Ultimate Utah

Day 1
Arrival Las Vegas

Depart London Heathrow – 12:10
Arrive Las Vegas – 14:55
Journey time – 10 hours 45 minutes

Welcome to the ‘City That Never Sleeps’. On arrival we recommend that you DO NOT collect your car but rather take one of the metered cabs (your approx fare will be $25 – this is not included in your prepaid holiday cost) from the airport to your hotel.

Overnight – Las Vegas

Hotel:
Tropicana

---

Day 2
Las Vegas to Kanab
200 Miles

In the morning pick up your car and travel through the vast landscape of the Mojave Desert north of Las Vegas. Climbing up in elevation as the interstate make its way through the breath-taking rock formations of the Virgin River Gorge one gets a feeling for what Nature has waiting ahead. Taking the back road with a stop at Pipe Springs National Monument you’ll soon find yourself in familiar-looking territory! At the foot of the Vermillion Cliffs, Kanab is Utah’s “Little Hollywood,” – if you’ve ever seen an old western, chances are you’ve caught a glimpse of “Little Hollywood,” where more than 100 movies and TV shows have been filmed. Movie buffs visiting Kanab will enjoy visiting Frontier Movie Town on West Center Street, as well as the nearby Paria, Johnson Canyon, and Kanab Canyon movie sets.Kanab sits at an interesting crossroads – no matter what direction you drive you soon come to a national park, monument or recreation area.

Overnight – Kanab

Hotel:
Canyons Lodge

Local Tip: Have dinner at the Chuckwaggon Cookout which is attached to the fantastic Little Hollywood Museum, home of many of the old western sets, which has been impeccably preserved and is free for visitors. 

---

Day 3
Kanab

Today a very special adventure awaits! Vermilion Cliffs is a region of incredible geology and scenery you will not find anywhere else. Currently White Pockets is a permit free area as the difficulty of finding it as well as the road conditions make it hard on anyone unskilled in off road navigation. Just like south coyote buttes, you won’t have to hike very far to start exploring this incredible place and its many photogenic areas. From a pure photography standpoint your shooting options are greater in White Pocket and South coyote buttes than anywhere on the Vermilion Cliffs monument. This is an exceptional area to explore and is the highlight of any trip in the southwest canyon country. We will show you several amazing photographic areas and you are sure to leave with many frameable images.

The drive to White pockets offers wonderful scenery along the way to make the off-road travel very dramatic. Using House Rock valley road offers a great introduction to the Grand Staircase-Escalante as well as the Vermilion Cliffs. This trip will take us across a few 4×4 sandy roads through the back country of the monument but is in general a comfortable trip. The elevation of this destination is about 6000 feet and remains the coolest of all destinations on the monument and can also have dramatic snow and ice during the winter months.

Overnight – Kanab

Hotel:
Canyons Lodge

---

Day 4
Kanab to Grand Canyon – North Rim
80 Miles

The Grand Canyon is the most visited national park in the U.S. yet only a small percentage of tourists visit the North Rim. This section of Grand Canyon National Park has some of the most spectacular views in the world, so don’t forget your camera. There are three main scenic viewpoints that you won’t want to miss: Bright Angel Point, Point Imperial, and Cape Royal. Bright Angel Point is at the southern end of the entrance road and has a paved, half-mile round-trip trail with dramatic canyon views. Plan about half a day to take in Point Imperial and Cape Royal, including driving, scenic pullouts, and short hikes. At 8,803 feet, Point Imperial is the highest point on the Grand Canyon North Rim and offers expanding vistas of the east end of the canyon. At Cape Royal you will see an incredible panoramic view of the entire canyon, and it’s the ideal location to view the sun rise and set.

Overnight – Grand Canyon – North Rim

Hotel:
Grand Canyon North Rim Lodge

---

Day 5
Grand Canyon to Lake Powell / Page
125 Miles

Only a short drive to a different world! The sparkling blue waters of Lake Powell are magnificently framed by towering rock formations and soaring red cliffs which surround the area for as far as the eye can see.

Overnight – Lake Powell / Page

Hotel:
Lake Powell Resort

---

Day 6
Lake Powell / Page

The mysterious and haunting beauty of Antelope Canyon (also known as “Corkscrew Canyon”) awaits the adventurous traveller who seeks to discover one of the most spectacular — yet little known attractions of the Lake Powell area. A tour to this awe-inspiring sculpture set in stone is a must for amateur and professional photographers alike. Come see nature’s surprising masterpiece of colour. Follow your guide to a spectacular petrified sand dune, created by wind, water and sand. Nothing can describe this work of Mother Nature. Experiencing this beauty will leave you breathless.

