Southwest Road Trip: Quick Stops and Roadside Attractions

Quick roadside pullovers recharge your batteries and fight road weariness. The Southwest Road Trip loop is flush with worthwhile roadside attractions, like caverns, ruins, and hot springs. Here are a few ideas to get you out of the car along different legs of the trip.

Don't just drive through the Virgin River Gorge, take some time to get out and really see the area!
Don’t just drive through the Virgin River Gorge, take some time to get out and really see the area! Photo © Malgorzata Litkowska/123rf.

Las Vegas to Zion

Don’t risk missing the spectacular Virgin River Gorge while you’re driving through it at 75 mph. Pull over and visit the Virgin River Canyon Recreation Area to see it in all its glory.

Zion to Bryce Canyon

Take time out from driving to tour the Maynard Dixon Living History Museum, where you’ll see the great painter’s charming home and studio and his unique impressions of the landscape.

Bryce Canyon to Capitol Reef

Learn about Ancestral Puebloans and their architecture at the Anasazi State Park Museum.

Owatomo Bridge in Utah's Natural Bridges National Monument.
Owatomo Bridge in Utah’s Natural Bridges National Monument. Photo © amadeustx/123rf.

Capitol Reef to Moab

At Utah’s first national monument, Natural Bridges National Monument, see a few of Mother Nature’s wonders.

Moab to Monument Valley

See the ruins of a Chacoan great house at Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum.

Both Goosenecks State Park and Valley of the Gods offer stunning views of the Utah landscape.

Mesa Verde to Santa Fe

Stop at Pagosa Springs, a wooded resort town along the San Juan River, to soak your road-weary bones in the world’s deepest natural hot spring.

Travel map - Southwest Road Trip Driving Distances
Southwest Road Trip Driving Distances

Related Travel Guide