Help with planning trip between Salt Lake City and Phoenix
 

Please give any advice regarding seeing the sites on our trip to the Grand Canyon in July. We're starting the drive about noon from Salt Lake City and flying out of Phoenix. I want to make sure I'm allowing enough time for travel and to see some sites along the way.
Day 1 Bryce (staying at the lodge onsite, expecting to arrive about 4pm, hiking Rim Trail and star gazing, waking for sunrise and hiking Queens Garden trail)
Day 2 Page (wondering if doing the morning hike in Bryce and then driving to Page will give us enough time to tour Antelope Canyon in afternoon?, need recommendation for place to stay in Page?, visit Horseshoe Bend when departing next morning)
Day 3 Grand Canyon South Rim (will hopefully arrive around lunch time, staying at Maswik Lodge, not sure if we should stay 1 or 2 nights?, by the way I'm very afraid of heights but have always wanted to see GC)

It sounds like you have secured your reservations at Bryce and GC. If you have, your time seeing sites along the way will be limited. The drive between SLC will take you about 4 hours with no time for stops or detours along the way if you want to be at Bryce by 4. If you do have flexibility, Goblin Valley is fun, Capitol Reef is also one of the Mighty 5 and quite different from any of the other parks. The scenic drive between Capitol Reef and Bryce, Rt 12, is recommended.

whether you will have time for Antelope Canyon depends on how much time you spend hiking at Bryce, what time you start the hike. I recommend taking the entire loop and not limiting yourself to just Queens Garden but that will take more than double the time to hike. The drive from Bryce to Page with no stops or traffic delays will take about 3 hours. If you stop in Kenab along the way, add time to that estimate. Once you get to Page, you need to decide between Upper or Lower Antelope Canyon. Both are by guided tour only and you would need to structure your time to the tour schedule start times and check availability and time for the last tour. I recommend Lower Antelope. If you choose Lower, you can check with Ken's Tours. Plan ahead, it's a popular site and you will be dealing with summer vacationers. Also, keep in mind that it will be very hot in Page.

lodging a Page is nothing special. I recommend eithe the Marriot or the Choice Hotels nearby.

horseshoe Bend is best viewed at sunrise or sunset. If you reach GC by noon, you should be good with just one night then spending the following day there before heading out to Flagstaff. You can break up your drive from GC to Phx by spending your next night at either Flagstaff or Sedona. Flagstaff has a nice little downtown. Take hwy 89 between Flagstaff and Sedona, much more scenic than the freeway.

Good advice from bailey123. People will tell you that you need to be at Antelope Canyon near noon, but we went in the mid afternoon and there were fewer crowds and it was still beautiful. Given a choice, I would visit Horseshoe bend in the early morning when the sun is at your back, near sunset you are looking into the sun (I was disappointed with my late day pictures).

If you leave GC by going east along the rim and stopping at the overlooks, then south on 89 you will go right by Wupatki, an interesting ancient Native American ruin which is worth a stop.

If you click my name you can scroll down and find several TRs from the area, the 2008 one covers the GC, Page area I think.

Have a great trip, always fill your gas tank when it gets to a half, keep water and snacks with you.

Thank you for the suggestions! Several people have said that we should go to Zion rather than Page. What do you think? I was told we were trying to do too much on the day we drive to GC so I omitted Page and added a day for Zion. Here is my new itinerary. Please give me input!
Thursday July 19
12pm depart Grand America Hotel (4 hours)
4 pm arrive The Lodge at Bryce Canyon (hike Queens Garden and/or Navajo Loop)
Friday July 20
6:23am sunrise at Bryce Point
9am depart Bryce (2 hours)
11am arrive Zion Lodge (hike The Narrows)
7pm dinner Red Rock Grill (435-772-7760)
Saturday July 21
10am depart Zion (2.5 hours via 89A)
(Gain an hour entering Arizona)
11:30 pm arrive Cliff Dwellers Restaurant, Marble Canyon
1pm depart for GC (2.5 hours via Desert View Drive plus stop at Desert View Watchtower)
4pm arrive El Tovar Hotel
7pm dinner Harvey House Cafe
Sunday July 22
Enjoy Grand Canyon!
7pm dinner El Tovar Dining Room (928-638-2631 ext 6432)
Monday July 23
9am depart GC (1.5 hours)
11am lunch in Flagstaff
12pm depart Flagstaff (2.5 hours)
2:30pm arrive Phoenix Airport
5pm depart Austin

Sounds like a nice trip. My only concern would be in the time you've given yourself to get from one place to another. Things do happen, like road closures/slowdowns, stops to look at the beautiful scenery and points of interest along the way, a very slow wait staff, etc.

