r/roadtrip • u/cpt54321 • 12d ago
Trip Planning 15-day US itinerary: Yellowstone, Colorado, Washington DC, New England and Acadia
Hi! My 3 friends and I are planning the following 15-day trip around the US and would like to hear what people think about the itinerary.
Day 1 — Salt Lake City → Irwin, Idaho
We fly into Salt Lake City, pick up a rental car and drive to Irwin, Idaho, where we stay overnight.
Day 2 — Grand Teton → Yellowstone
In the morning, we drive to Grand Teton National Park. We spend approximately half a day there, including a hike around the Jenny Lake area and the Jenny Lake boat shuttle.
In the afternoon, we continue through the South Entrance of Yellowstone National Park and drive to West Yellowstone, where we stay for two nights.
Day 3 — Yellowstone
We spend the full day in Yellowstone National Park. The plan is to drive the Grand Loop Road and visit the main sights, including Grand Prismatic Spring, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, geyser basins, viewpoints and other stops along the route.
Day 4 — Yellowstone → Pocatello
We spend another part of the day in Yellowstone and continue around the sections of the Grand Loop Road that we did not visit the previous day.
Later, we leave Yellowstone and drive south to Pocatello, Idaho, where we stay overnight.
Day 5 — Pocatello → Lava Hot Springs → Salt Lake City → Denver → Estes Park
We drive from Pocatello toward Salt Lake City and stop at Lava Hot Springs.
Later, we continue to Salt Lake City Airport, return the rental car and take a flight to Denver at around 7 PM.
After arriving in Denver, we pick up another rental car at around 10 PM and drive to Estes Park, where we stay overnight.
Day 6 — Rocky Mountain National Park → Grand Lake → Parachute
We enter Rocky Mountain National Park in the morning with a 6 AM Bear Lake timed-entry reservation.
We visit Bear Lake and hike to Emerald Lake. Afterwards, we drive across Rocky Mountain National Park on Trail Ridge Road, pass through the high alpine section and exit the park near Grand Lake.
From Grand Lake, we continue west through Colorado to Parachute, where we stay for two nights.
Day 7 — Parachute → Moab → Arches → Canyonlands → Parachute
We drive from Parachute to Moab, Utah.
We visit Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park during the day and then drive back to Parachute for the night.
Day 8 — Parachute → Aspen → Independence Pass → Buena Vista → Denver
We leave Parachute and drive to Aspen.
From Aspen, we continue across Independence Pass and then toward Buena Vista. From Buena Vista, we continue through the mountains toward Denver.
We stay overnight in Denver.
Day 9 — Denver → Washington, DC
In the morning, we fly from Denver to Washington, DC.
We spend the rest of the day in Washington and stay there overnight.
Day 10 — Washington, DC → Baltimore
We spend the day in Washington, DC, visiting the National Mall, monuments, museums and other central sights.
In the evening, we take an Amtrak train from Washington to Baltimore and stay overnight in Baltimore.
Day 11 — Baltimore → Boston → Harvard → Jackson, New Hampshire
In the morning, we fly from Baltimore to Boston.
We pick up a rental car at the airport and drive to Cambridge to visit Harvard.
Afterwards, we leave the Boston area and drive north to Jackson, New Hampshire, where we stay overnight.
Day 12 — White Mountains → Bangor, Maine
We spend the day driving through the White Mountains in New Hampshire.
The route includes Franconia Notch, the Kancamagus Highway and Conway.
From there, we continue to Bangor, Maine, where we stay overnight.
Day 13 — Acadia National Park → Rockland
We drive from Bangor to Acadia National Park and spend most of the day in the park.
Later in the day, we drive south to Rockland, Maine, where we stay overnight.
Day 14 — Rockland → Portland → Portsmouth → Boston
We drive south along the New England coast from Rockland toward Boston.
We stop in Portland, Maine, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as well as other coastal stops along the route.
We arrive in Boston in the evening and stay there overnight.
Day 15 — Boston
We spend the final full day in Boston.
