LA to Grand Canyon 5 days
 

Hey Travel Community,

I'm planning a trip in late November from Los Angeles as a starting point (i live there) destination Grand Canyon. The trip can't take longer than 5 days unfortunately. I was hoping someone out there can give me some suggestions on where to stop and stay and of other possibly things to see and do along the way which is not too far out of the way. No Las Vegas please since I've already been. Other points of interest: sequoia ntl park, mojave desert, antelope canyon, zion ntl park, joshua tree, death valley. Also, any possible cities to visit? Flagstaff?

open to your suggestions. thanks in advance!!

I would drive to Flagstaff and stay the night in Sedona.The next day after a visit of Sedona go to the G.Can. stay in Tusayan (2 days).Then drive via Page (lake Powell)to Zion n.park stay in Springdale.Then the long drive back.It will be lots of driving and you'll probably have to stay at the G.Can. for only one day and take two days to return to LA.Paul

I know this might sound nuts, but you should at least know that you could take overnight trains to and from Flagstaff, leaving the night before you had originally planned, and, if you can sleep on trains, arriving back the morning you need to at 8.15 at Union Station, and go wherever you need to go. You would pretty much have all 5 days of time in AZ.

This would not be the cheapest way to do it, even at today's gas prices! Something just under $400 for RT train tix that would give you a private room on the train to sleep in (if you can sleep sitting up, then it is $150 RT) + car rental + plus $50 worth of parking at Union Station.

A round-trip plane flight to Vegas airport might be a lot cheaper. Pick up a car rental there.

But I like train trips, and I might prefer to just driving all that way. If you stay within the confines of your 5 days, you do save 2 nights of motel bills if you sleep on the train.

You don't have time for Sequoia. Tovarich's itinerary makes a lot of sense.

You should get reservations in Grand Canyon and Zion NOW. It may be too late for in-park accomodations if you are going over Thanksgiving. Be prepared for winter cold and driving conditions. Grand Canyon South Rim is at 7,000ft elevation, so it will be below freezing at night.

To expand on biztravfod's train proposal, train #4 Southwest Chief leaves LAX at 6:15PM and is scheduled into Flagstaff at 4:36AM. You don't really care if the train is 2-3 hours late since you might have trouble getting a rental car early in the morning.
East of Flagstaff you can go see the Sunset Crater.
If you want to drive less miles you can fly to Las Vegas and not go into the city. Last week I drove through Las Vegas and found the cheapest gas on my trip was in Kingman, AZ ($3.639).

Ouch. I thought that train left later and arrived later. I wouldn't want to be on a return overnight train that was late if I truly only had 5 days for this. Scratch it.

The return train is a slightly different story. Scheduled to leave Flagstaff at 8:57PM and arrive at LAX at 8:15AM.
Since this train originates in Chicago it can easily be late.
The good news is that the Flagstaff station is along the old US66 in downtown and it has a Quicktrak machine and a ticket counter so you can decide if you want to wait for the late train or head for the airport for a flight to LAX.
You can also call Julie at 1 800 USA RAIL anytime to see if a train is going to arrive on time.

I should have mentioned that I am planning to drive. The trip would be after Thanksgiving. What is there to do in Flagstaff?

Thanks!!

I would make a loop like this: LA to Joshua Tree, then Grand Canyon, Flagstaff and back home visiting Mojave Desert on the way.

I think there is too much to see and do in Sedona and Zion to include them. At most you could drive through Sedona or spend a night, but it really requires a couple days for all the hiking around it. It's best to have 2-3 days at least for Zion. And if you try to make a huge loop around the Grand Canyon, including Page, then you are just doing a drive through and skipping a lot of other interesting places (like Bryce Canyon). I would save all of that for a separate trip in spring and give it the time it deserves.

Flagstaff has a great observatory.

Drive to Joshua Tree, spend the day and then overnight in Kingman. From there, enter the Grand Canyon through the south entrance, stay one night in the park, then exit via the east entrance. Visit Wupatki and Sunset Crater National Monuments on your way back to Flagstaff for the night. Visit the Lowell Observatory at night to look at the night sky through their telecope. It is open until 9:30pm on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, the other 3 days it closes at 5pm. You may have to adjust your travel schedule and stay in Flagstaff before visiting the Grand Canyon if you want to visit the observatory at night.

After that, you can drive through Oak Creek Canyon to Sedona if you have time - the drive is very scenic but the town is very touristy. If you went that route, you could pass through Jerome and Prescott and stay overnight, then visit Mojave on your way back home.