eganders

I am landing in Las Vegas on Jan 7 and heading toward Sedona, Prescott, Phoenix and Tucson. This will be a 17 day road trip I would like to make it a loop back from Tucson to Las Vegas, but I don't know the best towns & things to sight-see. We are interested in artsy towns, scenic views, light hiking and unusual experiences. Any ideas?

tomfuller

Landing morning, afternoon or evening? The list of places around Las Vegas to see on a 17 day trip would include Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire and Hoover Dam.
About an hour after you leave Hoover Dam, turn off US 93 to visit the ghost town of Chloride AZ. You will see cheap gas when you get to Kingman (I-40).
Unless there is a snowstorm, head north from Williams to go see the South Rim of the Grand Canyon even if you can't spend a night there. Next see Sedona.
Phoenix is a very busy city. I'm sure you will find things to interest you for a couple days.
Even though it is farther south, Tucson is usually colder than Phoenix.
For an interesting drive off the Interstate, take State route 86 west out of Tucson all the way to Why. Leave Tucson with a full tank.
Turn south in Why on Rt. 85 to go see Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Leaving Organ Pipe head back through Why and Ajo to get back to I-8 west to Yuma.
Yuma has the old Territorial Prison and several other attractions.
Leaving Yuma, on I-8 you can turn south from the first California exit to visit Los Algodones Mexico. You park on the US side and walk into Mexico (make sure you have your valid passport to come back). Many people walk across to have dental work done (I didn't).
Double back into AZ to go north on US 95 back to Boulder City and Las Vegas.

WhereAreWe

Are you set on flying in/out of Vegas? It seems most of the things you want to see are in Arizona and are closer to Phoenix than Vegas, so you would do less driving if you flew in/out of Phoenix.

But if you're sticking with your Vegas flights, you can visit Kingman and Oatman on old Route 66, Lake Havasu City to see the London Bridge (not that exciting but hey, it's the London Bridge), Prescott, Jerome, Sedona, Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon before or after getting to Phoenix.

There are lots of topics on there about what to do and see in Phoenix and Tucson, search around and you'll get many ideas. One unusual thing that comes to mind in Phoenix is the Mystery Castle.
http://www.mymysterycastle.com/

When you are ready to leave Phoenix, I would take a few hours to drive the Apache Trail before heading to Tucson. You'll pass by Lost Dutchman State Park, several lakes and Tonto National Monument before getting to Globe. From there head west on Hwy 60 to Boyce Thompson Arboretum and then head towards Tucson. You could easily spend a whole day if you stop at the state park, national monument and the arboretum.
http://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/apache_trail/

I would definitely recommend Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. About half of it was closed to the public until very recently due to border safety issues but they have now reopened it all.

Nelson

Have you looked into an open-jaw (multi-city) flight? That is, fly into Vegas and out of Tucson. They are often no more expensive than using a single airport.

That would save you a heck of a lot of driving, so you could spend more time seeing the sights.

spirobulldog

search my name. I did a trip report on a trip to Tucson back in April

HappyTrvlr

If you don't have your flights, skip Las Vegas, and use PHX and TUS for an open jaw itinerary.

TC

Grab a copy of any of the books by "Arizona Highways". They are the best for planning this kind of trip. We used one for a round trip out of Phoenix through Flagstaff, Sedona, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and a night on the Hopi reservation. It was wonderful. Can't recommend this books highly enough!


http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_...rnid=618072011

BTW: do not miss Monument Valley. A night on Gouldings Ranch is a must.

odie1

Just remember that there will most likely be snow in the high country then (more than 1/2 the state is high enough for snow) so that might play into a return loop from Tucson.

mlgb

I guess the other issue would be if the OP is dealing with a drop charge on the car if not returning it to Las Vegas.

17 days is plenty of time.

I would keep an eye on the weather. If it isn't snowing you might be able to go from Las Vegas via Valley of Fire to Zion/Springdale, Kanab, Lee's Ferry and then to Flagstaff to meet up with an Arizona leg.