I will be in Las Vegas on business in August and wanted to visit some areas in the region. My wife has never seen the Grand Canyon and we both have never been to Utah so we are thinking about exploring the region. Unfortunately we do not have but a weekend to do it. We will arrive in Vegas at Friday noon and rent a car and head to Zion. Is there much to see there? It looks to me like Yellowstone and Yosemite and we've been to both so are thinking about just driving through on hwy 9 on our way to Bryce. Opinions please? Bryce looks amazing and we would really like to see it. We figured we could get there about 530-6pm and watch the sunset and stay the night. Saturday we would awaken and watch the sunrise and drive to the Grand Canyon. Is the north or south rim better? I've seen posts with differing opinions but thought we would drive to the south rim via alt 89. This crosses the GC by bridge does'nt it? Or is 89 through Grand Staircase-Escalante the better and more scenic (quicker?) route? We would then drive 89 through the painted desert on to south rim. We'll have the late afternoon there and then stay the night for sunrise the next morning. Will we see any of Sedona on our drive back to vegas? Is there something we are missing? Is there much scenerey along I-40. Is the Hoover Dam worthwhile? Are we killing ourselves with this itinerary? We expect to drive about 12-15 hours total and love to go, go ,go while on vacation. Please respond. I have searched for info but never found the information I was looking for.
Thank You

If you don't get a reply in 'Nevada', try posting under 'Utah', where a number of knowledgable and helpfull people are active.

According to Mapquest, you're looking at about 20 hours of driving, assuming that you don't do any extra sight-seeing. That doesn't include the drive into Bryce canyon NP. If you choose either the GC or Utah, you'll still be rushed, but at least you can hit some highlights.

Zion is okay just driving through, but getting out and walking makes it really good. Bryce can be appreciated from short walks to viewpoints along the scenic drive. Choose the Grand Cayon rim that takes you the least time.

I don't think Yellowstone or Yosmite are a like at all so I find it hard to compare them to Zion or advise the amount of time to spend there. Zion is worth a couple of days but a drive thought is better than nothing.

A ride on the shuttle bus in Zion will take a couple of hours and you really won't have that time but it really is WORTH IT.

Alt 89 is VERY SLOW drive and IMHO not as scenic as Hwy 89. On Hwy 89 you pass by Glen Canyon Naitonal Recreational Area and Lake Powell.

I don't know what bridge over the Grand Canyon you are talking about. There are NONE. There is a bridge on Alt 89 that crosses the Colorado River but it's not much of a canyon there. You can see this from Hwy 89 as you come down the grade.

You are asking a lot of a weekend for this area but I can understand the go, go on vacation. Just realize you are looking at driving over 800 miles and I would skip Sedona this time because it will add 125 miles to your trip.

Utahtea

I just did a similar trip and I can tell you for sure that the odometer read 880 miles by the time I was back in Vegas (N. Rim only). My family liked Zion and Bryce better than the GC but we are glad that we did all 3. Sunset at Bryce is not that spectacular but sunrise is. Both sunset and sunrise at GC are very nice.
Zion is neat because you are at the floor of the canyon, the other 2 you are at the rim looking down. We are very glad we got out in Zion and did several hikes. IMHO the N. Rim is the way to go for this trip. There is a sign near the junction of 67 and 89 that says S.Rim 204 miles. Some of these roads can be driven rather rapidly but others are very twisty, hilly, etc. I would estimate that in the 880 miles of driving, there is a solid 14-15 hours behind the wheel. Add in a lunch, gas, scenic overlooks, etc. and that is going to make for a sleepless weekend. If that is what you enjoy, have a great time!

There are several day flights in 19 passenger planes that get you there in a hour and take you on the bus tours. We plan to drive to zion and bryce canyon and later fly from Vegas to the Colorado River and raft into the Grand Canyon just for the experience. Search Grand Canyon air tours on the web and you should find several sites or look at scenic airlines.

With the time limitation a drive through of Zion is the best you can do. Also considering the time constraints you should visit the North Rim. LV to Bryce (250 miles) will take at least 6 hours, possibly a bit more, with the Zion drive through. It is a relatively short drive from Bryce to the NR (about 150 miles). It is about 275 from the NR to LV. Total distance is less than 700 miles