DH and I will be in Las Vegas in early June or so to visit ds2 while he’s working there. He has a three-day weekend, and we were going to use that time to see the Grand Canyon as I’m the only one in the family who’s never seen it. Rent a car and drive.
But now that I’m researching, I find myself drawn to Zion. I have found private guides there to hike the Narrows, and I prefer a more active day trip. It’s closer to Vegas, and I feel like on a private tour maybe we wouldn’t be competing with crowds, the weather would be cooler, shorter drive. I don’t know … Zion is just speaking to me.
You can do both but it depends on how deep you go.
Zion to the South Rim is only 4 hours - so in 3 days you can do both.
If I had to choose one, it’d be the GC and wouldn’t be close. But that’s because you can see a lot of what Zion has at other parks too.
You should check - what types of trails, activities are even open - sometimes some are closed or require reservations.
But you can easily do both but it’d be more - a day here type thing vs. deep. My favorite part actually may be the drive from Vegas to St. George. Not sure the hiking opportunities, if any, but the scenery is pretty amazing.
You could do both. Depends on how much time you want to spend driving.
There’s a whole recent thread on someone wondering if they should go to the Grand Canyon. The general consensus is that everyone should go if they can.
I’ve been to both several times. Both are beautiful, but it’s more difficult, IMO, to see Zion the way you can see the Grand Canyon. There is nothing subtle about it. It’s awe-inspiring.
If I had to choose one, it would be the Grand Canyon. There is no place else in the world that is as spectacular in terms of size and demonstrating the sheer power of nature. (Yes, subjective, but I think a lot of people would agree with me.)
Zion is great too, but doing both in 3 days will be tight. But you could do it for sure.
FWIW, I think Bryce is more spectacular than Zion. But really, there are so many amazing national parks in that area. I also love Arches and Capitol Reef and Monument Valley and Mesa Verde, but that’s a longer trip than 3 days, haha.
Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon NP, you are on the rim looking into the canyon. What makes Zion different is that you are IN the canyon, starting off in an area wide enough for the canyon, the Virgin River, and the road. It narrows to just the river and the road, and where the road ends, the Narrows begin and continues deeper into the canyon.
You don’t have to have a guide to do the Narrows. You are just walking in the river. BUT there is no guarantee that it will be open. You just have to see what the weather and snow melt are doing. The rangers won’t open it if the river level is too high. We were there in June about 15 years ago when our kids were 7 & 10 and it was too high for the first day but the second day they opened it. You may want to rent some gear in Springdale. We didn’t do that but some people feel more comfortable with neoprene booties etc. The river was pretty high so we didn’t go all the way to the Subway but had a very fun and memorable experience doing the part we did do. The rocks are pretty slippery so a walking stick is good to have. At the time we were there people would just leave them at the end of the Riverwalk.
The South Rim of the Grand Canyon is well worth a visit. Big fire last year at the North Rim that burned down the lodge. So called “west rim” is not in the National Park and not recommended.
I’d do both!! Bryce is cool too and you can hike down in amongst the hoodoos — you don’t have to be on the rim. Zion is probably my fave but all are worth visiting. I’d allow more time for Zion if you like to hike.
Make sure you are getting your info from nps.gov websites. There are a lot of people out there who want to separate you from your money. The NPS sites have the real info on shuttle buses, for in park lodging, permits for popular hikes, and programs etc.
The guide I’m lookinng at for Zion provides the neoprene booties and hiking poles and a charcuterie lunch!
I don’t want to tucker ds out on his weekend but making us traipse all over. Dh wants me to see the GC. Ds is at a party and hasn’t weighed in. There’s a tour that leaves from Vegas so we wouldn’t even have to rent a car if we chose that.
The choice feels like when dh and I went to Italy … Do we stay in one place and go at a slower pace or do the kind of forced march a tour provides?
He might have to work Sunday morning, but he’d be done by noon or so. We could hop in the car and drive to the South Rim and spend the night, then Monday do the tour ds1 and DIL did this fall, then drive to Zion, spend the night and do the guided tour Tuesday and then home to Vegas that night. Does that sound overly ambitious?
