5 Days Driving from Denver to Bryce to Zion
 

My best friend and I go on vacation each summer for a week. I'll be in Denver, so we want to start there, drive to Bryce, and then to Zion. Then she'll fly back to NY and I'll fly home to CA. We enjoy walking, but can't do difficult climbing. We want to see the beauty of our country and not spend a million dollars! Thank you.

I have heard (no personal experience) that car rental prices are quite high in Denver.
I'll put in a shameless plug for Amtrak. The westbound California Zephyr leaves Denver about 8AM every morning and arrives in Grand Junction about 4PM. The Glenwood Canyon east of Glenwood Springs is some of the most beautiful scenery in Colorado. Do you want to drive through it on I-70 or see it from the train?
Compare car rental prices for Denver vs. Grand Junction.
Depending on what part of CA you live in, you could think about flying home from SLC.
Moab is an easy drive from Grand Junction. After seeing Arches and part of Canyonlands, head west and then south. See Goblin Valley and Capitol Reef before going over Rt. 12 to get to Bryce and then Zion.

Wow, tomfuller, I didn't even consider taking a train! Interesting idea to look into. Thank you!

TOMFULLER: Do you have LOTS of stock in Amtrak?

John,
I was going to write something similar.

tomfuller has train on the brain.

I did go on and check out the idea of taking a train, but it was really, really expensive! Car rental will be the way to go with this vacation. Hoping to learn some key places to see, a special place to eat, or a road I might not have chosen. Thanks to those who read this!

You can hit 5 or 6 national parks on a great drive. If you haven't been to Rocky Mtn NP, that would be a nice start. After that, I'd head to Moab and Arches NP, as well as, Canyonlands NP. All of these parks provide walking that can be fairly easy to moderate. Canyonlands is basically in two parts-- the north part is near Arches and the south part is closer to Blanding, UT. If you end up at the southern part, you can then drive through Glen Canyon on the way past Goblin State Park and Capital Reef NP. Those are worth a glance as you head to Bryce. From Bryce, you're an easy 2 hours from Zion, and the drive into Zion from the east is very scenic.

What month will you be out there? July and August can be incredibly hot in the southwest. Doing a full loop from Denver to Zion will be difficult in a week - any chance you can fly into Denver and out of Las Vegas? If so, you'll spend a few nights in Moab, head north out through Green River over to Capitol Reef for a night, then travel west on Scenic Rte 12 over Boulder Mtn, through Escalante and onto Bryce for a night or two, ending in Zion for a few before you flight out of LV. LV is only a 2.5 hour drive from Zion and you gain an hour when you enter Nevada from Utah.

There are loads of incredible scenic and cultural sites along the way like Goblin SP, Calf Creek falls, rock art and ruins. Let us know when you plan to be there so we can help you with specific places to stay and things to do.

I think we need a little more info: are you going back to Denver to fly home or flying back from somewhere else?

One-way car rental can be expensive. Rentals in general are expensive from the Denver airport, but if you rent downtown or another off-airport location it will definitely save money. Since it sounds like you will already be in the city that is probably your best option.

It's hard to give any sort of itinerary without knowing if this is a roundtrip to/from Denver or a one-way. I would definitely stop at Arches for a day either way.

What month and how long do you have?

Well, now I see 5 days. Your going to spend 2 of them driving.