mmcconeghy

Trying to plan a trip for March 3-11 from Vegas and seeing the mighty 5 national parks then flying home from Denver. Any tips on itinerary, bed and breakfasts for accommodations and restaurants would be greatly appreciated. Will be renting a car and will only do short hikes but want the most scenic roads. Would there be time for the 4 corners monument to be visited?

tomfuller

Have you checked on how much the drop fee will be in Denver?
If you are going to detour that far, visit Mesa Verde NP instead of the 4 Corners.
I hope that the snow will be melted in all the places you want to go - no guarantees.
Moab is a good base for Arches and Canyonlands (Island in the Sky section).
Unless you really want to see something special in Denver, just take the car back to Las Vegas and fly home from there.
Three things to see in the LV area are The Red Rocks area west of town, the Valley of Fire State Park and Hoover Dam.

WhereAreWe

Presumably the 5 parks are Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Arches and Canyonlands? Unless you are staying in Utah, in which case you would swap out Grand Canyon for Capitol Reef. You'll need to clarify that.

Assuming it is the former list, your best route to hit everything is probably Vegas -> Zion -> Bryce -> Grand Canyon South Rim -> 4 Corners -> Canyonlands -> Arches -> Denver. That is about 23 hours of driving and a bit over 1300 miles, not counting any side trips.

You would drive through Monument Valley between the Grand Canyon and 4 Corners so you may as well plan to stop there as well. Mesa Verde doesn't add much extra distance to the trip.

Bryce and the South Rim will still have snow, Zion will almost certainly have snow at higher elevations. Very good chance of snow in Mesa Verde as well.

With 5 parks and Monument Valley in 8 days, your itinerary pretty much writes itself. One night at each location, then on to the next destination with just enough time to spend a night in Vegas, Denver or an extra night at any of the parks. You'd have 2 nights in Moab since you can visit Canyonlands and Arches from there. If you decide to add Mesa Verde, then you've got 7 nights in parks and one night for Vegas or Denver.

Scenic roads - there aren't a lot of options to deviate from the shortest route. Given the weather in the higher elevations at that time of year, I'd plan to stick to the main roads and not search for any shortcuts.