Arizona and Utah parks

[Anonymous]

If you only had a week or less to see parks in Utah and Arizona, where would you go?

Which sites/routes are the hardest to drive on with carsickness? How about the road from Zion to Bryce? Grand Staircase Escalante?

Which slot canyons do you recommend? Are the rides to them challenging with carsickness?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We did Arches, Bryce and Zion in one week. A lot of driving but it was fine. Empty roads through mountains.

[Anonymous]

I suggest you separate Utah and Arizona.
This is what we did and we enjoyed it but still felt it was kinda rushed. When you read the below, try to follow it on a map.
Phoenix, go north along highway 17, Cottonwood, Sedona, Flagstaff. Many monuments stops along the way. Then, you can continue north (there aren't alot of winding roads) into Grand Canyon south side. You are also increasing gradually in altitude when you head towards Grand Canyon. This is better for people who have altitude/carsickness. You can also enter Grand Canyon on the east side, which is less traffic.
On this east side (whether you exit or enter at), you should go north towards Page, AZ. You will encounter Horseshoe Bend and some canyons. In Page, you are in Navajo Nation, so respect that. You can join a tour for Antelope Canyon. Pricey but so beautiful. It gets very crowded. You can also opt for other less crowded canyons. When you drive back south, it's an easy shot to Phoenix. That's one week there. If you go beyond Page, you are entering Utah. I would save Utah as a separate trip.

For Utah, you can fly into Vegas and head northeast towards Zion and Bryce, KodaChrome State park, then Escalante, Capitol Reef, then Canyonland, Moab...It's just alot of driving and more winding roads and altitude gain than AZ. If you do this and reach Moab, I would suggest heading straight into Cortez/Mancos, Colorado and see Mesa Verde. Then drive an hour to the Durango airport, CO. If you reach Moab, wouldn't drive back to Vegas cause that's a long drive.

Don't forget the state parks. They are impressive too.

[Anonymous]

Depends on whether you want to check some boxes to say you did this long list of parks or actually spend time in them hiking.

[Anonymous]

We have a week over spring break and decided to fly roundtrip to Phoenix and visit Sedona, Grand Canyon and Page.

In the future we are looking at flying into SLC and doing Moab and Capitol Reef.

I know some people do all five Utah parks in a week but I think that’s too rushed for my family.

[Anonymous]

We* did Grand Canyon, Sedona, Zion, and Valley of Fire State Park all in one week. Lots of hiking and not much down time. Started and ended but spent no time in Vegas. Four nights in Flagstaff, three in Springdale, and the redeye back home.

*My brother and I. My wife and daughter would never agree to the hike every day schedule we had.

[Anonymous]

we've done Vegas/Zion/Bryce in one 6 night trip

Sedona/GrandCanyon/Page/Monument Valley in another separate trip (phoeniz RT)

Would plan on doing Moab/Arches/Canyonlands/Capitol Reef in a separate trip sometime (Salt Lake RT)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suggest you separate Utah and Arizona.
This is what we did and we enjoyed it but still felt it was kinda rushed. When you read the below, try to follow it on a map.
Phoenix, go north along highway 17, Cottonwood, Sedona, Flagstaff. Many monuments stops along the way. Then, you can continue north (there aren't alot of winding roads) into Grand Canyon south side. You are also increasing gradually in altitude when you head towards Grand Canyon. This is better for people who have altitude/carsickness. You can also enter Grand Canyon on the east side, which is less traffic.
On this east side (whether you exit or enter at), you should go north towards Page, AZ. You will encounter Horseshoe Bend and some canyons. In Page, you are in Navajo Nation, so respect that. You can join a tour for Antelope Canyon. Pricey but so beautiful. It gets very crowded. You can also opt for other less crowded canyons. When you drive back south, it's an easy shot to Phoenix. That's one week there. If you go beyond Page, you are entering Utah. I would save Utah as a separate trip.

For Utah, you can fly into Vegas and head northeast towards Zion and Bryce, KodaChrome State park, then Escalante, Capitol Reef, then Canyonland, Moab...It's just alot of driving and more winding roads and altitude gain than AZ. If you do this and reach Moab, I would suggest heading straight into Cortez/Mancos, Colorado and see Mesa Verde. Then drive an hour to the Durango airport, CO. If you reach Moab, wouldn't drive back to Vegas cause that's a long drive.

Don't forget the state parks. They are impressive too.

Agree. We did two separate vacations: one for Arizona and one for Utah. Actually, we've taken several vacations in Arizona. One to Grand Canyon, one to Sedon and one in the Tucson / Phoenix areas. It's a pretty cool state.