The parks by price, month and lodge room
You’re probably weighing a road trip against a tour. Start with what changes the answer, then picture one real route.
- Las VegasDay 1 · hotelA 6 p.m. welcome meeting at the Golden Nugget, then an early start.
- Bryce CanyonDay 2 · campViewpoints on the drive in, stargazing and s’mores, then sunrise over the hoodoos and the Queen’s Garden and Navajo Loop trails.
- Moab & ArchesDays 3–4 · campDevils Garden out to Landscape Arch and Double O Arch, with Delicate Arch at sunset as an option.
- CanyonlandsDay 5 · Needles DistrictNewspaper Rock’s petroglyph panel, then the Joint Trail to Chesler Park.
- Capitol ReefDay 6 · cabinThe trip’s one cabin night, under a Gold Tier dark-sky park.
- ZionDays 7–8 · campA waterfall hike in Grand Staircase-Escalante on the way in, then Scout Lookout and the Narrows.
From $2,299 per person for May 2027 on G Adventures’ own page. Max 12, rated 4 (Demanding). Day 9 ends back in Las Vegas; G says to book flights home no earlier than 3 p.m.
Pick the month before you pick the company
These parks don’t share a season. A great June in Yellowstone is a hot, crowded June in Zion.
Yellowstone and Grand Teton
Most Yellowstone roads close to regular vehicles from early November to late April. Only the North Entrance to Cooke City road stays open all year.
- Summer is the main touring season; most 2027 departures we found run May to September
- Tauck’s new Yellowstone Awakens runs in May, October and November: newborn wildlife in spring, the elk rut in fall
- Shoulder months mean colder mornings and the odd snow closure. Pack layers.
Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef
The Park Service says Zion is “regularly over 100°F” in summer, with about half a million visitors a month and parking often full by 9 a.m.
- July to September is monsoon season, with flash-flood risk in slot canyons
- March visitation to Zion Canyon runs almost three times February’s, thanks to spring break
- Fall visitation slows, then drops more sharply in November
The Grand Canyon
The North Rim reopened in 2026 after the July 2025 Dragon Bravo Fire, which destroyed the historic Grand Canyon Lodge.
- The Park Service listed no in-park lodging on the North Rim for 2026, and its campground stayed closed
- The North Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch was closed too
- The tours we found, Cosmos and Collette among them, combine the South Rim with Utah or Sedona
Glacier National Park
Going-to-the-Sun Road has typically been fully open by early July and stays open until about the third Monday of October, weather allowing.
- Vehicles over 21 feet can’t drive the middle of the road, so a full-size coach can’t cross it
- Road Scholar’s 2027 Glacier dates run July 6 to September 19
- A June trip can miss the high road entirely. Ask before you book.
Reservations, permits and the 2026 fee changes
If you last read about park reservations in 2024, the rules have moved.
| Park | Entry reservation (2026) | Permits that still matter |
|---|---|---|
| Yellowstone | None | None for entry. Stay 100 yards from bears and wolves, 25 from bison and elk. |
| Grand Teton | None | None found for general entry |
| Zion | None | Angels Landing permit by lottery |
| Bryce Canyon | None | None found for general entry |
| Arches | Dropped for 2026 | Fiery Furnace permit, $10, booked 2–7 days ahead |
| Canyonlands & Capitol Reef | None | None found for general entry |
| Grand Canyon | None | North Rim services limited after the 2025 fire |
| Glacier | No park-wide system in 2026 | Logan Pass parking limits and traffic diversions |
Our reading
For 2026 the Park Service swapped reservations for traffic management: earlier arrivals, parking limits, temporary diversions. It hadn’t announced 2027 rules when we checked on October 26, 2026. Ask your tour company in spring; on a tour, entry is their problem, not yours.
Two permits trip up independent travelers. Angels Landing’s last stretch, from Scout Lookout up, runs on seasonal lotteries plus a day-before lottery on Recreation.gov; the park issues more than 200,000 permits a year.
The Fiery Furnace in Arches takes a $10 self-guided permit booked two to seven days ahead, for groups of six or fewer. Commercial groups can’t use self-guided permits, so don’t assume a tour includes it. Ask.
