicle for the driving portions of the trip.
We flew in and out of Las Vegas, Nevada. This airport was ideal for readily available rental cars nearby, proximity to the National Parks, and often has good flight prices. We had not been to Las Vegas before so it also gave us a chance to see and explore a tiny bit of the famous city while we were passing through.
Getting Around
To do a trip like this, having a vehicle is pretty much a requirement. If you are flying in, you will need to rent a car. We rented a car in Las Vegas, where we flew in and out of. We reserved a car well ahead of our trip and were very glad we did as there was a bit of a rental car availability crisis happening at the time we traveled.
You will want to make sure if renting a car to not have a contract that limits mileage. You will be covering a lot of ground. Also be sure to think about how much room you need for your travel group to comfortably ride as well as carry your luggage. We opted for a mid-sized SUV for our family of 4 and had enough room to store all of our bags in the back and not have to have things stuffed between people and under feet.
Pro tip – When we priced out rental cars we found that it was much cheaper to rent a car from a company based in one of the hotels on the strip rather than at the airport. It was easy to grab a ride share from the airport to a hotel and it ended up saving a good bit of money.
Our 10 Day Itinerary
Below is a summary of our epic 10 day adventure exploring the Southwestern US. I hope this information is helpful to you if you are considering or maybe actively planning your own trip to this area. Note, we took this trip in the summer of 2021 while COVID-19 restrictions were in place at some of the places we visited. I have tried to make note of when our experience was modified because of COVID.
Day 1 – Travel Day
On our first day we made the journey from our home in North Alabama to Las Vegas (with a brief layover in Atlanta). We landed in Las Vegas in the evening and did not want to embark on our road trip until the next morning. So we pre-booked a room at the Hilton Garden Inn Las Vegas City Center for this night using hotel points. This hotel was picked because of it’s proximity to the airport and strip (but not on the strip) and the fact that it had free breakfast. We opted for a low-key dinner at the hotel restaurant and went to bed early so we would be rested and ready to head out early the next morning.
If you are doing a similar trip and have a flight that has you landing in Las Vegas early in the day you could certainly go ahead and get a rental car and head on out on your adventure.
Day 2 – Valley of Fire State Park and Zion National Park
We got up early giddy with anticipation and grabbed a quick (free) breakfast at the hotel. Then Andrew grabbed a quick ride share over to a hotel on the strip where our rental car was waiting. As I discussed above, it was significantly cheaper to rent a car from a hotel on the strip than at the airport. We price shopped around and for us we got a good deal with Hertz at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Andrew brought the car back to our hotel where me and the kids were waiting and ready. Before leaving Las Vegas we found a grocery store to get some essentials for the trip. We grabbed some quick breakfast and lunch options, snacks, and drinks. This was such a crucial step. We had snacks and drinks on standby whenever anyone wanted them and could just stop along the way at a pretty place and eat lunch.
Valley of Fire State Park
We left Las Vegas and drove about 1.5 hours to Valley of Fire State Park. We had pre-ordered an annual pass for all of the US National Parks before the trip (you can also wait and buy it at the first National Park you visit) but that pass does not extend to State Parks. Valley of Fire had a $10 per car fee to enter. This park is well worth the stop in route from Las Vegas to Zion National Park in Utah and is essentially right on the way. This was our first introduction to the amazing rock formations that the Desert Southwest is so well known for.
Some of the highlights we saw were “Beehives” “Seven Sisters” and “Elephant Rock.” Each of these are super easy to access and do not require a lot of hiking. We drove out to the trailhead of the famous “Fire Wave” but ended up not attempting to hike that trail since it was the middle of the day and blazing hot. There were plenty of places to pull over and stop to see the scenery, take pictures, and picnic. We had the first of many peanut butter sandwich picnics at Valley of Fire.
Zion National Park
Once we had our fill at Valley of Fire we headed eastward on towards Zion National Park. This leg of driving ended up being about 2.5 hours. We checked into our hotel for this night, the amazing Cable Mountain Lodge located literally right next to the entrance of Zion National Park. You cannot beat being able to walk out of your hotel room and be in the park within 5 minutes, especially since parking at Zion can be difficult.
We had an early dinner at the nearby Canyon Brew Pub and then spent the evening In Zion National Park. The kids picked up their Junior Ranger Program booklets. The Junior Ranger Program was a big hit at all the parks we visited. Then we went on our first walk/hike. Throughout this trip recap I will use the word “hike” loosely as we had a 4 year old with us and the trails we chose were very accessible (and in many cases paved). We did the Pa’rus Trail which is a 3.5 mile roundtrip and paved trail at the bottom of the canyon. It was breathtaking to walk between the giant canyon walls and the evening temperature made this particular hike perfect.
