minnjudy

Need advice, it is possible to fly into Las Vegas, stay a day or two there, rent a car and do the Hoover Dam, tour the South Rim and whatever else, and drive back to Las Vegas to fly home. Fly in on a Sat and fly out the following Sun...me, hubby, and two sons 15 and 20. Would love advice about this type of trip in mid-June.

Patrick

Sure quite possible. There have been a lot of threads about the area recently.

Is there a reason you want to do the South Rim? I've done both South and North, and don't see a lot of difference between them, except that if you do the North Rim, it's not only closer but also convenient to add in Bryce and Zion National Parks -- both outstanding -- particularly I'd thing for the two sons. Do a half day horse ride in Bryce. Lots of hiking in Zion. The best place to stay in both those parks would be their cabins.
My itinerary:
Sat. and Sun. nights: Las Vegas
Monday: visit Hoover Dam, then drive to Zion for two nights (Monday and Tuesday)
Wednesday: drive to the North Rim, spend the day and spend one night at the Lodge there if you can still get in.
Thursday: drive to Bryce and spend two nights there.
Saturday: drive back to Las Vegas for a final night.
Fly home on Sunday.

The worst part is that your nights in Las Vegas are all weekends -- the most expensive nights there.

Bonn

Dittos to Patrick. We just did that trip last summer, but flew into Phoenix and out of Vegas. We saw both rims of the GC, but prefered the North (less crowds and more solitude, and off-road adventures). My teens LOVED the Canyon Trail Rides mule ride into Bryce. I Loved the beauty and variety of Zion. One or two days at the GC is all you need--the rest in Southern Utah. We wished we'd given more time to Zion.

utahtea

I know many prefer the N. Rim because of the crowds, but to me it's not as grand a view as the South Rim.

Here's the route I would do.

Sat. Las Vegas
Sun. Las Vegas
Mon. Hoover Dam - Grand Canyon
Tue. Grand Canyon
Wed. Lake Powell for lunch - Byrce
Thur. Spend most of the day in Bryce but drive to Zion
Fri. Zion
Sat. Spend most of the day in Zion and drive then drive the 165 miles back to Las Vegas.

Utahtea

bigdog50

I agree with the TeaLady above. I did this route many years back with my boys when they were a bit younger than yours. See the dam at Lake Powell and its a beautiful drive along Painted Desert. Bryce is the best. After a week in nature and all that beauty you get to end up at the other far extreme -- Vegas, baby.

Lots of great advice by above posters -- take advantage of this time and see Bryce and Zion as well as GC.

suechef

Just did the very same trip last fall for 10 days and here was our itinerary.

Days 1-3: Flew into Vegas and stayed at Flamingo for a convention.

Day 4: Up early, or maybe we never went to bed, and drove to Zion and stayed in Springdale at Desert Pearl Inn...got in a few hikes and ate at Bit and Spur. Breakfast at Flannigans...2 more hikes then off to Bryce driving through stunning landscapes. Not to be missed.

Day 5: overnight at Bryce and stayed in cabing in park (way too much money for 1950's style accomodations)...also ate in Lodge..bad, bad food. Walked the rim by moonlight.

Day 6: 2 hour am horseride with Canyon Trail rides into the canyon...then off to North Rim of GC. Drove through dense forests and beautiful meadows with golden aspens..Arrived midafternoon, hiked Rim Trail and then spent night in Marble Canyon Area after more otherworldy landscapes. Had much of the road to ourselves at this point.

Day 7: Headed to Sedona and arrived in late afternoon...stayed three nights at Boot and Saddles B&B. Wonderful hiking during the days..good restaurants at night.

Back to Vegas through Hoover Dam area and arrived around 6pm and stayed at Gold Coast.

I do wish we had spent more time in Zion area...just fantastic and I recommend all our lodging, but for Bryce...Yuck..just my opinion tho.

If you need more info just let me know.
You cannot not have a great time in this part of the States.