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 make it a one-day trip and come back to the city that night. Either way, Las Vegas is so close to Zion that it would be a shame to miss it.
Because of the close proximity of Zion to Las Vegas, the popularity of the park has risen dramatically over the course of the past few years due to an aggressive advertising campaign called “Find Your Park.” These marketing messages were found on television as well as in many travel magazines, and aimed at creating awareness for the national parks systems of the United States. Through these awareness campaigns, more people realized the beauty of the national parks that were out there at their disposal to visit, and tourism rates at the parks increased dramatically. Because the one real speed bump for most tours of national parks is the distance that must be driven to get there, Zion found added success that others might not have had just because it is so close to Las Vegas. With the sheer number of Las Vegas tourists who visit each year and would also like to visit a nearby national park, you will find that many people use Las Vegas as their starting point for their Zion tour.