National Parks Explorer Tour

Arrive into San Francisco International Airport and transfer independently to your hotel where your tour director will make contact with you in the evening.

Take a city tour which includes Union Square, the Civic Center and Fisherman’s Wharf. Standing on a hilltop, watching the fog swirl in through the Golden Gate, it is easy to understand why many consider San Francisco the most beautiful city in America. Enjoy the afternoon and evening at leisure, perhaps a cable car ride to Fisherman’s Wharf where you may enjoy a “Taste of San Francisco”: local seafood, famous sourdough breads or decadent Ghirardelli’s Chocolate. Or take a stroll by Sea Lions’ Marina to watch them frolic and play. Be sure to gaze across the bay to Alcatraz Island where “America’s Most Wanted” such as Al Capone and ”Machine Gun” Kelly were incarcerated.

Depart for Sacramento, capital of the “Golden State.” A stop will be made in Old Town, once a bustling centre of the Gold Rush and terminus of the Pony Express. Continue to gorgeous Lake Tahoe, nestled in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In the afternoon you will visit Virginia City, a 19th century mining metropolis where the Old West comes to life. A short drive takes you to Reno and your hotel, where you maybe tempted to try your luck in the casino.

Journey through the Black Rock Desert and across the plains of northern Nevada. Follow the Humboldt River along the route that was once used by early pioneers on the Oregon and California Trails. Visit Elko, the formerly rough and tumble town that once sat at the end of the tracks laid from the west by the Central Pacific Railroad. Cross the state line at Jackpot and enter Twin Falls, located within Idaho’s Magic Valley region.

Leaving Twin Falls, you will cross the Snake River, known as “The River of No Return". Then visit Craters of the Moon National Monument. This eerie desert landscape so closely resembles lunar conditions that the training for the first men on the moon actually took place here. Later this afternoon you arrive at Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872 by Ulysses S.Grant as the nation’s first National Park.

The following day enjoy a comprehensive sight seeing tour of this immense geothermal wonderland. Highlights of your tour will include Yellowstone Lake, Old Faithful,Mammoth Hot Springs and Yellowstone Canyon’s majestic falls (seasonal).

This morning’s journey is through the rugged, snow-capped mountains which welcome you to Grand Teton National Park. Visit the Snake River Outlook and try your eye at capturing the stunning landscape made famous by Ansel Adam’s iconic shot. This prairie land is home to wild buffalo (Tatonka), moose and elk. Continue to Jackson Hole, the sophisticated “Crown Jewel” of the Rocky Mountains. Travel through southern Idaho to Salt Lake City in the Mormon State of Utah. See the State Capitol building and visit famed Temple Square and the Tabernacle before arriving at the hotel for the evening. May we suggest dinner at the Roof Restaurant for panoramic views of Temple Square? 

Spend the morning exploring Salt Lake City. Then travel to Moab, where the landscape is distinguished by thousand-foot-deep canyons as well as snow-capped peaks.

Journey today to two of America’s most spectacular National Parks. Your first stop, Arches National Park, home to over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the awe-inspiring Delicate Arch. Then it’s on to Canyonlands National Park, where you will explore the colour drenched landscape of sandstone eroded into hundreds of canyons, mesas and buttes by the forces of time and the Colorado River. This evening enjoy an optional Jet Boat Float trip on the mighty Colorado River.

Visit Capitol Reef National Park, a destination of extraordinary natural beauty, established in 1937 to protect a unique geological feature. Continue to spectacular Bryce Canyon, where a tour through a multi-coloured world of sandstone spires and pinnacles, “hoodoos”, will dazzle the eye. This evening, weather permitting, be sure to gaze upon the spectacular night sky filled with sparkling stars and brilliant constellations and the aroma of pinewood campfires.

Travel to stunning Lake Powell, where crystal blue water laps against towering red rock canyon walls. After crossing the Colorado, enter the Navajo Indian Reservation and drive through the Painted Desert via Cameron Trading Post. Arrive at the Grand Canyon, one of the 7 great natural wonders of the world. Stop at the rim to fully experience this mile-deep colourful canyon’s plunging gorges and rising spires formed by the mighty Colorado River. 

Descend the high Coconino Plateau into the Mojave Desert. Along the way, pass through Seligman, a town built along the famed Historic Route 66 that looks as if it were frozen in time 60 years ago. Onward to Las Vegas, the dazzling “Entertainment Capital of the World.”

The next day you have at leisure. Enjoy all that Las Vegas offers. In addition to shopping, bustling casinos, and Broadway-calibre shows, you might simply stroll the famous Strip or take an optional trip to Death Valley, one of the hottest, driest, and lowest places on the surface of the Earth.

Today starts with a stop at the iconic Las Vegas Welcome Sign where you may wish to capture your photo memory before travelling on to Los Angeles via the Mojave Desert. Clusters of unique Joshua trees dot the mountainous landscape. Upon arrival in Los Angeles you will enjoy a tour including Hollywood, Sunset Strip and parts of Beverly Hills, before reaching your hotel. The tour ends upon arrival at hotel at approximately 17:00 hours. Built into your holiday price is a final night staying at a Hotel in Los Angeles prior to flying home the following day. Please note that this is independent of the tour.