Utah National Parks Road Trip Itinerary

Our itinerary for a six day road trip from Las Vegas, NV to Salt Lake City, UT going through the five National Parks

I recently did a road trip with my fiancé through all of the National Parks in Utah. It was a great way to see a lot in a relatively short amount of time without feeling rushed. I recommend a Point A to Point B road trip starting in Las Vegas, NV and ending in Salt Lake City, UT. In all, this ends up being approximately 1,000 miles of driving. For us, the rental car cost $466.33 and gas totaled $94.87. The below itinerary is what we used for our trip and it includes costs, timestamps, and tips where applicable. We took our trip in late April, so the season impacted some elements of the trip.

Weather: Averaged from low 40s in the morning to mid 80s during the day. I recommend dressing in layers because you will likely want a warmer layer starting out at any park, but you won’t need it once it heats up. We didn’t have any rain or threat of rain in the forecast this time of year.

Day 1: Arrive in Las Vegas and travel to Hurricane, UT

• 11:20am: Our flight arrived in Las Vegas.

  • We rented a car from Enterprise and it was an easy shuttle ride (free) from the terminal to pick up the rental car. We were able to check in online, so pick-up was very quick.

• Given our timing we ended up hanging around Las Vegas to grab lunch, see the Strip, and stretch our legs between the flight and the drive.

• It is about a two hour drive from Las Vegas to Hurricane.

• We stayed at the Days Inn in Hurricane, Utah. For the two nights we stayed here the hotel totaled to $210.26.

  • Springdale is closer to Zion National Park than Hurricane, but we opted to stay here to save on hotel costs.

  • Overall the location was good, the area was safe, and the room was clean.

  • The hotel is also near a Walmart, so this was convenient for picking up last minute items that we thought would be helpful for long days in the parks (i.e. bagels, Gatorade, Clif Bars, etc.).

Day 2: Zion National Park

• 6:00am: Wake up and grab breakfast at the hotel.

  • Breakfast was included, so we took this opportunity to grab coffee and an apple to go, and we relied on the snacks we had from Walmart.

• Months prior we entered the lottery for a permit for Angel's Landing.

  • We got a permit to start before 9:00am.

• 6:45am: Left the hotel to arrive at Zion for an early shuttle. Regular shuttle service begins at 7:00am. We arrived between 7:00 and 7:30 and there was still plenty of space in the parking lot, we were able to use the bathroom, and we didn’t wait long for a shuttle.

• 8:00am: For Angel’s Landing we got off the shuttle at The Grotto (Stop #6) and started our hike.

  • At this hour the crowds weren’t bad, but there were several points that began to bottleneck on the trail. Later in the day would likely be more crowded, but the permit system limits the number of people on the Angel’s Landing section of the trail.

    

• The total distance for Angel’s Landing was about 6 miles. We took our time and the full hike including all stops took us about 3:45:00.

• We finished with Angel’s Landing around midday, so we took a break at the picnic tables near the shuttle stop for a snack.

• 12:30pm: Started the Emerald Pools hike. The start of the trailhead is also at The Grotto. At the time we visited, the bridge was closed that connects this hike with the Zion Lodge, so our hike was more of an out and back to the pools.

  • The trail was pretty crowded and it was the hottest point of the day. The hike itself wasn’t difficult, but there were many narrow points where we had to wait for other groups to pass.

  • Emerald Pools was about 5 miles in total distance and it took us about 1:45:00.

    

• At the end of the hike we took the shuttle back down to the Visitor Center. From here, we went into Springdale to find a late lunch. We opted to walk, but there is a shuttle that runs from the Park to Springdale and it makes several stops along the main road.

Day 3: Bryce National Park

• 6:00am: Wake up and grab breakfast at the hotel.

• 6:30am: Left Hurricane for Bryce Canyon National Park.

  • The drive is approximately 2.5 hours. At this hour on a weekday we didn’t encounter very much traffic at all and we arrived slightly earlier than the GPS estimate.

• 8:45am: Arrived at Bryce Canyon and parked at Sunset Point. At this lot there was plenty of space and restrooms available.

• 9:00am: We started on the Rim Trail and hiked to Upper Inspiration Point. This path was not crowded at all, so I would recommend doing this first to avoid the crowds that came later in the day.

