We're planning a 2-week trip to the Southwest this August. Our current plan is to fly in and out of Las Vegas. My partner really wants to see Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce and Canyonlands. I really want to see Arches, Mesa Verde and Santa Fe. Can we both be happy, or is it just too ambitious to do everything in 2 weeks? We want to see as much as possible since this is our first trip to the area, but we don't want to be frenetic about it. (We'll split our time between camping and hotel stays.) Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I applaud your choice of destinations, but I suspect you come from a far different locale. Distances within the American southwest are much farther than you may realize.

First principle: the more you drive...the less you see. You become tired of the road.

Flying in and out of LV means that you must double back on your journey. A waste of time and effort? Perhaps. Start at LV (I suspect auto rental charges are lower there in August); but you are entering the southwest when temperatures soar despite the altitude. For example, Grand Canyon is about 7,500 ft.; north rim 8,500.

Why not start at LV and end at Santa Fe or Albuquerque (which has much better air service)? Limit your destinations and come back another time of year. For example, Canyonlands is worth a trip all by itself because it is so enormous. Give yourself time to soak up the experience. You will be glad you trimmed your number of destinations.

I did similar in two weeks, fly in/out of Vegas. But some of your points (Mesa Verde & Sante Fe for example are stretching it)

From Vegas to Zion, Bryce, Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Arches, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon (south rim), Hoover Dam, & back to Vegas.

HOWEVER, if it is your first time / possibly "only" time in the area COMPROMISE. Don't try to do it all.

Perhaps from Vegas to ZION, BRYCE, CANYONLANDS, ARCHES, Monument Valley, & GRAND CANYON (south rim).

That would be your loop.

Have you thought about flying into Las Vegas and back from Santa Fe. I think it would give you more time if you could go from west to east rather than have to backtrack accross Arizona. I've been doing my vacations like that the past several years because it makes things less rushed. It looks like you could go from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon (north or south, depending on whether you want to spend the time going to the south rim)then up across Utah, through the sw corner of Colorodo and then down to Santa Fe. I don't see anything on your list going through Arizona on your way back to Las Vegas. I would say that Santa Fe is probably over 600 miles from Las Vegas, so why take away time from the thing that you want to see to do the backtrack through Arizona?

My trip report from last summer will probably interest you.

Click on my screen name & scroll down.

Hope it is helpful!

You can do all of those locations in a 2 week period, but it's going to give you limited time at each location. If you were to drop one, I'd say Santa Fe because of it's distance from the other places. Flying into Las Vegas and out of Albuquerque would help, but flights and one way car rentals are more expensive.

Two weeks would give you 1 nights at Las Vegas, 2 nights at Zion, 2 nights at Bryce, time to drive scenic Hwy 12 and see a little of Capitol Reef, 3 nights in the Moab area to see Canyonlands Island in the Sky District and Arches, 2 nights in Mesa Verde, 2 nights in Santa Fe and 2 nights at the Grand Canyon before driving back for 1 more night at Las Vegas ...in that order unless you fly out of ABQ, then do two nights at Las Vegas and then do the Grand Canyon first.

The round trip is about 1700 miles round trip starting and ending in Las Vegas and if you just drop Santa Fe then it's 1240 miles. If you flew into Las Vegas and out of ABQ then it's 1340 miles. (all miles are approx.)

Zion Campgrounds: South campground is first come, first serve. Nice campground, no showers in the park, but you can pay for them just outside the park at Zion Canyon Campground in Springdale. You can take the free park shuttles there. The Virgin River runs between the two campgrounds. Watchman campground has electrical sites and takes reservations if you want to make them. Most sites have shade trees.

Bryce Canyon Campgrounds Sunset Campground is a first come, first serve campground. North Campground is reservations only. There are $$ showers in Bryce. Both are in forest settings.

If you decided to drop Santa Fe, then I recommend a night at Capitol Reef National Park which has one of the nicest national park campgrounds. No showers but lots of trees and orchards to go pick fruit are nearby.

You might want to spend the first night in Moab in a motel. Devils Garden in Arches fills up first thing in the morning. Canyonlands has very few sites and fill up. If you want to camp in Arches you will either need to make reservation or be there first thing in the morning and I mean 7 A.M.! Only half of the 54 sites are first come, first server. Great location, but this place does get hot in the summer. No showers in park. There are many BLM campgrounds along the Colorado River on the Potash Road and Hwy 128.

Mesa Verde campground: Morefield Campground is really nice and I've never seen it fill up so you can take your time. There are $$ showers nearby at the store.

Grand Canyon Campground. The Mather Campground takes reservations and you might want to call and see if you can make them when you know better what nights you will be there. IF they are full, then just about 10 miles south of the Grand Canyon Village is a national forest campground called Ten X which is really nice too.

Utahtea