Day 1
Los Angeles
Land at LAX, pick up the car, and ease in with a good dinner.
Fly in
Road trip with friends / Draft
LA to the Grand Canyon.
About two weeks by car from Los Angeles through Utah’s canyons to the Grand Canyon and Sedona, flying home from Phoenix. There are two versions. Pick one below and let me know.
Dates open · nothing booked
Option 1 at a glance
12 days, 11 nights
- Fly
- Into LAX, home from Phoenix (PHX)
- Parks
- Zion · Bryce Canyon · Grand Canyon
- Driving
- ~17½ hrs total across 7 days, about 1,030 miles
- Longest day
- LA → Las Vegas, ~4 hrs
- Hotels
- 7 different places to stay
- Trade-off
- Shorter trip, quicker start
Hours of driving, day by day
Option 2 at a glance
13 days, 12 nights
- Fly
- Into LAX, home from Phoenix (PHX)
- Parks
- Death Valley · Zion · Bryce Canyon · Grand Canyon
- Driving
- ~20 hrs total across 8 days, about 1,150 miles
- Longest day
- LA → Death Valley, ~4½ hrs
- Hotels
- 8 different places to stay
- Trade-off
- One more park, one more day
Hours of driving, day by day
Day by day
What each day looks like.
Rough and easy to change. Every travel day is a short drive or has a good reason to be long.
Day 2
Los Angeles
A free LA day: Santa Monica, Griffith Observatory at sunset, tacos.
No big drive
Day 3
LA → Las Vegas
Leave early to beat the traffic. One night on the Strip.
~4 hrs
Day 4
Las Vegas → Zion
Late brunch, then into canyon country by mid-afternoon.
~2½ hrs
Day 5
Zion
A full park day: shuttle up the canyon, then the Narrows or Angels Landing for whoever is keen.
No big drive
Day 6
Zion → Bryce Canyon
Through the Zion–Mount Carmel tunnel, then Bryce’s hoodoos at golden hour.
~2 hrs
Day 7
Bryce → Page
Sunrise at the rim, a short walk down among the hoodoos, then south to Page.
~2½ hrs
Day 8
Page
Antelope Canyon tour and Horseshoe Bend. Optional: kayak on Lake Powell.
No big drive
Day 9
Page → Grand Canyon
In through the east entrance at Desert View; first proper look at the South Rim by sunset.
~2½ hrs
Day 10
Grand Canyon
A whole day at the rim, plus a short hike below it on Bright Angel or South Kaibab.
No big drive
Day 11
Grand Canyon → Sedona
A slow morning at the rim, then an afternoon in red-rock country.
~2 hrs
Day 12
Sedona → Phoenix
One last hike, then Phoenix and flights home.
Drive + fly out
Day 1
Los Angeles
Land at LAX, pick up the car, and ease in with a good dinner.
Fly in
Day 2
Los Angeles
A free LA day: Santa Monica, Griffith Observatory at sunset, tacos.
No big drive
Day 3
LA → Death Valley
Out across the Mojave. Zabriskie Point at sunset, then some of the darkest skies in the country.
~4½ hrs
Day 4
Death Valley → Las Vegas
Badwater Basin, Artist’s Drive and the sand dunes in the morning; Vegas by evening.
~2 hrs
Day 5
Las Vegas → Zion
Late brunch, then into canyon country by mid-afternoon.
~2½ hrs
Day 6
Zion
A full park day: shuttle up the canyon, then the Narrows or Angels Landing for whoever is keen.
No big drive
Day 7
Zion → Bryce Canyon
Through the Zion–Mount Carmel tunnel, then Bryce’s hoodoos at golden hour.
~2 hrs
Day 8
Bryce → Page
Sunrise at the rim, a short walk down among the hoodoos, then south to Page.
~2½ hrs
Day 9
Page
Antelope Canyon tour and Horseshoe Bend. Optional: kayak on Lake Powell.
No big drive
Day 10
Page → Grand Canyon
In through the east entrance at Desert View; first proper look at the South Rim by sunset.
~2½ hrs
Day 11
Grand Canyon
A whole day at the rim, plus a short hike below it on Bright Angel or South Kaibab.
No big drive
Day 12
Grand Canyon → Sedona
A slow morning at the rim, then an afternoon in red-rock country.
~2 hrs
Day 13
Sedona → Phoenix
One last hike, then Phoenix and flights home.
Drive + fly out
The highlights
What we’d actually see.
Five places that make the drive worth it. Death Valley is only in Option 2.
Option 2 onlyLowest, hottest, emptiest
Death Valley
Salt flats 282 feet below sea level, badlands at sunrise, and a night sky with almost no light pollution.
- Zabriskie Point
- Badwater Basin
- Mesquite Dunes
Both optionsCanyon scale
Zion
This is where the trip turns into something bigger. Two nights here, so there’s time for one real hike.
- The Narrows
- Angels Landing
- Riverside Walk
Both optionsOtherworldly
Bryce & Page
Bryce’s hoodoos at sunrise, then the slot canyons and river bends around Page.
- Sunrise Point
- Antelope Canyon
- Horseshoe Bend
Both optionsThe main event
Grand Canyon
Two nights at the South Rim: a sunset, a sunrise, and one short hike below the rim.
- Desert View
- Bright Angel Trail
- Rim sunset
Both optionsRed-rock finale
Sedona
A slower last stop with easy hikes and good food, about two hours from the airport in Phoenix.
- Cathedral Rock
- Oak Creek Canyon
- Red Rock Byway
Good to know
The practical bits.
When
Dates are open. Spring (April–May) or autumn (late September–October) is best. Death Valley often goes past 115°F in summer, so Option 2 only works outside June–August.
Getting around
Fly into LA and home from Phoenix. That means a one-way car rental, which usually has a drop-off fee, but split across a full car it isn’t much.
Book early
Antelope Canyon tours, hotels inside the Grand Canyon and Zion, and Angels Landing permits (lottery) all fill up months ahead.
Parks pass
One annual national parks pass per car covers entry to every park on the route and costs less than paying park by park.
Over to you
Three things I need to know.
- Which option: the parks loop, or with Death Valley?
- Which weeks could work for you?
- Anything you must do, or anything that would put you off?