Baoqin

I am planning a family trip for next summer (6/13-6/21). We are in our 40s with 3 kids (12, 9, 5 by then), and my sister who is 58 and pretty weak). Our goal is to tour the famous places and at the same time have a relatively relaxed trip. Here is the tentative plan:

Day 1: fly in Vegas. Stay and enjoy the night of Vegas.
Day 2: leave Vegas before noon and drive to Grand Canyon
Day 3: stay in Grand Canyon (plan to stay 1 night in south rim and 1 night in north rim)
Day 4: leave Grand Canyon before noon and drive to Bryce Canyon National Park
Day 5: stay in Bryce Canyon National Park
Day 6: Leave Bryce Canyon and drive to Zions National Park, stay in the park
Day 7: Stay in Zions
Day 8: leave Zions and drive to Vegas. Stay in Vegas.
Day 9: leave Vegas and fly home

I welcome any comments and suggestions to make our trip memorable and relaxed. Specifically I have the following questions:
1. For Grand Canyon, where should I stay the 1st day - South Rim or North Rim?
2. I personally am very interested in going to Arches. Giving the long drive, the June weather and the age of our kids, is it advisable to even consider it? We can add one day in our trip if necessary.
3. My experience is kids do not appreciate nature wonders as adults do, any suggestion to make the little ones happy will be welcome.

I used this site to plan my trip once, it was very helpful. I appreciate all your feedback.

J62

With just 8 nights I think you are better off just visiting the GC north rim. Adding in the south rim will add many hours to your driving time. One reason kids don't enjoy natural wonders so much is the time spent in the car vs time actually enjoying nature.

I'd stay 2 night GC north rim, 2 nights Bryce, and 2 nights Zion (no s). At Zion I think you are better off staying outside the park in Springdale, UT at a hotel that has a pool. That time of year it will be very warm, and especially the kids will appreciate a pool.

Something like this.
6/13 Stay vegas
6/14 Stay GC North rim
6/15 Stay GC North rim
6/16 Bryce
6/17 Bryce
6/18 Zion
6/19 Zion
6/20 Vegas
6/21 fly home

tomfuller

With kids I don't think you need 2 nights in LV.
My plan would look like this: Land at LAS and get the rental car.
Drive to the Hacienda casino hotel which is about 2 miles before Hoover Dam on US 93. Spend the night there and see Hoover Dam in the morning before heading to the South Rim (if you can get lodging). Spend 2 nights there if you can get it.
Leaving GC South Rim head through Monument Valley (US 160 & 163) and make it to Moab on US 191 before sunset.
Spend your 2 days there seeing Arches and the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands.
Leaving Moab, take I-70 west to Rt. 24. A short detour off 24 will get you to Goblin Valley S.P. which the kids will like I'm sure. There are some petroglyphs along 24 in Capitol Reef MP. Spend a night in Torrey before heading south to Bryce on Rt. 12 which is one of the most scenic roads in Utah.
See Bryce but spend the night (maybe 2) near Zion.
Interstate 15 takes you back to Las Vegas.
If you have some extra time, come back to LV by way of Valley of Fire State Park and the road on the west side of Lake Meade.
Either at the beginning or end of the trip drive up (or down) the "Strip" (Las Vegas Blvd.) The things the kids would enjoy at the Fremont Street Experience would be the zipline, the overhead light show (early evening) and seeing the largest gold nugget on public display at the Golden Nugget (62+ lb.)

msteacher

There is significant driving distance between the north and south rims. You will want to choose just one, and for you I'd recommend the south rim. It has much more for the kids and also numerous gorgeous overlooks that require minimal walking for your sister. It is the place most visitors to the GC go... The north rim has fewer vistas and less infrastrucutre for tourists.

Baoqin

Thanks very much for your reply. My sister is from another country so touring Vegas is mainly for her. I am also thinking to take the kids to Las Vegas Natural History Museum during the first day of arrival (with museum passport program it would be free). Any idea is it worth it or it's better to stay in the hotel and rest?

Saw some comments that both the North Rim and South Rim are worth the visit. If I have to choose, which side should we go?

Also is Hoover Dam a detour on the way to the South Rim? We want to limit maximum daily drive to 5 hours.

janisj

Tom wants to send everyone to the Hacienda. I wouldn't - if you want to se LV you need to stay on the Strip.

As for Hoover Dam -- it is right on the route from Vegas to the south Rim (the South Rim will be much better for your family/sister's situation - skip the North Rim)

emalloy

I'm also a fan of the south rim of Grand Canyon and as mentioned, Hoover Dam is right on the route from Vegas.

If you must do 2 nights in Vegas, try to leave early in the morning and stop at Hoover dam for pictures and then head to Grand Canyon in time to see sunset and do a hike along the rim to the west of Bright Angel. For folks who don't/can't walk far there is a shuttle that parallels the rim trail and stops at view points along the way. If you walk a bit and get tired, you can hop onto a shuttle to the next view point.

Hike down either Bright Angel trail or South Kaibab trail for at least a wile to get a different perspective of the canyon. I would plan to head east from Bright Angel on my way out and stop at the view points along the way.

Then head up towards Page for the loop around to Bryce and Zion. There is lodging in Page and in Kanab along this route.

In any case, you should have lodging arranged for this time of year as in the Grand Canyon, people make these quite far in advance. They do sometimes cancel, so spots do open up and are best found by calling directly as they often don't show up on the web site.

clarkgriswold

"Tom wants to send everyone to the Hacienda"....

...and he'd send them on a train if he could!

Your plan looks good but I would stay only one night at Grand Canyon...plus add a day to your trip and include Arches. If the kids are going to complain anyway, might as well add your personal fave. Just keep telling them "only few more days til we're back in Vegas....if you behave".