I think the guided tour sounds like a bad idea since you don’t know what the water level will be. They must give you a refund if it’s closed I guess. Is it top down or bottom up? I wouldn’t want to waste money on it. But we didn’t do the neoprene booties either and thought that was a waste of money too. No regrets at all on that. Still feel that way for myself.
We don’t really love guided tours though. If you like it and have the funds it could be fun. We did do a fun float trip around Horseshoe Bend in Page and that was cool.
It depends what you want to do. You mentioned hiking the Narrows. The Narrows are sometimes closed in early June, with high river levels from the spring snow melt, but are usually open. Check before you go.
If you plan to also hike within the Grand Canyon, be aware that there are often extreme temperatures in June that got hotter as you descend further in the canyon. It’s far less of any issue if you plan to stay on the rim.
What you plan to do also impacts whether you can fit both in 3 days. One can certainly make the drive between the 3 locations (Vegas, Zion, Grand Canyon) in 3 days, but that may not leave enough time to do the activities you’d like in each location. With 3 days, you’d need to make at least one of the locations a day trip. If you’d like to walk along the rim for a few hours and take some pictures, one could do a day trip at the Grand Canyon. However, many (most?) people prefer multiple days.
You can go in the canyon at the Grand Canyon as well. One can walk all the way to Colorado River below or stop and turn back at various intermediate viewpoints along the way. One could make it a 2 mile hike (round trip to Ooh Aah Point) or a 15 mile hike. In my experience, the best viewpoints are within the canyon, rather than on the rim. A picture I took last year on the route down via S. Kaibab is below.
With most hikes, there are a few amazing viewpoints, but the bulk is not especially remarkable. You often walk for awhile to get to the viewpoint. I found the Grand Canyon to be completely different. Throughout the hike I was constantly inundated with awe inspiring views of amazing structures unlike anything I have experienced before, more so than any other hike I can recall.
We were in Zion last fall and a “private” tour, as others have suggested, doesn’t guarantee a Narrows hike. Also, Zion is extremely busy in June. If you aren’t actually staying at the lodge, the pace of getting into the park and out to the Narrows (you’ll be waiting for a shuttle, private tour or not) is fairly hectic. That being said, there’s nothing like Zion anywhere else. Perhaps you could just drive the Mt Carmel highway, or go from Vegas to Snow Canyon or Valley of Fire state parks, which are also stunning but immensely less crowded. Snow Canyon even has a little slot canyon you can visit.
I vote GC just to keep yourself from being over scheduled. Check on the water situation, though; they’ve been having trouble keeping things open as the aging infrastructure fails.
Sure you can hike or ride a burro into the GC but my point was that at Zion the park road takes you into the canyon—can’t do that at either Bryce or GC
My absolute favorite “active” thing which is Vegas adjacent is Red Rock- an easy and quick drive from the strip (if that’s where you are staying). I’d suggest getting your activity/hiking/ day when you are in Vegas, and then do the “trip” to the Grand Canyon. I’m not a fan of the “we can do this hike, then jump in the car, then get somewhere else” in the Southwest…. you may want to linger; the traffic heading to the canyon is unpredictable.
If it were me I’d do the Grand Canyon, save Zion for another trip, but devote half a day of my Vegas time to some of the gorgeous hikes right near Vegas!
I think that’s kindof sweet. If he is not keen on Zion, I’d lean toward GC. (But that’s partly because I never want to be the person that suggests an alternate plan in case it does not go well.)
So about the Narrows, when we went 15 years ago (and I don’t think there have been major changes after a cursory look at the NPS website) from the visitors center you take the shuttle bus into the canyon. No cars are allowed in the canyon in the summer, only the shuttle bus. Then you do the Riverside Walk which is a paved path along the river that ends at the the bottom entrance to the Narrows. Then you just walk in the river up as far as you want and turn around and come back the same way. That is the Bottom Up direction. I don’t see how having a guide would be worth it for that and you certainly can’t avoid crowds. If you are going Top Down instead there might be some advantage. I have never done that.
Check out these images from Google Maps street view:
I think this Google Streetview must have been in cold weather and not August like the timestamp says. It is very hot in Zion in the summer. It was in the 90s when we were there in June. If you click the link you can follow the whole Riverside Walk and part of the Narrows.