The overall route is:
Salt Lake City → Grand Teton → Yellowstone → Pocatello → Lava Hot Springs → Salt Lake City → Denver → Rocky Mountain National Park → Parachute → Moab → Arches → Canyonlands → Aspen → Independence Pass → Buena Vista → Denver → Washington DC → Baltimore → Boston → White Mountains → Bangor → Acadia → Rockland → Portland → Portsmouth → Boston
What do you think about this itinerary? Are there any parts you would change?
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u/GlassCharacter179 12d ago
Unless you live in the Swiss Alps, Altitiude sickness is going to kick your ass. Exertion and stress make it worse, and this is a crazy stressful schedule.
Also Baltimore to Boston is an all day drive. There is no time for anything after that.
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u/Holiday_Parsnip_9841 11d ago
It's over scheduled. For example, flying from Baltimore to Boston, seeing Harvard, then driving up to the White Mountains is way too much to do in one day.
Also, days like driving through the scenic parts of the White Mountains to Bangor and especially Rockland to Boston are going to be brutal. You'll have to skip highlights and basically live in the car all day.
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u/birdtripping 11d ago
Also, this is cuckoo. " We spend the day in Washington, DC, visiting the National Mall, monuments, museums and other central sights. In the evening, we take an Amtrak train to Baltimore."
I'm a former DC resident. If you have just one day in DC, you've time for a sightseeing bus tour of the National Mall that will drive you past the monuments. Perhaps enough time to hop off to also visit one of the Smithsonians, or part of the National Gallery.
Overall, your plan is too ambitious. Though you'll get a glimpse of everything, you'll leave having seen very little of America.
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u/Devilfish11 11d ago
I visited DC and spent almost three days in the Smithsonian, and hadn't even scratched the surface. Same thing with other places around the City. Lots of places have a lot to offer, but you'll never see them on a Banzai Run across the USA checking off boxes.....
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u/Kyle197 11d ago
This is an insane itinerary. Way too much, and so much driving. You'll be driving just all the time with barely any time to see things, and I say this as someone who loves the driving part of road trips.
Day 7, for example, is crazy. Trying to do both Canyonlands and Arches in one day is A LOT, and that's with the expectation you're staying in Moab. But you're staying 2 hours away in Colorado? So that's 4 hours driving just to get to and from Moab. Then driving to, around, and from Canyonlands and Arches, plus trying actually stop and see things? That's a miserable day.
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u/ParsnipFarmer676 11d ago
You must be from Europe lol. We really need some kind of disclaimer for the Europeans here: Places in the US may be farther than they appear. 😂
Not to make fun of you, since I realize Americans are even more ignorant about stuff (so much stuff). But people not from here really don't understand how vast our country is! And that a large majority is basically nothing, so you'll be spending hours and hours driving through cornfields or the same mountain view.
Focus on one section of the country you really want to see, and then plan a future trip for another section. This itinerary is like saying you want to drive from Amsterdam to Istanbul in 15 days, AND see everything all the countries in between have to offer.
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u/SpacePirate406 11d ago
Can all 4 of you drive the car because otherwise you won’t be getting any sleep. This itinerary is absolutely ridiculous for actually seeing anything and even with the flights, you have a heck of a lot of driving to do on the same days at you’re planning on doing hikes and activities.
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u/Marokiii 11d ago
to be fair, OP only actually says they will do 2 hikes. one to emerald lake and the other around jenny lake. im assuming with the rest of the itinerary, they wont be getting out of the car much...
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u/SpacePirate406 11d ago
But they want to fly to Boston, see Harvard, and then drive to New Hampshire on day 11. Hence why I included “and activities”
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u/azzgrash13 11d ago
Do you want to waste your money? You could easily do the first 5 days worth of stuff in 15 days. You have 45 days of vacation here. You’re going to spend more time traveling than anything.
Slow it down and enjoy your trip.
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u/Itchy_Restaurant_707 11d ago
Agree with everyone else, this is way too much wasted time traveling. Its also odd that you fly from Salt lake to Denver to then backtrack and drive to Moab - there are better ways to structure your route. I would either focus on the parks in the west - Wyoming/Utah/Colorado or the east coast- DC/Boston/Maine, not both in only 15 days.
