First Family Roadtrip with 4yo and 1yo - Vegas to West US

[Juancho11]

Hello,

My wife and 2 kids will be going to Vegas from Nov5-22 to visit a relative. Since this is our first time, we wanted to make the most out of it by seeing as much places as we can during that 2weeks vacation. I would like to get some advice as we wanted to have a 4days roadtrip to see Grand Canyon, Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park.

Please advice on a best iterinary possible on this 4-day road trip. Appreciate also on some cheap lodge to stay the night as well.

Thanks in advance.

[Lifemagician]

Hi, and Welcome to the Great American Roadtrip Forum.

To enjoy a road trip with little children - who really don't care what they see or where they go - is to limit your time in the car and plan on frequent stops.

With that in mind, the places you plan to visit strike me as most ambitious. It is the best part of a day's travel from LV to the GC and another day back, overnighting in the National Park if you can get accommodation. Otherwise in one of the nearby towns.

LV to Yosemite is more than a day's travel, even without little children, and in November there is a chance that Tioga Pass could be closed. Meaning you need to travel around the south side of the Sierras to get to Yosemite/Sequoia, making it a two day trip. Even if Tioga Pass is still open, it will be more than two days to drive from LV back to LV via Death Valley/Yosemite/Sequoia. Not only that, but you would only have time for a drive through, and not really have time to see these Great National Parks.

Regardless what timeline online mapping programs might tell you, from real world experience, these are the times required to visit these places from LV. When in LV you will see many advertisements for trips to the Grand Canyon. Be aware that these for the most part do not go to the National Park, but to the west rim, which is nowhere near as spectacular.

For my part, I would choose either the GC or Yosemite/Sequoia, and take your time to really enjoy the one you choose.

Lifey

[Midwest Michael]

I have to agree with Lifey, 4 days just isn't enough time to get to all of those places. Even in a best case, you'll spend so much time driving, you wouldn't have any time left to actually see or explore the places you'd be driving though.

If it were me, I'd look at a loop through Grand Canyon, up to Zion National Park, and back to Vegas. There are lots of other places you could also include along the way, like some of Route 66, Antelope Canyon, maybe even Monument Valley or Bryce Canyon - although when traveling with small children, getting the most out of a trip usually doesn't mean going to as many places as possible.

If you have your heart set on California, you could do a loop out to Yosemite through DV and perhaps Sequoia, but that would be more rushed, and probably not as enjoyable.