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When people travel to Las Vegas as part of their vacation, they will usually begin to plan out a wide variety of activities that they can do while they are here that will involve things other than gambling and shows.  While these are certainly staples of any Las Vegas vacation, many people also want to use this opportunity to visit some of the other attractions that are within driving distance of the city.  For nature lovers and adventure travel buffs, this will usually mean the Grand Canyon or Zion. Las Vegas is the perfect starting point for these types of tours, due to it's relatively close proximity as well as it's general setup as a tourist town.  You can get flights into Las Vegas for a good price as well as finding a wide variety of hotels that will fit your budget.  Las Vegas itself is a destination that is constructed to cater to you as a tourist, and as a result of this you will find that tours of southwestern United States national parks will go smoothly if you use Las Vegas as the starting point.  The city is located within around a half-day drive of most of the larger national parks, but there is one hidden gem that is undiscovered by some people who come to the city and want to take some time to explore the southwestern U.S. most dramatic scenery.  This is the fact that Zion National Park is located only 2.5 hours drive from the center of the city.  Thats right, you can drive from Las Vegas to Zion in only a few hours time, and spend the entire day exploring and hiking.  If you want to camp overnight so you can spend even longer in this beautiful area you can, or you can simply

Zion Canyon National Park is one of the most popular destinations for tourists that want to explore the natural beauty of the American southwest.  Aside from the dramatic and unique landscape, the reasoning behind the popularity probably has more to do with it's location and proximity to Las Vegas than anything else.  While Zion is certainly beautiful, all national parks have beautiful elements that will give visitors a totally unique and dramatic experience, and all national parks have hiking and exploring opportunities.  When the "Find Your Park" advertising campaign began several years ago in order to increase tourism at national parks, Zion Canyon saw greater increases than all others in the area. It doesn't take much detective work to understand why this was the case, because one of the major issues with regards to tourism at national parks is their proximity to major cities.  Basically, you have to drive a long way to get to almost every national park from a starting point that is a city with an airport, and the only other way to plan a trip to them is to either drive for multiple days from your home location.  For many that wish to see the unique elements of a specific national park, the plan involves flying into the closest city that has an airport which supports commercial traffic and using that city as the starting point for the drive.  Because of the rules regarding development of the areas surrounding national parks, you can generally expect a minimum of a one-half day drive from the closest city. Zion Canyon National Park is an exception to this rule, being located about 2.5 hours drive from Las Vegas, NV. This means that not only is the park located significantly closer to a major city that you can fly into,