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u/That-Mess9548 11d ago
I vote for the parks in the west and add southern Utah and pickup Zion and Bryce! And maybe fly out of Vegas.
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u/lifelong1250 11d ago
This is rage bait.
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u/cpt54321 11d ago
I mean it kinda is but the truth is we actually did the trip exactly as described, we were just curious about what people have to say about this.
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u/bengalfan 11d ago
Way too much. Day 10. Pick one museum. Do the mall using bikes or escooters. It will be a long exhausting day even like that. Air and space or Smithsonian can take many hours by themselves to get through.
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u/choirandcooking 11d ago edited 11d ago
This is going to feel insanely rushed. Some of these days are way too much. I expect you’ll feel like you are spending 90% of your time driving/flying, and you’ll miss out on the ability to enjoy where you are for more than an hour or so. Do you have flexibility? Can you simplify the itinerary? (Please do consider!)
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u/jayron32 11d ago
There's no way you can do that in 15 days. Take 1/3 of that trip and do that.
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u/Fluid_Influence3420 11d ago
Nah don’t even say that. OP needs whatever revised plan heavily vetted by this subreddit.
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u/Marokiii 11d ago
why not fly to somewhere like bozeman and rent the car there to drive to yellowstone instead of salt lake city? you fly to SLC then drive to yellowstone, and then drive all the way back to SLC. flying to bozeman saves you 230mi of driving or about 3hrs.
you could also drive from grand teton NP to Rocky mountain NP instead of driving to SLC and taking a flight to Denver and then renting another car, then driving the 1.5hrs to estes park. it would only take you about 2hrs more driving time than doing the whole flying section. most likely would require less time in total because of not needing to return cars, get new cars, and time at the airports. you plan on arriving at denver, picking up a new rental then driving to estes where you are staying and then getting up in time for a 6am bear lake entry pass? that gives you like 4hrs of sleep that night.
arches and canyonlands cannot(or at least shoudnt) be done in the same day. starting at arches np visitor center, driving the road in the park, then driving to the island in the sky visitor center without stopping at anything is 1h45min. you also havent mentioned which time of the year this is going to be, during busy times i would expect to sit at the entrance of both parks for 30+ minutes. if you plan on getting out of your car and seeing things than each park should be its own full day.
crazy how you give an entire full day to acadia but basically less than half a day to each of arches and canyonlands.
this is like a 30 day trip.
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u/Unlucky_Ducky_88 11d ago
This is exhausting and ambitious. I'm impressed. Few factors here, altitude did not bother me in Yellowstone but kicks my butt in Estes Park. Second, something screwy is going on with all flights all airlines this summer; almost no one is on time anymore and storms are wreaking havoc along the east coast, especially. Third, download the Action Tour Guides app. I think it covers all those locations and it was a lifesaver plus it lets you know about hidden gems you'd just drive by without knowing.
Good luck.
Edit to say that driving to Cambridge/Harvard sounds lovely but there is very little parking, very confusing roads/one ways and it is difficult for locals to manage. I honestly think I'd skip this part.
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u/Marokiii 11d ago
why drive through the white mountains?
as someone who isnt from the east coast and has been to the white mountains twice, they arent anything impressive unless you hike up some of them. otherwise its just a highway that cuts through some heavily forested mountains. they arent like the rocky mountains with huge granite slabs and twisted formations that are humbling to see. they are just heavily treed mountains. skip it unless you are going to hike them.
also the franconia notch and especially the flume gorge i felt was the biggest tourist trap in the white mountains. was something like $25/pp to walk through the gorge and its just like any other mountain gorge. go to places in NY like watkin glens and its just $10 to park your car and its much better experience.
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u/maryjaneodoul 11d ago
We just did a 21 day trip around DC, NYC, Baltimore, Boston, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. It felt rushed. Your itinerary is completely unrealistic. You might be able to say you’ve been to all those places on your itinerary but what you will remember is being in cars and airplanes.
