LA in 6 Days on a Budget (With Daily Costs)

Six Days From LA: Death Valley, Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and Zion

Six days is enough to take the 5-day Death Valley and Grand Canyon loop and extend it one state further, into Utah’s Zion National Park, using Las Vegas as the base for both side trips rather than packing up a hotel room every night. It’s a real desert-and-canyon circuit by the end of it: one national monument, one desert park, one tribal-land canyon rim, and one more national park, all reachable from a single rental car out of LA. Only got five days? Drop Zion and use the 5-day version instead; got one more, the 7-day version adds Bryce Canyon on top of this.

Book these before you go:

Day 1: Los Angeles to Death Valley

The drive to the Furnace Creek area runs 260-270 miles and 4.5-5 hours. Entry is $30 per vehicle for seven days at a cashless kiosk (details on the official NPS Death Valley site ), no NPS non-resident surcharge here. Cover Zabriskie Point and Badwater Basin in the afternoon, and stay at Furnace Creek or Stovepipe Wells, or push 45 minutes further to Beatty, Nevada for rooms roughly 60% cheaper and gas about 25% cheaper.

Day 2: Death Valley to Las Vegas

A short morning stop at Dante’s View, then 120-142 miles and 2 to 2.5 hours to Las Vegas via NV-160. Base yourself here for the next four nights; an off-Strip property avoids the heaviest resort fees, which run $35-65 a night at mid-Strip and luxury hotels.

Day 3: Grand Canyon West Rim, a day trip from Vegas

Budget 125 miles and 2 to 2.5 hours each way, plus several hours at the canyon; leave by 7am. General Admission is $67 per person (shuttle plus viewpoints), the All-Access Pass with the Skywalk runs about $99 (roughly $113.54 with fees). The West Rim is Hualapai tribal land, not an NPS unit (official visitor FAQs ), so there’s no $35 vehicle fee and no $100 non-resident surcharge, the opposite of what you’ll pay in Zion two days from now.

Day 4: Las Vegas to Zion National Park

The drive north is 160-170 miles and 2.5 to 3 hours via I-15, longer with traffic near the Virgin River Gorge; you’ll also lose an hour crossing from Pacific into Mountain time. Zion charges $35 per vehicle for seven days plus a $100 per-person non-resident surcharge (16 and older) that started January 2026, on top of the base fee (current Zion fees ). The park’s shuttle is free and doesn’t need a separate ticket or reservation, though popular hikes like Angels Landing and the Narrows require their own permits. Base yourself in Springdale, right at the park entrance, for the evening.

Day 5: Zion, then back to Las Vegas

Spend the morning on the Riverside Walk or the Emerald Pools trail, easy walks that don’t need a permit, then retrace the drive back to Vegas, another 2.5 to 3 hours plus the hour you gain back crossing into Pacific time.

Day 6: Las Vegas to Los Angeles

The final leg is the same 270 miles and 4-4.5 hours south on I-15. Leave by early afternoon and fill up in Nevada one last time before the state line.

Day Focus Drive Overnight
1 LA to Death Valley 260-270 mi / 4.5-5h Furnace Creek or Beatty
2 Death Valley to Las Vegas 120-142 mi / 2-2.5h Las Vegas
3 Grand Canyon West Rim day trip 125 mi / 2-2.5h each way Las Vegas
4 Las Vegas to Zion 160-170 mi / 2.5-3h Springdale
5 Zion, drive back to Vegas 160-170 mi / 2.5-3h Las Vegas
6 Vegas to LA 270 mi / 4-4.5h Back in LA

Do both Zion and the Grand Canyon charge the $100 surcharge?

Only Zion does on this route. The Grand Canyon’s West Rim, the side reached from Vegas, sits on Hualapai land and charges its own admission with no NPS surcharge attached. Zion, along with the South Rim , Bryce Canyon, and Sequoia, is one of the 11 parks where non-U.S. residents 16 and older now pay $100 per person on top of the regular entrance fee.

Is it worth buying the $250 non-resident annual pass for this trip?

Only if you’re also doing Bryce Canyon or another surcharge park on the same trip; that pass covers the holder plus three more adults in one vehicle across all 11 affected parks. For a six-day trip with only Zion on the surcharge list, paying the one-time $100 per person is usually cheaper than the $250 pass unless your group is three or more.

What this route skips, and why

Sequoia National Park is a genuine wider-gateway option from LA, but it’s a separate direction entirely, roughly 215-225 miles and 4.5-5.5 hours north via I-5, CA-99, and CA-198, and it doesn’t combine sensibly with this eastbound Death Valley-Vegas-Utah loop. Treat it as its own trip rather than trying to bolt it onto this one. Fuel up before leaving Zion; gas inside Springdale carries a small premium over what you’ll find back in Vegas.