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My husband and I did this 7-day southwestern U.S. road trip for our honeymoon because we love to be on the move and adventuring. We rented a car and tent camped most of the trip, but this itinerary could easily be done in a camper van, RV, or by staying in hotels.
TRIP ITINERARY
Here is a map of our itinerary: https://goo.gl/maps/dkzpk8FUsveXEHCd9
DAY 1 – TRAVEL DAY & ZION NATIONAL PARK
We began our trip by flying into Las Vegas, NV and from there we picked up our rental car and made the drive to Zion National Park. The drive was about 160 miles and 2-2.5 hours and since we arrived to Vegas in the early afternoon, we were able to make the drive in the daylight. Click here for a flight and rental car package based in Las Vegas.
Once we arrived in Zion, we headed straight to our campsite to get setup for the night. There are a few campsites in Zion and we chose the South Campground mainly due to availability. I was impressed with the location of the campsite and its views (see pic below.)
The South Campground is along the Virgin River and is just inside the main entrance to the park. It’s a short walk to the main visitors center, the shuttle system and the town of Springdale. It was nice to be able to walk to dinner and the gift shops without having to worry about parking! As far as the campground facilities, I’d say they were just mediocre, nothing impressive/your typical not-so-nice camping bathrooms. But the location and views are still worth the stay here in my opinion!
After we got our tent setup, we walked and explored the downtown area and found a place for dinner. From there, we headed to bed to get ready for exploring the park the next day.
Link for South Campground booking: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/272266?tab=info
Not interested in camping? Check out all these other accommodations in Springdale, UT which is near the popular south entrance of Zion National Park:
DAY 2 – ZION & BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARKS
Many of the Zion National Park’s hikes and viewpoints originate off of Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, which is about a 6.5 mile long road. However, in the spring through fall, the only options to go on the road are to take a shuttle, bike or walk. Unfortunately, when we went, you had to reserve the shuttle in advance due to COVID and all the shuttle spots were filled by the time we found out. (As of 2023, they no longer require reservations to take the shuttle though.)
Therefore, we chose to rent bikes in Springdale and bike into the canyon, which was about 15 miles round trip. They also have e-bikes available for those that want them. I’m personally not really into biking, but biking in the canyon was actually a really cool experience and felt like we really got to take all the canyon views in.
We chose to bike on our own, but if you’re looking for a guided tour, check out this 3 hour e-bike guided tour by clicking here.
Almost the entire way into the canyon was uphill, but on the way back we didn’t have to pedal at all. There are many different locations you can stop and hike at along the way into the canyon or on the way back. Below are the official shuttle stops right from the National Park Service’s website with a brief description of what’s at each stop.
Here are the hikes/stops we made:
- Emerald Pools – we hiked to the lower pool which was 1.2 miles round trip, but if you hike to the lower, middle and upper pools, it would be 2.5 miles round trip.
- Stopped at Weeping Rock
- Temple of Sinawava – we hike the Riverside Walk Trail, which was 2 miles round trip and led us to the beginning The Narrows hike. The Narrows is where people hike through the Virgin River among the narrow canyon walls
We did all of this in a morning/early afternoon, so if you have more time, you can definitely add more stops/hikes to the list! My husband and I aren’t big heights people, but if you are, I’d recommend the Angels Landing hike – it entails some pretty cool views, but does involve holding onto chains with big drops on both sides of the walkway/trail. 😬😄
After we returned our bikes in Springdale, we got in the car and headed to our next park, Bryce Canyon National Park! It was just under a 2 hour drive from Zion to Bryce and we arrived around 4pm.
We tried getting a campsite at Sunset Campground in the park, but it’s first come first served and the campground was full by the time we got there unfortunately. The North Campground does take reservations though if you want to plan/book in advanced (it was booked by the time we planned this trip.) We ended up camping right outside of the park, which I will touch base on later.
Once we realized the campsite we wanted was full, we decided to continue our venture into the park. We drove on the park’s main road called Southern Scenic Drive, which is 18 miles from the park entrance in the north to the end of the road at Rainbow and Yovimpa Points. The road has 9 scenic overlooks/pullouts along the way, which allows you to see many parts of the park without hiking, etc.
We spent 2-3 hours driving along the road and enjoying the stops along the way – Bryce Amphitheater, The Natural Bridge, Sunset Point and Rainbow Point were some of my favorite viewpoints/stops. After we completed the drive, we headed to Ruby’s Inn RV Park & Campground and were able to secure a campsite for the night.
DAY 3 – BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK & PAGE, AZ
When we woke up, we packed up our tent and headed to Mossy Cave Trail, which is in the national park. The trail is 0.8 miles round trip and leads to a small waterfall and a cave. It was a fairly easy hike along a river, but if you have more time, I’d recommend a hike through more of the hoodoos instead.
After the hike, we headed to Page, Arizona. If you take highway 89, it’s about 2 hours and 40 minutes from Bryce to Page. However, we took the more scenic/backroad route on Cottonwood Canyon Rd, which was about 3.5 hours. Cottonwood Canyon Rd was a gravel road much of the way and went through the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument. We were glad we took this way, but make sure you have a full gas tank because it felt like a pretty isolated area.
Once we arrived in the town of Page, our first stop was the Horseshoe Bend, which was about 10 minutes away. The Horseshoe Bend required a $10 vehicle entrance fee to the parking lot and then we hiked 0.7 miles one-way to see the bend. The hike was flat and relatively easy, but depending on when you go, make sure you are prepared for the heat and watch for snakes (there was one by a bench when we were there.) Also, there aren’t really any railings near the edges once you get to the bend, so if you have children, make sure they don’t go wandering off. We probably spent 30 minutes taking in the views and walking around parts of the bend before heading back to the car.
