Arizona+ Zion National Park: One Week

Arizona + Zion National Park

IMG_0370 The Grand Canyon	IMG_0625 Horseshoe Bend	IMG_0492 Devil's Bridge	IMG_0847 Lower Antelope Canyon	IMG_0871 Zion National Park

After flying in, hit your local grocery store and gear up for the next few days
Spend some time lounging by your hotel pool
Drive up the mountain to South Mountain Park for a breathtaking sunset
- it gets pretty crowded so you'll want to arrive about an hour before sunset
If you're not too tired and want to experience a night on the town, check out Scottsdale for great restaurants and bar

Day Two: Sedona & Flagstaff

You'll want to hit the road early! Drive about two hours to Sedona
- Hike: Devil's bridge trail
- Check out the shops and restaurants in downtown Sedona
- Hike: Airport Vortex trail (only about 30 minutes) great view for sunset!
Drive 50 minutes to Flagstaff/ Williamston. You have to drive up a pretty steep mountain, so be careful if you are driving at night.
- We drove to Flagstaff in the evening, so we would have a shorter commute to the Grand Canyon in the morning.

Day Three: The Grand Canyon

Drive to the Grand Canyon (about 1 hour and 20 minutes)
Spend the day doing hikes that fit your abilities. It's usually a good idea to check-in at the visitor center to get a park map.
There is also a bus station where the busses pick-up passengers. You can ride the busses to different trailheads around the park.
- we only spent about half a day in the Grand Canyon because we were crunched for time.
- If you want to extend your trip by one day to give yourself more time here, I would definitely recommend it!
  - There are some great overnight options and the sunset over the grand canyon should not be missed! (we were lucky enough to see it as we were driving out of the park!)
After the Grand Canyon, we packed up our car and headed out to Utah!
- The drive to Zion National Park was about 3 hours, but the time may vary depending on your location in the grand canyon
- We did have to drive through Zion National Park in order to get to our hotel. Again, we did this drive at night so be careful-there were A TON of deer near the roads!!!

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Day Four: Zion National Park

Wake up early to get in a full day of hiking! We grabbed breakfast burritos from one of the stores near the park entrance and packed lunches
Make sure to check-in with the information center- some hikes may be closed due to weather.
- We were hoping to hike the narrows but the rapids were too strong so the park closed that hike.
It's cheaper for you to take a car into the park rather than walking into the park because the car fee can be split by the passengers, whereas walking into the parking requires you to pay per person
One of our favorite hikes was observation point (8 miles roundtrip)

Day Five: Zion National Park

Another full day of hiking!
Once we finished hiking, we hit the road again and drove about two hours to Page, Arizona

Day Six: Page, Arizona

We decided to wake up early to watch the sunrise at horseshoe bend as well!
- If you would rather choose one, I definitely favored the sunset because the sun falls behind the landscape. However, both views were beautiful!
We went back to our hotel for continental breakfast and then headed out to Antelope canyon (an absolute MUST do)
- Antelope canyon is on an indian reservation so you need to schedule your tour in advance.
- We actually added this to our schedule last minute, and booked our tour the day before.
- We did lower antelope canyon, but honestly we all wished we would have done both- the upper and lower canyon.
- There are A LOT of people in the canyon with you. They split you into smaller groups and try to stagger the tours.
  - I found that staying in the back of my tour group allowed me to capture some photos without people in them
  - I just took photos of the views behind me as we walked through, but it's also important to be respectful of your tour guide and stick with the group!
After our tour we grabbed lunch and then made the drive back to Phoenix (about 4 and half hours)

Day Five (Continued) Page, Arizona

We made sure to leave Zion with enough time to arrive in Page before sunset!
The only place to watch the sunset is horseshoe bend! It gets pretty crowded, so arrive early to get a good spot and enjoy the sunset.

Day Seven: Phoenix

Our last day was spent lounging by the pool and decompressing after our hiking adventures!
We were staying with a friend so we didn't have to worry about lodging in Phoenix but there are plenty of cheap hotels and air bnbs in Arizona.

Day Eight: Fly Home