WhereAreWe

<Saw some comments that both the North Rim and South Rim are worth the visit. If I have to choose, which side should we go?>

You don't really have to choose. South Rim has the more wide open magnificent views, North Rim is quieter and more laid back. But the drive from the South Rim to Bryce will lead you fairly close to the North Rim (within a couple hours) so it's not so far out of the way that you can't visit for a night.

What does your sister want to see? Since she is from another country I would assume she won't be back to that area anytime soon. And how much hiking or walking will everyone be doing?

If you can add another day to the trip, that makes Arches doable. But you would want to drop a day from either Bryce or Grand Canyon. You could find enough things to keep everyone occupied around Arches (float trips on the river, easy hikes, visit Canyonlands, etc.) so I think you would want two nights there. If you aren't doing any significant hiking down into the canyon, Bryce and the Grand Canyon really only need an overnight stay (not two) to see all the viewpoints and walk along the rims.

Baoqin

Great advice, everyone! With my sister's condition and the 5-y old, we can hike probably 2-3 miles per day.

Probably will stay in Vegas for the first 2 days, and on the last day of the trip we will drive directly from Zion to the airport. This will save the hassel of one hotel check-in/check-out.

Re the Hoover Dam, is the Dam Tour or Powerplant Tour worthwhile? Or should we just stop, take pictures, and drive away?

I booked the Grand Canyon south rim lodge for 2 nights (may drop 1 night if we cannot add another day to our trip). Decide to skip north rim this time. I will go back another time and tour the north rim for sure. Planning to go to Arches, but the drive from the south rim to Arches is about 6 hours! Any advise re where to stop during the long drive and where to stay in or around Arches?

Great feeling to have a bunch of experts planning with me! Really appreciate it!

J62

What lodge did you book at the South Rim? There are 6 of them, 4 of which are directly at the rim (El Tovar, Bright Angel, Kachina and Thunderbird), and 2 less that 1/2 mile away (Maswik and Yavapai).

If you like to learn how things are made and work then the Hoover dam tour is worthwhile. Even if you don't take the tour it is worthwile to walk across the dam & soak in the sheer size.

My reco for skipping the south rim was simply because of added distance, but as the others have pointed out it is more accessible, and where >90% of the visitors go to, for good reason.

tomfuller

It's good to get to Hoover Dam in the morning (early as possible).
If you don't like the Hacienda, try something in Henderson. I like the Fiesta which has a movie theater and a restaurant which serves breakfast. I checked out using my TV remote and dropped the key card in a slot near the elevator.
I'm sure one or more of your kids will want to go down inside Hoover Dam.
When you go down to the dam, there is a security checkpoint before you get to the dam (old US 93). Do not pull into the parking garage on the NV side. Go across the dam and park at the second or third lot on the Arizona side (free).
Walk down and across the dam taking your pictures.
Decide who wants to go on the tour and who wants to stay on top.
When you leave you will be driving back across the dam. Part way back up there will be a parking lot on the left to access the paved path to go see the new arch bridge (US 93).
It is well worth the time to go onto the walkway on the bridge.
The apex of the bridge and the state line are marked on the walkway less than 30 feet apart.
Fill your gas tank in Kingman AZ. Top it off at Grand Canyon before heading to Moab.
Yes it is 5.5 to 6.5 hours from Grand Canyon (South Rim) to Moab via Kayenta and Monument Valley. If you have 2 drivers, this should not be much of a problem leaving at 9AM and arriving about 4:30 with an hour or so of stops.
I would make the stay in LV (on the Strip) at the end of the trip.

Baoqin

Here is the remodeled trip plan:

Day 1: fly to LV. Stay in LV for 2 nights
Day 3: leave LV early in the morning, stop at Hoover Dam, then to Grand Canyon South Rim overnight at Kachina lodge (5h drive)
Day 4: leave South Rim in the afternoon and drive to monument valley tribal park overnight (3-h drive. want to avoid 6-h dirve to Moab)
Day 5: leave Monument Valley before noon and head to Moab (3h drive)
Day 6: tour Arches and Canyonlands
Day 7: drive to Capitol Reef National Park (2.5h drive), then to Bryce Canyon overnight (2.5h drive)
Day 8 – watch sunrise, mule ride in Bryce Canyon during the day. In the evening drive to Zion overnight (2h drive)
Day 9 – relax (hopefully) in Zion
Day 10 - head back to LV airport – (2.5h drive)

I added Monument Valley overnight stop and Capitol Reef stop mainly to break the long drive. But it seems to make the trip schedule very tight. I am excited about the trip, but at the same time I am a little stressed if I have to drive almost every day... If I can add another day to our trip, where should we spend that day?

emalloy

I would want to add the other day to the Moab area. In any case if you get to Moab in the daylight, take a ride into Arches. It is awesome as the sun gets low in the sky and the rock seems to glow. In Canyonlands Island in the Sky district, do take the short hike out to Mesa Arch and also go to the overlooks at the farthest point of the park.

WhereAreWe

Mule ride at Bryce has a minimum age of either 7 or 10, depending on which ride you do.

I would stop at Goblin Valley rather than Capitol Reef.



If 5 hours a day is an absolute limit, don't go to Moab. Pare back the itinerary and give yourself more time to relax, there is plenty to fill an itinerary in the Grand Canyon/Bryce/Zion loop.

I will say that you are probably overestimating the amount of time you need at the Grand Canyon. With your sister and smaller kids, you aren't going to be doing any major hikes. And quite honestly the different viewpoints all start to look the same after a couple hours, so arriving in the afternoon and leaving the following morning is fine. I would exit the Grand Canyon by 10am, drive through Monument Valley and keep going to Moab.

The drive from the eastern entrance/exit of the Grand Canyon to Moab is actually just under 5 hours.