Day 3 – Zion National Park
Zion National Park was the one park we visited that is not traversable by personal vehicle. To get beyond the visitor center and the trails directly next to it, you must board a park shuttle bus. The shuttle bus lines can get long mid-day and it is a good bet to try and get into the park early to avoid crowds and delays, especially if you are traveling in busy season like we were. Right up until our trip, Zion had been operating their shuttle with pre-reserved tickets. But they took away the ticket requirement a couple days before we arrived. Word to the wise just check the status of the bus and whether tickets are required before your visit. The shuttle makes one big loop, so you want to plan your stops in order.
After eating breakfast in our hotel room, we walked into Zion and boarded the shuttle bus. The first stop where we got off was at the Zion Lodge, where we hiked the Lower Emerald Pool Trail. This was a 1.2 mile paved trail in the forest. You get to walk behind a waterfall and see hanging gardens.
Then we re-boarded the shuttle bus and got off at the Temple of Sinawava stop. Here we hiked the Riverside Walk – a 2.2 mile paved trail within the canyon. This was a fairly busy trail since it was the feeder trail of the infamous “The Narrows” trail. It was really neat to get to the end of the feeder trail and watch all the real hikers heading in and out of The Narrows. We spent a few minutes playing and skipping rocks in the river before turning back towards the shuttle bus.
Junior Ranger Program
We finished our time in Zion watching a Junior Ranger presentation all about the Cactus plant and the kids earned their first ever Junior Ranger badge. The number of steps and the stringency they must be completed for kids to earn their badge varied widely among the parks we visited. Zion had one of the more robust programs, with live Ranger programs running throughout the day. The kids loved getting sworn in at each park and getting a badge with that park’s name on it. It is a free souvenir that they are both so proud of.
Glamping at Under Canvas Zion
For our second night in Zion we “glamped” at the nearby Under Canvas Zion. This was such a cool experience – a true bucket list experience. The camp, or I guess “glamp” in this case, is not technically inside the national park but directly adjacent to it. However it does take a few minutes (30 minutes or so) to drive from the entrance of Zion. We left Zion about mid-afternoon and drove out to Under Canvas so that we had plenty of time to enjoy all of the amenities it had to offer.
We had our own glamorous tent for the night, complete with furniture and running water. We had a queen-sized bed, a sleeper couch, and a child-sized cot. There is no air conditioning or electricity. However, they give you fans and battery powered lanterns (which have USB plugs you can use to charge your phone). If you just read those sentences and wondered if you can actually call this camping, I thought the exact same thing. But we slept in a canvas tent with a zipper so I am going to say that counts.
The lobby tent was big and beautiful, and it housed a nice on-site restaurant where dinner and breakfast were served. Fire pits were outside the lobby, with complimentary s’mores supplies provided each night. The night we were there, there was also live music. In addition, there were super cool canvas swings and games. Once you get to camp, you will want to stay for the night and have a low-key morning the next day to take full advantage of all the on-site activities.
I will say that if we only had one night at Zion this is not where we would have wanted to stay given its distance from the park entrance. It was perfect for a second night though.
Day 4 – Bryce Canyon National Park
We woke up and had breakfast in the lobby restaurant at Under Canvas. Then we loaded up and headed out to our next stop, Bryce Canyon National Park. Bryce Canyon is not actually a canyon at all. Rather, it is a collection of natural amphitheaters. The terrain is filled with characteristic hoodoos – tall, thin spires of rock. We wandered the Rim Trail, which was an easy half-mile meander connecting the Sunset and Sunrise points. We also hiked down into the “canyon” on the Navajo Trail. One of the most famous hikes in the park, it starts at sunset point and descends from rim to floor and back up again. You get great views of many infamous rock formations like “Wall Street,” “Two Bridges,” and “Thor’s Hammer.” It is a 1.4 mile round trip that was not terribly strenuous.
At Bryce Canyon, we stayed outside the National Park at the Best Western Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel.
Day 5 – Capitol Reef National Park and Goblin Valley State Park
We got up early and drove to Inspiration Point to watch the sunrise before heading out of Bryce National Park. Bryce was a sleeper hit in our family. The orange hoodoos were unlike anything we had ever seen before and so so cool!
We drove through Capitol Reef National Park on our way to our next big stop. It is crazy how many National Parks are so close to each other in Utah. We got out and explored a couple of boardwalk areas. We tried to visit the visitor’s center to do Junior Ranger but sadly it was closed for lunch when we got there. This was about a 2 hour and 15 minute drive.
From there, we headed to Goblin Valley State Park, another hour’s drive, for a picnic lunch and some time exploring (and climbing) the rock formations.
Then it was on to our next big destination – Arches National Park. We stayed in nearby Moab for this stent of the trip, at the Hoodoo Moab Curio Collection by Hilton. We spent the evening enjoying the hotel and going for a swim.
There are so many great restaurants in Moab. Our short list to visit included the Moab Brewery, Antica Forma, and Atomic Burger. All were great!
Day 6 – Arches National Park
We spent all day in Arches National Park. Our big bucket list check was the 3.5 mile round trip hike out to Delicate arch. We knew we wanted to tackle this first before it got too hot and while we had energy. It was so worth it to see and stand under the infamous arch. While the walk was long, it was totally manageable even with two young kids.