From the bend, we went to downtown Page for dinner. In my opinion, downtown Page was nothing special – a lot of it looked kind of run down. However, after dinner, we headed to the Wahweap Campground, which was on Lake Powell and that was very nice! The campground was clean and kept up nice. It was a 1/4 mile walk to the shore of Lake Powell where they had jet skis, kayaks, boats and more for rent.
Here are some other things you can do near Lake Powell:
DAY 4 – ANTELOPE CANYON & SEDONA, AZ
We packed up and drove to Antelope Point Marina around 7am so we could rent some kayaks for the day and paddle to Lower Antelope Canyon. At the time we went, I believe the kayaks were first come first served, but now you can book ahead online at the below link. We rented a double kayak which was $55 for a day rental.
https://antelopepointlakepowell.com/
After we got our kayak, we paddled to Antelope Canyon. There are a couple different ways you can see Antelope Canyon – one way being via water by using kayaks/paddle-boards/etc. and another way by doing a guided hike.
Since we visited during COVID, guided hikes were on pause and therefore our only choice was to take the water route. It was about 2.5 miles from the marina to the canyon where we parked out kayaks. I’d consider my husband and I to be fairly active and in shape and the kayak ride was challenging/tiring for us. Between the windy condition and boats driving around, it was quite wavy when we were on Lake Powell, so be prepared for that.
Once we got into the canyon part though, the water was much calmer and paddling was much more relaxing. We paddled until the end of the water where we then parked our kayaks on the sand and headed into the canyon. You could hike the canyon for hours, but I’d say we hiked for 30 minutes in before we turned around and headed back.
Pictures really don’t do the canyon justice – it was so beautiful and it made the tough kayak worth it! It is important to watch for snakes as you are walking, but we thankfully didn’t encounter any. Once we got back to our kayaks, we paddled back to the marina and got back around 12pm – so overall our day trip was 4-5 hours.
While we kayaked on our own, there are also guided water tours you can do as well. Regardless of what method you take, I’d highly recommend visiting Antelope Canyon!
After our kayak adventure, we drove down to Sedona, AZ, which was just under 3 hours away. Since we had tent camped the whole trip so far, we decided to get a hotel here. We stayed at the Best Western Plus, which was downtown and walking distance to many restaurants. We enjoyed the evening by grabbing dinner and some drinks overlooking the beautiful red rocks in the distance. Click here for accommodation options in Sedona, AZ!
We were in Sedona for just the night, but definitely could have spent more time here. I was in Sedona on a separate vacation with my family prior to this and we really enjoyed the Verde Canyon train ride, so I’d recommend doing that if you have time. (See link below to book the train!)
DAY 5 – GRAND CANYON & JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARKS
This day was our biggest driving day. From Sedona, we headed to the Grand Canyon National Park, which was about 2 hours. We then walked around the rim of the Grand Canyon (Mather Point) and the visitor center for about an hour before heading to Joshua Tree National Park, which was another 5.5 hours of driving. One could easily spend more time at the Grand Canyon, but viewing the canyon from the overlooks was good enough for us. I previously did the 15 mile hike to the river at the bottom another trip, but we skipped that this time and opted to continue on with our travels after a short visit.
This day was our biggest driving day. From Sedona, we headed to the Grand Canyon National Park, which was about 2 hours. We then walked around the rim of the Grand Canyon (Mather Point) and the visitor center for about an hour before heading to Joshua Tree National Park, which was another 5.5 hours of driving. One could easily spend more time at the Grand Canyon, but viewing the canyon from the overlooks was good enough for us. I previously did the 15 mile hike to the river at the bottom another trip, but we skipped that this time and opted to continue on with our travels after a short visit.
We arrived to Joshua Tree around 4pm and entered the park from the northwest side on Park Boulevard. Joshua Tree was similar to Bryce Canyon in my opinion because it has a main route with many short stops along the way and only takes a few hours to go through. Some of the top highlights along Park Blvd include Hidden Valley, Cap Rock, Ryan Mountain and Skull Rock. After Skull Rock, we turned onto Pinto Basin Rd and stopped at the Cholla Cactus Garden and the Cottonwood Visitor Center before turning back around. See pictures below for our stops! Once we were done going through the park, we headed to our campsite, which was called Black Rock Campground and located in the far northwest corner of the park. The campground was filled with “Joshua Trees” and met our needs for the night.
DAY 6 – LAS VEGAS
On our last full day, we woke up and headed back to the one and only Las Vegas! It was about a 3.5 drive from Joshua Tree and arrived to Vegas right around 12pm. We checked into our hotel, The Linq, and began enjoying the strip with some gambling, drinks and food. Click here to see some of the best deals on Las Vegas hotels!
We ate dinner at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse located inside the Venetian hotel. Our steaks and dinner were delicious! We continued to enjoy the strip afterwards including watching the Bellagio Fountain water show and bouncing around to look inside all of the big hotels along the strip. Overall, we had a great night and it was a splendid way to wrap up our honeymoon trip!
DAY 7 – TRAVEL DAY
On our last day, we woke up, returned our rental car and then hopped on a plane back to Green Bay. If you enjoy road-tripping, check out my Banff or Icleand road trip itinerary blogs!
This blog post may contain affiliate links, which are at no cost to you. It just helps support me so I can continue to put out free content for you like this! Thank you for your support!