In June I would expect it to be a popular hike. The river is fed by snowmelt and is very cold, so going on a hot day is great. I just wore water sandals, but the recommendation is to wear closed toe shoes so you don’t stub your toe on the rocks. We had done a lot of creek walking prior to this trip so I felt pretty confident in my water sandals (open toed Tevas) and they were fine, but Keens or other closed toe shoes – even an old pair of tennis shoes – would probably be the more prudent choice. I didn’t feel the need for neoprene in June, but some people might. The walking stick was very nice. As you can see there are trees around and people pick up sticks and hike the Narrows with them and then leave them at the end of the Riverside Walk for someone else to use. You can see some sticks left here in this photo from Google Maps:
I think you really can’t go wrong with Grand Canyon or Zion or both. For reference with the two little kids (and me and H) we flew into Salt Lake City, got a car and drove to Bryce for the night. Spent one day in Bryce and a second night there. Got up early and drove to Zion. Spent the afternoon and night there. The Narrows was closed that day. The next day they opened it and we did it a ways – maybe 1/4-1/2 mile – enough to feel like we were really in the canyon, but the water level was very high still and the kids were up to their tummies so we didn’t go too far. Left Zion that afternoon, doing the Canyon Overlook hike on our way out. Went to Page AZ for the night. Next day did the half day rafting trip around Horseshoe Bend. Then went on to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We stayed 2 nights at the Maswik Lodge in Grand Canyon Village (the South Rim accommodations). This is not a swanky accommodation, but it was fine with the kids.The kids and I did not hike down into the canyon, but my husband went part way down the Bright Angel trail. Had an afternoon at the Canyon and another full day and then we headed out toward Moab, but I won’t bore you with the rest of the trip.
I was going to recommend this as a minimum hike for the Grand Canyon. You just get a better experience if you do hike into the canyon. Skip Bright Angel trail and do South Kaibab instead. Ooh Ahh Point is about a mile down. You continue further down if you’d like.
Don’t get me wrong-Zion is great, but if the Narrows are unavailable and you aren’t planning to tackle Angel’s Landing, I’d choose Grand Canyon.
Day 1: Get up in the morning and leave Vegas and be in Springdale by lunchtime. Have the afternoon and evening in Zion. Last shuttle is at 8pm. Spend the night in Springdale.
Day 2: The next morning see anything else you want to in Zion, then in the afternoon head out to the South Rim. If you want to make stops along the way (Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend hike or float trip) you may need to leave in the morning. But if you leave after lunch you can get to Grand Canyon in 5 hrs, so by supper time. Watch the sunset. Stay in Grand Canyon Village at the South Rim to reduce your drive times. If you can’t get anything there then Tusayan is the next best place, but I bet you can get something in the GCV if you look now.
Day 3: Spend the next morning/early afternoon at the Grand Canyon. Leave by 2 in the afternoon for Vegas and you can be back for supper.
Zion is an easy drive from LV, and would be my pick if I could only do one. We did a cycling trip through Bryce and Zion a couple of years ago, and we got to ride through Zion before any cars were allowed to drive in one morning. When we left our hotel in Springdale it was just becoming light, and the ride through Zion was pretty spectacular. We also rode our bikes in from the other side, but that was kind of scary and several of us got in the bus for part of the ride (lots of cars and not a big shoulder).
We’ve been to GC a couple of times, and if I hadn’t seen either I’d have a hard time with the decision.
We did go to Bryce on our cycling trip, but I could live without going back/it’s definitely 3rd on my list.
Know that there’s a lottery to get to do Angel’s Landing hike in Zion, and there may be other hikes in the parks that you need to sign up for/do a lottery for.
I think someone already mentioned it, but Red Rock Canyon and Valley of Fire (state park?) were very nice and close to/in LV.
The parking at the Visitor’s Center in Zion fills by 8 or 9 am. Parking in Springdale for those who aren’t staying there is extremely limited and expensive if you can find it at all. LInes for the shuttle can be extremely long, and once on the shuttle, the Riverside/Narrows stop is the very last one.
We overheard a guide telling someone that in the off season, 1,100 people a day go into the Narrows!
