mej823

Looking for some suggestions for a trip for 5..3 kids, 13,11,9. We are planning on 11 nights. Flying in and out of Vegas. I am thinking of heading to GC first to get the long drive out of the way. Trying to figure out the best "circle" back to Vegas for last 2-3 nights. Looking to spend 2-3 nights at each place with maybe 1 night at Bryce. Want to try to keep drive time (after long drive to GC) to a minimum…any suggestions would be great…fun stuff for kids, hotels with nice pools, restaurants. Thanks!

tomfuller

Depending on what time your flight gets into Las Vegas and you get your rental car, you may want to drive to Hoover Dam and let the kids see it. Stay at the Hoover Dam Lodge which is about 2-3 miles from the dam.
If you don't see the dam in the afternoon, spend an hour or 2 in the morning and then head for the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Spend at least 1 night in Page AZ before heading into Utah.
On the way back to Las Vegas try to see Valley of Fire SP.

longhorn55

We're going there next month and one place that caught my eye and which your family might enjoy is the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab.

StantonHyde

If you click on my user name, you will see my trip reports for visiting these locations with children. I live in Utah so tend to do them over long weekends vs. all at once. I have reports for Bryce, Zion, Kanab/Page.

rachill_az

If you are staying in Page for the night, you must NOT miss Antelope Canyon! It is the most beautiful, amazing, and unique place. Very easy to access. I am from AZ and I found it to be more spectacular than the Grand Canyon (although very different). Your kids will love it! Here is a link to pictures and all you need to know about visiting: http://livelifeoutofoffice.com/2014/...telope-canyon/

mlgb

I'm not in agreement with starting with the Grand Canyon. It's a lot easier to start with Zion (Springdale) from Las Vegas, and there are more options for relaxing hotels and places to eat with decent meals (not Park food service).

If you end with the Grand Canyon you can spend part of that travel day stopping along the viewpoints that are accessible by car, eg Desert Tower, which breaks up the drive.

emalloy

I've found this map with milage between sights which was posted a while ago by another fodorite, to be helpful in planning.

http://ohiohickstraveltips.weebly.co...-utah-map.html



You will be doing a loop and can go in either direction, I would see when my flights got in and where I could get lodging and make the decision on what to do first based on that. If you will be doing a night in Vegas at the beginning or end of the trip, then pick a hotel that makes leaving or flying back easy (south of the busy area if you do GC first, north if you do Zion first)

christinb

My parents and I recently did a 5 day trip from Vegas to Zion to Bryce. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Springdale, which had a very nice pool. It seemed like most hotels there were very family friendly and had nice pools. Helpful hint, if you are planning on getting up early to head into the park, you can drive and park at Canyon Junction (parallel parking across from the road where you can catch the shuttle) - there are only about 15 parking spots, but it's much more relaxing than parking at the visitor's center. Bryce was super touristy, the park was cool, but only worth spending one night.