Visit San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite NP, Death Valley NP, Zion NP, Bryce NP, Grand Canyon NP, Lake Powell, Monument Valley, Arches NP, Grand Teton NP & Yellowstone NP.
Want to visit Yosemite, Yellowstone and as many National Parks as you can in-between? Then our Wonders of the West road trip is the one for you. Road trip from San Francisco and Salt Lake City, and you’ll see just why the West really is Wonderful!
Key road trip highlights:
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All of our American road trips can be tailored to meet your requirements. Do you have more or less than 21 days for your road trip? No problem, we can bolt on extra nights to allow more time to explore or shorten the number of destinations as required.
Fly directly from the UK to San Francisco, the Golden Gate City. After settling into your preferred San Fran hotel, we suggest you enjoy a meal at one of the city’s many excellent restaurants before retiring to bed so that you’re fully rested for the next two days in San Francisco and the subsequent 19 days of national park exploration.
Once the fog lifts, one of America’s favourite cities will be revealed. Ride a cable car, climb the steep streets and get into the vibe that only San Francisco can offer. Full of Victorian charm, famous movie locations and world-leading tech companies, this city has it all and is rightly considered one of America’s favourite cities.
A second full day to explore San Francisco’s must-see places, which will all be listed in your personalised Road Trip Pack. These “must-see” places include Coit Tower, Lombard Street, the Painted Ladies, Union Square and Alcatraz to name just a few. While in San Francisco, you simply must experience some of the best Chinese food in the world, thanks to the large Chinese community that calls San Francisco home.
You’ll follow I-80 and the Lincoln Highway to find the beautiful blue waters of Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada mountains that surround it. Spend the afternoon kayaking on the waters or relax on one of Lake Tahoe’s many beaches. If you fancy a drive, then circle Lake Tahoe’s scenic highway for around 2 hours.
Your personalised Road Trip Pack will detail two route options for today’s drive: either use scenic 395 and the Tioga Pass to find Yosemite (June-Ocotber only), or you can use Highway 49 to cruise through Gold Country, made famous for the California Gold Rush of 1849.
Yosemite National Park is over 1,000 square kilometres of nature at its finest. The most visited area of the Park is the Valley Floor, where you’ll find vast rock faces, abundant wildlife, staggering views and stunning waterfalls. Leave enough time to visit the giant redwood trees found in Mariposa Grobe before heading to Glacier Point to watch the sunset over Yosemite Valley.
Death Valley has an extreme climate and geology. The roads here are superb, dipping and leaning around curves before straightening out as you drop to 85m below sea level in the salt flats of Badwater. You’ll start your drive on the snow-capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada and finish the day in the baron landscape of Furnace Creek. It’s one of the longer driving days on this road trip, but it carries with it multiple extraordinary experiences.
Leave the sparse desert of Death Valley National Park and indulge yourself in world-class food, drink, and shopping in the luxury of Las Vegas. After checking into your chosen Las Vegas hotel, take an evening stroll along the famous Las Vegas Strip before taking in one of the outstanding shows or hitting the town for a night on the tiles.
Should Las Vegas not be to your liking, then just let us know, and we’ll remove Sin City from your itinerary. Love Vegas? Then we can add a third night, no problem. If you stick to the two nights suggested here, either spend the day relaxing by the hotel pool or visit some of the city’s unique attractions, like Las Vegas Sphere and the Neon Museum or test your driving skills at Speed Vegas.
Onward to Zion’s emerald pools, lush green trees, rust-red canyon walls and crystal clear skies all crammed into a gorgeous valley. The combination of colours is a visual delight, and this National Park’s trails offer many breathtaking sights. We often get asked what’s the best National Park in America, and while we sometimes argue on this, Zion is often the answer.
Spend a day wandering along the heavenly trails, exploring Zion’s geological wonders. You may want to try and hike the treacherous Angel’s Landing trail, culminating at a lofty perch, boasting magnificent 360-degree views over the valley below. Alternatively, walk the famous ‘Narrows’, often knee-deep in water. These two hikes are Zion’s most challenging; please note this popular National Park also offers many much easier walking routes, including flat paved options. Tonight, enjoy a meal at Zion Lodge or in the neighbouring town of Springdale, with plenty of local options to choose from.
Bryce Canyon National Park is famous for its unique geology, made up of a series of horseshoe-shaped amphitheatres carved from the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. The erosional force of frost-wedging and the dissolving power of rainwater have shaped the colourful limestone rock into bizarre shapes, including slot canyons, windows, fins, and spires called “hoodoos”.