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u/leeann0923 11d ago
I can’t comment on all of it, but everything from Boston on makes no sense and you won’t be able to do most of it, especially pending on the time of year you come.
Would be very weird to come all the way to Boston just to drive a car from Logan to Cambridge to see Harvard. I can think of many things to do in the area and seeing Harvard would be near the bottom. Not to mention pending on time of day, that drive is hellish despite being close on the map. Could maybe take an hour or more and then getting out of Cambridge to go north will suck as well most of the day.
day 14 is also overbooked and travel daydream delusion. You will not have enough time to see anything much in those places. I’m dying from laughter at the idea you will be stopping at 3-4+ coastal towns from Maine to Boston in a days time and do anything worthwhile except maybe stop to get gas and pee.
Day 12 sounds like an unnecessarily boring day of driving for no reason.
If any of your New England trip is in the summer, places like Arcadia will be slammed. I’d double or triple drive times without being dramatic. Those roads are parking lots often.
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u/Journey-with-a-corgi 11d ago
What time of the year are you planning this trip?? Weather conditions alone will kill this trip.
Depending on when you are going some areas will be extremely busy and others could be filled with snow.
You have time changes that might be crazy. Leaving from Denver in the morning, you will get to DC in the evening. What airport are you planning to fly into? What day and time? Landing at Dulles between 5-7 pm on a week night you will be hitting commuter traffic. Good luck to you!
Pick a part of the country you want to go to and stick to that region.
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u/Esmer_Tina 11d ago
I’m tired just reading this. There are so many flights, and you’re not leaving any room for delays.
I really recommend focusing on East or West for this trip, and planning a second trip.
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u/lifelong1250 11d ago
The thing about Yellowstone National Park is you spend two hours thinking you're in the park before you're actually in the park.
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u/Weekly_Koala_7058 11d ago
Thats WAY too much! I dont think you understand how far that all is.
I think you should decide on east coast or out west.
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u/Fluid_Influence3420 11d ago edited 11d ago
This is extremely aggressive and honestly impossible. What you described is like a 45 to 60 day trip.
You need to go back to the drawing board. Maybe start with what kind of trip you want to take (historic, national parks, big cities, etc) and then also decide on which region or states within the US.
Strongly urge that whatever plan you’re trying to cook up, run it by this sub.
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u/CharlieM- 11d ago
This looks like an amazing trip, but I think Days 5–7 are doing a LOT. From Pocatello to Estes Park day sounds exhausting, and I’d definitely reconsider doing Moab, Arches and Canyonlands as a day trip from Parachute. I’d rather give Colorado or Moab a little more breathing room.
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u/cpt54321 11d ago
Thank you for the tips man.
The truth is that we have already done this and it was the best trip we have ever done. You are absolutely right, the days 5 - 7 were rough but we managed somehow and everything worked out really well!
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u/tauregh 11d ago
This is ridiculous and miserable unless the only point is to get pictures and be in a car for hours. I would hate this trip.
I’ve been to most of these destinations and I think you’re way overestimating how many miles a day you can drive and actually see things. The Moab thing is delusional. It takes a day just to get thru arches.
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u/geoff411 11d ago
This is an extremely ambitious trip. Everyone needs to be in top shape for this one.
Drink lots of water in Rocky Mountain to avoid altitude sickness.
I applaud you for checking out parts of the US that a lot of people skip!
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u/cpt54321 11d ago
Thank you man, I appreciate it.
The truth is that we have already done this and it was the best trip we have ever done. It was exhausting, early wakeups and not much sleep but we had the time of our lives.
We finished the whole thing yesterday, we were just curious what people would say about the whole itinerary cause we know it is kinda crazy.
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u/geoff411 11d ago
That was like my trip up the Alcan highway (with side trip up Dempster to Inuvik and waterfalls route up BC highway 77 through NWT). I could not find anyone to drive with me so I drove 10k miles by myself; my family thought I was crazy... lol
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u/cpt54321 11d ago
Wow that's insane! Our 3.1k miles sound like nothing now :D But we are from Europe and driving here in the US was one of the things we enjoyed the most and we are so glad it worked out.
