Ultimate Best of the West

Seventeen nights in a loop from Las Vegas, self-guided, taking in California, the coast and the Colorado Plateau, with the price quoted on application.

Eighteen days is what a loop of this size needs: Death Valley, Yosemite, the whole California coast and then the canyon country, which most itineraries have to choose between.

Death Valley opens it, the lowest point in North America, with Zabriskie Point and some of the darkest skies in the country. Yosemite follows for two nights, reached by Highway 395 or the Tioga Pass at 3,031 metres, which is the highest road in California and shut for much of the year. San Francisco comes next for two, then Monterey by way of the 17-Mile Drive and Carmel, Pismo Beach through Big Sur and over the Bixby Creek Bridge, Los Angeles for two by Santa Barbara and Malibu, and San Diego. The return turns inland through the Anza-Borrego desert to Prescott, the Grand Canyon’s south rim, Monument Valley in the Navajo Nation, Bryce Canyon by Horseshoe Bend, and two final nights in Las Vegas.

The return flights, the car hire and sixteen nights’ accommodation plus one on the flight are included, with meals depending on the room basis and the park and attraction fees extra. The price is given on application. Spring and autumn are the seasons, since Death Valley in summer regularly passes fifty degrees and the Tioga Pass is closed in winter. One practical warning from the operator is worth repeating: fitting snow chains to a hire car voids the insurance, so a winter booking needs thinking about.