Entrance fees changed in 2026, though not if you live in the US. The resident America the Beautiful pass is still $80 a year; the Senior Pass for US citizens and permanent residents 62 and over is $20 a year or $80 for life.
Visitors who live abroad now pay $250 for the annual pass, or a $100 surcharge per person aged 16 and up on top of the entrance fee at 11 parks. Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Zion, Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon and Glacier are all on the list, and fee-free days are now for US residents only.
Bringing relatives from overseas? Ask whether the fare covers their park entry, and budget the surcharge if it doesn’t.
The lodge problem, and why tours solve it
You can’t book a Yellowstone room for next summer in October. A tour with in-park nights already booked is the shortcut.
The rooms inside the parks are the scarce part, not the scenery. Yellowstone’s in-park lodges take bookings 13 months ahead on a rolling basis, opening on the 5th of each month.
That’s where the right tour earns its keep. Tauck’s Yellowstone Awakens spends four nights inside the park at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel; Road Scholar’s Glacier program is based in lodging inside the park.
The Grand Canyon lost a lodge outright. The North Rim’s historic Grand Canyon Lodge burned in July 2025, and the Park Service says rebuilding will take time.
Many tours sleep in gateway towns instead, which isn’t a failure. Ask the tour company to name each night’s hotel and whether it’s inside the park.
Inside the park vs. the gateway town
Inside: sunrise at the geyser, no drive in each morning, rooms that open for booking 13 months out. Outside: more restaurants and newer rooms, plus a drive each morning. Tauck’s new Utah trip goes the other way on purpose, with glass-domed rooms near Bryce and a hotel in Springdale for Zion.
A day in Zion on a trip rated Demanding
Wondering what “rated 4” means in practice? This is day 8 of G Adventures’ 2027 Utah trip, in the order its itinerary runs it.
Scout Lookout
A 4-mile round trip that G Adventures calls challenging but rewarding, up the switchbacks of Walter’s Wiggles to a saddle high above Zion Canyon.
The Narrows
A river walk on the canyon floor, in the Virgin River itself. You can turn around at any point. Bring your own light water shoes; rentals get carried the rest of the day.
Springdale
Back to camp, then a last night out in the town at Zion’s south gate before the drive to Las Vegas.
Scout Lookout is where most tours stop. Intrepid’s Hiking Utah trip turns around there too, because the chained last stretch to Angels Landing needs a lottery permit and its leaders don’t take guests up it.
Want the chains? Apply for the permit yourself and tell your tour company before you go.
Who runs which park: real 2027 tours
Every major tour company runs the parks. They just run very different trips through them.
| Tour | Parks | Days | From | Group & pace |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costsaver (Trafalgar Saver from 2027) · Canyon Country Showcase | Southwest canyon loop from Las Vegas | 7 | $1,305* | Coach; Las Vegas round trip |
| Cosmos · The Grand Canyon & Utah’s Mighty Five | All 5 Utah parks, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley | 9 | $2,199 | Coach; Phoenix to Las Vegas |
| Trafalgar · Utah’s Mighty Five National Parks | All 5 Utah parks + 4 state parks | 10 | $4,650 | Coach (avg about 45); 14 meals |
| Trafalgar · Five Epic National Parks | Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon | 9 | $4,095 | Coach (avg about 45); Jackson to Las Vegas |
| Globus · America’s National Parks | Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Rushmore | 10 | $4,349 | Coach; Rapid City to Salt Lake City |
| Collette · Canyon Country featuring Arizona & Utah | Grand Canyon and Utah canyon country | 8 | $3,799* | Classic; Scottsdale to Las Vegas |
| Collette · National Parks of America | Southwest to the Black Hills | 12 | $5,499* | Classic; Scottsdale to Rapid City |
| Collette · Canadian Rockies & Glacier National Park | Glacier + Canadian Rockies | 7 | $3,899* | Classic; June to September |
| G Adventures & Nat Geo · Iconic Wildlife of Yellowstone and Grand Teton | Yellowstone, Grand Teton | 7 | $4,299 | Max 13; rated 1 (easy) |
| G Adventures · Camping Utah’s Mighty 5 | All 5 Utah parks | 9 | $2,299 | Max 12; 6 nights camping; rated 4 |
| Intrepid · Hiking Utah’s National Parks | All 5 Utah parks + Monument Valley | 9 | $4,395 | Max 12; moderate hiking |
| Tauck · Yellowstone Awakens (new) | Yellowstone | 6 | $4,790 | Small Group (avg 24 or fewer) |
| Tauck · Bryce & Zion: Sculpted by Time (new) | Bryce, Zion, Kodachrome, Snow Canyon | 7 | $6,990 | Small Group |
| Tauck · Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks | Yellowstone, Grand Teton | 8 | $5,390* | Jackson to Rapid City |
| Road Scholar · The Best of Glacier National Park | Glacier | 6 | $3,599 | Field trips in groups of about 10 |
From-prices per person, sharing a room, before flights, as shown October 26, 2026 for 2027 departures unless marked. * From a US reseller’s listing, not the operator’s own page. Trafalgar’s Utah figure is its lowest listed 2027 departure (a lower $4,185 offer was also showing); Intrepid and Road Scholar didn’t state the year for theirs. Prices move: confirm on your date.
