Planning a Las Vegas/Grand Canyon/California trip - advice?

[longboard55]

Here is my advice. Many first time vegas travelers end up in the wrong hotel, stay center strip, the best hotels are not that much more and worth the money. Mirage is a good choice. We love the Grand Canyon, hotels are hard to get but you can stay just outside and its a short drive. Skip Los Angeles, it is not a city to visit. San Diego is fabulous but a little out of the way. You could do San diego/ Anaheim. Watch your driving, I would not try much over 250 miles a day

 

[RoadTripFanatic]

Hey y'all!

We are looking into planning a trip out west for next year. I originally wanted to see Yosemite, Grand Canyon, & Yellowstone, but apparently, the map is telling me those places are...er, rather spread out so, we've revised a bit. We'd like to spend about a week wandering around.

Looking to fly into Vegas - have never been to Vegas. We like to eat & drink, might have interest in a show or two, but aren't huge gamblers. How many days do people generally spend in Vegas?
We usually fly into Vegas for a four day weekend but DH is a gambler. Personally on a big trip like this I would do 2 nights. Lots of great restaurants and the shows are amazing. As for hotels it is a lot cheaper staying in Vegas from Sun-Thursday. Weekend prices can get out of control. I've been to Vegas at least 16 times and we prefer to stay on the strip. Lots of great properties. You honestly can't go wrong with any of the MGM properties. (Though Mandalay bay has an amazing pool it's too far down the strip for my taste)

We have interest in Zion National Park. Anyone been there? Worth it/enjoyable?
It's a beautiful park! It is one of my favorites. I also recommend taking a day and driving up to Bryce National Park. It is completely different with amazing scenery.

Definitely want to do the Grand Canyon, obviously. Can it be seen in a full day trip, or would we want to spend the night somewhere nearby? We like to hike, but we aren't 18 mile hiking professionals or anything. Pros and cons of driving vs. taking a helicopter over? (Price, obviously, but aside from that...)

Helicopter day trips are very expensive. What you might consider is flying into Phoenix or Flagstaff and driving up to the Canyon first. It's an easy drive from the Grand Canyon to Vegas. You can even stop and see Hoover Dam on your way. If you are going to drive from Vegas to the GC I would spend the night at the GC so you have time to enjoy the park. It would literally be a drive, spend a short amount of time and drive back for a day trip to the South Rim.

Also thinking about driving over to Los Angeles or San Diego for a few days at the end of our trip. I've been to San Diego and remember it being beautiful, but we didn't really do much in terms of activities. What's there, besides sea world and the zoo? The drive to LA is only 4 hours but AVOID it like the plague on Sundays! It can take up for 8 hours to get from Vegas to LA on a Sunday or a Holiday Monday. If you want to go to San Diego you might look into flying on Southwest. We actually flew from San Francisco to Vegas for $70 per person. That was a lot better than 8 hours of drive time. I would think they would have decent fair to San Diego.
Another thing to consider is how much extra would it cost you to rent a car and return it to another state. Sometimes that really raises the price.

Sorry for all the questions - just in the planning stages now and a bit unsure. I've googled quite a bit, but would like some first hand recommendations. Feel free to only answer what you want/can, lol. Thanks guys!

 

[cedricandsophie]

Vegas is good for a couple days but I wouldn't spend too much time. The drive from Vegas to Zion and bryce which I highly recommend takes a few hours. And depending on when you are there the roads into the parks can be quite busy. The last time at Zion you had to park at the visitor center and take a shuttle in. So you will want to schedule a night in the area. St George has a lot of hotels.

Then you could drive south from there into Arizona. You go past lake Powell which is spectacular. You can take boat rides out at sunset. The colors are incredible. Personally I would then do Monument Valley which is one of the most amazing sites in the world. You can ride horses or take a tour by the Navajos into the park.

Then you could drive down to either run of the canyon. The north rim has the glass platform you can stand on.

Or go over to the east side of Arizona for canyon de chelly an incredible Navajo site.

I guess my recommendation to focus on those areas and avoid California until another trip where you could start in San Francisco and drive down the coast to LA, do Disneyland and then head to San Diego.

 

[JimMIA]

Hey y'all!

We are looking into planning a trip out west for next year. I originally wanted to see Yosemite, Grand Canyon, & Yellowstone, but apparently, the map is telling me those places are...er, rather spread out so, we've revised a bit. We'd like to spend about a week wandering around.

Looking to fly into Vegas - have never been to Vegas. We like to eat & drink, might have interest in a show or two, but aren't huge gamblers. How many days do people generally spend in Vegas?

We have interest in Zion National Park. Anyone been there? Worth it/enjoyable?

Definitely want to do the Grand Canyon, obviously. Can it be seen in a full day trip, or would we want to spend the night somewhere nearby? We like to hike, but we aren't 18 mile hiking professionals or anything. Pros and cons of driving vs. taking a helicopter over? (Price, obviously, but aside from that...)

Also thinking about driving over to Los Angeles or San Diego for a few days at the end of our trip. I've been to San Diego and remember it being beautiful, but we didn't really do much in terms of activities. What's there, besides sea world and the zoo?