Trips are approx., 1 1/2 hours long and you will travel in a 4-wheel drive vehicle to the canyon’s entrance. From there you walk into the canyon (100 yards long). Here you are at the bottom of the canyon looking up 130 feet to the top. There is no hiking or climbing involved, only easy walking. You will have up to 50 minutes to explore, take pictures or enjoy the beauty on your own, before returning to Page.

In the afternoon another adventure awaits! A guided kayak trip on Lake Powell can be a trip like no other you have experienced. The narrow slot canyons of Lake Powell and its continuation on land offer photographic chances that you can’t find anywhere in the world. The trip lasts approx. 3 – 3 1/2 hours and includes guide and gear. Head out from the Stateline launch ramp and cross the Wahweap bay to enter Ice Cream canyon. Kayaking to the back of this canyon shows a small glimpse of the canyon walls seen up lake in the longer canyons. Then stretch out the legs and take a short walk for a few photos before heading back to the kayaks. There is usually time for a short swim on this trip.

Overnight – Lake Powell / Page

Hotel:
Lake Powell Resort

---

Day 7
Lake Powell / Page to Monument Valley
125 Miles

In the morning we recommend a visit to Navajo National Monument, which preserves three of the most-intact cliff dwellings of the ancestral Puebloan people. Then continue to Monument Valley for a Navajo-guided sunset tour in a all-terrain vehicle. This land is a notable sacred site for the Dineh – the Navajos who are the Keepers of Monument Valley – a sacred unforgettable homeland and motherland to them. The special character of the area is further strengthened by the history of the Anasazis, the “Ancient Ones”, and well known for their imaginative ability, by way of concealed or secret illustration, such as, petroglyphs, pictographs and ruins known as cliff dwellings. The “Off the Beaten Track” tour solicits the delicate, breath-taking arches that withstand the contrasting, massive buttes. You will also visit the famous places in Monument Valley that once served as real-life backdrops for numerous movies, especially Westerns. For example, Stagecoach, The Searchers, How The West Was Won, Back To The Future-part 3, Thelma and Louise and much, much more. The tour starts at approx. 3 hours before sunset – time is subject to change depending on the time of sunset. Famous photographers all over the world have chosen the time of sunset as their favourite time of the day to capture the landscape of Monument Valley. Spectacular long shades and brilliant red, flaming orange, soft purple and rich gold paint the skies, giving the buttes, spires and mesas of Monument Valley that unique, mythical beauty that you will not find anywhere else on Earth. Afterwards enjoy a traditional Navajo dinner and entertaining with song and discussions of Navajo life.

Overnight – Monument Valley

Hotel:
Goulding’s Lodge

---

Day 8
Monument Valley to Moab
150 Miles

Don’t miss a stop at Gooseneck State Park – here the San Juan River makes a series of tight turns – goosenecks – below the viewpoint. The river has carved a deep canyon here, dropping about 1,000 feet below the viewpoint. Geologists say this erosion has uncovered a rock record exposing some 300 million years of time. The state park offers spectacular views of the goosenecks, officially known as an entrenched meander. Over a distance of one and a half miles, the San Juan River flows for more than six miles through the twists of the entrenched meander. Weather permitting continue your drive to Newspaper Rock, then make your way to Moab, the gateway to the Southwest, mountain biking capital of the world, with two beautiful National Parks at its doorsteps: Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. In the evening check out the shops, galleries and restaurants of this unique little Western town.

Overnight – Moab

Hotel:
Best Western Plus Canyonlands

---

Day 9
Moab

Guided all-day tour! In the morning you’ll board the 4 wheeling Ford vehicle and travel across the Colorado River to Arches National Park. This National Park is a red, arid desert, punctuated with oddly eroded sandstone forms such as fins, pinnacles, spires, balanced rocks, and arches. The 73,000-acre region has over 2,000 of these “miracles of nature.” We access the three major icons – Balanced Rock, Delicate Arch and Landscape Arch – along the pavement, then exit Arches National Park by way of Salt Valley. Entering the Klondike region is technical 4 wheeling. If the weather is suitable you can hike cross-country and forego this rolicksome 4×4 route coming back. If the day allows we stop also to take in dinosaur evidence during our return to Moab along Hwy 191.

Overnight – Moab

Hotel:
Best Western Plus Canyonlands

---

Day 10
Moab

In the morning enjoy a rafting trip on the Colorado River! Each year nearly four thousand guests take this barrel-of-fun ride down 17 miles of the Colorado River near Moab. If you’ve never rafted whitewater before, and would like a taste of the thrill, this is the perfect way to get your feet wet. You’ll ride through six moderate to small rapids, class I-III, and enjoy some of the best scenery in America. This is the section of river Walt Disney Company chose to film whitewater rapids! The afternoon is yours – explore more of Arches or take the drive to Dead Horse Point State Park, one of the most amazing view points of the Southwest! It provides a beautiful mesa where you can look for miles into Canyonlands National Park or 2,000 feet down to the Colorado River. There are a few short hikes around the edge of the mesa with stunning views into the deep canyons.

