My wife and I are going to Las Vegas and have never been to The Grand Canyon or Sedona or any of the surrounding areas. We would like to see as much as possible while we are there without needing a vacation when we get home. Where should we go? We will have 4-6 days after Vegas
Where to go to extend Vegas trip...
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The Grand Canyon and Sedona are both wonderful and pretty spectacular, and if you've never been there, you certainly might want to go see the Grand Canyon. However, another option to consider is Zion and Bryce Canyons, in southwestern Utah. You could spend a couple of days at Zion, another full day at Bryce, and if you decide you could take 6 days, you could drive the amazingly scenic highway 12 as far as Capitol Reef NP if you're feeling ambitious. I loved going to the Grand Canyon, but I find that we are drawn to repeatedly to return to Zion and Bryce and the surrounding area when we're in that part of the country, as we've done several times, and plan to do again this April.
What month? How much time were you expecting to spend in LV?
Any time after about April 20, you should not have snow blocking your way to the south rim. You can usually get a good bargain on rental cars in Las Vegas.
Check under Utah and Arizona for other posts - but here is my trip report - and with 4 to 6 days - I think you could see several spots without getting too road crazy.
http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/sw-scenic-whirl-zionbrycecapitol-reefmvgcsedona.cfm
One loop you could do would this time of year be to leave Vegas early drive to Grand Canyon with a stop at Hoover Dam. Spend the night and next morning at Grand Canyon.
The next day, drive towards Bryce, spend the night there, or if you think that's too far, stop in Kanab and continue to Bryce. The next morning, tour Bryce, stopping at the overlooks, hike a bit if it isn't too snowy. Then head for Zion.
Spend a night or two in Zion, enjoy the park, take as many hikes as you want, then head back to Vegas to fly home.
This trip could be done in the opposite direction if weather dictated that and I'm one who would wing it for overnight reservations in Dec, Jan, Feb., Mar., or April, in fact have done that, but if you are afraid of that, get reservations now. If you can stay in the parks, that would be my first choice.
If you have 4 days, go to the Grand Canyon (1 or 2 nights) and Sedona (2 or 3 nights). If you have 5 days, do the loop including Zion (2 or 3 nights), Bryce (1 night) and Grand Canyon (1 or 2 nights). With 6 days, you could do the loop plus a night or 2 in Sedona.
If you aren't hiking into the canyon itself, then one night at the Grand Canyon is sufficient. You could extend that to 2 nights if you want to do a more strenuous hike at least partways into the canyon. There's plenty of hiking in Zion, Bryce and Sedona so it would depend on where you want to do your hiking (if that's even something you want to do).