Road Trip from Las Vegas to Phoenix. Part 2. Through Mountains and Valleys. Mar, 2026

After spending several days in Las Vegas, we set off toward some of the most breathtaking natural places in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. As the saying goes, the only thing better than mountains… is more mountains.

Ahead of us are national parks, valleys, cliffs, and dunes — including one of the most beautiful canyons in the world, as well as a bit of the charming town of Sedona and plenty of cacti in Phoenix

Along the way from Las Vegas to Phoenix, you can visit several of the most beautiful national parks. Our route was slightly adjusted due to new changes introduced in 2026, as visiting certain parks now includes an additional fee for non-U.S. citizens on top of the standard entry price.

Well… as the saying goes, there’s no point in forcing it:) So we modified our itinerary to still see incredible places, just without that extra charge. As a result, parks like Zion and Bryce were replaced with other equally stunning locations. Let’s go!

Day 4

We arrived at the Las Vegas airport, picked up our rental car, and just an hour later we were entering Valley of Fire State Park through the western entrance

First stop — Beehives Connector Trail. It’s a small but very beautiful spot. We will have many similar stops ahead, but this was our first time seeing the red rock formations with such unusual shapes 

Our next stop was supposed to be Atlatl Rock. A staircase leads up the rock where you can see ancient rock carvings — petroglyphs dating back to around 2000 BC. We actually drove right past this stop, and later decided not to turn back…

So we continued driving, enjoying the red rock landscapes on both sides of the road, and just before the eastern exit of the park we stopped to see Elephant Rock. It’s a rock formation that, in shape, really resembles an elephant with a long trunk

We drove for about two hours and crossed from Nevada into Utah, arriving in the small town of St. George. We stayed there for one night at a hotel and continued our journey the next morning.

Day 5

Today we visited two major parks.

Snow Canyon State park is a scenic park in southern Utah, known for its red cliffs, lava fields, white sand dunes, and unusual rock formations.

Our first stop was the Petrified Sand Dunes Trail — a hike across fossilized sand dunes (about 1.5 hours). Despite the desert scenery and bright sun, a strong cold wind was blowing, and at some points on the trail it felt like it could literally knock us over

We continue driving and, a few minutes later, make our next stop — Lava Flow Overlook. It’s a short trail (about 15–20 minutes) where you can see solidified lava flows against a backdrop of red cliffs. These are remnants of volcanic eruptions that happened more than 30,000 years ago 

And one more stop in this park — Jenny’s Canyon. It’s very easy to miss this place while driving past, but it’s definitely worth stopping for. The trail is short (about 15 minutes), passing beautiful rock formations and leading to a small narrow canyon

We exit the park and, about 30 minutes later, arrive at our next destination — Red Cliffs National Conservation Area. It’s a vast protected area with many different trails. We choose what seems to be the most interesting route — Cottonwood Canyon. It’s one of the quietest and most “wild” trails in the area. The round trip took us about 1.5 hours.

The path follows a riverbed, and in some sections we had to cross wet and muddy patches along the way

And even small waterfalls along the way 

It’s time to head to our next stop. It’s a 3-hour drive to the town of Page in Arizona. We check into a hotel for one night, and tomorrow we have the most exciting and visually rich day of the trip ahead.

Day 6

The town of Page is well known for its proximity to the famous Antelope Canyon. Antelope Canyon is one of the most beautiful canyons in the world. It was formed by powerful water flows that cut through narrow cracks in the ground, creating smooth, flowing passageways shaped like waves in vibrant shades of orange and red. The canyon walls rise several dozen meters high, and light filters through a narrow opening above, creating dramatic beams inside. The canyon is located on Navajo land, so it can only be visited through organized tours. These tours are extremely popular and must be booked well in advance — sometimes months ahead. There are many tour companies, and both Upper and Lower Canyon options are available.

We chose the Lower Antelope Canyon tour with Ken's Tours, as it seemed more impressive based on the description.

