Visiting Utah's 5 National Parks

We realized that of the many National Parks we’ve visited, we had completely missed Utah’s “Big Five,” which included one of America’s most popular, Zion, as well as the lesser known gem of Capitol Reef. We decided to go all in and attempt to visit all five in one ten day trip, starting in the west and heading east.

Zion was our first stop, then Bryce Canyon, and we spent a day in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument before a quick morning in Capitol Reef. From there, we went on to Moab, our home base for checking out Arches and Canyonlands.

Our friend Molly, who has visited Utah many times and considers it her favorite state, joined us and brought lots of good recommendations. The three of us had a great trip!

Want to read more about our trip? Read our posts about visiting Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Capitol Reef, and Moab/Arches/Canyonlands.

Our Itinerary

Day 1- late night arrival in Las Vegas; stay off strip
Day 2- Pick up rental car; drive to Zion National Park
Day 3- Zion National Park
Day 4- Zion National Park
Day 5- Bryce Canyon National Park
Day 6- Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Day 7- Capitol Reef National Park
Day 8- Canyonlands National Park
Day 9- Arches National Park
Day 10- Drive to Salt Lake City
Day 11- Depart from Salt Lake City

Molly walking beneath a butte in Capitol Reef National Park

General:

We decided to alternate between hotels and campgrounds and enjoyed the variety. We packed tents and sleeping bags in our carry-ons, but didn’t pack cooking equipment, so we were “restaurant camping”
If you are going to visit more than two parks, make sure to get the America the Beautiful Pass, which gets you into all of the national parks for a year for $80. Just ask for it at the first park you get to.
We stocked up on hiking snacks and drinks at Trader Joe’s in Las Vegas at the very beginning of our trip, but we would have been fine depending on the grocery stores in our Utah stops
We flew into Las Vegas and home from Salt Lake City. We enjoyed getting brief visits in both cities and were thankful that the final drive of our trip from was from Moab to Salt Lake City, 3.5 hours away, rather than the 7 hours it would have taken to get from Moab back to Las Vegas. This route did mean that we paid more for our rental car, since most companies charge more when the car is returned to a different city from where it’s picked up.
We visited in the week leading up to and including Easter. Since this is a popular school break, the parks were busy; however, we found that the biggest crowds were in the morning. Everyone reads about the crowds, then arrives early to “beat” them, thus creating a crowd of attempted crowd-beaters. Instead, we loved visiting the busiest parks (Zion and Arches) later in the day, around 3pm and into golden hour. It was more quiet, there weren't any traffic jams or lines, and the light was beautiful.
There will be times when you lose cell reception; make sure to download any maps you need or plug your destination into your GPS while you still have service. On a few long drives, we realized we had no podcasts downloaded to our phones as well as no reception. Don’t let such a tragedy happen to you