dsw6

The only one is southwestadventuretour dot com and they are booked for the dates I wanted.

I really would love to see the parks, but planning is just so daunting at the moment with everything life threw at me.

I would like a 5-7+ day trip that would not break the bank.

janisj

Welcome to Fodors. This one looks reasonable and hits a lot of the biggies with 2 night stays at the Grand Canyon, at Lake Powell, and at Zion Lodge

https://www.caravan.com/tour/usa-grand-canyon

dsw6

I called them and they are not going to start anything for two more weeks. That is from their 2021 offerings.

I am afraid if I wait too long, I might miss out or they may not offer it afterall.

Michael

Just Google "guided tours of Utah national parks"and quite a few names come up.

dsw6

Thanks Michael,

I did that earlier and Trafalgar, Go Collette, Epic One Adventure just to name a few start at over 3K. For 3 of us, that's way over my budget.

janisj

OK -- I am a little confused - if they aren't doing the tour until later this year it doesn't seem likely they will book up and you'd 'miss out'. It is certainly cheaper than the other tour companies you mention. Or do you have specific dates so you can't go later in the year? If you are traveling soon, it may be difficult to find tours with availability because of the pent up demand.

doubt you'd find any much cheaper than that Caravan offering - it stays in excellent locations and is less than $200 per day.

sunbum1944

Check out Backroads tours. Have not done one but saw vans last October in Zion and Bryce. Looked to be small tours and that is all I know.

dsw6

Backroads is expensive too. I just called Contiki and their age limit is 18-35. Their price was reasonable. Darn!

jamie99

Drive yourself and get tour guides and maps from the Auto Club. You will want to prebook lodging. Or if you live far away, fly into one of the cities (like Salt Lake, or maybe Phoenix or Vegas for GC and Zion) and rent a car.
You have to adapt to the prices and schedules of group tours, because THEY are not going to adapt for YOU.
Prices are WAY up this year, airlines, rental car companies, hotels, and every other tourist business you can think of is trying to make up for the lost revenue of the last two years of the pandemic. Also demand is WAY up for the same reason.
Or consider postponing your trip.

janisj

Ditto everything jamie99 said. This summer, beggars can't be choosers. Things are booking up rapidly - especially in the National Parks. Car rental rates are sky high most places, hotel rates are up . . . and tour companies won't be offering any bargains for much the same reasons. You haven't said when you want to travel, but if it is between now and say Labor day or early Fall, looking for a discount/bargain, on dates fitting a specific schedule, for your desired length of tour, that hits the popular sites/parks will be very very difficult. Like a needle in a haystack really. The more criteria/limitations you impose, the harder it will be.

KTtravel

This is certainly something you can do yourself. Once you are in the park, there is all sorts of help available to give you advice on hikes, ranger tours, etc. You might just pick a park or two if you just have 5 - 7 days. Even if park sites say their lodging is booked, people often reserve ahead and then cancel. Which parks do you want to go to and when?

Christina

Maybe if you stated your requirements, someone could suggest something more pertinent. Other than money. Mainly that you say there are 3 of you but don't give any age parameters/relationship but then say Contiki won't work (which doesn't surprise me, that's a young adult group). But we don't know if this is 3 adults or if it is two adults plus a child or what. Also, you don't say what dates you want.

I can understand for some people if you cannot drive (everyone cannot, it is assumed you can) and to be honest, some people are hopeless at planning/driving anywhere but home, etc., and it isn't feasible. I have a middle-aged elative who couldn't do that at all and gets nervous driving anywhere but around her home, and an elderly uncle who loves to travel but certainly could not do that. And car rentals are really expensive this year.

But we don't know what the issues are you want to address. Lots of travel agency group tours are going to be maybe $3000 for a week, something like that. They won't offer cheap tours for a day or two. AAA travel agency has some good tours and they have one but it is about $3K for 9 days.

I'd suggest looking at Viator, a tour consolidator. They have lots of choices. I know they have 3 day tours from Las Vegas for only about $700 of national parks (eg, Grand Canyon plus Bryce plus Zion). They have a 5 day Utah tour as you want (from Las Vegas again) for only $1500, or a 3 day Utah tour for that price. They have another 5 day tour out of Salt Lake City that is more like $2600. Again, anything over that is going to be at least $3k for a week or more, it seems.

This seems the best deal $1500 for 5 days
https://www.viator.com/tours/Las-Veg...s/d684-6648P11

That looks like SOuthwestadventuretours though. So who knows about your dates. They have plenty of dates free, they seem to only go Mondays but various choices every month. I personally probably won't want to do that in summer but even they have the last week in June free right now.

this is the one I'm looking at https://www.southwestadventuretours....-las-vegas/48/

dsw6

Hi Christina,

that is the exact trip that I was looking for on viator. It's a bit above 3K for three of us. And then there was one for Antelope canyon and that was about 1K for us.
I want to go early June and that's the problem as the others are booked. I think I will look and see what happens with Caravan. I will wait another week before pulling the trigger. Viator tours have plenty of spaces a month in advance.