Las Vegas is situated in the Mojave desert, conveniently located as a stopping point for those traveling from the east coast to the west coast.
Using Las Vegas as the starting point for a southwestern national park tour is a smart idea. Las Vegas was established as a stopover for travelers going from the east coast to California, as a reprieve from the long stretches of desert which hold little to no changes in scenery. Lets face it, Las Vegas is very isolated in the middle of the desert and doesn't have a lot around it. This is the very reason it became so popular, because people traveling across the desert needed a place to stop and rest for a while before heading out to more of the same in every direction. This fact actually works to the advantage of those seeking an experience at the national parks of the southwest due to the fact that they are located inside those long stretches of area that is remote. National parks are kept pristine by prohibiting development inside them and around them, and because of the expanse Las Vegas is the nearest major city to more than a few of them. While you may find some smaller towns that are closer, you are going to probably need to take a flight into the starting point and Las Vegas is the best choice with regards to proximity and commercial air choices. Once you are in Las Vegas, you will realize that there are numerous national parks within driving distance of about one-half to one-full day. These parks are Zion, Bryce, Monument Valley, the Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon. Death Valley is also available as is Arches and Canyonlands, however for sheer popularity of parks that are accessible you will want to choose from the first five. This is mainly because they are all located closer to each other than they are to Las Vegas itself, and if
Using Las Vegas as the starting point for a southwestern national park tour is a smart idea. Las Vegas was established as a stopover for
Being a Las Vegas resident, a common question we are asked is what else there is to do in the area except for going to the casinos on the strip. Naturally when people think of a vacation to Las Vegas they are thinking about gambling and show, restaurants and hotels. While Las Vegas is obviously one of the greatest places in the world for these kinds of activities, you will realize pretty quickly that it is all kind of the same after a while. Even though the themes of the casinos may be different and you can find restaurants that serve many kinds of food, you realize that the type of entertainment in Las Vegas is all essentially the same, with the variations only being from one casino to another. Many who plan a Las Vegas vacation will potentially want to experience things outside of the strip itself, and will wonder about the accessibility of things like the national parks and spaces that make up the southwestern United States. After all, Las Vegas is situated in a completely unique area of the country that probably looks quite different than what you are used to. How can you use some of your vacation time in Las Vegas to get a sense as far as the beauty of the desert around Vegas? One of the best ways would be to visit one of the many national parks that are within driving distance of Las Vegas, essentially using the city as the starting point for a road trip. For those of you who do not want to rent a car and drive numerous hours to the national parks in the area, especially considering that an unfamiliar car and a multiple hour drive does not seem like a lot of fun, can instead simply
Being a Las Vegas resident, a common question we are asked is what else there is to do in the area except for going to
Death Valley National Park is a large area in southern California that is globally known as one of the hottest and most extreme places on earth. Due to the fact that each and every year Death Valley swelters in temperatures that easily exceed 120 degrees for upwards of a month at a time, and that there is little to no rainfall over that time period has transformed the landscape into something that is otherworldly, and must be seen to be believed. The area is easily accessible by car from Los Angeles, but is even better if planned as part of a vacation to Las Vegas. The proximity of Death Valley to Las Vegas is only a few hours drive, making Las Vegas an ideal starting point for a tour of this unique place. One of the considerations that you are going to have to make is when are you visiting Las Vegas, so that you can have the most enjoyable experience possible. Many people plan their vacations to Las Vegas in the summer, understanding that it doesn't matter how hot the city gets because every place is air conditioned. If you are planning on arranging a tour of Death Valley during that time frame, you are going to experience a slightly different tour than if you went during a cooler time like October through March. During the summer we have to limit the amount of exploration time that our guests get outside due to the temperature extremes, and we have to consider our tours to be more of a sightseeing tour than if we are visiting at a cooler time. The experience you have of Death Valley is going to depend if you want to experience the temperatures and weather that make it famous, or to see the landscape that
Death Valley National Park is a large area in southern California that is globally known as one of the hottest and most extreme places on
Since you are on your way to Las Vegas for your vacation, have you considered also visiting the Grand Canyon while you are here? Some people who are planning a Las Vegas vacation have already begun researching other things that can be done once you have flown this far across the country to visit our city, and others may not even realize that you are only a half-day drive from the Grand Canyon. Being a town that is built on tourist activities, it is quite easy to arrange your tour of the Grand canyon as well as other national parks in the surrounding area, leaving directly from your hotel room in Las Vegas. Our city is not only the entertainment capital of the world with regards to things to do inside the casinos and showrooms, you can also use the positioning of Las Vegas in the southwestern United States as the perfect place to start your tour of national parks. We arrange all of the aspects of the tour for you, picking you up at your hotel room and transporting you in one of our vans all the way to the park. Your admission charges, lunch and camping (if necessary) are all arranged for you. All you have to do is show up to be picked up. Many people who are vacationing in Las Vegas will attempt to rent a car and make the drive to the nearby national parks themselves. While this may seem like a good way to save money, it actually will not save you all that much once you have factored the rental charges and gas into the equation. Because there are multiple guests in our vans, we are able to keep our transportation costs lower than if you attempted to do it for a smaller
Since you are on your way to Las Vegas for your vacation, have you considered also visiting the Grand Canyon while you are here? Some