We found a pretty place in the park to stop and eat our daily picnic lunch and did a few other simple “hikes” to see double arch (0.5 mile walk) and balanced rock (0.3 mile walk).
We had stopped by the visitor’s center early in the day to get the Junior Ranger booklets so the kids could work on them throughout our day exploring the park.
The evening was spent on the wild side – on a Jetboat on the mighty Colorado River. This was an absolute blast and a highlight of the whole trip. We booked it through Moab Jett. It was 2 hours of fun, driving fast and whipping around on the water.
Then, finally, to top off the amazing day, we headed back into Arches National Park after dark to take in some stargazing.
Day 7 – Canyonlands National Park, Monument Valley, and Horseshoe Bend
We said farewell to Moab and Arches and headed right near by to make a quick visit to Canyonlands National Park. We definitely did not do this park justice as we were only there for maybe 45 minutes. The views from the overlooks near the visitor’s center were stunning.
From there we drove towards and around Monument Valley (about 2.5 hours away). Sadly, Monument Valley was still closed due to COVID but we could see parts of it driving down the adjacent highway. We stopped at a scenic spot along the away to have a picnic lunch. We ate our weight in peanut butter sandwiches this week.
Then we drove on to Page, AZ, where we settled into our next home away from home – the Home2 Suites.
Day 8 – Horseshoe Bend and Glen Canyon Recreation Area
Our stop over in Page was supposed to have two big attractions – the beautiful Horsehoe Bend overlook and Antelope Canyon. Unfortunately Antelope Canyon was still closed due to COVID. This area, as well as Monument Valley the day before, are located on Tribal reservations which are controlled differently and in this case more conservatively from a public health/re-opening standpoint. So Antelope Canyon was a no go. We will have to make it back out there someday to see it.
We spent quite a bit of time in the breathtaking Horseshoe Bend area. Even if you haven’t heard of it, you have probably seen photos of this place on travel sites and social media channels.
However, that vantage point was not enough to fill a day so we were left looking for something else to do. Sort of on a whim, we ended up spending the afternoon kayaking over at nearby Lake Powell, which was fun.
Day 9 – Grand Canyon
Much of this day was spent driving the four hours from Page, AZ to the Grand Canyon. When we made it we were very much wanting to get out and move so we found the Grand Canyon rim trail and did some hiking around it and down into the canyon just a little bit. Young kids and little legs kept us from descending too far.
We stayed at the Best Western Premier Grand Canyon Squire Inn, which was not far from the National Park entrance. My Google searching as I type this shows that this hotel is no longer open.
Day 10 – Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas
Alarms were set early for a 7:45 am helicopter tour over the Grand Canyon. Not going to lie, we are not big fans of helicopters…they sort of freak us out. But FOMO won over and got us up in the air to see the canyon from the air. It was truly incredible. We were also quite thrilled to be back on solid ground at the end. There are several options for helicopter rides, some leaving from Vegas (clearly longer) and some like we did that leave right there from the canyon rim.
After our helicopter ride we said farewell to the Grand Canyon and started the journey back towards Las Vegas. We made a stop along the way at the Hoover Dam which was really neat to see. For timing reference it was about 3.5 hours from the Canyon to the Hoover Dam and then another 30 minutes or so to Las Vegas.
We returned our rental car and settled into our final hotel of the trip – the Mandalay Bay Resort. We arrived relatively early enough to let the kids swim and enjoy the hotel a bit. We also took a brief stroll outside to get some of the Vegas vibes and see the fountains.
After a good night’s sleep we were on a morning flight home the next day.
Final Thoughts
I think one of the most amazing parts of this trip was the uniqueness of each of our stops. Within a couple hours drive the temperature can drop dozens of degrees and instead of huge rock mountainsides, you find yourself standing among oddly shaped orange hoodoos.
Our kids loved this trip! To this day they still talk about all the fun things we did and want to re-watch videos and look at photos we took. Did we do everything in all the parks we visited? Goodness no. This was definitely a sampler trip, hitting the highlights at each place. Did we do the “most popular” hikes in every park we visited? Only sometimes – if we could reasonably do them with a 4 year old. Someday when the kids are older we want to go back, particularly to Zion National Park, and tackle the more intense bucket list worthy hikes there, such as The Narrows.
I think that 10 days is the perfect amount of time to explore this area of the US. If we could have added a few more days to our trip we probably would have spent a little more time at Capitol Reef or Canyonlands National Parks, or added a stop over at Four Corners or down in Sedona, AZ. However, after 10 days of driving, exploring, and changing hotels we were all pretty ready to get home and back to our own beds.
Want more?
If you have not ventured out to Southern Utah, Arizona, and Nevada, you should really consider adding this trip to your family’s bucket list. If you have any questions about our trip or an upcoming trip of your own, feel free to reach out.
Which US National Park do you most want to visit? Do you have a favorite National Park? Tell us about it in the comments below.