And then our group (12 people) together with a guide approached the canyon and descended into it.

What we saw next is hard to put into words. It was simply WOW!!! We all walked in a single file through the narrow passageways of the canyon, where every turn revealed new, surreal shapes and colors. The tones kept changing depending on how the light hit the walls, and the entire route took us about an hour

Just for this canyon alone, it would have been worth flying to Las Vegas or Phoenix and then driving about 5 hours to get here.

But our journey continues. We stop by the visitor center and from there take in the impressive view of the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell on the Colorado River

And about 15 minutes later, we arrive at Glen Canyon, famous for the dramatic bend of the Colorado River, also known as Horseshoe Bend. We walk along the trail (about 20 minutes) to the overlook, where we are rewarded with incredible views from a height of over 1 km above the river

The day was extremely rich in impressions. Ahead of us was another drive, and in about three hours we would reach the next point of our journey — the charming town of Sedona, where we planned to stay for two nights.

We stopped at a nearby Mexican restaurant close to our hotel and ordered a mixed platter of meats and seafood, served in a traditional volcanic stone mortar and decorated with an edible cactus

Day 7

Sedona is a small and cozy tourist town in Arizona. It is surrounded on all sides by striking red rock formations, creating a feeling of calm and making it an ideal place to reset and recharge. Sedona is also known for its so-called vortexes — “power spots” where it is believed that the Earth’s energy can be felt more strongly. All of this attracts many visitors to the area, making it a popular and relatively expensive destination.

In the morning, we set out to explore the most interesting places. Amitabha Stupa — a Buddhist structure located in a natural park. It is a beautiful and peaceful spiritual place

Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village — a beautiful shopping and arts complex styled like a traditional Mexican village: cozy cobblestone streets, archways, courtyards with fountains and flowers, art galleries, craft shops and boutiques featuring handmade goods, as well as cafés serving Mexican and Southwestern cuisine 

And here is a Christmas store, along with cactus-shaped cupcakes in the café 

We stop at the Red Rock Crossing / Crescent Moon area. From here, there is a stunning view of one of Sedona’s most famous landmarks — Cathedral Rock 

We are heading to the Chapel of the Holy Cross — a chapel built right into the red rocks. From the church, there is a beautiful view of the mountains and a nearby mansion 

Along the way, we see some more modest houses 

Another beautiful stop with trails of varying difficulty is Airport Mesa. Since this is one of Sedona’s vortex sites, we saw many people carrying yoga mats and heading into the hills for yoga or spiritual practices.

Here is the view from one of the trails

We return to our hotel for a short rest, and then head out for dinner at a steakhouse 

Day 8

We would be flying back home to Toronto in the evening, but we still had a full day ahead of us. The sunrise lover set off as early as 7 a.m. for the Cathedral Rock viewpoint. Getting to this spot isn’t easy due to its popularity and the lack of parking. Starting from 7 a.m., you can take a shuttle bus to the trailhead, while before 7 a.m. you can still drive up on your own to catch the sunrise. The hike uphill is quite challenging

It’s time to say goodbye to Sedona, and what better way to do it than over breakfast with a view of the mountains? 

We take a short walk through downtown 

We leave Sedona and, just two hours later, enter Phoenix. Along the way, we watch an abundance of huge cacti on both sides of the road, growing there the way trees do at home 

We realize that cacti are truly beautiful and head to a cactus world — the Desert Botanical Garden. Here you can see hundreds of species of cacti and other desert plants. It’s a very pleasant place where you can easily spend a few hours 

Nearby the gardens, there is another popular spot — Hole in the Rock in Papago Park. The park itself is very beautiful, but we didn’t have much time to explore it, so we headed straight to the rock with the hole.

You can walk around to the other side of the formation and climb up into the opening to get a view of the city from there

And just like that, our short but incredibly eventful journey comes to an end…

The first part of the trip — Las Vegas — can be found here