Anyone attempt Arizona/Utah itinerary on their own?

scottmel

<font color=darkorchid>Does my logic in my origina
Joined
Jul 28, 2002
Hesitating to book a 2021 trip with unknows. I really want to go to Arizona Utah trip but in early March and historically they don't run until late March. So if I wanted to do the Arizona trip on my own - anyone attempt this with an itinerary to share? thanks!
 
Interesting question. We are booked on the Sept 21, 2020 (adult only) adventure. When researching this originally I saw a lot of what I think would be hard to replace experiences. But then again, I really don't know. I'm sure you could easily book the hotels yourself, its the other stuff that I'm not sure about.
 
FWIW, we did the Canadian Rockies itinerary on our own (and added some things). It was very easy and my favorite family vacation ever!

Thanks there are some things we are just not interested in and by DD and DH want to the do the Breaking Bad tour in ABQ so trying to design our own trip thanks
 


We were planning on doing Arizona on our own last March and I had booked it, but we ended up not going and I'm glad we postponed because it was super cold the week we were planning on going! I did plan it out loosely on the ABD trip. I had us starting at the GC though, flying into Flagstaff, staying at Grand Canyon Lodge then heading south to Sedona, staying at Enchantment Resort and then heading south to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. If you go on the tripadvisor boards, there is a very active Arizona thread on there with contributors who give great ideas on roads to travel and places to visit as you transfer between the major state sites.
 
We did almost an exact ABD Arizona trip on our own but added more stuff to it making it a 2 week trip. We were actually at Enchantment Resort at same time as the ABD tour. Highly recommend Enchantment Resort...just beautiful. ABD does the Pink Jeep Tour Diamondback..we did this one plus the Broken Arrow tour which is their best seller and if I had to pick between the two it would be Broken Arrow! Bearizona depending on children you can take it or leave it!! We hired a private tour guide for Grand Canyon using All-Star Grand Canyon tours and it was one of our best private tours EVER!! In Monument Valley we chose to stay at The View Campground in one of the cabins and the views were just breathtaking!! We also hired a private Navajo tour guide using Navajo Spirit Tours and we had the best time and went where most tourists couldn’t go!! Great overall trip and I highly recommend it...either with ABD or on your own!!
 


We did almost an exact ABD Arizona trip on our own but added more stuff to it making it a 2 week trip. We were actually at Enchantment Resort at same time as the ABD tour. Highly recommend Enchantment Resort...just beautiful. ABD does the Pink Jeep Tour Diamondback..we did this one plus the Broken Arrow tour which is their best seller and if I had to pick between the two it would be Broken Arrow! Bearizona depending on children you can take it or leave it!! We hired a private tour guide for Grand Canyon using All-Star Grand Canyon tours and it was one of our best private tours EVER!! In Monument Valley we chose to stay at The View Campground in one of the cabins and the views were just breathtaking!! We also hired a private Navajo tour guide using Navajo Spirit Tours and we had the best time and went where most tourists couldn’t go!! Great overall trip and I highly recommend it...either with ABD or on your own!!
This is exactly what I was looking for thanks! We are big into private tours as well I will check out all your recommendations. If you think of anything else please let me know. thanks a million!
 
Hesitating to book a 2021 trip with unknows. I really want to go to Arizona Utah trip but in early March and historically they don't run until late March. So if I wanted to do the Arizona trip on my own - anyone attempt this with an itinerary to share? thanks!

When we lived in So Cal during residency, we did a very similar trip in Sedona and the grand canyon...super easy to do OYO. The ABD hotels are nicer than where we stayed but I bet you could do a very similar itinerary for less, even staying at the same places.
 
We did almost an exact ABD Arizona trip on our own but added more stuff to it making it a 2 week trip. We were actually at Enchantment Resort at same time as the ABD tour. Highly recommend Enchantment Resort...just beautiful. ABD does the Pink Jeep Tour Diamondback..we did this one plus the Broken Arrow tour which is their best seller and if I had to pick between the two it would be Broken Arrow! Bearizona depending on children you can take it or leave it!! We hired a private tour guide for Grand Canyon using All-Star Grand Canyon tours and it was one of our best private tours EVER!! In Monument Valley we chose to stay at The View Campground in one of the cabins and the views were just breathtaking!! We also hired a private Navajo tour guide using Navajo Spirit Tours and we had the best time and went where most tourists couldn’t go!! Great overall trip and I highly recommend it...either with ABD or on your own!!

Steph another question - which canyon tour did you do? I kind of want to stay in Sedona the whole time and just get to canyon and back in one day. Thinking of skipping monument valley is this a mistake? We need time to ABQ for breaking bad!
 
