Trip advice - New to RV'ing and from London UK!

Tonyandkaren’s suggestion isn’t a bad loop. But it’s near a 1,000 mile trip. So if you want to drive 3 days and sight-see 4 days you’ll be driving about 6 or 7 hours on the driving days. And at best you’ll only have a day at each place, not much time for extracurricular activities. You could trim a couple of hundred miles off by going from Zion to Grand Canyon to Sedona and on to Vegas. But I can’t suggest anything shorter and still be able to see any nice country. With a week you’ll just have to settle for a taste of what you see and plan another trip to those places you really like.

As far as roads go you could take I-15 and then route 9 into Zion. And then 89 and 64 to the Canyon. If you go to Sedona you can go back to 89 or take 64 to Williams, then I-40 back to Flagstaff. To Sedona you have two choices, I-17 to route 179, then on to Sedona. Or 89A from Flagstaff to Sedona. The latter is a very pretty drive. But it’s a two lane mountain road with steep grades and tight curves. It’s your call whether you would be comfortable with that. If you have a big RV I-17 is probably the better choice. Good luck and I hope you have an enjoyable trip.

Alex,
TonyandKaren have given you a brilliant potential itinerary that will let you see lots without driving 8 hours a day.
A great starting point
Oh, and don't forget to drive on the RIGHT!
And have fun!

I'm a big fan of national parks for the scenic beauty plus you'll be able to rent horses at some of them and also get out on the water.
Here's a good loop that should fill up your week but give you plenty of time to enjoy seeing and doing rather than driving,

Las Vegas - camp at Valley of Fire

Zion National Park - camp,hike,horse rides

Glen Canyon - camp, boat

Wupatki National Monument

Wupatki National Monument - these three are close together

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

Sedona

Grand Canyon National Park - camp, hike. south rim- north roads are still closed

Death Valley National Park - if you have extra time

Google map with links - Las Vegas loop

The closest scenery and boating to Las Vegas is the Grand Canyon and Lake Mead. Most tourists are on the south rim of the canyon, the north rim is less crowded and more natural.

LOL... sorry to everyone for not being clearer. Ok...

so we have 7 days (Wednesday to Wednesday). We pick up the RV in Las Vegas and return the RV to Las Vegas. we are looking to experience some real USA. Not the plastic fantastic parts we are being "made" to experience in vegas for a couple of days. We like beautiful natural scenery, authentic restaurants and bars, maybe some horse riding. Boating. We don't know whether to go north east to Utah and then down to Arizona (Sedona area) and then loop back to LV...

sorry to be really green but this is a brand new idea :)

I live in Arizona and yes it is a big place. I like Oldmattb's list of sites to see. I would decide on what part of Arizona to concentrate on for your short trip. Either tour the high country of the Northern part of Arizona or the Southern part of Arizona for your trip.

Southern Arizona
Kartchner Caverns
I like the RV park here because the hosts were very nice and the place was well taken care of.

http://azstateparks.com/Parks/KACA/index.html

You need to sign up for a tour of the living caves. That is the best part of this area. From the RV park you can just walk across to the tour area.

Also, there are hiking trails off the RV park and you can see the outside (can't go in) of an old tungsten mine.

Bisbee
Great Town to visit with lots of history and good restaurants to visit. There are many shops to cruise through and a mining museum to visit.

The RV park sets up on a hill next to the strip mine and you can walk to town.
http://www.queenminervpark.com

I would also suggest to sign up for the Queen Mine Tour. It is right next to the RV park.

http://www.queenminetour.com/

Tombstone
Great town to visit with lots to see. Many restaurants to eat at. Make sure to visit a photo shop and have an old fashion photo taken of the family. Watch out for the OK Corral at high noon :D

Picacho Peak
A fun RV park with a bunch of hiking trails.
http://azstateparks.com/Parks/PIPE/index.html

Northern Arizona
Williams
Great small town off I-40. Many restaurants to eat and many stores to visit.

Grand Canyon Railway
You can stay at the RV park of the Grand Canyon Railway and sign up to take the train to the Southern end of the Grand Canyon. You take the train and get to have lunch at the lodge. Watch out! The train might be stopped by train robbers. The next day you can take your RV up the road and visit the Grand Canyon again because there are many museums and other sites to visit along the way.

http://www.thetrain.com

Make a reservation at the RV Lodge.
http://www.thetrain.com/lodging/rv-park/


If you want to go fishing there are many camping places to visit.

Dogtown Lake Campground
An easy campground to stay at that is next to a great lake. Try your luck at fishing.

Kaibab Lake
Also a great camping ground to try your luck at fishing.

Meteor Crater
Down I-40 is meteor crater which would be interesting for you to visit. I haven't stayed at the RV park, but it would fun. My kid wants to stay here for Memorial Day Weekend.

http://www.meteorcrater.com/

The RV Park link:
http://www.meteorcrater.com/RV-Park-Overview

RV Park Review
http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Arizona/Winslow.html#CGID4890

I hope this helps.
Tod

As others have noted w/o knowing a start and end point or interests, it's quite difficult to say. This link may give you some general information to formulate your stay...

LONELY PLANET WESTERN ROAD TRIPS

I agree with Kaydeejay. You will find a huge difference to back home. I am from North Yorkshire so I can understand how you may get frustrated.
Arizona is 25% bigger than all of the United Kingdom.

From Las Vegas, there are pre-planned "circle" tours that go through the National Parks and Monuments of northern Arizona and southern Utah, for one-week and two-week schedules. One of the RV rental companies will likely have itineraries with some detail, a big part of their business is visitors flying in on one or two week schedules.

For pre-planning there is the State of Utah Grand Circle site, and the larger four or five state view of the Grand Circle Association.

If you are coming in to Phoenix with only a week, you might be looking at a tour in Arizona only, possible the stretch between Phoenix and the Grand Canyon, or the southeast corner of the state, or the southwest over toward the California deserts. For help with planning in any of these areas look at the State of Arizona Tourist Guide.

Another thing I've known fellow RVers to do, look at a tour company's itineraries for the area and amount of time, and adapt the tour to RV travel (which means you have to consider the fatigue of doing you own driving, what you won't see because you are driving, and making the daily schedule fit RV camping, as opposed to late arrivals and early departures at resorts. For example, a one week tour of Grand Canyon, Bryce, and Zion.