Three patterns show up. Coach brands (Cosmos, Trafalgar, Globus, Collette Classic) cover the most ground for the least per day.
Small-group outfits (G Adventures, Intrepid, Road Scholar) trade hotels for trailheads. Tauck sells the rooms inside or the unusual ones, at roughly 1.5 to 2 times the daily rate.
Read the route line before the price line. Many tours start and end in different cities, Phoenix to Las Vegas or Jackson to Rapid City, and the flights section below shows which.
Traveling with kids? G Adventures lists a National Geographic Family Journey to Yellowstone and Grand Teton, but no departure dates were up when we checked, and Tauck runs family trips under its Bridges name. Ask us for the family dates on your summer.
What a day in the parks costs
A national parks tour isn’t cheap, but the range is wide enough that most budgets have an option.
From-price divided by days, per person, twin share, before flights. * Reseller listing. Highlighted: Tauck’s two new 2027 trips.
The spread is about fivefold, and it’s mostly group size and beds. Costsaver and Cosmos fill a coach and book gateway hotels; Tauck buys the rooms inside the park and keeps the group small.
The middle is crowded. Globus, Trafalgar, Collette and Intrepid all land between about $435 and $490 a day, so compare what’s included before the headline.
Run your two finalists through the box below. Then add tips and the meals each fare leaves out.
Price-per-day math
Line up two park tours
Divide each from-price by its days. We filled in two Utah trips; swap in the tours on your own shortlist.
Per person, sharing a room, before flights. The cheaper daily rate usually means a bigger group and more meals on your own.
Find your park tour
Five questions sort most travelers. Park first, then budget, then how much you want to walk.
Matcher
Which 2027 park tour fits you?
Answer as many as you like; tap again to clear one. We score twelve real tours and show the top three.
How many days you actually need
Distances out West are long. The tour companies’ own itineraries are the best guide to what fits.
| Trip | Days on the tours we checked | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Yellowstone only | 6–7 | Tauck Yellowstone Awakens 6; G Adventures & Nat Geo 7 |
| Yellowstone + Grand Teton + Black Hills | 8–10 | Tauck 8; Globus America’s National Parks 10 |
| Bryce and Zion only | 7 | Tauck Bryce & Zion |
| All five Utah parks | 9–10 | Intrepid 9; Cosmos 9 (with the Grand Canyon); Trafalgar 10 |
| Glacier | 6–7 | Road Scholar 6; Collette with the Canadian Rockies 7 |
| Multi-region loop | 12–15 | Collette National Parks of America 12; Trafalgar America’s Magnificent National Parks 15* |
Add a night at each end if you’re flying from Texas or Florida. Tours start with a welcome meeting, often in the evening, and a missed connection shouldn’t cost you the first park.
Shorter isn’t cheaper per day. Cut a park, not the pace.
