Hi there! We're planning an 8 night trip to Utah with our 4.5 year old in mid-May. We had originally planned to fly in and out of Salt Lake City and spend the entire trip in the Moab area as a home base (we'll have a rental car for day trips). We were just about to buy plane tickets when we started hearing from others that we should maybe consider also visiting Bryce or Zion or Santa Fe while we're out west. SO now our heads are spinning with all of the options! I'm hoping we might find some advice here as to whether we should continue with our plan of using Moab as a base or whether we should try to add one additional location to our itinerary? It seems there's plenty to keep us busy in Moab (Arches, Canyonlands, Dead Horse State Park, rafting on the Colorado river), but we also don't want to miss any must-sees. I've always wanted to visit Santa Fe as well and it looks to have lots of options that our son would enjoy. Just not sure if that's too ambitious. We like to stay busy, but we don't want to feel too rushed. With our 4.5 year old with us, we sometimes need downtime and don't want to make too many long drives. He doesn't always love car rides. We'd be up for one long drive if we were switching to another location/hotel, such as if we went to Santa Fe, and then flew home out of that location. We enjoy photography, exploring outdoors, hiking(easy enough that our son can do with us), and historic sightseeing.

So to sum up, I guess my question is which of these options would best fit the amount of time that we have? Would we be trying to see too much in a short amount of time if we added a destination? If not, is the drive doable, and if so what's the best route?

Option 1-
Fly in and out of SLC
Stay in Moab 6 nights and do activities in/near this area - Arches, Canyonlands, Dead Horse State Park
Spend the night in SL either arriving or departing or both

Option 2-
Fly into SLC and out of Santa Fe or ABQ
Spend 4 nights in Moab and then drive to Santa Fe and spend 3 nights

Option 3-
Fly into SLC and out of Vegas??
Spend 4 nights in Moab and then drive to Bryce Canyon and/or Zion for 3 nights

Thanks so much for any advice or recommendations!!

My advice : Stick with option 1. If you tire of Moab, go to Torrey for a night and see Goblin Valley State Park and Capitol Reef NP. Save Zion and Bryce for another trip flying in and out of Las Vegas.
With the high cost of good lodging in Moab, we spent a week at the Robbers Roost Motel in Green River UT.

I live in Utah and have done lots of trips with small people. Arches is the best park out of the 5 in Utah for a 4.5 year old. If you are going at a slow, fun for the whole family pace, then you could spend a lot of time in Moab.
Day One: Fly into SLC, stay the night.Do you have a dinosaur afficinado on your hands? Then you really should see the Natural History Museum. It is a great place to see for all ages and is good for getting wiggles out if you have been flying all day or before you do a long drive. You could stay at the Marriott University/Research Park and be near the museum as well as a shopping center. Buy a cheap cooler and a freezer pack. Fill it up with snacks and stuff for lunches.

Day Two: Drive to Moab. Stop in Price to see the Dinosaur Museum there—it’s 2 hours to Price so this is a good stop and let the wiggles out. Or there is a good playground in Wellington—on the right hand side of the road as you drive through town. Wellington is just south of Price. It’s another 2 hours to Moab.

Lodging in Moab: Either go with an apartment or condo in Moab (not the golf course). I like Moab Property Management. We like the Marriott hotels just north of town—they are the closest to Arches and they have an awesome pool setup between the 2 properties. One of them has a good family room setup with a kitchenette Free breakfast. You will really, really want a pool.

Days in Moab:

1. You could spend a full day just hiking at the first “stop” by Balanced Rock. It’s the Windows and Double something arch. Hike the long way around the windows before lunch Grab lunch at the car and then hike the Double something trail. Both are really short and leave lots of opportunity for playing.

2. Delicate Arch. Start early and bring lots of bribes JBe sure to hold on to your son near the top and when you are looking at the Arch.

3. Go to the Needles District of Canyonlands—an hour away. Stop at Newspaper Rock, hike Cave Springs Trail.

4. Drive up 128 (amazing drive) to hike Fisher Towers—its’ out and back. Go as far as you want. I wouldn’t do this late in the afternoon or on a real hot day.

5. There is a trail north of town where you can see dinosaur bones in situ. Ask about this at the Visitors Center in town. They have a great pamphlet on dinosaur hikes etc in the area. The trail is only a mile long and it is totally flat.

Then drive back to SLC and fly out the next day.

I wouldn’t drive Moab to Santa Fe. If I wanted to do another place, I would drive the 4-5 hours to Capitol Reef NP. I would stop on the way to see Goblin Valley State Park, which is a made for kids playground. And you can hike Little Widhorse slot Canyon there as well—which is a great place for small people. Stay at Austin’s Chuckwagon hotel—they have cabins and even an apartment over the store. With small people, you can hike the Hickman Bridge trail, see the farmhouse (and get pie!), and check out an awesome activity backpack!! It’s about 4 hours from Capitol Reef to SLC so you can fly out of there.

If you click on my user name and look at my trip reports, you will see many reports for Moab-look at my earlier ones for activities with younger kids—but my older kids still love those easy hikes! I also have a report for Capitol Reef. All of the reports have details on the hikes and places to eat with kids.

Do NOT stay in Green River. That is too far to drive back and forth with a young person. You just have to suck up the lodging costs.

I'd stick with option 1. You will not run out of things to do, believe me.

It's a 391 mile drive from Moab to Santa Fe.

Leave it for another time.

