Plan an Unforgettable Experience in Utah's National Parks

After you pick up your rental car at the airport, settle in to your comfortable hotel and enjoy the edgy design and thoughtful details. Visit the nearby Temple Square, the Great Salt Lake, or the Natural History Museum. Have an early dinner and rest up—your road trip begins tomorrow!

Today you set off for Moab, a drive that should take about four hours. Enjoy a tasty breakfast at your SLC hotel before getting on your way—but don’t delay too long. You’ll want to reach your Moab hotel by check-in time to make sure you have plenty of time to appreciate the facilities and sunset views. If you’re staying at Red Cliffs Lodge, book a massage or check the schedule for activities such as sound baths, Native American craft making or sunrise yoga; the on-site Cowboy Grill restaurant offers stunning views. If you’re staying at Field Station Moab, the on-site café is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and offers sandwiches, burgers and pizzas—or check out one of the restaurants nearby. (You can also take a sunset bike tour right from the hotel.) If you’re staying at Under Canvas Moab, you may want to stop at a grocery store along the way, since you’ll have access to grills and a picnic area; also don’t miss out on the nightly offering of s’mores around the fire pit!

Spend the day exploring Canyonlands National Park, either on a guided tour or on your own. If you start early, you can catch the legendary sunrise views at Mesa Arch. Get various perspectives on the park at Grand View Point Overlook, White Rim Overlook, Buck Canyon Overlook, Green River Overlook—and the one-of-a-kind Upheaval Dome crater. Choose from a variety of hikes ranging in length and difficulty level. Enjoy dinner and a good night's rest back at your Moab lodging.

You’ll spend a half-day exploring Arches National Park before continuing on to your next destination in the afternoon. On either a guided or a self-drive tour, you’ll see some of the 2,000 sandstone arches scattered throughout the park. On the way between Marching Men, Tower Arch and Eye of the Whale, you can stop to look at fossilized dinosaur tracks. You may have time for a short hike, but be sure to allow three hours to drive to your next stop. Tonight, your trip takes a diversion into Colorado, and you won’t want to miss the breathtaking sunset views from Far View Lodge. From a vantage point inside Mesa Verde National Park, you can see three states at once while enjoying dinner at the hotel restaurant.

You can visit Mesa Verde National Park on your own, but a guided tour (I especially like one that uses guides with a background in archaeology) can enrich the experience. The centerpiece is the Cliff Palace, the largest and most famous cliff dwelling in the park. With more than 150 individual rooms and more than 20 kivas (rooms for religious rituals), this sandstone structure has remained remarkably well preserved from the elements for the past 700 years. After your tour, return to Far View Lodge for another evening of savoring the sunset over dinner.

Today you’ll journey back into Utah with a two-hour drive to Bluff Dwellings Resort & Spa. If you arrive prior to check-in time, have lunch at the on-site restaurant to enjoy Native American traditional dishes. Indulge in a spa treatment, take a swim in the pool or engage in the hotel’s programs to learn about indigenous practices and try them for yourself. For your accommodations, choose from a hotel room (in a lodge built into the cliffside), a tipi or a dwelling built in the Pueblo style—all with modern comforts inside—and don’t miss the resorts nightly s’mores ritual.

Take a daytime hike or scenic drive, then join a Navajo guide for a sunset tour of the park—an experience that includes music, dancing and storytelling by the campfire, plus a traditional Navajo dinner. Afterward, you’ll have one more night to enjoy Bluff Dwellings Resort.

After breakfast, visit the Sand Island Petroglyphs, which are only a 20-minute walk (or a short drive) from your hotel. View this rock wall covered with Anasazi etchings between 800 and 2,500 years old. See if you can spot handprints and pictures of horned animals, hunters and the fertility god Kokopelli playing a flute. Afterward, you’ll continue on to your lodging near Capitol Reef National Park, a 3.5-hour drive. If you’re staying at Capitol Reef Resort, you can choose from tipis, Conestoga wagons, cabins or hotel rooms. Relax at the pool and fitness center, then have dinner at the Pioneer Kitchen on-site restaurant and spend time around the fire pit afterward.

Choose from a variety of day hikes at Capitol Reef National Park and explore the cliffs created by the Waterpocket Fold, a 100-mile-long ripple on earth’s surface caused by a faultline shift 100 million years ago that created the cliffs and canyons you see today. Enjoy dinner and a good night's rest back at Capitol Reef Resort.

Take a scenic drive at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, exploring the same path pioneers took to find a way across the river—including Hole-in-the-Rock, where they camped out for a winter as they worked to enlarge a natural crack in the canyon rim to provide clearance for passage. Be sure to allow time for the two-hour drive to your lodging for tonight—Clear Sky Resorts Bryce Canyon, where you’ll sleep in a glass dome that gives the impression of being immersed in the night sky, or Under Canvas Bryce Canyon, an equally comfortable glamping option.

Choose from a variety of day hikes to admire the sandstone spires of Bryce Canyon National Park, or take a guided tour (including lunch) to have support in exploring landmarks such as Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, Thor’s Hammer, the Queen Victoria Hoodoo and the Queen's Garden or Peek-a-Boo loop trails. Back at Clear Sky Resorts, have dinner at the futuristic-themed restaurant and enjoy s’mores and an outdoor movie.

Partake in a morning yoga session or horseback riding at Clear Sky Resorts; then, in the afternoon, embark on the three-hour drive to your next destination. Check in at the Lodge at Zion Country, nestled beneath the rainbow-colored bluffs just outside the south entrance to Zion National Park—or settle into your luxury glamping tent at Under Canvas Zion, about 20 miles outside the park.

It’s time for your final national park of the trip. A full-day guided hike, with transportation between stops, is the best way to ensure you see the main sights—such as the Virgin River, the Narrows, the tiered Emerald Pools, Checkerboard Mesa and the Canyon Overlook Trail. Finish your day enjoying s’mores after dinner at the on-site restaurant at Under Canvas Zion, or take a dip in the pool before dining at Scout Kitchen and Grill (the on-site restaurant at the Lodge at Zion Country).

Head out bright and early for a hot air balloon ride over Zion National Park, or take a morning jeep tour along the East Rim for a different perspective on the landmarks you saw yesterday, as well as some new sights—or have a leisurely morning before packing up for the 4.5-hour drive back to Salt Lake City. Take in any sights you missed on your earlier stay in the city, then grab dinner at one of the city’s many enticing restaurants—such as the Copper Onion for locally sourced New American cuisine, Red Iguana for delectable Mexican, Takashi for sushi in a contemporary setting, Mazza for Lebanese specialties or All Chay for vegan Vietnamese food. Back at the Kimpton Hotel Monaco, rest up and get ready for your flight home tomorrow morning.