I’m planning a road trip through Arizona from Las Vegas in October, and need some help deciding what to do with part of it. What to see / what to do / where to stay / etc.
I’ve already booked some of the trip, so I need to work around that. So far I have the following:
Saturday 3 October: Flying into Las Vegas in the morning. Renting a convertible for the week and staying overnight.
Sunday 4 October: Driving to Grand Canyon Village, with longish stop at Hoover Dam. Staying in village Sunday and Monday night.
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Saturday 10 October: Flying out of Las Vegas in the evening.
As you can see I am already planning on spending at least a day and a half at the Grand Canyon. The Hoover Dam interests me a lot. I’ve never been to Las Vegas so I’ve built in most of a day and an overnight stay just for the novelty value (should I see a show or try a buffet?), but that city isn’t the main emphasis (unless someone convinces me otherwise).
So I have a ton of space to fill! At the Grand Canyon I’ve looked at hiking a short way down Bright Angel trail (not too far, I’m reasonably fit but have not been specifically training for this) and driving through some of the outlooks. What else should I do here? Should I stay longer? Where else should I drive to? The idea of Los Alamos is exciting to me, but I’m not sure what there is to see there and whether I should attempt such a long distance drive (I’d hate to spend a week in a car, never getting out). The Petrified National Forest looks cool too, so I’d like to do that.
I guess I’m also looking for generic advice about visiting the region from people who’ve done this. Seeing lots of things versus concentrating on fewer things, etc. I am a reasonably experienced traveler, but this area is huge, and I don’t want to underestimate driving times. I’d like to have the freedom to stop at interesting things along the way that people can recommend.
Thanks for any advice you can give! I’m pretty sure I’m going to have a good time, and can probably figure out a lot of this myself, but first hand anecdotes and advice will be helpful too!
Have you considered visiting the north rim of the Grand Canyon? It takes longer to get there from Las Vegas, but several great parks are within driving distance of the north rim, including Bryce, Zion, Arches, Cedar Breaks and Canyonlands.
I met a couple on a train trip who are spending their retirement visiting all the national parks. Not just “visiting” but exploring, in depth, with the goal in mind of sharing what they’ve learned on a website, complete with photos and video. These two don’t just drive through the parks – they hike and ride horseback and they’d just been rafting down the Colorado River.
I’ve forgotten everything they said about the parks except that if you want to get the most out of the Grand Canyon, approach from the east because you’ll be in the best place to take advantage of the scenic turnouts. They said if you enter from another direction, you’ll have to cross lanes of traffic to get to the turnouts.
This. The north rim isn’t as overcrowded as the south rim, and you can stay in one of the lodge’s cabins. And the best places in that area are the parks in southern Utah (and add Capital Reef to the list).
Lots of North Rim suggestions. Technically I can do this as my Grand Canyon Village hotels can be canceled.
But I had not thought much of the North Rim. I wanted to do a little hiking and the Bright Angel trail seemed most popular, meaning lots of other people. Since I am alone I’d rather not go too remote and never be heard of again!
So where specifically would you recommend I go on the North Rim, if I change my destination?
Get an early start on your drive from LV to the Canyon. That’s a 4-plus hour drive without any major stops. If you have time, take Route 66 from Kingman to Seligman, and make sure you stop in at the Snow-Cap Drive-In.
If Page, AZ isn’t too far out of your way, Antelope Canyon is a must-see.
I really enjoyed my helicopter flight to the bottom of the Grand Canyon with Papillon Tours. They picked us up at our hotel in Vegas and drove us to their facility in Boulder City. The helicopter flight took us over Hoover Dam, over and into the canyon, and we had lunch at the bottom of the canyon. It was somewhat expensive, but worth it.
The Petrified Forest National Park was nice, and worth stopping at if you were on the way past, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go there when there are so many more spectacular Parks to the north of the Grand Canyon. The landscape around the Petrified Forest NP is a little more bleak than further north, as it is a much flatter. The colours were amazing, but I only remember spending a couple of hours there, and that was enough.