Flying in from Texas or Florida
Most park tours start in one city and finish in another. Build the flights around that, then the rest falls into place.
| Start or end city | Tours that use it | For |
|---|---|---|
| Las Vegas | Cosmos (end), Trafalgar Five Epic (end), Collette Canyon Country (end); G Adventures, Intrepid and Costsaver round trips | Utah, the Grand Canyon |
| Phoenix / Scottsdale | Cosmos (start); Collette Canyon Country and National Parks of America (start) | The Grand Canyon, Sedona |
| Jackson, Wyoming | Tauck Yellowstone & Grand Teton and Trafalgar Five Epic (start); G Adventures & Nat Geo round trip | Yellowstone, Grand Teton |
| Rapid City | Globus (start); Tauck Yellowstone & Grand Teton and Collette National Parks of America (end) | Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills |
| Salt Lake City | Globus America’s National Parks (end) | The flight home from Yellowstone country |
| Whitefish, Montana | Road Scholar (arrive and depart at Grouse Mountain Lodge) | Glacier |
Price the open-jaw before you compare tours. Houston into Jackson and home from Las Vegas is one multi-city ticket, and its fare belongs in the total.
Mind the clocks. Utah, Wyoming and Montana run on Mountain Time; Arizona skips daylight saving, so in summer it’s three hours behind Florida and two behind Texas.
You don’t need a passport. You do need a REAL ID-compliant license, or a passport, to fly: TSA has enforced REAL ID since May 7, 2025, and since February 1, 2026 it charges $45 to verify anyone who turns up without one.
Ask whether the company sells pre- and post-tour hotel nights, and whether an arrival transfer comes with them.
Tipping and park etiquette
Two things cost you on a park tour without warning: the tips, and getting too close to a bison.
US tours run on American tipping norms, and the guidance varies by company. Trafalgar suggests $5–7 a day for the Travel Director and $3–5 a day for the driver, per person.
G Adventures’ Yellowstone trip covers local guides and included meals, then suggests $10–15 a day for its Expedition Leaders and 15–20% at meals you buy yourself.
Collette’s terms leave tour manager, driver and local guide tips out of the fare. Globus and Cosmos don’t publish a per-day figure. Ask when you book and put it in the budget.
Park rules your guide will enforce
In Yellowstone, stay at least 100 yards from bears, wolves and cougars, and 25 yards from everything else, bison and elk included. Stay on the boardwalks in thermal areas; the ground can be a thin crust over superheated water.
Ten checks before the deposit
Run through this before you pay a deposit. It takes ten minutes.
Ten checks
Who a guided park tour suits
Book it if
- You want the in-park lodge rooms and didn’t book them a year ago
- You’d rather watch the scenery than drive 300 miles a day
- You’re traveling solo and want company on the trail
- You want a naturalist to spot the wolf, not just the parking lot
- You’re flying in from Texas or Florida and want the logistics handled at the far end
Look elsewhere if
- You love a road trip and can book lodges 13 months out
- You want to hike long and hard every day (look at an active specialist)
- You’re a family who’d rather set your own nap schedule
- Your dates are July in Utah and you can’t move them
- You want Glacier’s high road in June
Our take
The parks are one of the few places where a tour beats a road trip on more than convenience. The rooms inside are scarce, the distances are long, and a good guide finds wildlife you’d drive past.
Choose by park and month first. Yellowstone and Glacier want summer; Utah wants spring or fall. Then pick the group size: a Cosmos coach for value, G Adventures or Intrepid for trails, Tauck if you want the lodge inside the gate.
Ask every company to name its hotels. That one answer tells you most of what the price is buying.
Where to go from here: the companies that run the parks
Free · No obligation
Want a national parks tour priced against the alternatives?
Tell us which parks, which month and how much you like to walk. We’ll check which nights are inside the park, the open-jaw flights from home, and compare two or three companies honestly.
Prefer to book the extras yourself?
Hotels, day trips and flights around the tour
Hotel nights before and after
Arriving a day early gives you a buffer if a flight runs late, and most people add a night when the tour ends.
Your free days
The days either side of the tour are yours. Day trips and tickets for the start and end cities:
Getting there and around
Fly into one city and home from another when the tour is one-way.
These are affiliate links: if you book through them, Seabound Journeys may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we recommend. Our disclosure. We’re happy to book these for you too.
What park-tour travelers ask us
Do I need a reservation to enter Yellowstone, Zion, Arches or Glacier?
