We are travelling from UK in September 2003 (a party of four) for a two-week holiday and plan to tour the Grand Canyon. We are looking for idea’s of other places to visit perhaps Los Angeles or/and San Francisco.
We don’t want to change hotels every night. Driving isn’t a problem.
Can anyone suggest an itinerary?

Fly into SF and drive down the coast to LA area. You need to have something specific to see in LA, its so big and uninteresting otherwise. Disneyland, Universal studios, beaches? Then drive over to Las Vegas and go to the Grand Canyon by way of Zion Canyon and Lake Powell. You could drive to Phoenix through Sedona and fly home or go back to Las Vegas.

Dear George:

The Grand Canyon is an extremely popular place, so I would suggest you make hotel reservations immediately, especially if you want to stay in the park. There are only 4 hotels in the park, all on the rim. They are all run by the same company, check their website: "Amfac.worldres.com" My favorite is the El Tovar, others on this site have different opinions. Run a seat here for advice.

I would suggest checking availability and making a booking for whatever is available now, then contact them again every few weeks to upgrade to the property/room that you want. This is how I ended up with a suite on the 2nd floor with a huge balcony overlooking the rim. (There are several suites, definitely recommended.)

If you want to hike or take a mule down to the bottom of the canyon, it is probably already too late to book (often booked a year in advance), but if would be worth checking if you are interested. I believe you can do this through the amfac website.

As for the rest of your itinerary, if you can give an idea of what you are interested in seeing (nature, big cities, forests, deserts, gambling, shopping, hiking/camping, etc) people can give more specific comments.

Hope this is helpful.

Ken,

The Grand Canyon is just one of many scenic wonders in the south west US. I suggest making the grand circle which would include the Grand Canyon, Glen Canyon National Recreational Area (Lake Powell at Page, AZ), take the all day boat trip out to Rainbow Bridge National Monument. Spend a few days in Zion National Park, a couple of days in Bryce National Park, then travel scenic highway 12 through the Escalante - Grand Staircase National Monument to Boulder, Utah and then up to Torrey and over to Capitol Reef National Park and then on to Moab, Utah. Spend 4 or 5 days in Moab area going to Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse State Park, Fisher Towers, and much more. Travel down to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado and then over to Monument Valley Tribal Park and Canyon de Chelly National Monument and you can also get the Petrified Forest National Park on your way back.

If you want to go to cities, then I don't have any suggestions other than driving from the Grand Canyon to Los Angeles is long and BORING! Driving from L. A. to San Francisco is boring unless you take the slower coastal route.

Utahtea

To : Nancy ([email protected]) Tried to e-mail you without success
Thanks for the reply to my Grand Canyon Itinerary.
We are interested in Nature and a bit of walking (nothing to strenuous (old city folks) you know what I mean!
Our main aim is to have a nice 2 weeks sightseeing trip but not living out of a suitcase. We want to see the Canyon/Dams/Parks/bit of boating/rafting (yes I know we are old but we are just a little on the loony side as well)/Possibly a helicopter trip (if we can afford it on a tight budget)
We are not into gambling but think we should visit Las Vagus (just because it is there)
I think we can fly to Las Vagus and have a 'stop off' for a week to 10 days before flying to LA.
Any further info would be appretiated.
Regards
Ken

I think Utahtea's plan is too much for a week trip. I was just at the Grand Canyon south rim about two weeks ago. We spent 5 hours just doing the west side of the canyon rim drive - you have to take a shuttle bus. You can walk between some of the stops - it's easy level walking. The next day it took us all morning to do the east rim drive. I think this side has the more spectacular views.

If you're flying to/from Vegas, it would be good to do a circle: Vegas - Grand Canyon south rim - Page Arizona - Zion. A place that looks really interesting to do in Page is Antelope Canyon. On the way from the GC to Page, stop at the Navaho Bridge (the only crossing over the Grand Canyon) and at Lees Ferry (where the raft trips start). They're both reached on Alt 89 and not that far out of your way to Page.
From Zion, you could do a day trip to Cedar Breaks National Monument. You'll leave the desert behind on the road up to there. It's a beautiful drive.
From Vegas, you can do a one day raft trip. It starts at the base of the Hoover Dam and goes 11 miles south. You can see bighorn sheep on the canyon walls.

