Denver to Yellowstone/GTNP and back, including Grand Canyon. 2 weeks in June.

My adult family of 4 are planning a two week holiday starting and finishing in Denver. We'd like to spend at least 5 days in Yellowstone and Grand Teton but are keen to take in as much as we can on the way there and back. We are just as interested in history, food and local culture as we are in stunning scenery and wildlife. We are active so would like to make time for hiking/rafting/other where it maximised the experience.

We had thought about driving to Grand Canyon via Moab, turning North through Bryce/Zion to SLC, on to Yellowstone and Grand Teton and back to Denver.

What route would you take? Are we missing any major points of interest? Is this too much for 2 weeks? What would you drop/change? If you had to fly anyone of those legs (sacreligously favouring speed over scenery) which would it be? From brief research it seems like the GTNP to Denver route is a bit bland, but might be more appealing were it possible to stretch to the Black Hills...

Thank in advance!

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

Creating a loop trip would mean you could visit the Black Hills one way and perhaps Utah and other parts of Colorado on the way back. I would not bother flying part of the trip, you see less from the air and it would mean one way drop fees on 2 car rentals and the rate might be cheaper as one long rental. [weekly rate]

Whereas it would be possible to visit the Grand canyon, it might be a bit much as you are planning on spending at least 5 days in Yellowstone. Wind Cave NP, Custer State park and Mt Rushmore are a few of the places you could visit one way and then the other way you could include Flaming Gorge, Dinosaur NM, Arches and Canyonlands NP, Colorado NM and Rocky mountain NP, among many others to choose from. Zion and Bryce would be a possibility as would Badlands near to the Black Hills, but you could easily spend a couple of days in the Black Hills area, Arches anc Canyonlands and another day or two in RMNP, plus you would have the best part of 4 days of driving to account for.

To do the Grand canyon and Yellowstone with Zion and Bryce, you could start and finish in Salt Lake City, or have the option of starting in Denver and finishing in Vegas or Phoenix as a one way trip, which would have the one way drop fee added on the car rental..