  

• After spending some time at Inspiration Point, we hiked back down to Sunset point to the Navajo Loop. The Navajo Loop is an out and back during the time of year that we visited (the Wall Street side of the loop is closed for the season). From the Two Bridges side, we connected to the Peekaboo Loop trail and did the full loop. Once we were back to where we started the loop we continued on to Queen’s Garden. From Queen’s Garden we took the trail to Sunrise Point to exit the canyon and we finished on the Rim Trail back to Sunset Point.

  • In total, this hike was 8.75 miles (including the hike to and from Inspiration Point). Our total elapsed time for the hike including all stops was just under 5 hours.

• 2:30pm: We left the Park to grab lunch and check into the hotel.

• We stayed at The Lodge at Bryce Pines for one night. For the night we stayed here the total cost was $124.28.

  • Overall, the location was good and the room felt safe and clean. The hotel shared a parking lot with the restaurant, which was a huge plus. The food was good and the prices were reasonable. We enjoyed not having to get back in the car to find dinner after a long day.

Day 4: Capitol Reef National Park and Canyonlands National Park

• 6:00am: Wake up at the hotel. The hotel did have breakfast included, but it wasn’t open yet.

• 6:30am: We departed the hotel and opted to take the Scenic Route to Canyonlands National Park so that we could stop in Capitol Reef National Park on the way.

  • This route was only about 30-45 minutes longer than the fastest route and it was definitely worth it. The full drive is about 4 hours 45 minutes.

• 8:30am: We arrived at Panorama Point in Capitol Reef to take in the sights.

• 8:45am: We stopped to see the petroglyphs and walk along the path there.

  • 9:15am: We did the Hickman Bridge Trail. The hike was about 2 miles and we spent about an hour here. This was a good opportunity to stretch our legs in the middle of our longest drive.

    

• 10:15am: Back on the road toward Canyonlands. We were headed to the Island in the Sky District.

  • 1:00pm: Arrived at the trailhead for Mesa Arch. This was our longest hike in Canyonlands. The full hike was just under a mile and we spent about 45 minutes here. On the way back toward the Visitor Center we made stops at several other lookout points. There were short out and back trails at most of the lookouts.

    

• 4:00pm: We checked into the hotel. We stayed at another Days Inn. For our two night stay the total cost was $407.94.

  • The hotel was well located and we were able to walk most places. The room was clean and felt safe. We also received a discount card upon check in for the Broken Oar restaurant across the street.

• After dinner we spent time walking around Moab and looking at the little shops.

Day 5: Arches National Park

• 5:30am: Wake up at the hotel and grab breakfast.

• 5:45am: Leave the hotel to get to the Windows trailhead before sunrise.

• 6:15am: We arrived at the Windows trailhead. The Lookout point for the sunrise was a short, relatively flat path. We spent about an hour and a half total between the walk in and out, but the majority of the time we spent watching the sunrise.

  • We had seen online that popular spots for the sunrise were Windows and Delicate Arch. I’m glad we did Windows because it was a large space and an unobstructed view of the sun rising and the moon setting. The shadows were amazing on the arches as well. Delicate Arch is a more difficult and longer uphill path to get to the lookout point for the sunrise as well.

    

    

• 7:45am: We did the Delicate Arch trail. The total distance was 3.25 miles and our total elapsed time was an hour and a half. By the time we were on our way down the trail was beginning to get more crowded.

  

• 9:30am: We arrived at the Devil’s Garden trailhead.

  • The total distance for this hike was 8.75 miles and our elapsed time was 4:40:00.

  • We did the trail counterclockwise and I highly recommend that. It was exciting to see the majority of the arches earlier into the hike, and the trail markers were much easier to see and much more clear from the counterclockwise direction, especially on the primitive trail.

    

• 2:00pm: We left the park to go back to Moab for a shower and food.

• We spent the rest of the day after lunch exploring Moab.

Day 6: Depart from Salt Lake City

• 6:00am: We kept our usual wakeup time.

• 6:45am: We had breakfast at the Moab Diner before starting our drive to Salt Lake City.

  • The drive is about 3 hours and 45 minutes, so we had plenty of time to make the drive and drop off the rental car before our 3:15pm flight.

• With Enterprise, returning the rental car was quick and easy. It was well marked where to go and the process was really smooth.

With hotels and car expenses the trip cost us $1,303.86 total, or $651.84 each. Including food and groceries this total comes out to $1,809.36 ($904.68 each).