There has been speculation fed by hints from the government that the fees associated with entrances to national parks in the United States are going to significantly increased next year in order to cover the shortfalls of the funding associated with maintenance and the money that is generated by gate admissions. For the most part, the national parks of the United States over the last hundred years have not been looked at as a business designed to make money, but instead as an experience that all citizens are allowed to enjoy, no matter their income level. The proposed changes will potentially increase the per car fees from 20 dollars to seventy-five dollars, which could impact the amount of people able to visit a national park each year. This would probably most effect families who live within driving distance to national parks, as they would be the ones looking for a low cost outing that can provide adventure for a family at a budget cost. Fr the national parks of the southwest, this fee change may have an impact on people traveling to Bryce, Zion, or the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas if they are residents, but would probably have little effect on the decisions made to visit by those who have traveled to Las Vegas from other areas. If you have gone as far as to spend money on airfare and car rentals for a time period, it is doubtful that an extra fifty dollars is going to impact the decision. Traveling to national parks of the southwest from Las Vegas is quite common. Being the vacation destination that it is, Las Vegas is one of the primary starting places for travel to the surrounding parks, which are generally within a half-day drive from your hotel room. Probably the furthest
There has been speculation fed by hints from the government that the fees associated with entrances to national parks in the United States are going
Every year hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Zion Canyon National Park. Over the course of the past few years it has become one of the most popular open spaces to visit in the world, which is interesting considering that only a few years ago there was serious discussion about removing the funding of national parks due to the fact that they were not showing the kinds of tourism numbers that would support the funding allocations. Quite simply, national parks in the United States were suffering, due to the fact that there is a large amount of money necessary for their upkeep and staffing and not enough people were visiting them to justify spending these large amounts of money. Those who argued against federal funding of national parks wanted to see the land turned over to the individual states in which the parks were located, which would almost assure that the land would then be sold off to developers due to the fact that the states also did not have the money in their budgets to cover maintenance costs. In an effort to boost interest in national parks, a large scale advertising campaign was launched that would illustrate the beauty of each individual park, at the same time showing the neighboring parks. This campaign primarily advertised the parks located in the southwest, which are all within a short driving distance of one another. One of the main issues that was depressing visitation rates was the fact that the parks are difficult to get to, and ultimately are going to involve driving at least a few hours from the nearest major city. In the southwest, the cities of choice for beginning national parks trips are generally Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, either one providing the ability to fly in and
Every year hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Zion Canyon National Park. Over the course of the past few years it has become one of
If you are traveling to Las Vegas (or if you live here) now is the time to visit Death Valley National Park. Most people know Death Valley for it's extreme heat, and the fact that it is recognized worldwide as one of the hottest places on the planet. As a matter of fact, the world record for hottest air temperature ever recorded happened at Furnace Creek. While the record has been challenged many times by other locations outside of the United States, nobody ever is not amazed at the heat in Death Valley. Every year thousands of tourists flock to the area just for the experience of being outside in over 120 degrees, but far more people come for the completely unique landscape and wildlife that have adapted to the area over time. While you may think that an area that shows this level of heat in the summertime and this little rainfall would be completely desolate, but nothing is further from the truth. Death Valley is teeming with life that has adapted over time to be able to not only survive in these harsh conditions, but actually thrive. At some points in the year seeds which lie dormant in the desert crust for years spring to life as wildflowers after only a small amount of rain. The area is completely unique, and because of it's unique characteristics visitors come in droves. The best time to visit Death Valley is not during the summer months when the heat that makes it famous is present. Instead, it is far better to visit in the fall around the months of October and November once the extreme heat has subsided but the area has yet to get cold and change to the winter landscape. During these months, you will still see what the
If you are traveling to Las Vegas (or if you live here) now is the time to visit Death Valley National Park. Most people know
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
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
Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park are two of the most visited areas of the United States, even though only a few years ago they were both struggling for visitation. There was a point where opponents of the parks system were making a valid argument for cutting federal funding for parks and turning them over to state control due to sagging tourism numbers. It was difficult to make an argument that the federal government should be supplying funding for parks that were not being visited at a high rate, and in response the parks department created an advertising campaign illustrating the features of several southwestern parks for the public. The campaign heavily marketed the parks using television and magazine ads, and created a huge amount of success at raising awareness and boosting tourism numbers. The majority of the parks that benefited the most were in close proximity to a major city like Las Vegas or Salt Lake City due to the fact that they were near areas that had support of airline traffic. With most parks being a minimum of four hours drive from a major hub, people needed to be able to fly into a city as a starting point, and this created a situation where the parks closest to the cities received the lion's share of the tourists. The park that benefited the most from the marketing that was done by the parks department was Zion Canyon, being the closest park to Las Vegas. Because Las Vegas is already such a large tourist draw, millions of visitors decide to take a break form the city lights and visit one of the nearby parks during their trip. This has gone as far as to create a situation where Zion is having traffic issues, and congestion at some
Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park are two of the most visited areas of the United States, even though only a few years