7 Days: Vegas and the Canyons

Seven days runs the same spine as 6 days through Grand Canyon West, Death Valley, Zion and Bryce, then keeps going instead of turning back: Page, Arizona for Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend, the full Utah-Arizona loop. If a week feels like too much driving, the 6-day version ends at Bryce instead.

Book these before you go:

Day Stop Distance from Vegas Drive time Focus
1 Las Vegas - - Basecamp, rental car, gear up
2 Grand Canyon West 120-130 miles 2-2.5 hrs Skywalk, Hualapai land, round trip
3 Death Valley 120 miles 2-2.5 hrs Badwater Basin, Zabriskie Point
4 Zion National Park 160 miles 2.5-3 hrs Riverside Walk, overnight Springdale
5 Bryce Canyon 85 miles from Zion ~2 hrs Sunrise Point, overnight Bryce
6 Page, Arizona 170 miles from Bryce ~3.5 hrs Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, overnight Page
7 Las Vegas (return) 272 miles from Page ~4.5 hrs Optional South Rim detour, drive home

Day 1: Vegas basecamp, not the trip

Fly into Harry Reid International, pick up the rental car, and give the Strip one night; our Las Vegas guide covers that trip on its own terms. This is a seven-day road trip; pace the first night accordingly.

Day 2: Grand Canyon West and the Skywalk

Grand Canyon West is Hualapai tribal land, not Grand Canyon National Park, and an NPS pass doesn’t work here. The $99 All-Access Pass covers the Skywalk and shuttle, 120-130 miles and 2-2.5 hours via US-93. Save the actual National Park, the South Rim, for day seven’s optional detour.

Day 3: Death Valley, the day trip with real stakes

Death Valley is 120 miles and 2-2.5 hours via NV-160 and CA-190, $30 per vehicle (nps.gov/deva ), and a genuine summer safety risk. Badwater Basin and Zabriskie Point are the two stops worth the drive.

Day 4: Zion, done properly this time

Drive 160 miles and 2.5-3 hours to Springdale and stay the night. The $35 vehicle entrance (nps.gov/zion ) now carries a $100-per-person non-resident surcharge, and covers the free shuttle running March 7 to November 28, 2026. Angels Landing needs a $6 permit application booked before you leave home.

Day 5: Zion morning, then on to Bryce

A short trail before checkout, then 85 miles and roughly 2 hours to Bryce Canyon ($35 vehicle, nps.gov/brca ). Stay the night; at 8,000-plus feet it’s genuinely cold when Vegas is baking, snow on the rim October through April.

Day 6: Bryce sunrise, then the long push to Page

Catch Sunrise Point before the tour buses, then drive 170 miles and roughly 3.5 hours to Page, Arizona. Antelope Canyon has no self-guided entry: book a Navajo-guided tour ahead, roughly $60-95 for Lower Antelope or $105-155 for Upper (see the official tour operator list ), and aim for a late-afternoon slot given the drive. Catch Horseshoe Bend at sunset: free to view, a short walk from the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area lot, but the parking itself is a city-run $10 fee that no NPS pass discounts. Stay the night in Page.

Day 7: Horseshoe Bend sunrise and the drive home

If you didn’t get to Antelope Canyon yesterday, a morning slot works too. From Page, Grand Canyon National Park’s South Rim, the real NPS canyon rather than West Rim’s tribal-land version, sits about 110 miles and 2-2.5 hours away via the Desert View entrance; it’s a genuine detour worth an eighth day rather than a same-day add-on, since the drive back to Vegas from Page alone is 272 miles and roughly 4.5 hours. Push straight through if you’re flying out that evening, or add the night and see the South Rim properly; either way, fuel up in Page before you leave, the stretches in between run long without a gas station.

Seven days is the full loop, and it’s genuinely a road trip, not a series of day trips stapled together. The one thing worth cutting if the pace feels wrong: Death Valley on day three, not Bryce or Page, since those two are what make the back half of this itinerary worth the extra days.