Road trip in the American West: a 2 or 3 week itinerary

In two weeks, the most coherent road trip in the American West is a loop starting from Las Vegas: Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Monument Valley, Page and the Grand Canyon, that is 13 nights and seven drives. With a third week, you no longer close the loop: you carry on through Death Valley and Yosemite, and you return the car in San Francisco. Most of the drives take 1 hour 30 minutes to 3 hours 45 minutes; the return from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas, though, is 447 km and takes at least 4 hours 15 minutes.

Étaperia does not sell any 2 or 3 week tour on this loop: the route below is a suggestion. Our itineraries cover these regions separately and more slowly, for example the Greater Southwest in 12 days and the deserts and Las Vegas in 9 days.

Road trip in the United States in 15 days: the canyon loop from Las Vegas

A fifteen-day trip, flights included, leaves fourteen days on the ground. For each stop, the table gives the nights and the driving time to the next one, breaks not included.

Days	Stop	Nights	Drive to the next stop
1 and 2	Las Vegas	2	1 h to Valley of Fire, then 2h30 to Zion
3 and 4	Zion	2	1h30
5 and 6	Bryce Canyon	2	2 h along Scenic Byway 12 to Boulder, then 1h05
7	Capitol Reef	1	3h45 via Hanksville and the Moki Dugway
8	Monument Valley	1	2 h
9	Page	1	Around 2h30 (222 km) via Cameron and the park’s east entrance, including 37 km of Desert View Drive
10 and 11	Grand Canyon, South Rim	2	447 km via Williams and Kingman, 4h15 to 5h30
12 and 13	Las Vegas	2	Return flight on day 14

What earns each stop its place:

• Las Vegas: the Strip on foot, the Bellagio fountains and Fremont Street. On the way to Zion, Valley of Fire and its Fire Wave, a 2.4 km walk, closed every year from 15 May to 30 September because of the heat.
• Zion: the Virgin River, which you walk up in its bed at the Narrows, and the climb to Angels Landing, whose final ridge requires a permit.
• Bryce Canyon: the four viewpoints of the amphitheatre, then the Navajo Loop, Queen’s Garden and Peekaboo loop, 10.3 km and 4 to 5 hours of walking. At 2,400 m, the nights are cold even in summer.
• Capitol Reef: the Hickman Bridge arch, 3 km there and back, and the Fruita orchards. Scenic Byway 12, which leads there, is among the most beautiful roads in the country.
• Monument Valley: the 17-mile scenic track by car, and the backcountry only with a Navajo guide.
• Page: the Horseshoe Bend meander, 2.4 km there and back, and Antelope Canyon.
• Grand Canyon: the Desert View Drive viewpoints on arrival, then the South Kaibab Trail, 9.7 km there and back and 620 m of elevation change to Skeleton Point.

The American West in 3 weeks: adding Death Valley, Yosemite and San Francisco

On day 12, keep only one night in Las Vegas, then head west.

Days	Stop	Nights	Drive to the next stop
12	Las Vegas	1	2 h to the ghost town of Rhyolite, then 1h10 to Furnace Creek
13 and 14	Death Valley	2	435 km and 5 h over Tioga Pass, from June to October
15 to 17	Yosemite	3	314 km, 4 to 5 h
18 to 20	San Francisco	3	Return flight on day 21

• Death Valley: Zabriskie Point at sunrise, Badwater Basin, 86 m below sea level, and the Mesquite Flat dunes at sunset.
• Yosemite: Tunnel View, the Mist Trail to Vernal and Nevada Falls (10 km loop, 600 m of elevation gain), Glacier Point and the sequoias of Mariposa Grove.
• San Francisco: the Golden Gate Bridge on foot, Alcatraz, Chinatown. The city is visited by tram, by cable car and on foot.

This route is no longer a loop: the car is returned in San Francisco. Check what your hire company charges for a one-way rental before booking, see hiring a car in the United States.

Permits, time slots and the parks pass: what to book before you leave

The rules below are those of 2026, noted in October 2026: check them again on each park’s website for the year of your trip.

• Angels Landing, in Zion: permit by lottery on recreation.gov. The seasonal lottery is held around two months ahead (in 2026, from 1 to 20 April for a hike from June to August). The day-before lottery is open from 0:01 to 15:00 Mountain Time, with the result after 16:00. Allow $6 per application, then $3 per person.
• The Zion shuttle: from March to November, then over the late-December holidays, the canyon road is closed to cars. The shuttle is free, with no ticket or reservation.
• Antelope Canyon: guided tour compulsory, with an operator approved by the Navajo Nation. Book several weeks ahead at the very least.
• Yosemite: no timed-entry reservation in 2026.
• Alcatraz: the ferry slot is booked 1 to 2 months ahead; tickets are on sale up to 90 days in advance.
• Park campgrounds: booking six months ahead on recreation.gov, five months at Yosemite.

Watch out: Since 1 January 2026, every non-resident visitor aged 16 and over pays $100 on top of the ordinary entrance fee ($35 per vehicle) in 11 national parks, including Zion, Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon and Yosemite, unless they enter with an annual pass. The America the Beautiful pass for non-residents costs $250 and covers the whole vehicle: for two adults, it pays for itself from the second of these parks. It is not valid at Monument Valley or Antelope Canyon, on Navajo land. Prices noted at the time of writing this article, in October 2026, to be checked again on nps.gov; the other items are in the budget for a trip to the United States.

What is the best season for a road trip in the American West?

Three calendars overlap:

• May to October for the canyon loop. In July and August, monsoon thunderstorms break in the afternoon.
• October to April for Death Valley, which turns hostile in summer.
• June to October to get from Death Valley to Yosemite over Tioga Pass.

For two weeks, aim for May, June, September or October. For three weeks, October is the only month common to all three windows: in September, the average maximum in Death Valley is still 41 °C, against 34 °C in October. The region-by-region detail is in when to go to the United States.

Underestimated distances, heat, closed roads: the three pitfalls

The distances. The two rims of the Grand Canyon, 16 km apart as the crow flies, are 341 km from each other by road. The first five drives of the loop already add up to nearly 14 hours of driving. Fill up in Page: petrol stations are few and far between as far as the Grand Canyon.

The heat. In Death Valley, summer climbs to 54 °C by day and 32 °C at night. The park asks you to drink at least one gallon of water a day, nearly 4 litres, and not to walk on the valley floor when it is hot. There is no mobile signal in most of the park and GPS is unreliable there: download your maps before going in. At the Grand Canyon, it is often above 38 °C in summer down by the river: never attempt the return trip to the Colorado in a single day.

The closed roads. The Tioga Pass road generally opens in late May or in June and closes in November; in 2026, it opened on 15 May. Out of season, the drive from Death Valley to Yosemite goes from 435 km and 5 hours to 720 km and 9 hours.

Watch out: Never enter a narrow canyon, the Narrows in Zion or Antelope Canyon alike, when a thunderstorm is forecast, even a distant one: the risk is a flash flood.

So, 2 or 3 weeks for a road trip in the American West?

Two weeks are enough for the canyons, and it is the right choice for a first trip: the Las Vegas loop fits into 14 days, with two nights each in Zion, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon.

Take three weeks if you are travelling between June and October, when Tioga Pass is open, preferably in October for Death Valley, and if California matters as much to you as the canyons. Outside that window, the link to Yosemite costs a full day of driving: keep your days instead to slow the loop down, with a second night in Monument Valley or Page.

To dig into one region, our itineraries for the West are on the United States page.