Each year millions of tourists come from all over the world to Las Vegas. The city is one of the globally recognized places to travel to for fun, gambling and entertainment. Las Vegas is known for glittering lights and modern hotels and restaurants, and puts most visitors into the mindset of being submerged into a world of 24 hour modern living. A very large number of these tourists also choose to take at least one day out of their vacation to also do something completely different, changing the pace from ultra-modern and fast paced city to completely undeveloped and spectacular national parks. One of the hidden secrets of Las Vegas is that it is within close proximity to numerous national parks and protected spaces, and can be used as a starting point to visit areas like Bryce, Zion and the Grand Canyon. When tourists are planning trips to any of these national parks and are not from the southwestern region of the United States themselves, they are going to need to choose a starting point that will have an airport that can handle commercial airline traffic. That city of choice will serve as the starting point for the commute to the park, because the majority of national parks are a minimum of 2.5 hours and generally more like 4 hours drive from the nearest major city. Because there are only really 2 cities to choose from logically for any of these national parks trips, one being Las Vegas and the other being Salt Lake City, most people will opt for Las Vegas as the starting point. This is simply due to the fact that Las Vegas is more appropriately set up for tourism than Salt Lake City. Las Vegas has more restaurants, hotels and entertainment for all price ranges than Salt Lake City, as well as offering cheaper flights from your home city due to it’s popularity. Las Vegas is round the exact same distances to most national parks as Salt Lake City, and at the same time offers far more as far as it’s own tourist attractions. For most, there is no debating the choice.
For most people traveling to Las Vegas and desiring to see a national park while they are here, the obvious choice is the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is one of the most visited places on earth, and is one of the most popular parks in the United States. Because of it’s iconic nature, many people will not do enough research once they land in Las Vegas to understand that there are multiple places to visit that are all technically “the Grand Canyon.” There is lots of advertising in the airport promoting the Grand Canyon as being only 2 hours away, where they can also visit the “Skywalk.” Unfortunately, this section is actually not within the Grand Canyon national park, and as such does not offer the range of activities and viewing areas that the national park does. Although it is closer, it is less scenic and therefor should be researched before booking. When you arrange your tour of the Grand Canyon, make sure youa re going to the actual national park…..or just call us!