Not for 2026. The National Park Service said Arches would not run timed entry and Glacier would not need a park-wide vehicle reservation in 2026, and none was required at Yellowstone, Zion, Bryce or the Grand Canyon. Some hikes still need permits, including Angels Landing in Zion and the Fiery Furnace in Arches. The 2027 rules hadn’t been announced when we checked.
What is the best month for a Yellowstone tour?
Most tours run May to September, when Yellowstone’s roads are open to regular vehicles. Most park roads close from early November to late April. Tauck’s new Yellowstone Awakens trip runs in May, October and November for newborn wildlife or the fall elk rut.
When should I visit Utah’s Mighty 5?
Spring and fall. The Park Service says Zion is regularly over 100°F in summer, with parking often full by 9 a.m. and flash-flood risk from July to September. Most Utah tours run from about April to October.
How much does a guided national parks tour cost?
From roughly $186 a day on a Costsaver coach tour (a US reseller’s listing) to about $999 a day on Tauck’s new Bryce & Zion small-group trip, per person, sharing a room, before flights. Most of the tours we checked fell between about $435 and $675 a day. Add flights, tips and the meals the fare leaves out.
Did national park entrance fees go up in 2026?
Not for US residents. The resident America the Beautiful pass is still $80 a year, and the Senior Pass for US citizens and permanent residents 62 and over is $20 a year or $80 for life. Since 2026, visitors who live outside the US pay $250 for the annual pass, or a $100 surcharge per person aged 16 and over on top of the entrance fee at 11 parks, including Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Zion, Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon and Glacier. Fee-free days are now for US residents only.
Can I take a national parks tour solo?
Yes. G Adventures says most of its trips carry no single supplement and pairs solo travelers with a roommate of the same gender, with its own-room option for a fee. Intrepid also rooms solo travelers twin-share by gender, with a private room on most trips at extra cost. Ask the other companies for their single supplement on your date.
How fit do I need to be for a national parks tour?
It depends on the trip. G Adventures rates its Nat Geo Yellowstone trip 1 (easy) and its Camping Utah’s Mighty 5 trip 4 (Demanding); Road Scholar calls its Glacier program “No Sweat.” Intrepid’s Utah trip includes a river walk in the Narrows and a climb of about 1,000 feet to Scout Lookout. Wheelchair access isn’t detailed on the trip pages we read, so ask before you book.
How much should I tip on a national parks tour?
It depends on the company. Trafalgar suggests $5–7 a day for the Travel Director and $3–5 a day for the driver. G Adventures suggests $10–15 a day for its Expedition Leaders on its Yellowstone trip. Collette leaves tour manager and driver tips out of the fare.
Sources · 27 links · checked October 2026
- NPS: Expanded access for summer 2026 (Arches, Glacier, Rocky Mountain, Yosemite)
- NPS Zion: 2026 Angels Landing lottery dates
- NPS Zion: Spring, summer, fall and winter
- NPS Arches: Fiery Furnace permits
- NPS Glacier: Going-to-the-Sun Road general info
- NPS Yellowstone: Park roads
- NPS Yellowstone: Safety
- NPS Grand Canyon: North Rim status
- Yellowstone National Park Lodges: Advance reservation window
- Tauck: New Yellowstone, Bryce and Zion journeys for 2027
- Cosmos: The Grand Canyon & Utah’s Mighty Five
- Trafalgar: Utah’s Mighty Five National Parks
- Trafalgar: Five Epic National Parks
- G Adventures: Camping Utah’s Mighty 5
- TourRadar (reseller): G Adventures National Parks Family Journey, Yellowstone and Grand Teton
- NPS: Nonresident fees
- NPS: Entrance passes
- NBC Miami: TSA $45 fee for travelers without REAL ID (Dec 1, 2025)
- Globus: America’s National Parks
- G Adventures: Journeys, Iconic Wildlife of Yellowstone and Grand Teton
- Intrepid: Hiking Utah’s National Parks
- Road Scholar: The Best of Glacier National Park
- Global Journeys (US reseller): 2027 national parks tour listing
- Global Journeys (US reseller): 2027 national parks tour listing, page 4
- Global Journeys (US reseller): 2027 national parks tour listing, page 2
- Trafalgar: Tipping on a Trafalgar tour
- Collette: Terms and conditions