I also spent some time in Los Alamos as a friend worked at the National Laboratory there, and while it is a strange, pleasant wee town, again not a huge amount to see. Maybe I missed some things, as the primary reason for being there was to visit friends. We did visit the Bandelier National Monument when we were there, which was really interesting, but again, only if you were near there already.
I think if I were you, after the Grand Canyon, I would head up into Utah to see some of the scenery there. Zion NP was spectacular.
Oh, I’m really jealous It’s been two years since our last trip out there, and it looks like we won’t be back from quite some time.
Oh, and as for Las Vegas, I would definitely try and catch a show. We only had one evening in Vegas while we were passing through, and I’m so glad we booked tickets for something (a Cirque du Soleil show), as there is only so much gawking you can do at the spectacle of Vegas when you’re not into gamblng. I loved the show and it was one of the highlights of the trip for me.
My opinion of some of the sites I saw, but google some pictures and check out for yourself.
Zion National Park / Bryce = awesome, better hiking than the grand canyon.
I don’t see the difference everybody makes with North Rim / South rim, aside from maybe avoiding the crowds it’s the same thing. Unless you are hiking to the bottom of the Canyon, I wouldn’t bother descending – just walk around the rim.
I blew off the Hoover Dam. I saw the Aswan Dam in Egypt which is bigger and better, and that sucked – even though I was looking forward to seeing it. It’s holding back water. Wow. But the Hoover Dam is so close you might as well check it out.
Monument Valley = awesome
Flaggstaff, AZ = bust. Not much to do, painted desert and indian ruins weren’t impressive. The Lowell Observatory is awesome though.
Goosenecks state park and horseshoe bend are cool to check out if you are near by. Antelope Canyon if you are there at the right time of year (otherwise a bust).
When you finalize your driving itinerary, check to see if there are any ghost towns en route to break up the drives.
What the hell? There’s another thread on the front page where I actually walk across the Canyon, then some guy with fewer than 1,000 posts just wants to look at it and he gets more replies than I did. I’m hurt.
Driver8, if you can’t make it to Los Alamos, you might like the Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas. I was just there and it’s fascinating. For Hoover Dam, try to get there early. They have one tour that just takes you to one of the diversion tunnels and the powerhouse, but the better tour also goes into the dam. Even if it’s not sold out, you might have an hour to wait for the next tour. Less waiting, and probably less traffic, if you get there soon after they open.
The road to the North Rim comes perpendicular to the Canyon, so you don’t really see anything until you’re right at the lodge. (Although, I was there at night, so I may have missed it.) There are paths along the rim, and a couple other viewpoints you can drive to. At the South Rim, there’s a road that runs along the Canyon, with a few turnouts for viewing. That’s a great way to see it, but it’s probably more than 100 miles out of your way to come into the park from that direction.
I actually like Sedona better than the Grand Canyon. The Canyon is kind of abstract and distant. Yes, the views are pretty, but oft times the air isn’t clear, so the colors are muted.
Sedona is up close and personal, with brilliant colors and sights you can walk right up to. You also commonly get 60-mile visibility in that area. And the 4-wheel drive jeep trips are amazing. (I’ve always used Pink Jeep Tours.)
My spouse’s niece visited us and we went on a vacation with her. We spent 3 days in Vegas, half a day in the Grand Canyon, and 3 days in Sedona and that felt like the right amount of time in each place.
Or stay around up north of the Canyon and hit Page (as has been suggested) for Lake Powell and into Utah for their canyons (or skip based on what you’re into) and then continue east to Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly (and then book back to Vegas!)
Beautiful country. That would be my suggestion. And I live here; well, Phoenix!
Oh and as a first time hiker, I would definitely take as look at what kind of hiking opportunities exist from the North Rim. Can you find this kind of information on the Grand Canyon’s website? Although Bright Angel trail is nice. I don’t have much experience with the North Rim.
It’s been two years since our last trip out there, and it looks like we won’t be back from quite some time.