Category: Travel News

Are you planning a trip to Vegas this year? If you are then chances are you have already begun researching all of the fun things that the city has to offer tourists, and started thinking about which of them should be accomplished during your stay here. Naturally you are going to see at least one of the famous shows and probably are going to eat in a few restaurants and gamble in a few casinos, but if you are an outdoor enthusiast have you considered that the Grand Canyon is within driving distance of your hotel room? This is one of the best kept secrets in Las Vegas, that the positioning of the city actually makes it the perfect starting point for southwestern national parks tours. The proximity of Las Vegas to places like Zion Canyon National Park have caused it to become one oof the most popular parks in America, probably based on little more than it is only 2.5 hours drive from the downtown area. Few national parks can claim to be that close to a major city that supports commercial airline traffic, and few parks can actually be visited and returned to the starting point in the same day without feeling rushed. Zion Canyon is so close to Vegas that many people look at it as a short getaway break from the city lights, and one that will not take up too much of their vacation to be worth it. But you are interested in seeing the Grand Canyon because it is probably the most iconic landscape in the world, and you are now within only a few hours drive from it. The Grand Canyon is located 4.5 hours from Las Vegas by car, and is possible to visit and return in one day. This is not

It is a dream for many people to visit the Grand Canyon. After all, the Grand Canyon is one of the most visited and photographed areas on earth, and it would probably be quite difficult to find many people in the civilized world who have not seen at least one picture of it. The area is not only scenic but also offers some of the best hiking and outdoor activity choices in the world, all with the backdrop of the sheer canyon cliffs and walls to frame your visit. There are few adventure travelers and explorers who would not like to visit the area, but the trip itself is usually hindered by the logistics of the tip and the travel times that it takes to get there. The Grand Canyon suffers from the same issue that many parks do which results in lower visitation levels than would be expected. Simply put, they are really far away and the drive to them is difficult. Driving through the desert is not like driving on the east coast or in a city, the desert all looks the same to most people, resulting in the driving time feeling much longer than it actually is. A four hour trip through the desert can be exhausting, leading few to feel refreshed and ready for exploration when they get there. If you have planned only a single day trip and now need to drive home, it may be overwhelming. This is why so many visitors to Las Vegas use tour services which will transport them to the Grand Canyon from their hotels. For them it is usually worth the fee in order to avoid the exhausting drives. Starting your Grand Canyon tour in Las Vegas makes a lot of sense. Unless you are from the southwest, you

There is a reason that there are multiple companies operate tours that use Las Vegas as the starting point and travel to national parks in the southwestern United States. The most obvious is the physical proximity to these areas that allows for a ground transport to get you to your park of choice in less than a half day. This is actually the very same reason that Las Vegas grew in popularity. It was once a simple town that was situated at about the mid-point across the desert between developed areas, and provided rest and food for those who were traveling from the east coast to California. The Mojave Desert had to be crossed in order to get there, and the unforgiving harshness of the landscape combined with travel time made it necessary to establish a point at the rough halfway marker where people could rest and take a break from the trip. After a while, it became more of a destination onto itself by providing the things that people could not get elsewhere, like gambling. The actual specifics of travel time and location were the real reason Las Vegas grew out of nothing, and continued to thrive even though it had little surrounding it. This is the very same reason it makes perfect sense to use it as a starting point for travel out into that desert, to the remote national parks that are located in the desert region. The city is big enough to support commercial airline traffic, essentially allowing you to use faster means to cover the distances from your home to the starting point, before driving the rest of the way. Because it has become such a destination on it's own, you can also get cheaper and more abundant flights and hotels there. Las Vegas is

Las Vegas is one of the most popular tourist locations on earth, and every years sees millions of people from all over the world arrive in order to partake in the fantastic weather, the entertainment, gambling, shows, food and hospitality.  While the draw of Las Vegas is obvious for most people, there is an additional aspect that fewer people are aware of which also results in thousands of people coming to Las Vegas. That reason is that Las Vegas is perfectly positioned as the starting point for southwestern national parks tours, and many outdoor enthusiasts flock to Las Vegas each year in order to tour the large number of national parks that are located within a short drive of the city. With regards to national parks, we consider a "short drive" to be less than 8 hours, as most national parks are located in remote areas that are not developed for many miles in all directions, in compliance with the federal laws that created them. This means that for just about all parks you are going to have to arrange some form of ground transportation from a starting point, and unless you live in the general vicinity this probably means flying into a city like Las Vegas and leaving from there. Las Vegas itself became popular because it was viewed as a "stopover" in the desert where most of these parks are located, essentially being positioned about half way across the desert from one developed area to the next. This is why it stands to reason that it is a perfect starting point for most parks located in that same vicinity. Las Vegas is also viewed by many as the perfect starting point simply because the popularity of the city as a tourist destination on it's own offers a wider