tostaky

Hi !

we (2 adults and 2 teens) are looking to do a 2 weeks in National Park Utah . We would arrive and depart from Las Vegas and rent a car. I guess we are kind of late but a quick look on booking tell us that there's still decent lodging (good price and clean places) avaible. The probleme is that we have a hard time figuring where to llook for stay near national parks.


I guess we would have to go to : Zion, Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol reefs. We would also like to go in Monument valley and grand Canyon.


We know july will be hot,, so we are looking to go early in parks and enjoy pools in our hotels.


So where can we base ourselves for those parks ? Any Parks/places that we are missing ? On a 18-20 days trip can we go farther ?

Many thanks !

tomfuller

The National Park that you missed of the "Big 5" is Bryce Canyon. Since you did research on where to stay, I won't suggest any other places. Las Vegas is/was the wisest choice of a place to rent a car. The State parks in Utah that you should visit with kids are Goblin Valley S.P. (between Capitol Reef and Green River) and Dead Horse Point S.P. adjacent to the "Island in the Sky" section of Canyonlands NP.

With your plan to go early in the day to parks and then go back to your lodging or see stuff from your air conditioned car, you could save some money by staying in the town of Green River instead of expensive and crowded Moab.

Be sure to fill the gas tank in Moab before you head south to go to Monument Valley. You might not see another gas station open until you get to Tuba City Arizona. Enter the Grand Canyon by the east entrance with the turnoff just south of Cameron AZ. Be sure to stop to see the Desert View tower soon after entering the park.

Your best choices for lodging might be limited to Williams or Flagstaff assuming that all of the lodging near the rim will be booked solid. Leaving the south Rim of the Grand Canyon, going back to Las Vegas, you can make a stop to see Hoover Dam. After going across the very high bridge from Arizona into Nevada, you can drive down to the security checkpoint and get cleared to drive across the top of the dam back into Arizona. There is a free parking lot on the Arizona side which is a much better deal than the covered parking structure that you come to first on the Nevada side. You can decide whether you want to go down in the elevator in the dam to go see the generators. I don't know how much they are charging now to do that. It is sad to see how low Lake Mead has become in the past 10-15 years.

Leaving Hoover Dam, there is a parking lot (free) for the trail that leads to the walkway of the big bridge that you drove across. On the walkway the state line and the apex of the bridge are marked. It is a great place to get pictures of Hoover Dam. About 2-3 miles away on US 93, you could stay at the Hoover Dam Inn if you didn't want to spend a night in Las Vegas or Henderson before turning in the rental car and flying home.
Sometimes there are helicopter rides available taking off from the edge of the parking lot to go see the dam and the very low lake.

tostaky

Wow thanks a lot for that answer tomfuller !

We can take any ideas/suggestion. The only things that is set is Las vegas as a arrival departure. We would keep 2 nights for Las Vegas, but maybe is not a good idea for the teens. Is there stuff for them to enjoy ?

PrairieHikerI

Some say Goblin Valley State Park is better than Arches National Park which is only 1.5 hours away. Smaller crowds and very unusual rock formations. https://www.visitutah.com/places-to-.../goblin-valley

tomfuller

Either going out from Las Vegas or coming back, stop to see Valley of Fire State Park. There is an hour or two worth of stuff to see there. You can get to VoF by taking a road on the west side of Lake Mead without going back into Las Vegas. Check the maps. Also west of Las Vegas is Red Rocks. Go out Charleston Street. You'll find the cheapest gas stations out there too.

The kids might enjoy a trip on "The Deuce" which is a double deck bus that runs up and down Las Vegas Blvd. "the strip". You can get a pass that covers a one way ride or you can get a 24 hour pass. You might even get lucky and someone with a few hours left on a pass could hand it to you if they were leaving town soon.

If you are looking for a low cost all-you-can-eat buffet, try the Golden Nugget off the Fremont St. Experience in old LV. They even have the largest gold nugget on public display (60+ lb). From the upstairs dining room at some tables, you can see the slide that goes through the shark tank into the large swimming pool. Try to get to Fremont Street when the overhead light show is going on.

oldemalloy

Some good advice so far. For Grand Canyon, also look at the Cameron Trading post, right at the turn on 89 at 24.

With teens, i would only spend the night before you fly out in Vegas. It will be too hot during the day and you can see the sights there in the evening.

Do fill the gas frequently and try not to drive after dark. Big animals like elk, Antelope and deer as well as cattle and horses in the open range areas need to be seen to be avoided.

Melnq8

We liked Goblin State Park and it's easy to see enroute to Capitol Reef (depending on your driving route).

There's not a whole lot of accommodation in Torrey (closest 'town' to Capitol Reef) and not many places to eat, so you'll want to plan well. We've visited twice (both times in winter, so more will be open when you visit). We like the Red Sands Hotel in Torrey, which is located right outside the park - it has a pool.

My trip reports might give you a few ideas of what to see and do, although we visited at a different time of year.

Got rocks? A winter visit to Utah’s Orogenous Zones

Southwest Winter Wander

Into the Great Wide Open: Winter Edition

chosebinne

Many thanks for all those very helpful answers ! They really help us to make some plans.

We would have 17 nights for that trip.

What about that loop?
Las Vegas for 2 nights
Tusayan or Flagstaff (stop Hoover dam)
Monument Valley
Mésa Verde + Durango
Moab
Torrey for Bryce canyon
Zion
Return car to Las Vegas

Anything that we should drop/add

tomfuller

Depending on what time of day your flight out of Las Vegas is, you might want to stay 1 night at the beginning of the trip and then 1 night at the end to see anything you or the kids might have missed.
If you are coming back to Las Vegas from Zion, stop to take a short tour of Valley of Fire S.P. Get gas in Tuba City before heading through Monument Valley on the way to Moab.

StantonHyde

If you click on my user name, you will see my trip reports for all the Utah national parks (and Las Vegas) with kids/teens. And there is no way Goblin Valley replaces Arches. Delicate Arch is a hike that never gets old--never!

Parktrvl

Fodors has a very good concise book. Suggest using it to tailor your trip Available on Amazon
Fodor's Utah: with Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Capitol Reef & Canyonlands National Parks (Travel Guide)

bon_voyage

We were not a hiking family, and our hike to Delicate Arch was one of our all time favorite travel memories.

basingstoke2

For Canyonlands consider the Broken Spur Inn and Steakhouse in Torey. Rooms are of a high standard and steaks are excellent.

In Moab, Bowen's motel is basic but clean and inexpensive. There is no breakfast but a good place for same just down the street. It has a pool and is quite close to Arches which is a place not to miss. At Arches use a filter on your camera to protect the lens from fine dust. If your camera cannot take a filter protect the lens best you can.

tom_mn

Are you within 20 hours/2 day drive and able to pack camping gear? Then you can avoid the Vegas time and substitute the equally impressive and less crowded Glen Canyon dam for Hoover Dam. Camping in both Bryce and the GC North Rim is cool at 8000 ft. Camping at Dead Horse Pt is 1000’ higher than Moab so slightly less hot but still warm sleeping. You can alternate camping with hotels. The North Rim is less crowded and saves a lot of driving not having to go to/from South Rim.

My experience with traveling as a family is if you can surmount the dread of long drives, you have greater possibilities and everyone will ultimately enjoy/prefer traveling that way.

Melnq8

For Canyonlands consider the Broken Spur Inn and Steakhouse in Torey. Rooms are of a high standard and steaks are excellent.

Canyonlands is a 2:45 drive from Torrey. Perhaps you meant Capitol Reef?

basingstoke2

Yes you are right. Sorry about that. We visited both on that trip. Sorry about that.