Touring national parks like Zion Canyon can be relatively difficult to those not familiar with the process. The biggest hindrance to larger amounts of tourism at America’s parks is actually not a lack of interest, but instead a avoidance of the lengthy drive times to arrive there. Most national parks will be a minimum of four hours of driving time from the nearest major city, and unless you live in the area and can begin your excursion from your home, you are going to have to fly into a city in order to use it as a starting point.
For parks that are in the southwestern United States, this will generally mean using a city like Las Vegas or Salt Lake as your starting point, due to the fact that they allow for commercial airline traffic at their airports, and have hotel rooms available to use as your base of operations. From there you are going to need to either rent a car in order to make the drive, or you are going to need to arrange for an escorted tour. In many cases, by the time you rent a car and pay for gas, the price of an escorted tour is about the same.
Taking an escorted tour of Zion Canyon national park is going to be best started in Las Vegas. Aside from the fact that there are more flight choices going into Las Vegas due to its nature as a tourist attraction itself, Las Vegas is only 2.5 hours away from Zion Canyon. This is one of the closest national parks to a major city that has an airport, and as a result people touring Zion and using Las Vegas as the starting point has increased dramatically over the years. Zion has grown so popular that the parks department is attempting to find ways to alleviate traffic and congestion at its parking areas.
This is yet another reason that it is better to book an escorted tour of Zion, because the majority of the tour companies are able to bypass the congested areas and also are able to access special roads that are not open to the public. The escorted tours are going to provide you with everything you need for your adventure, as opposed to trying to plan it out yourself. They are going to know the best areas to visit, and are going to be able to navigate to them without delays that not understanding the area will bring with them. If you leave from Las Vegas, you can actually do a one day trip to Zion Canyon and explore all day, because you are not going to have the issues of having to drive back home exhausted after your day out.
If you have a few days to spare in Las Vegas during your next trip, try a one-day escorted tour or a multi-day tour of Zion Canyon national park. You will regret coming all this way and missing it.
Martin Wynn
Nguyen An Tra My
