Thought on this itinerary - San Diego, Palm Springs, Zion

[Poppadop]

Hi all, DH and I are in the early stages of putting this itinerary together for end of May / early June 2027, and I'd really appreciate some thoughts! We'll have our 2 kids with us, age 4 and 7.

1. Fly from London to San Diego. 5 nights at the Del Coronado. Use this time to adjust, see the zoo and sea world etc, chill at the pool / beach.
2. Drive to Palm Springs. Spend 2 nights, with 1 day spent doing Joshua Tree and the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway.
3. Drive from Palm Springs to Vegas and spend 1 night. See Cirque du Soleil’s KA.
4. Next day drive to Zion National Park. Spend 4 nights, staying inside the park. Is this too long??
5. Drive back to Vegas, whilst flight back home to London.

How does this look?

Thanks 🙂

That’s quite a lot of driving there and it could well be the kids get both sick of the car and seeing the back of their parents heads. You’re trying to pack an awful
lot in.

You could spend more time in SD (Legoland is situated in Carlsbad not far ftom SD) and fly from there to Las Vegas. KA is on at the MgM Grand.

Kids may also tire of the great outdoors in Zion after a day or two. Same with Palm Springs.

It could well be in the low to mid 90s in LV in late may.

@AttilaTheMeerkat thank you for the response! I was a bit worried about that driving. We've tried to make sure we have a good number of days at the locations so it doesn't feel like we're constantly in the car. I'm wondering if flying to LV like you said might be better. Otherwise it's something like 4+ hours to get to LV from Palm Springs, and then 3 hours the next day to get from LV to Zion. That's quite a lot for the kids in two consecutive days, so perhaps flying is better followed by the 3 hour drive...

We did also consider flying into Salt Lake City from Palm Springs, and then driving to Zion from there. I'm not sure which is the better option?

Thank you!

It's still over 200miles from Salt Lake City by car to Zion. The nearest airport to Zion is St George (SGU).

I have been to Zion for the day from LV and it's a lovely day, albeit a long day to visit. Personally I'd be sticking to one state i.e. California for the duration or do a two centre holiday.

I think I'd skip Zion...unless you know your kids absolutely love National Parks etc. There are loads of kid friendly day trips from Vegas - to do.

San Diego would be very easy to spend longer in.

I love Palm Springs and there's more to do there too.

Las Vegas will be dire - it’s just hot and rammed! I’d just not go that late in the year either. April is better. Or October. We did not like San Diego much either. We stayed at La Jolla but don’t crave beaches. We felt SD was touristy and not us.

Id also stay in California but I’d either look at parts of highway 1 or maybe Yosemite. I’ve been to Zion but you will need to love hiking in hot weather. Do dc want this? We stayed in Springdale.

If you want Utah parks, go in spring or autumn - it’s just so much nicer! In and out of LV works and car hire is easy to get from there.

I think 4 days is too long in Zion. There are only so many walks to do and some are very hard. But about 70-80 miles away is Bryce Canyon which is unusual and spectacular in its own way.
We started in LV and circled round the parks including the Grand Canyon.
We went to the Cirque du Soleil 'O' show in Vegas, it was amazing with a multi million gallonpools, so it can never tour.

@Wherethecatgone Maybe they could dunk Trump in the pool?! LV in general is horrible though. The Parks are much nicer!

From Salt Lake City you could go to Bryce national park and then onto Zion. We loved Bryce, very cool and definitely worth a visit, they also have a little rodeo ground there and have regular rodeos, which might be cool for the kids to see, as others have said 4 days in Zion is too long. It would be nice to get out of the cities and have a few days at a national park though. Another option could be fly up to San Francisco or san jose, and go to Santa Cruz which is great for kids, boardwalk with games and rides and lovely beach, and then onto Monterey, which has an amazing aquarium.

I wouldn’t be spending any money in the USA right now.

I’d ditch Zion. Palm Springs has an amazing zoo and so does San Diego. There are great hiking trails in Palm Springs that feel like a national park but more manageable for little kids, and the altitude offers respite from the California heat in summer. I’d spend more time in Palm Springs, personally. It’s very clean and safe compared with Las Vegas or San Diego.

Be aware that the weather in San Diego (and surrounding areas) is likely to be cloudy in early June. It's known as "gloomy June" for a reason.

Palm Springs is nice, but with primary school aged kids, there is a far more variety of things to do in, and around, San Diego.

Vegas is marmite - some love, some hate. We went in 1997 and liked it, plus it was very cheap to stay and eat in. Went 2 years ago, on the way from the Utah parks to Palm Springs and San Diego, and just found it tawdry and experience. Albeit, the Sphere was worth a visit.

Having done the reverse of this trip 2 years ago, we didnt find the driving too long/bad/boring but then we're in our 50s and had no kids with us. I don't think our son - at age 7 - would have enjoyed sitting in the back for the Vegas to Palm Springs leg, which is about 4 hours primarily through desert landscape

Be warned. Bryce is the most expensive place we ever visited - it's where 5yo DS2 discovered a love of horses and that led to me having lessons as well and it's been costing me for 27 years!

One point to be aware of re the National Parks - US non residents now have to pay a $100 surcharge per adult, on top of the standard entrance fee, for the following parks:

Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion

Well worth buying an America The Beautiful Pass ($250 annually which covers your car's occupants) if you decide to visit 2 or more of these 11 in a single trip

Rodeos are so cruel. Please don't support them.

What about Yosemite instead?

Honestly I am amazed that anyone would go to the USA now.

They are literally shooting their own citizens… It’s dystopian.

I don’t see the love of zoos. They are literally everywhere and the animals are captive. I’d try and see nature as nature intended.

The USA has many decent people. They aren’t happy about lots of things either - I think it’s safe and friendly.

You can’t do Joshua Tree and the aerial tramway in the same day from Palm Springs and do either of them any justice. It’s well over an hour’s drive from PS to the South entrance and Joshua Tree entrance, and at least an hour’s drive through the park between them without even stopping for a walk!

If you want red rocks, I seriously suggest Sedona in Arizona. It’s spectacular, and there are many, many short hikes within a very small distance, so very suitable for children. It’s only 2 hours from the Grand Canyon (but you would have to buy an Annual Pass for that these days).

On other National Parks, Zion is beautiful, but can get incredibly busy. Ditto Yosemite. Bryce is wonderful, and quieter. Joshua Tree is great too, but massive and possibly less exciting for the small people. I’ll throw in a wild card of Saguaro near Tucson which is (are, there are two halves) fabulous, with massive cacti everywhere.

If you do go to Palm Springs, which I also love, there are fabulous small canyons near Palm Desert, and a pretty good Living Desert zoo. Also, take a trip up to Idyllwild, and time your trip up from or down back into Palm Springs with the sunrise or sunset for incredible scenes.

I was thinking Sedona too, but don’t stay in Sedona itself, it’s very plastic OakCreek is nicer and cheaper. We went there from San Diego.