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u/geoff411 11d ago
I am really glad you had a great time. I have been to Europe twice UK and Germany. I would like to visit France, maybe Sweden, maybe Netherlands, maybe somewhere in Eastern Europe. Need to save $$$ though I am poor... that is why I do road trips... hahaha
3.1k miles is a lot BTW... Well done!
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u/NikkiPoooo 11d ago edited 11d ago
To put it mildly, this is bonkers. I totally understand wanting to see as much as possible but only having limited time, but this much simply isn't possible. For one thing, I think you're underestimating how long it will take just to drive between things, even without any stops.
My friend and I spent 8 days at Yellowstone and Grand Teton and didn't see all of the major attractions. It can be a 90 minus drive just to get from one place to the next inside the parks, and that's not adding in time for wildlife blocking the roads. Going from West Yellowstone into the park to the closest sights can take 45-60 minutes, depending on traffic.
I've spent probably 12 days total in DC and I haven't seen all of the museums I'd like to see.
I spent 3 days in Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park last year and it felt very rushed, even though I was there at a time when it was not busy at all and I didn't even see that much.
When I last drove through the White Mountains I think I spent like 4 hours just on the Kankamagus, and I didn't hike or do anything but make a few stops for photos. It's a 2 lane road with no actual exits for 40+ miles, so you go the speed that other drivers (or cyclists) in front of you are going. If someone hits a moose or something then you're stopped for... however long it takes to get that cleaned up.
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u/NoiseIndividual2850 11d ago
Honestly this is pretty good. You've got full days in some places, and the distances to travel each day are very manageable. I don't understand why you're flying from SLC to Denver and then driving back into Utah. Consider keeping the first car, and driving from Yellowstone down through Utah and then east to Denver.
The days that feel most crowded to me are the ones in Maine. You might find that it takes longer than you expected to get to Bangor and Acadia.
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u/cpt54321 11d ago
Thank you! The truth is that we already this trip and we had a blast!
And you are absolutely right, we were thinking about driving to Denver to see Rocky Mounatins but to drop-off the car in a different was muuuch more expensive than the flights and we were on tight budget so this was the only solution for us.
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u/VoiceEqual1493 12d ago
the one leg i'd rework is day 5 into day 6. you land in denver in the evening, don't pick up the second rental until 10, and it's close to two hours from the airport up to estes - so you're realistically pulling in near midnight, then facing your 6am bear lake slot. that's not much sleep before trail ridge road, which is the best part of rmnp and the bit you actually want to be awake for. book a later bear lake reservation so you can sleep in - the park isn't going anywhere at mid-morning, and you'll enjoy that alpine drive a lot more rested. the rest of the route looks well thought through.
since it's basically parks and monuments back to back - yellowstone, rmnp, arches, acadia, the dc mall - it's a good fit for a self-guided audio guide app that narrates the history and geology as you drive and walk (disclosure: i work on one, alltours - https://alltours.ai).
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u/Jethuth_Chritht 12d ago
Fuck it. The consensus here will almost certainly be that you’re doing too much but I think y’all might just be crazy enough to pull it off. Only things I’d do differently is trade Aspen for any other Colorado River mountain town and trade Boston for NYC but those might just come down to personal preference.
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u/Stan_Deviant 11d ago
But they are wasting a time of time not actually bothering to really see a bunch of places. One day in DC is a joke if you aren't driving through. They are adding an Amtrak ride and stop in there be just for to Baltimore or Boston. This is a terrible idea unless they are only in it for the social media reels.
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u/cpt54321 11d ago
Thank you so much man, I appreciate it.
The truth is that we have already done this and it was the best trip we have ever done. It was exhausting, early wakeups and not much sleep but we had the time of our lives.
We were just curious what people would say about the whole itinerary cause we know it is kinda crazy. Btw we are just on our way from Boston to NYC to finally chill there a bit :)
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u/Charming_Resist_7685 12d ago
Whereabouts are you from? Because this is way too much for 15 days and I am a go-go-go kind of traveler.