Thanks for the message, this is not my actual e-mail address, as I don't want to get on a zillion mailing lists....I am curious to see how many response you get! Everyone will offer their own advice. And here is mine:

1. I am one of the few Americans over the age of 21 who has never been to Las Vegas and hopes to die with that still being true. I grew up in New Jersey where the city of Atlantic City legalized gambling in 1977, and a few trips there cured me of any desire to see it on a larger scale. That being said you probably can get very good flight deals into Los Vegas.

2. My personal choice would be to fly into Phoenix/Scottsdale. Spend a day or two there (if you like golf this is a golfer's paradise). The desert landscape is really incredible. There are many budget and many luxury hotels. I would go upscale and stay at someplace with a spa to recover from the jet lag.

3. From Phoenix you can rent a car and drive to the Grand Canyon. Stop in Sedona on the way, incredible red sandstone formations. This is worth a night if possible, but a day or even an afternoon is also OK. There is a very unusual Frank Lloyd Wright chapel built into one of the hills.

4. As the thread above says, you may want to spend 3-5 days at the Canyon depending on how much you want to see and do. Personally, I could just stare at it for hours. You can take helicopter rides there, they will come and collect you at your hotel. I can't remember what I paid (selective memory for forgetting financial excesses) I did the half hour trip, and I actually wish I had done a longer one; although half hour is better than nothing.

More in the next message....

To continue in the Grand Canyon...

5. Rafting down the canyon is probably not an option, it is probably fully booked at this point, but you might check. Another option is a trip down the Glen Canyon. This is NOT white water rafting, there is nary a rapid in sight and the canyon is nowhere as deep as the Grand, but the sandstone cliffs are beautiful and there are lots of birds and small wildlife. I definitely thought it was worth it. It is a day trip on a bus which collects you at a hotel just outside the entrance to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. You will lots of websites with rafting information, try these two for a start:

grand-canyon.com
raftingthegrandcanyon.com

6. After the Canyon, you have a myriad of choices, and threads above give many good suggestions. Many people like Bryce or Zion National Parks. Haven't been to either so I can't comment. I have been to Mesa Verde (Indian cliffside dwellings) and thought it was really fascinating. Albuquerque or Santa Fe (directly east in New Mexico) are supposed to be beautiful, especially Santa Fe.

7. If you are really set on going to California, then I would vote for San Francisco. The harbor the mountains, the whole scenery both human and natural is more dramatic and I think interesting. In addition to the city, there is Carmel and Monterey to the south, Sea Ranch to the north and the wine country a bit inland. If you haven't seen the Pacific, then go to the coast, otherwise go into wine country.

Whether you go to LA or San Fran, however, I think that it would be a lot of driving and not really interesting scenery as neither route would take you to mountains or lakes. (Lake Tahoe is pretty far north. especially if you only have two weeks. If do end up doing rafting or hiking in the Grand Canyon area, you may be there for 4 days not to mention Las Vegas and/or Phoenix. I would suggest you look into an "open jaw" or multi-city airticket that would allow you to fly into Phoenix, fly out of Las Vegas to San Fran or LA, and then fly back to the UK from that final arrival city. I don't think it is much more expensive and may in fact be cheaper than a return ticket from the UK to only one US city. However, you might incur a high drop-off charge to drop off a rental car in one state and return it in another, so get info on this before you commit to a multi-city ticket. You can get another rental car in LA or San Fran.

Confused, bewildered? Welcome to travel in the US. I am sure you will get lots of other good advice here. There is so much to see and do. (I live in Switzerland now, by the way, so I know how you feel as I am always trying to plan holidays here and am bewildered by the choices.)

Hope this is helpful.