National Parks Road Trip Map: The Five Classic Loops
The useful version of a national parks road trip map is not a pin per park. It is five loops, each one a drivable circuit from a single airport. The Grand Circle out of Las Vegas covers Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands and the Grand Canyon in 1,400 miles. The Utah Mighty 5 is the same country in 1,000. The Northern Rockies loop links Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier. The Pacific loop runs Seattle to Los Angeles. The California loop circles Yosemite, Sequoia, Death Valley and Joshua Tree. Our national park road trip itinerary maps one of them day by day.
What a road trip map has to tell you
Every national parks map online shows the same 63 dots, and the dots are the least useful part. What decides whether a route works is three things a dot cannot show: how many hours of driving sit between two parks, whether the road between them is even open in your month, and whether the parks in question are a spring trip or a summer trip. Yellowstone and Zion are 700 miles apart and their best seasons barely overlap. Put both on one 10 day plan and one of them gets the wrong weather.
So plan by loop, and pick the loop by season.
Loop 1: the Grand Circle, 1,400 miles, 14 days
The densest park country in the United States. Las Vegas in and out, or Salt Lake City if flights are cheaper.
- Las Vegas to Zion, 160 miles
- Zion to Bryce Canyon, 85 miles
- Bryce to Capitol Reef, 120 miles on Scenic Byway 12
- Capitol Reef to Moab for Arches and Canyonlands, 145 miles
- Moab to Monument Valley, 150 miles
- Monument Valley to Grand Canyon South Rim, 180 miles
- Grand Canyon back to Las Vegas, 280 miles
Best in April, May, September and October. July heat in Moab and at the Grand Canyon runs into the high 90s and the crowds peak at the same time. Start with the Utah national parks road trip.
Loop 2: the Utah Mighty 5, 1,000 miles, 9 days
The Grand Circle without Arizona. Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyonlands, from Las Vegas or Salt Lake City. Nine days gives each park a full day and leaves room for the drive over Boulder Mountain, which is one of the best two hours of the whole loop. Families tend to prefer this one because no single driving day passes four hours. Our Utah Mighty 5 family route paces it for kids.
Loop 3: the Northern Rockies, 1,200 miles, 12 days
Jackson or Bozeman in, Kalispell out, or a full circle back. Grand Teton for three days, Yellowstone for four, then the eight hour drive north to Glacier for four more.
- Jackson to Grand Teton, 15 minutes
- Grand Teton to Old Faithful, 2 hours
- Yellowstone north entrance to Glacier, 8 hours
This loop is July to mid September only. Going to the Sun Road in Glacier usually opens in early July and closes in October, and Yellowstone's interior roads run on a similar clock. See Glacier vs Yellowstone if you only have time for one.
Loop 4: the Pacific parks, 1,600 miles, 14 days
Seattle to Los Angeles through Olympic, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Crater Lake, Redwood, Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon. The longest of the five and the one with the most mountain driving. Full route and drive times in the West Coast national parks road trip.
Loop 5: the California parks, 1,200 miles, 10 days
San Francisco in, Los Angeles or Las Vegas out. Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Death Valley and Joshua Tree. The trick with this one is the calendar: the Sierra parks want summer, the desert parks want winter, and the two shoulder windows where both are pleasant are late April to mid May and late September to October.
The 7 day map
Seven days is one cluster, not one loop. The routes that fit a week without a driving day over five hours:
- Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon North Rim from Las Vegas, 700 miles
- Moab, Arches and Canyonlands plus Capitol Reef, from Salt Lake City, 650 miles
- Grand Teton and Yellowstone from Jackson, 450 miles
- Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon from San Francisco, 600 miles
- Olympic and Mount Rainier from Seattle, 500 miles
The 2 week map, and the ultimate version
Two weeks is where the Grand Circle and the Pacific loop both become comfortable rather than rushed. A 2 week national park road trip should hold to six or seven parks. People who try to fit 10 spend nine days driving.
If you want the version people call the ultimate national parks road trip, it is three to four weeks and it chains two loops with a long transfer between them: the Grand Circle in May, north through the Tetons and Yellowstone in June, and out through Glacier. About 3,500 miles, and the season lines up in that order only if you drive it south to north.
How many miles a day
Between 150 and 250. That looks slow next to interstate numbers, and it is the right ceiling here, because park roads are 35mph, the last hour into any park is switchbacks, and every overlook takes 20 minutes. A day with 300 miles in it is a driving day with no hiking in it. Build one deliberate transfer day into any two week plan and accept that you will see nothing that day but the road.
Maps and passes to sort first
- Offline maps. Cell coverage inside these parks is close to nonexistent. Download the park area in Google Maps and the official NPS app before you lose signal at the entrance station.
- An America the Beautiful pass. $80 for a year, covers entry everywhere on all five loops. Single park entry is $35 per vehicle, so the pass pays off on the third park.
- Timed entry. Several parks on these loops have run peak hour entry reservations in recent seasons, including Rocky Mountain, Mount Rainier, Arches and Yosemite. Check each park page the month you book the flights.
- Campground releases. recreation.gov opens most park campgrounds six months ahead at 8am Eastern, and the popular ones are gone in minutes.
Get the route built around your dates
Give us your dates and the airport you are flying into and we will lay out the loop that fits them, with the permits and the beds already found. Planning is free, and we earn only if you book through us.
National Parks Road Trip Map: The Five Classic Loops FAQs
The Grand Circle out of Las Vegas, if you are choosing once. It puts six national parks inside 1,400 miles, no driving day is longer than four hours, and it works in both spring and autumn. The Northern Rockies loop is the better summer answer.
Three, comfortably. Five if they are the Utah Mighty 5 and you accept a fast pace. Any plan with more than five parks in a week is a driving trip with brief stops at viewpoints.
Between 150 and 250 miles. Park roads and mountain approaches run far slower than the interstate, so a 250 mile day is typically five to six hours behind the wheel once you add overlooks and an entrance station queue.
For some. Timed entry has been used at Rocky Mountain, Arches, Mount Rainier and Yosemite in recent seasons, and Glacier has required vehicle reservations for Going to the Sun Road. The rules change year to year, so check each park page once your dates are fixed.
Yes on any multi park trip. It is $80 for a year against $35 per vehicle at a single park, so it breaks even on the third park and covers everyone in the car.
May and late September for the desert loops in Utah and Arizona. Mid July to early September for the Rockies and the Pacific Northwest, because that is when the high roads and passes are open.