Steph another question - which canyon tour did you do? I kind of want to stay in Sedona the whole time and just get to canyon and back in one day. Thinking of skipping monument valley is this a mistake? We need time to ABQ for breaking bad!
We actually stayed in Sedona the entire time as well...we prefer luxury hotels and the ones in the Park are nice but we wanted what Enchantment had!! We took the private day trip from Sedona...we did small hikes, rim tour, lunch at El Tovar, & ended with a sunset wine/champagne and cheese setup at the Citadel at Wupatki National Monument!! It was A LOT and a very long tour...maybe 12 hours door to door...but amazing!!! I honestly had reservations about even going to Monument Valley but honestly it’s so underrated and I think more people should visit...it’s indescribable!!!
 
I wi
Steph another question - which canyon tour did you do? I kind of want to stay in Sedona the whole time and just get to canyon and back in one day. Thinking of skipping monument valley is this a mistake? We need time to ABQ for breaking bad!
We actually stayed in Sedona the entire time as well...we prefer luxury hotels and the ones in the Park are nice but we wanted what Enchantment had!! We took the private day trip from Sedona...we did small hikes, rim tour, lunch at El Tovar, & ended with a sunset wine/champagne and cheese setup at the Citadel at Wupatki National Monument!! It was A LOT and a very long tour...maybe 12 hours door to door...but amazing!!! I honestly had reservations about even going to Monument Valley but honestly it’s so underrated and I think more people should visit...it’s indescribable!!!

I also forgot to add our guide also had given us a list of Grand Canyon tips/trails and itinerary and we rode the train back the next day up to the rim and hiked on our own and had a picnic lunch!!!
 
I wi



I also forgot to add our guide also had given us a list of Grand Canyon tips/trails and itinerary and we rode the train back the next day up to the rim and hiked on our own and had a picnic lunch!!!

Awesome! Was the day trip with guide more than 2k do you remember?
 
If I remember right it was maybe $1400-2000...but I don’t remember off the top of my head!!

Thanks Steph. At any point do you wish you would have stayed in Sedona and not gone to the Grand Canyon? I had originally scrapped that from my itinerary and was going to focus on Sedona and ABQ but your private guide there intrigued me. I guess I am not an outdoorsy loving type of person and never really interested in Grand Canyon etc until I wanted to justify the trip to ABQ! If you think Grand CAnyon must see must do I will definitely go with the group you recommended!
 
Thanks Steph. At any point do you wish you would have stayed in Sedona and not gone to the Grand Canyon? I had originally scrapped that from my itinerary and was going to focus on Sedona and ABQ but your private guide there intrigued me. I guess I am not an outdoorsy loving type of person and never really interested in Grand Canyon etc until I wanted to justify the trip to ABQ! If you think Grand CAnyon must see must do I will definitely go with the group you recommended!
Honestly I think the Grand Canyon is worth it...everyone is different though so I would hate for you not to like it....but I think it should be a must see for everyone!! I don’t know how much time you have for the trip but we also did Albuquerque....we just spent 1-3 days everywhere...it was rushed but we like to fit everything in!! Side note...If you’re into hot air ballooning I recommend Rainbow Ryders in ABQ!!
 
Honestly I think the Grand Canyon is worth it...everyone is different though so I would hate for you not to like it....but I think it should be a must see for everyone!! I don’t know how much time you have for the trip but we also did Albuquerque....we just spent 1-3 days everywhere...it was rushed but we like to fit everything in!! Side note...If you’re into hot air ballooning I recommend Rainbow Ryders in ABQ!!
Do you remember where you stayed in ABQ? Heights get to me so hot air ballooning wouldn't work but thank you but I only have 2 nights there anyway and Breaking Bad tour is main purpose...! I think you are right with the Grand CAnyon. The tour group you recommended seemed very flexible with the day so I am sure I can find something with them that suits me. Thanks!!!
 
Do you remember where you stayed in ABQ? Heights get to me so hot air ballooning wouldn't work but thank you but I only have 2 nights there anyway and Breaking Bad tour is main purpose...! I think you are right with the Grand CAnyon. The tour group you recommended seemed very flexible with the day so I am sure I can find something with them that suits me. Thanks!!!
We actually never stay in ABQ....we stayed in Taos at a resort there...we always do a drive through ABQ. I’ve heard good things though about Hotel Andaluz & Hotel Albuquerque
 
Arizona is so easy to do on your own. Here’s what we have done.

Fly into Phoenix and rent a car. You can get to Sedona in about 90 min. Stay for 3 or 4 days. Hiking is great. Pink jeep tour at sunset. Fabulous restaurants.

Drive to GC for a couple days. Then go up to lake Powell. Fun to stay at lake and rent a boat for the day. Drive East to monument valley. Go on the Navajo tour.

If you keep going East you can go to Four corners where you can see Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. And then you can drive into Colorado to mesa verde national park and then to Durango. Great cowboy town. Take the Durango silverton train for incredible views.

or from monument valley drive south to canyon de chelly another Navajo reservation. TAke the tour. Fabulous.

We always check our trip advisor for best local hotels.

if you want to do Utah National parks drive north from lake Powell through Moab to the parks
 
Due to elevation, there could be snow at GC rim in March. I remember seeing snow in October at Bryce Canyon.


-Paul
 

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