July trip.

Hi guys,

This thread is awesome.. My husband and I are going to the US in late July for 4 weeks. We fly into San Francisco and are there for 4 days so I have found the Arcatraz and Muir Woods travel tips to be very handy. After San Francisco we are flying to San Diego catching the train to LA then flying to Las Vegas for 2 nights before starting a 7 day road trip. After our 7 days driving we are flying to New York (not sure where from yet, hoping for some great opinions) to visit a friend for a week before flying home.

We will hire a car but we are finding it hard to choose where to go. Everything I have read puts Denver Colorado at the top of my list, but from there we are not sure. Our first thought was to drive to Chicago but I have read that the drive is boring after you get past Denver. Now we are thinking about doing a big triangle - Las Vegas - Denver - Yellowstone - Las Vegas. Any suggestions? We dont mind doing a few long drives if we need to as we both will take turns driving.

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

There is a lot of possibilities starting out from Vegas on your 7 day road trip. You could take a one way trip to Denver, or take a loop trip, starting and ending in Vegas. Such a loop could be done by Heading North on I 15 towards Zion NP, Bryce canyon and down through Page [Antelope canyon, Lake Powell] to Monument valley. From MV to the Grand canyon South rim and then head back towards Vegas via the Hoover Dam and possibly part of old route 66 through Seligman.

To continue to Denver you could head to GC, Monument valley, Moab [Canyonlands and Arches NP,] Colorado NM and Rocky mountain NP, but you can also pick and choose from many other options/combinations. Take a look around the RTA pages for info and suggestions with a good map to hand and when you have decided I am sure we can help you to "fine tune" your trip. With 7 days I would say that the "triangle" you mention is too much in the time you have, especially with so much close by.

Mod note. I moved your post to it's own dedicated thread.

Wow.... you are right there is so much that is so close.

We have booked our hire car and collect the car on the morning of the 10th at our hotel and need to drop at Las Vegas Airport very early on the morning of the 17th so our 7 days may actually end up being 6 as the last night will most likely be spent in Las Vegas. At this stage that is all that has been finalised.

I looked up Antelope Canyon and love what I see, the rock formations are amazing and will definately have to be included in our road trip. Everything I have read about Antelope Canyon says you need to be on a tour to see the formations. Do you know if this is something that can be easily done when we get there or would we need to book in advance?

We are looking at having a rough plan of where we are going and not booking much in that week so we have the flexibility if we see something we like to stay a bit longer. The only reason I choose Denver as a destination was the forum that I read about the I70 and the pictures that were attached looked great.

This is a very popular area and gets a lot of visitors, but you could be lucky, walk up and get a tour, or you could have to wait hours, or not end up with one at all. The same applies to lodgings, most people who "wing it" without reservations usually find something, but the lodgings in [and close by] the National parks can, and do book out in advance. Personally I would book, it's a short road trip and quite straight forward in scheduling, but that's me.

Good luck.