Daise

My husband and I are considering a trip to Arizona and Utah trip the third week of September 2019. Here is a tentative plan and I would like some feedback about whether it is workable. I don't know if a day and a half is too long in the Grand Canyon since we will be driving Desert View Drive on the way to Page. We were in Utah in 2016 and visited Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Capitol Reef.

Day 1. Fly to Flagstaff. Drive to Sedona. Things we might want to do in the Sedona area:

- Visit town

- Pink Jeep tour.

- Oak Creek Canyon

- Stay in Sedona

Day 2. Sedona.

Day 3. Drive to Grand Canyon. Things we might want to do while there:

- Rim Trail.

- South Kaibab trail: take this a little way down into the canyon.

Day 4. Grand Canyon

Days 5 & 6:

- Leave Grand Canyon. Drive toward Page.

- Stop at Horseshoe Bend.

- Do two tours of Antelope Canyon

- Canyon Adventure boat tour of Lake Powell:

- Stay in Page both nights

Day 7. Drive through Monument Valley to Moab.

Day 8. Arches National Park. Stay in Moab.

Day 9. Leave Moab, drive through Canyonlands National Park to Flagstaff.

Day 10 – fly home.

emalloy

Some thoughts:
If money is a factor, look into flying into/out of other airports as the cost for Flag will probably be more than Phoenix or Vegas and the time spent changing planes will be almost as much as the added drive time.

When planning your trip, add time to the numbers that the mapping sites tell you as many roads are small and have lots of places that you will want to stop and look at the scenery.

Do make reservations in Grand Canyon now and make others that can be cancelled as soon as you have your plans finalized.

Given what you have said you want to do, I would say that you could do most of what you want to do with one overnight in Grand Canyon.

Add a day in Moab. You can easily spend a whole day in both Arches and Canyonlands and there are other places to visit in the area too. If you want to see the major arches and hike to Delicate arch and Landscape arch or do the Fiery Furnace ranger led hike in Arches, you will need more than a day there. Factor in the drive time to get back to Flagstaff on your day 9 and there isn't much time in Canyonlands.

WhereAreWe

Totally agree. Driving Phoenix to Flagstaff is 2:15 or so. If you just fly into Phoenix you could probably be in Sedona before the connecting flight even lands in Flagstaff.

Other than that, I think your days are out of kilter.
Day 1 and 2: Sedona
Day 3: Drive to Grand Canyon, do the rim trail.
Day 4: S. Kaibab in the morning, leave by early afternoon and drive to Page (stop along Desert View drive and visit Horseshoe Bend).
Day 5: One Antelope Canyon tour and the Lake Powell tour
Day 6: Drive through Monument Valley, get to Moab and hike to Delicate Arch in the evening (try to see the major roadside stops before that)
Day 7: Arches
Day 8: Canyonlands
Day 9: Head back towards Arizona (either go through Monument Valley or Canyon de Chelly or Petrified Forest, there are other options)
Day 10: Fly home

Your current itinerary has almost 2 full days in Grand Canyon - that is not necessary unless you're doing major hiking into the canyon. You also have basically 2 full days for Page and are shortchanging Moab so I changed that up to allow more time in Moab.

Personally I would not do the boat tour of Lake Powell as I would rather see other things. If I skipped the boat tour, I would drive to Monument Valley and stay there overnight on day 5, then take a tour the next morning before going to Moab. That may even still be possible if you do the boat tour, depending on what time of day it finishes. Or do the boat tour in the morning, Antelope Canyon in early afternoon and then leave for Monument Valley. I just think you can reconfigure those days and get more time elsewhere.

Daise

Thank you - that was quite helpful. I think we do want to look into flying into Phoenix or Las Vegas, and it is good to know we would be safe with one night in the Grand Canyon. There is so many wonderful places in Utah - think I could easily spend a month there. We are going to try to add a day in Moab. Thanks again!

Daise

Thank you for the suggested changes to the schedule, that is very helpful. We are going to make some changes based on your ideas. You mentioned possibly staying in Monument Valley overnight; I didn't know if it would be possible to get a reasonably priced hotel room in the area or not.

We might not get back to Utah and Arizona again, so it would be nice to have more time in the Moab area. Thanks for your help!

jannyjonson

Cool idea! I have never been in Grand Canyon but It is still my dream)

emalloy

There are two places to stay in Monument Valley, Gouldings and The View. Neither is really budget, but they are not very high end either. If you can't get lodging there, you could stay in Kayenta (a short way south) or Mexican Hat ( a short way north).