I probably would opt to go to Zion before Bryce, but if you have lodging what you have works too.

Yes to Zion NP over Page, no comparison.

I don't see this as a "Zion vs. Page" question. It's really "Zion vs. morning hike in Bryce plus Antelope Canyon".

Personally I think Zion needs 2-3 full days, especially when you're dealing with shuttles in July. Lodging inside the park will help that situation.

You're driving through Page either way, so you aren't really skipping it...but you are going a bit out of the way for Zion. Daily highs are similar, average high is 100 in Zion and 96 in Page. Hiking the Narrows will help cool you off, but you'll want to rent or bring appropriate footwear. Renting it will chew up valuable time by running in/out of town.

If it was me, I'd adjust your nights and spend 1 in Bryce, 1 in Zion and only 1 at the Grand Canyon. There's no reason you couldn't fit in Antelope Canyon either. That will add a couple hours to one day but it makes more sense to do it now when you're driving through Page rather than a separate trip later. If anything, skip Zion and save that for a separate trip.

Also, you could leave Zion much earlier than 10 am and give yourself time to visit Antelope Canyon that day. I also wouldn't set aside 1.5 hours for lunch at a specific restaurant because time spent there is time you aren't sightseeing (unless that restaurant is very special and a must-do).

Yes, I don't like the idea of by passing Page but didn't know if we'd have time to do the Antelope Canyon tour and get to Grand Canyon before dark (and enjoy the drive along Desert View)? I definitely don't care about the lunch spot and I would prefer more time in Zion also but I don't think we'll be back in the area so I didn't want to miss at least a quick visit.

You can easily find time for Antelope Canyon. Right now you're leaving Zion at 10 am and have allotted 1.5 hours for lunch. Move the departure time up to 8 am, take an hour for lunch instead of 1.5 and you just gave yourself another 2.5 hours in your day. That's enough time to visit Antelope Canyon and still make the Grand Canyon by your 4 pm time. Sunset is at 7:35 so you have no worries about driving in the dark.

For that matter, moving up your morning start time other days would really help. You're leaving SLC around noon.....get on the road around 9 am instead and you'll have 3 more hours to hike in Bryce (or Zion, whichever you decide to visit first). You're watching sunrise at Bryce at 6:23 am but not leaving until 9 am...leave by 7:30 and you just gave yourself another 1.5 hours in Zion. Like someone else mentioned, you've not given yourself much extra time to get from one place to the next, and doing an earlier departure and cutting some lunch time would really help with that.

Even on the last day...sunrise is 5:30 at the Grand Canyon. Get up early to watch that, walk around the rim a bit and enjoy it without the midday crowds, have some breakfast and get out of there by 8:30. Skip Flagstaff entirely and drive to Sedona. The drive down Oak Creek Canyon is amazing and the red rocks around Sedona are beautiful, far more worthy of a side trip than Flagstaff.Get lunch in Sedona. Or if Sedona is crazy busy with tourists, find somewhere for lunch in Cottonwood or Camp Verde a bit further down the road.

Okay, I see that getting on the road early will be important in accomplishing all that we want to see and do.Thanks for the suggestion to drive via Sedona instead of Flagstaff to get to the airport in Phoenix. Although it may take a bit longer I read that the Oak Creek Canyon drive is beautiful!

You can't "skip Flagstaff entirely and drive to Sedona instead". Flagstaff is not a "detour". The choice is whether you drive I-17 or 89A when leaving Flagstaff on your way to Phoenix. My prior recommendation was to take 89A instead of I-17 so that you may enjoy Oak Creek Canyon. Just a clarification so that you don't get confused on your drive to Phx

Take 64 south, then I40 east to 89A. That route entirely skips Flagstaff. There is no need to drive through Flagstaff when the faster route to Sedona is what I described in my first sentence of this post. Hopefully that clarifies my comments about bypassing Flagstaff and skipping it.

A resounding yes to Zion's! After going to Bryce I would suggest making time to visit the Tony Award Winning Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City. We go every year! It is fantastic.

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