Las Vegas vs Utah Mighty 5

Las Vegas built an entire city around entertainment — the Strip's casino resorts recreate Paris, Venice, and New York within walking distance of each other, staging residencies, fountain shows, and round-the-clock dining. Beyond the neon, Red Rock Canyon and the Grand Canyon are both feasible day trips from a city that never fully turns its lights off.

Utah's Mighty 5 is the classic Southwest road trip: five national parks strung across roughly 400 miles of red-rock desert, each completely different from the last. Start in Zion, where the Virgin River has carved a sheer sandstone canyon you explore by shuttle, then climb to Bryce Canyon's amphitheaters of orange hoodoos at more than 8,000 feet. Scenic Byway 12, one of the most beautiful drives in the country, carries you to Capitol Reef, a quieter park of cliffs, petroglyphs and pioneer orchards near the small town of Torrey. The trip ends in Moab, base for Arches and its 2,000-plus stone arches and for Canyonlands, where the Island in the Sky mesa looks down on the Colorado and Green rivers. Most travelers fly into Las Vegas or Salt Lake City, rent a car and spend about a week, sleeping in Springdale, Bryce or Tropic, Torrey and Moab. Plan ahead: Arches uses a timed-entry system in its busy season, Angels Landing needs a permit, and summer afternoons regularly top 100°F (38°C), so early starts, plenty of water and spring or fall dates make the biggest difference.