Overnight – Moab

Hotel:
Best Western Plus Canyonlands

---

Day 11
Moab to Boulder
195 Miles

Today takes you on some of the most scenic roads in Utah throughout Capitol Reef National Park and on to All American Scenic Highway 12. Capitol Reef National Park is characterised by sandstone formations, cliffs and canyons, and a 100-mile long bulge in the earth’s crust called the Waterpocket Fold. Erosion has carved the rock into marvellous shapes. Since its designation as a national park in 1971, the majesty of Capitol Reef has been intriguing visitors with its twisting canyons, massive domes, monoliths and spires of sandstone for the past century. From there the road takes you into High Country – Grand Staircase National Monument. This is a geological formation spanning eons of time and a territory of multi-coloured cliffs, plateaus, mesas, buttes, pinnacles, and canyons. It is divided into three distinct sections: the Grand Staircase, the Kaiparowits Plateau, and the Canyons of the Escalante.

Despite their different topographies, these three sections share certain qualities: great distances, enormously difficult terrain, and a remoteness rarely equalled in the lower forty-eight states. Human endeavours have always been limited on these lands, yet their very remoteness and isolation have attracted seekers of adventure or solitude and those who hope to understand the natural world through the Monument’s wealth of scientific information.

Overnight – Boulder

Hotel:
Boulder Mountain Lodge

---

Day 12
Boulder to Bryce Canyon National Park
80 Miles

Continue the beautiful drive through Grand Staircase. The afternoon will find you approaching Bryce Canyon National Park created by a series of horseshoe-shaped amphitheaters carved from the eastern edge of the Paunsagunt Plateau in southern Utah. Erosion has shaped colourful Claron limestones, sandstones and mudstones into thousands of spires, fins, pinnacles and mazes.

Overnight – Bryce Canyon National Park

Hotels:
Western Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel

---

Day 13
Bryce Canyon National Park to Springdale / Zion National Park
80 Miles

To add further to that illusion of timelessness you can see all of Bryce’s breath-taking beauty from horseback – man’s oldest (and most reliable) mode of transportation! Once the ride reaches the floor of Bryce Canyon the 2 hour ride will make a loop and start to travel back up to the rim of the canyon, winding through many more rock formations. Then continue your journey. Entering Zion National Park via the Zion-Mt. Carmel Junction Highway you’ll experience how outstanding works of man and nature compete for attention along this route. The road, completed in 1930, was considered an “almost impossible project,” an engineering marvel of its time. Built across rough, up-and-down terrain, it connects lower Zion Canyon with the high plateaus to the east. As you travel from one side of the long tunnel to the other, the landscape changes dramatically. On one side of the tunnel is slickrock country. Here, rocks coloured in white and pastels of orange and red have been eroded into hundreds of fantastic shapes, etched through time with odd patterns of cracks and grooves. The mountain of sandstone known as Checkerboard Mesa stands as the most prominent example of this naturally sculptured rock art. On one side lies Zion Canyon with its massive cliff walls. Today, the canyon continues to spark a sense of wonder and disbelief in those who come and stand beneath its 2,000- to 3,000-foot-high walls.

Overnight – Springdale

Hotel:
Majestic View Lodge

---

Day 14
Springdale / Zion National Park

A full Day to explore Zion National Park! Designated in 1919, Zion is Utah’s oldest national park. The park is known for its incredible canyons and spectacular views. Famous hikes including The Narrows, Subway, and Angels Landing attract adventure enthusiasts from around the world. Hiking possibilities are endless.

Overnight – Springdale

Hotel:
Majestic View Lodge

---

Day 15
Springdale / Zion National Park to Las Vegas
175 Miles

Return to Las Vegas for your flight home.

Depart Las Vegas – 21:30
Arrive London Heathrow – 15:30 (Next day)
Journey Time – 10 hours

---

Your holiday includes

• Scheduled Flights
• UK & US Airport taxes
• Accommodation – 14 nights
• Compact car rental based on Hertz – 14 day rental
• Exclusive travel documentation portfolio including personalised maps, itinerary and driver directions along with all applicable tickets and vouchers.

Additional Experiences

Our holidays are completely tailored to suit you. We would be happy to help you choose from a vast array of additional experiences that will enhance your North America holiday adventure.

These might include:

There are many more, often quite unique to your chosen destination so please do ask.