Sorry for all the questions - just in the planning stages now and a bit unsure. I've googled quite a bit, but would like some first hand recommendations. Feel free to only answer what you want/can, lol. Thanks guys!

My first reaction is you are trying to do WAY, WAY too much. You need to figure out what is most important/desireable for your vacation and narrow the trip down to secondary spots that are doable from your #1 priority.

I originally wanted to see Yosemite, Grand Canyon, & Yellowstone,

As you've discovered, those are three different trips:

• Yosemite/San Francisco/Wine Country/Monterey/Big Sur and other NoCal sites, depending on how much time you have. We are doing SFO/Yosemite for 8-9 days next summer, with possibly a detour to Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur.
• Grand Canyon -- and there are two ways to do that. Done both.
  • Las Vegas, maybe a day trip to Death Valley from Vegas, Zion, Bryce, North Rim of Grand Canyon and back to Vegas -- that could be 5-8 days, depending on how much time you spend in various places.
  • Phoenix, South Rim of Grand Canyon, Sedona, Lower Antelope Canyon (pic in my avatar), Monument Valley and back to PHX -- that's our trip from last year (12 nights). We also did a LOT of other NPS sites in Northern AZ (Montezuma Castle, Walnut Canyon, Wupatki, Sunset Crater Volcano, etc). We spent two nights at Grand Canyon, 4 in Flagstaff, one night at Monument Valley, and a total of 5 nights (start and end of trip) at Sedona.
• Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Jackson Hole, and possibly a side trip to Glacier NP -- this is probably our next trip in 2018. Probably 12-14 days, but could be done in a week if you spend less time and skip Glacier.

On how much time in national parks...National Parks are like onions -- you peel away one layer and find something more interesting underneath. So how much time you spend depends on your specific interests and how deeply you want to delve into them. A LOT of people spend a half-day at Grand Canyon, others spend a month. With most national parks (Yellowstone being the exception), you can see the iconic sites in one day if you're willing to start early and scramble.

National Park websites: generally NPS sites are www.nps.gov/ followed by the first four letters in a one-word name, or the first two letters of a two word name -- so, nps.gov/ever for Everglades; nps.gov/drto for Dry Tortugas.

The NPS sites mentioned above are www.nps/gov/yose ; www.nps.gov/grca; www.nps.gov/zion; www.nps.gov/brca; www.nps.gov/moca, www.nps.gov/waca; www.nps.gov/wupa; ;www.nps.gov/yell; www.nps.gov/grte; www.nps/glac

Monument Valley, Lower Antelope Canyon, and Four Corners (Utah, CO, AZ, NM) are all Navajo Tribal parks.

If you want to stay IN a national park, you can book 366 days in advance -- and you need to book the minute booking opens. If online, that may be at midnight local time at that park. If you wait two hours for prime reservations, you will be out of luck.

Good luck and have a great trip.

 

[JimMIA]

Then you could drive south from there into Arizona. You go past lake Powell which is spectacular. You can take boat rides out at sunset. The colors are incredible.

Lower Antelope Canyon is nearby, just east of Page AZ. We did both the boat ride and Lower Antelope Canyon and found Lower Antelope much better.

Personally I would then do Monument Valley which is one of the most amazing sites in the world. You can ride horses or take a tour by the Navajos into the park.

We stayed a The View Hotel, right on the ridge at Monument Valley, which is spectacular. There are other hotels a few miles away in Kayenta, AZ.

Then you could drive down to either run of the canyon. The north rim has the glass platform you can stand on.

The Grand Canyon Skywalk in the Hualapai Indian Reservation in the area sometimes called the West Rim.

You can't get to it from the North Rim, and it is almost a 4 hour drive from Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim.

It's 2 hours from Vegas, which would be the best starting point to do the Skywalk. But price it first -- it is expensive.

Or go over to the east side of Arizona for canyon de chelly an incredible Navajo site.

Good suggestion (pronounced "Canyon de Shay," incidentally), but a long drive and no good way to get there! Another great place to the east of Monument Valley is Mesa Verde NP in southern CO, but again, a long drive.

 

[Ndusmama]

I live in Vegas so I could tell you how many days to come for. I can tell you that Zion is a 2-3 hour drive depending on day and time you are driving. The gorge between Nevada and Utah is under construction and can take a while to bypass if busy. Grand Canyon is a 4-6 hour drive depending on where you want to see. Some places closer to consider are valley of fire (hour away), red rock (30 minutes), Hoover dam (30 minutes), Death Valley (2 hours). La depending on what are is 4-6 hours. I can make it from my house to Disneyland in Anaheim in just under 4 hours and I stop a few times. La has a lot to see and do. San Diego is 4-6 hours again depending on where in San Diego county you go. I used to live south of downtown and it would take me about 5 hours to get from parents to house in San Diego. The San Diego safari park is impressive.

Also if you are going to stay in Vegas a few nights figure out what shows you want to see and get tickets before you get here.some shows like blue man group and Brittany spears sell out in advance. We have several cirque de soleil (I spelled that wrong) shows as well. Avoid Fremont street it's a bit on the crazier side and not to everyone's liking.