How to Have the Best 7 Day Utah Road Trip!

This itinerary is a loop, starting and ending in Salt Lake City and includes:

• Arches National Park
• Canyonlands National Park
• Dead Horse Point State Park
• Monument Valley, AZ
• Page, AZ (Slot canyon and Horseshoe Bend)
• Zion National Park
• Bryce Canyon National Park
• Bonneville Salt Flats
  

Arches National Park

• Begin your day with sunrise at Balanced Rock!
• Drive to Double Window Arches to finish the early morning; this is close by and the hike to get to both is short and easy to navigate!
• Delicate Arch hike
  • Recommend getting to this hike mid-morning because it is popular 
  • If you are going during the summer, I recommend starting with this hike because there is NO shade!
• Devil’s Garden
  • These trails are a bit more spread out and less popular, so save these for last

Begin your day by watching sunrise at Monument Valley. Its an INCREDIBLE sunrise spot!

• I recommend driving the 17 mile loop through the monuments if you aren’t in an RV! (RV’s can’t drive through, and we learned this the HARD way)
• If you are in an RV, you can do guided tours through the monuments. There are several highly-rated tours, but I recommend booking a sunrise tour so you have time to get to Page, AZ!

After Monument Valley, drive to Page, AZ (about 2 hours, but the drive is scenic!). Even if you take the guided tour of Monument Valley, you can still get to Page, AZ by noon!

Once in Page, AZ take a hike through a Slot canyon! – You can do the popular Upper or Lower Antelope Canyons or opt to do one of the lesser-known slot canyons such as Secret Canyon.

• If you are trying to go with the flow, you won’t get Antelope Canyon time slots (learned this the hard way as well). However, there are several other slot canyons that you can hike through that are cool to see!

Horseshoe Bend overlook– This is a quick and easy hike that is centrally located (it was only about 10-15 minutes from the slot canyon we did). Don’t leave Page, AZ without seeing Horseshoe Bend!

Drive Horseshoe Bend to Kanab (Hour and 15 minutes)

• Take your time exploring Page, AZ, but I do recommend driving to Kanab in the evening rather than staying in Page so you can be prepared for an early morning at Angel’s Landing!!

The drive from Kanab to Zion National Park is about 35 minutes. The early bird catches the worm in Zion; I recommend getting up EARLY to catch the first 6am shuttle to Angel’s Landing!

• Do the Angel’s Landing Hike- it is epic and you don’t want to miss it!

After doing the Angel’s Landing Hike, make time to pick up your gear to Hike the Narrows the next morning.

Then, spend your afternoon either doing another short hike in Zion or just relax and take in the views!

Another early morning wake-up call, but worth it! Again, I recommend catching the FIRST shuttle to the Narrows trailhead to beat the crowds!

• The hike will take as long as you want it to.
• It is an out and back hike, so you opt to turn around whenever you want.
• The famous “Wall Street” section is about 3-4 hours, but you can go up to a 12 hour hike! We spent about 6 hours hiking in and out.

After finishing the Narrows hike, drive from Zion to Bryce Canyon National Park (about 1.5 hour drive)

• Catch sunset in Bryce Canyon

Spend day 6 hiking the Bryce Canyon National Park Hoodoos

• To get a LOT of hoodoo in one hike (recommended by a park ranger!):
  • Shuttle to Bryce Point and start on the Under the Rim trail and go left toward Peekaboo Loop
  • Take a left on Peekaboo Loop, and lefts at the next two Y’s to the Navajo Loop
  • Take a left on Navajo Loop and end at Sunset Point (this hike is more clear when you get a map of the Bryce trails!)

Drive to SLC after finishing up your day of hiking (3 hour and 45 minute drive). We drove mostly in the night so we could utilize our time in Bryce Canyon better.

Salt Lake City has good brunch! Find some good food and then head to Bonneville!

The drive to Bonneville Salt Flats is about 1 hour and 40 minutes. The salt flats are super cool! However, they do look vastly different at sunset compared to in the middle of the day. Therefore, I recommend timing your trip so you can see them in both settings!

In the evening, head back to SLC for the night- fly out the next day

We opted to skip Capital Reef National Park and went south to Monument Valley and Page, AZ

• Honestly, I thought Monument Valley and Horseshoe Bend were worth it! But if you want to hit all of the “Big 5” in Utah, then go to Capital Reef on Day 3

In hindsight, as I mentioned, I would have skipped Dead Horse Point State Park because it looks very similar to Canyonlands and it frees up time a little in Canyonlands.

We didn’t plan to go to the Bonneville Salt Flats originally, but after hiking about 5-6 miles through the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon, we felt like the salt flats would be a good addition rather than another hoodoo hike in Bryce. DEFINITELY do not regret adding the salt flats to the itinerary!

I also don’t recommend spending too much time in Salt Lake City on this trip, especially if it is a first-time trip. There is just better ways to spend your time! 

Definitely recommend going with a “soft” itinerary; don’t over-plan!

There are obviously other options than an RV that will give you the flexibility of the itinerary and the location independence. Car camping is definitely the cheapest option and a camper van will definitely be easier on gas. However, we chose an RV for these reasons:

1. Having a toilet
   • We only had access to a restroom one night; the other nights we were “boon-docking” and honestly wanted the convenience of having a toilet. 
2. Also, there were three of us, so we wanted room
   • Many camper vans have a toilet, so if you are traveling as a couple a camper van may be a better option for you!

Whatever you choose for your priorities, I definitely recommend choosing one of these rather than booking hotels/VRBOs for the Utah road trip!

Going to Utah during shoulder season will be the cherry-on-top to your perfect RV itinerary. 

The weather

• Crisp mornings, sunny, warm afternoons and minimal rain.
• We went in September and had the BEST weather for hiking. I highly recommend visiting Utah during shoulder-season. The summer gets HOT and the best things to do in Utah are in the great outdoors. 
• Be aware that the Spring will have great weather like the fall, but the rain can be more problematic. If you plan to hike The Narrows in Zion (which you should!) it can close down QUICK with flash flooding. 

The crowds

• Also, going in September, the crowds were much more manageable. Yes, popular hikes such as Angel’s Landing will have crowds, but they will be more tolerable!

 You’ll have a good time in Utah in the summer; but you’ll have a GREAT time during shoulder season 😏

I don’t care what time of year you go on your Utah road trip, but if you try to sleep in and then try to do some of the popular things like Angel’s Landing and the Narrows hike you will NOT have the best experience you can have.

• The crowds grow EXPONENTIALLY (even during shoulder season) starting fairly early in the morning.
• So, even if you are not typically a morning person, it is WORTH IT to enter parks prior to sunrise to begin popular hikes and to visit popular sights without SO MANY people around. 

Be strategic in what you choose do first thing in the morning.

• Do all of the popular things first and do some of the other things that are more spread out afterward.
• Horseshoe Bend has plenty of space for everyone and Canyonlands is pretty spaced out which makes them good afternoon options (although parking may be difficult during summer months).