The American Southwest in 10 days: a road-trip route

The American Southwest is the trip where I most badly underestimated distance. On the map, Zion to Bryce looks like a detour. It is a two-hour drive through a tunnel where they stop traffic to let oversized vehicles through the middle. Everything here is further apart than it looks, and the roads are so good that you stop noticing until you have driven 400 kilometres before lunch.

Ten days, one hire car, about 2,300 kilometres, a loop starting and finishing in Las Vegas.

The route

• Day 1: Las Vegas
• Days 2–3: Zion
• Day 4: Bryce Canyon
• Day 5: Capitol Reef, drive to Moab
• Days 6–7: Arches and Canyonlands
• Day 8: Monument Valley
• Day 9: Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend
• Day 10: Grand Canyon South Rim, back to Vegas

Late April: warm days, cold mornings at altitude, and everything open without the July crowds or the July heat.

Day 1: Las Vegas

I gave Vegas one night, which was the right amount for me. Picked the car up at the airport rather than on the Strip - cheaper, and you avoid the resort parking charges. A note that cost me time: the rental desk wanted a credit card in the driver's name for the deposit, and would not take a debit card. Two people ahead of me in the queue discovered this the hard way.

Days 2–3: Zion

Day 2. Two and a half hours from Vegas. In peak season private cars are banned from Zion Canyon and you take the shuttle, which is free and frequent and better than driving anyway. Afternoon on the Riverside Walk.

Day 3. Angels Landing at first light. This one needs saying clearly: the final chain section requires a permit obtained by lottery, and I did not have one, so I walked to Scout Lookout and stopped. Scout Lookout is spectacular and free. The Narrows, wading up the river in rented boots, was the better half of the day.

Day 4: Bryce Canyon

Two hours from Zion, through the Mount Carmel tunnel. Bryce is 2,400 metres up and it was two degrees when I arrived - bring the layer you packed for nothing. Sunrise at Sunrise Point genuinely is the thing, and the Navajo Loop down among the hoodoos takes you off the rim and into it in about ninety minutes.

Day 5: Capitol Reef and the drive to Moab

Scenic Byway 12 is one of the great drives anywhere - the Hogback ridge with a drop on both sides is not for anyone nervous about heights. Capitol Reef gets a fraction of the visitors of the other Utah parks and has an old orchard where you can pick fruit in season. Long day: about five hours of driving with stops.

Days 6–7: Arches and Canyonlands

Day 6. Arches now uses a timed-entry reservation system in the busy months, which I nearly missed. Delicate Arch at the end of the afternoon: a 5 km round trip up slickrock with no shade, and the arch appears suddenly at the last corner. Take more water than you think.

Day 7. Canyonlands, Island in the Sky. Mesa Arch at sunrise is the postcard, and there will be twenty tripods there. Grand View Point in the afternoon had nobody at all.

Day 8: Monument Valley

Four hours south. Monument Valley is a Navajo Tribal Park, not a national park - separate entry, separate rules, and the scenic loop road is rough gravel that some hire agreements technically forbid. I took a guided tour with a Navajo driver instead, which got me into the restricted areas and was worth several times the money for the commentary alone.

Day 9: Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend

Antelope Canyon can only be visited with an authorised guide from the Navajo Nation, and slots sell out weeks ahead - I booked a month before and got an awkward hour. The light beams need the middle of the day in summer; in April you get colour rather than beams. Horseshoe Bend is fifteen minutes away, a short walk from the car park, and busy at sunset.

A safety point the guides repeat and people ignore: flash floods in slot canyons come from storms tens of kilometres away, under a blue sky above you. If a tour is cancelled for weather, that is the system working.

Day 10: Grand Canyon and back

South Rim, two and a half hours from Page. I walked a short way down the Bright Angel Trail - far enough to be inside the canyon rather than looking at it - and turned round. Everyone warns you that going down is easy; the last mile back up in the heat is where the rangers hand out salt tablets.

Then four and a half hours to Las Vegas, returning the car during staffed hours so I got a signed check-in sheet.

Real driving times

Leg	Distance	Driving
Las Vegas → Zion	260 km	2 h 30
Zion → Bryce	115 km	2 h
Bryce → Moab (via Byway 12)	400 km	5 h
Moab → Monument Valley	250 km	3 h 30
Monument Valley → Page	200 km	2 h 30
Page → Grand Canyon South Rim	220 km	2 h 30
Grand Canyon → Las Vegas	440 km	4 h 30

What I would do differently

1. Enter the Angels Landing permit lottery months ahead. It is free to enter and I simply did not know it existed.
2. Two nights in Monument Valley, not one. Sunrise there is the point and I only got one.
3. Book the America the Beautiful annual pass. It covers entry to all the national parks and paid for itself by day four. It does not cover Monument Valley or Antelope Canyon, which are tribal land.
4. Watch the time zones. Arizona does not observe daylight saving, but the Navajo Nation inside Arizona does. I was an hour out for one booking.