Wow, thank you all so much for your feedback and wealth of information, StantonHyde, tomfuller and Melnq8!! It's so incredibly helpful! I feel better hearing that we were originally on the right path. I am intrigued though by a visit to Capitol Reef. I was not aware of that area, but it looks beautiful! Goblin Valley sounds like fun too. StantonHyde, your trip reports with your kiddos are amazing and so informative!

How does this itinerary sound?...

Day 1-
-Fly into SLC and spend the night
Visit the Natural History museum and grab snacks for the trip
How's the Hogle Zoo? Any thoughts? My son might enjoy that too.

Day 2-
-Drive to Moab in the morning, stopping in Price.
Check into the hotel, then head to Arches to do the Delicate Arch trail at sunset (weather permitting)

Day 3-
-Visit Arches again

Day 4-Needles District of Canyonlands

Day 5-
Half day rafting on the Colorado River

Day 6-
Fisher Towers (is this a full day outing??)
Check out Moab/Rock Shop

Day 7-
Drive to Goblin Valley State Park (2 hour drive- is this correct?)
Continue on to Torrey (1.5 hour drive- is this drive time estimate from google correct?)

Day 8-
Capitol Reef NP

Day 9-
Travel back to Salt Lake City to fly out late afternoon

Are we rushing anything? If not, would two nights in Torrey be enough or should we switch to 3 nights to feel more relaxed and see more of Capitol Reef? Thanks again for your help!!

I'm afraid it has been about 50 years since I was at the Hogle Zoo. The only thing I remember was seeing Shasta the liger. I also remember visiting the "This is the Place" marker where Brigham Young made his proclamation. I've been to SLC a few times since then. If you get a chance to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during their weekly practice, do it.
There is a prehistory museum with dinosaur bones in Price on the way to Moab.
If you go to Delicate Arch for sunset, make sure you have good flashlights and/or headlamps. It does get dark quickly after sunset and you want to make sure of your footing on the trip back to the car.
Count on at least 1.5 hours at Goblin Valley. There are some petroglyphs near the highway in Capitol Reef NP.
There are also rafting trips on the Green River if the Colorado River doesn't work out.

The Hogle Zoo is ok like any other zoo. The Natural History Museum is more spectacular. But maybe that isn't what your little guy likes. So go to the zoo on Day One and stop at the museum in Price on the way down.

Fisher Towers is really a half day outing but by the time you get there, etc etc. it can be a full day. The Moab Rock is lots of fun!

Check out the age limit on the raft trip. Not sure they will take a 4 year old but I don't know the age limits on that stretch of the river. Sherry Griffith runs nice family friendly raft trips. You could check out reviews on Trip Advisor.

I think you can see Capitol Reef in one day ish. But if your son is too young for the river trip, then add another night to Torrey and do another hike or have fun with the activity backpack.

Your day 2 sounds a bit of a stretch with a small child. Delicate. Arch in the daylight was a challenge for me and no way would I try hiking back after dark. If you do decide to go up then, bring multiple flashlights and extra batteries.

On day5, perhaps spend the other half of the day I Canyonlands Island in the Sky and see it from above,, since your boat trip will be from below. Bring lunch and drinks.
Have a fantastic trip!

Just a word about Fisher Towers...we were there a few weeks ago. The trail head states the trail is moderate, 4.4 miles return, and advises you allow four hours.

We drove out there intending to walk the track, but turned back after about 20 minutes - it's not a track I'd consider for a four year old. Dogs are allowed, and unfortunately the track is riddled with dog poop. We found it really off-putting and returned to Arches for a hike instead.

Details here:
Into the Great Wide Open: Winter Edition

hmm, I have hiked Fisher Towers for years and never have I seen dog poop. The very beginning of the trail is one where there is a drop off and you have to be careful. But after that, it's really fine. My kids loved playing in the rocks--it's like a Star Wars landscape. My kids looooove dogs so that is actually an attraction for us. In fact, we will be hiking it next weekend when we go for our annual President's Day weekend trip to Moab.

Thank you all for your detailed feedback!!

I meant to ask, will the weather be nice for hiking/exploring Capitol Reef in mid May? I noticed a couple of the outdoor activities start in June, so it made me wonder.

Are the drive times I'm finding in Google Maps fairly accurate? (without stops)
Moab to Goblin Valley - 2 hours
Goblin Valley to Torrey - 1.5 hours
Torrey to Salt Lake City - 3.5 hours

StantonHyde- The Natural History Museum sounds awesome! If we go there upon arrival in Salt Lake, do you think we should still stop at the museum in Price on the way to Moab?

Thanks again!

Broadway:

Torrey to SLC is closer to 4 hours. Goblin Valley to Torrey is right. Add a half hour on to Moab to Goblin Valley to be safe. Capitol Reef is at slightly higher elevation but it should be nice. Around 70-80 degrees.

As for skipping the Museum in Price if you see the Natural History Museum here. Yes, the Price museum will seem lame But--if you need to get your wiggles out, its a great place. Or you could do the play ground in Wellington. My kids couldn't do more than 2 hours without a stop at that age. If your kiddo can do it, go for it.

StantonHyde- I hear ya on stopping after two hours of driving! We're lucky if we can make it two hours! We'll check out the playground too. Are there any good stops on the trip back from Torrey to Salt Lake City?

No really fun stops on trip back from Torrey to SLC. You can stop in Scipio or Nephi which is about the halfway point for gas and snacks. There are a couple of parks in Nephi. Also--there is another really cool dinosaur Museum in Lehi--called the Museum of Ancient Life. But that is only 45 minutes from SLC. And the dinosaurs make noises. Sometimes we had to hurry past certain ones because it was a little scary when my kids were younger.