Dear Fodorites,
I almost booked a vacation with one of the local tour company in May-June, but they oversold and now I am trying to find a similar match. The idea was to spend 8-9 days (Saturday-Sunday) in Canyons area, traveling by a tourist bus with the guide, stopping each night in different hotels. We do not want driving or planning our own trip, but instead join the group and do whatever the tour operator has planned.
They had a couple tours we equally liked:
1. Denver-Estes park-Boulder-Colorado Springs-Pikes Peak-Vail-Aspen-Arches Park-Canyonlands-Solt Lake City-Jackson-Grand Teton-Yellowstone (2 days)-Idaho Falls-Solt Lake City.
2. Las Vegas-Zion-Bryce-Escalante-Glen Dam-Navajo-Monticello UT-Canyon de Chelly-Phoenix-Tuscon-Saguaro-Sonora-Sedona-Grand Canyon South rim-Wiliams-Las Vegas.
Obviously, I am oversimplifying the routes and probably skipping a few stops and landmarks on the way.
My question is: who else offers similar "worry-free" tours?
Thanks a lot.

have you done this type trip before. I have never liked trips like this. True, though you don't have to worry about lodging, gas, food, etc.

Sure have, several times in the country and also in Europe. There are pros and cons to both ways of traveling. Mountains is not the region where I would want to do my own driving for a week, though.

We did the Canyoland tour last summer with Tauck Tours. It was fantastic. Scottsdale, Sedona, Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Antelope, Glen canyon rat ride, etc. They took care of everything. All we had to do was show up on time every day.

To schmerl:
Thank you for the tip. I checked out Tauck web site: they seem very nice, but extremely expensive! That 8-day Canyonlands tour costs $2400/person without air. The other tours are on par. That is far beyond what I consider a reasonable budget vacation.
Some others I found (Cosmos, Trfalgar) have much lower prices (half); maybe not as nice, but...

Cosmos and Trfalgar are fine. The only difference is where you stay and you're hardly in your room anyway. Tauck may also include more meals, but you can eat on your own.

Tauck is not designed to be budget - it's for the traveler who wants more upscale. Generally the hotels nd meals are much better than the budget tours - and often more is included.

If tour 1 is an 8-9 day tour, you will spend all day on the bus looking at sites as you drive by. That is an insane amount of territory to cover in that amount of time.

Lee Ann

I was on a tour with Cosmos, and loved it. Starts and ends in Vegas, and Cosmos is a budget company.

Also, if you make reservations with affordabletours, you get 10% off.

http://www.cosmos.com/

http://www.affordabletours.com/


http://www.cosmos.com/Product.aspx?t...ct_Western_USA

and here is the map of the tour
http://www.cosmos.com/product.aspx?c...0&source=map-2

And yes, this is a smart thing to do

Caravan Tours...
http://www.caravan.com/

A few posters here have used this tour company and have given favorable reports. The prices seem very reasonable.

I am interested in someday taking one of their Mexico or Costa Rica tours.