Visiting the world’s largest and most famous geological wonder is a staggering experience. Two billion years in the making, the Colorado River has forged a mile deep, 18 miles wide and 277-mile long gouge into Arizona. Following our route, you’ll stay at the North Rim, quieter than the more developed and visited South Rim, but with arguably even more incredible views.
Put your spurs and chaps on (not really!) and head to the classic cowboy scenery of Page and Monument Valley. Page is home to three scenic wonders: Horseshoe Bend, Lake Powell, and Antelope Canyon, which will be remembered as fondly as any of the National Parks on this trip. Monument Valley lies directly on the border between Arizona and Utah; you’ll find proud and majestic “Mittens” made up of every shade of orange and red. Sunset is another chance to prove your photography skills, although the scenery here is so stunning that even a novice will look like a pro.
Heading north, you’ll drive along one of the most scenic roads in Utah. En route, make sure you stop at Bluff for lunch, and as you get closer to Moab, Dead Horse Point State Park, with dramatic views from above the Colorado River, gives you the ultimate photo opportunity. Canyonlands is Utah’s biggest National Park, and it’s a colourful landscape eroded into countless canyons, mesas and buttes by the Colorado and the Green Rivers.
Moab’s main highlight is nearby Arches, with its iconic red-rock bridges and surrounding landscape. This National Park has over 2,000 natural stone arches and hundreds of soaring pinnacles, massive fins, and giant balanced rocks. This area is a wonderland of geological proportions not found anywhere else. Be sure to catch the sunset whilst visiting if you can.
After leaving the Canyonlands of southern Utah, you’ll cruise further north along scenic roads until you reach Dinosaur National Monument. Dinosaurs once roamed here in abundance, and their remarkable remains are still visible embedded in the rocks. Today, the mountains, desert and untamed rivers flowing in deep canyons support an array of life.
Head further north to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, which more than holds its own amongst its more famous neighbour – Yellowstone, which you’ll visit in a couple of days’ time. The small but perfectly formed National Park has a rich mix of extraordinary wildlife, pristine lakes and stunning alpine terrain.
Grand Teton National Park was conceived as a National Park by the wealthy Rockefeller family from New York. The land was secretly bought up to expand the valley area around the Teton Mountains before being handed over to the federal government for preservation. Grand Teton is a worthy destination for any road trip, especially if pristine mountain landscapes and vistas are your thing.
Today, you’ll take the short drive north to Yellowstone National Park, the world’s oldest National Park. Founded in 1872, the Park has millions of years of history and is home to abundant wildlife, including bison, bighorn sheep and bobcats. Whenever possible, we try to place our clients within National Park’s lodges. Getting the accommodation right here means more time to explore every corner of Yellowstone.
A second full day to further discover all of Yellowstone’s wonders and abundant wildlife. Unbelievably, half the world’s geysers are found here, including the most famous, Old Faithful. This iconic natural wonder spurts water 90 feet in the air almost every hour. Yellowstone’s other highlights include Grand Prismatic Spring, Lamar Valley, Hayden Valley and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. Tomorrow, you’ll fly home to the UK directly (after a long drive) to Salt Lake City or on a two-leg flight from nearby Jackson Hole Airport.
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You’ll find answers to most of your questions right here. If you still need assistance, Feel free to get in touch, and we’ll be sure to get back to you promptly!
Not a problem. If you are lucky enough to have extra time to explore more places or add more rest days, then just let us know and we’ll adjust your trip to match your preferred timescale.
We strongly advise that you purchase travel insurance for your holiday to cover you against medical expenses, theft and other financial costs. Should you need to cancel before travelling, some insurance policies may pay out for any loss of funds that have been paid to us and which cannot be refunded under our cancellation policy.
Many of our trips have a different end destination than the starting point, so this is not a problem. Please note a fee sometimes applies for one-way rentals between other regions or states, which will be paid to the supplier directly when collecting the vehicle. We’ll endeavour to inform you of this charge within your quote.
No, far from it. We work with a range of properties from 3* to 5*, so we can adapt the trip to match most budgets. We have access to rooms in more than 800 hotels, motels, lodges and B&Bs across North America.
The minimum age to rent a car is 21 in the United States or Canada, although, in addition, any drivers under 25 years of age will generally incur a surcharge.
Not quite what you’re looking for? Get in touch to discuss your Bespoke Road Trip plans, or check out these similar road trip itineraries…
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