The southwest is one of our favorite destinations! The area has such an amazing array of things to offer to the first time visitor. We’ve put together this southwest road trip as a great introduction to the southwest. This road trip will take you to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon and Sedona, with an add on option of visiting Death Valley. We think this is the best road trip for getting a taste of everything the southwest has while still enjoying enough time at each destination to feel like you’ve seen what the area has to offer.
There are plenty of southwest road trip itineraries out there that will take you to every National Park in the southwest in one week. We just don’t think this is realistic. You’ll spend too much time driving and not enough time at each destination. So we’ve slowed the pace of this road trip to give you a few days at each destination so you can see everything there is to see.
For this southwest road trip, we recommend flying into Phoenix and then flying out of Las Vegas. While one way tickets tend to be a bit more expensive than roundtrip tickets, we’ve found that this actually saves us money (we’ve flown this route several times). Phoenix tends to be a really cheap airport for us. However, you can also buy round trip tickets to Las Vegas and this will only add a few extra hours of driving.
Once you arrive in the southwest, you’ll need to rent a car.
Day 1 – Sedona
Drive Time from Phoenix: 2 hours
Sedona is one of the most popular vacation destinations in Arizona. It offers plenty of things to do, from hikes amongst the red rocks to evaluating your aura.
First, spend the morning exploring the area south of Sedona.
Next, visit a winery and Montezuma’s Castle National Monument.
Next, make your way into Sedona and visit a few of the attractions in Sedona, such as Cathedral Rock and the Chapel of the Holy Cross.
Finish off your day driving the Red Rock Loop Road. You’ll loop by Red Rock State Park and drive by some amazing viewpoints at dusk to get great lighting for the photos of the red rocks.
Stay overnight in Sedona.
Day 2 – Sedona & Flagstaff
Start your second day in Sedona with a short hike to Devils Bridge.
If you have time, visit Slide Rock State Park before leaving Sedona.
Next, drive to Flagstaff.
Drive Time From Sedona: 45 minutes
Next, spend the rest of your day in Flagstaff. Grab lunch at one of the Route 66 roadside dinners and get a taste of the “kicks on Route 66”.
Instead of exploring downtown Flagstaff, consider heading north and visiting Wupatki National Monument and Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. You can visit both of these parks as you drive the Loop road that goes through them both.
Drive to the Grand Canyon at the end of the day.
Drive Time From Flagstaff: 1 hour 20 minutes
Stay overnight near the Grand Canyon’s south rim. If you stay near the town of Cameron, you’ll be in a better spot to start day 3 of this southwest road trip. However, accommodations here are less prevalent so you’ll want to book things early.
Day 3 – Grand Canyon
First, spend the morning driving the Desert View Drive along the south rim of the Grand Canyon. You’ll want to do this early as traffic in the Grand Canyon can get busy. While you drive along this scenic road, stop at all the beautiful lookouts.
In the afternoon, park your car and explore Grand Canyon Village. Visit the Visitors Center and hike the short and accessible Trail of Time along the south rim. Here, you come to some of the most popular Grand Canyon lookout points in the park.
Finally, catch a sunset over the Grand Canyon.
Stay overnight in your Grand Canyon accommodations.
Day 4 – Grand Canyon
Spend your second morning in the Grand Canyon doing some hiking. We think the best hike is the Hermits Rest Hike, which will take you along the south rim to see even more viewpoints of the canyon. However, if you’d prefer to hike into the Grand Canyon, that is fun as well. You won’t have time to walk all the way to the bottom of Grand Canyon but you could hike to a lookout point and back up. Do keep in mind that hiking out of the Grand Canyon is strenuous.
In the afternoon drive to Las Vegas.
Drive Time From the Grand Canyon: 4 hours
This will be your first night in Las Vegas. Eat somewhere spectacular and make sure to see a famous Las Vegas show.
Finally, stay overnight in Las Vegas.
Day 5 – Las Vegas
First, spend your morning exploring the Last Vegas Strip. Stop and see whatever you wish as you make your way through the heart of Las Vegas.
In the afternoon, visit Fremont Street. Visit this older grittier version of Las Vegas and take in the history of the town, including a visit to the Mob museum.
Next, head back to The Strip and indulge in a buffet for dinner along with another Las Vegas show.
Stay overnight in your Las Vegas accommodations.
Day 6 – Las Vegas
Spend the next morning on the Strip once again. Finish seeing everything you want to see of Las Vegas. Consider hitting up a brunch buffet if you’re still hungry.
Head home or consider adding a trip to Death Valley to the end of your vacation.
We hope this southwest road trip has given you a good idea of what you can see and do with one week in the southwest. We also hope this itinerary will let you truly enjoy all of the amazing parks and places you’ll visit. We’ve visited the southwest so many times and we think this is the best southwest road trip for first time visitors as it gives you lots of very different experiences, from the biggest hole in the ground (Grand Canyon), to the ideallic red rocks (Sedona), and the City built on Sin (Las Vegas). We hope this will help you understand the amazingly varied nature of the southwest and it will encourage you to visit more in the future.
If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments section below.
