Help with itinerary please
 

I am looking for some help for a 9 day trip next September. We want to fly into Flagstaff, renting a car. Spend one night there, night in GC, a couple in Sedona, and the remaining in Flagstaff.
The sites we would like to see is the South Rim, Bryce Canyon, Antelope Canyon. We would also like a calm water rafting trip. I see day trips offered from Flagstaff to Antelope but not sure if that's the way to go. I am all over the place trying to plan this trip. First our destination was Sedona, then Williams, and now Flagstaff. Which place would be the best place to stay to branch out to the sites we want to see? We don't want to spend all day driving. Thanks so much. Jan

I would suggest flying into either Las Vegas or Phoenix. Flying into Flag would mean connecting in Phoenix and with the connection time (even without delays), you would get to Flag as fast or faster just flying into PHX.

Fly into LAS, 3 days for Zion and Bryce. Stay in Page to do the float trip and Antelope Canyon. 1 or 2 nights there. Drive to GCSR, one night in the park (two if you like a lot of hiking. Drive to Sedona, visiting Wupatki National Monument and Sunset Crater along the way

I'm not sure why you want to stay so many nights in Flagstaff. Personally, I would spend the remaining time in Sedona.

I tend to prefer moving from place to place rather than staying at a "base" and driving back and forth every day. For places like Grand Canyon and Bryce or Zion, the best times are early morning and late afternoon. Driving in this area after dark can involve encounters with deer and elk which I like to avoid, so I would want to be there by afternoon and stay through the morning.

I would want to make this trip a loop. Since it is a loop, you could go in either direction. Logically you could fly into either Phoenix or Las Vegas. Las Vegas usually has better costs for airfare and car rentals. If you choose Vegas, then either to (Springdale, UT) through Zion to Bryce to Page (for Antelope Canyon and a smooth water raft trip) to Sedona to Las Vegas, or the same sites in the opposite direction: Vegas-Sedona- Grand Canyon-Page-Bryce-Zion-Vegas. For Phoenix, I would not go to Zion, and would go up to Sedona first then Page-Bryce - Grand Canyon or GC-Bryce-Page-Sedona.

For Vegas this gives you all the places you want to see plus Zion and can be done in your time frame. I would determine which direction to go when I find out when the plane lands in Vegas. It takes about 5 hours to get from Vegas to Sedona, so If you arrive in the morning you can be in Sedona by late afternoon. If you get in in the early afternoon, you can get to Zion in 3 hours, so by late afternoon. If you get in late afternoon, make a reservation near Vegas and start out in the morning.

For Phoenix, GC is about 5 hours, so a similar decision as to where to go first.

Put the places into one of the mapping programs like mapsgoogle or map quest to decide what works for you. Look for lodging in/near the parks, and make reservations asap.

Just a quick note -- I agree re not flying into Flagstaff. AFAIK the ONLY flights to Flagstaff are from Phoenix. Where are you flying from? Las Vegas probably makes more sense than either Phoenix or Flagstaff. And I also not you didn't mention Zion - that would be a 'must' for me.

Thank you for the timely replies. We are in Western Mass. I will look at those options.

Actually, from PHX to the south rim is about 3 1/2 hours, not 5 hours. But doing the loop: Vegas -- Bryce-Zion-Page-GCSR-Sedona-Vegas makes more sense to me than driving from PHX p to Bryce and Zion, then backtracking.

Wow all, thanks so much. Leaning towards PHX to Sedona and onwards...