The Rough Guide to Southwest USA 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides) - Softcover

Ward, Greg; Rough Guides

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9781848361874: The Rough Guide to Southwest USA 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1848361874 ISBN 13: 9781848361874

Publisher: Rough Guides, 2009

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Offers travel tips along with information on accommodations, restaurants, attractions, outdoor activities, and shopping.

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About the Author:

Greg Ward is an established travel writer and expert on the islands of Hawaii. He has worked for Rough Guides since 1985. He is the author of The Rough Guide to Barcelona (with Steve Tallantyre), The Rough Guide to Brittany and Normandy, and The Rough Guide to Southwest USA. Visit him online at gregward.info.

Rough Guides are written by expert authors who are passionate about both writing and travel. They have detailed knowledge of the areas they write about—having either traveled extensively or lived there—and their expertise shines through on every page. It's priceless information, delivered with wit and insight, providing the down-to-earth, honest read that is the hallmark of Rough Guides.

PLANNING YOUR ITINERARY

The only way to explore the Southwest in any detail is to drive yourself around; the very limited public transport options are outlined on p.20. However long your vacation may be, aim to spend most of your time on the Colorado Plateau, seeing as much as possible of the Four Corners region and southern Utah.

Your exact itinerary will depend largely on which city serves as your starting point. In one week, you could fly into Las Vegas, and loop around the Colorado River to Grand Canyon, Zion and possibly Bryce Canyon national parks; into Phoenix, to reach Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon; into Albuquerque, and see Santa Fe, Taos and �coma Pueblo; or to Salt Lake City, and make a lightning tour of all southern Utah’s national parks.

With two weeks, you can extend any of the above itineraries to cover most of the Colorado Plateau, making sure you get to Canyon de Chelly, Monument Valley and Mesa Verde. Only if you have three weeks or more are you likely to manage any large-scale hiking – for example into the stunning Havasupai Indian Reservation, or down to Phantom Ranch in the Grand Canyon – or to detour south into southern New Mexico or southern Arizona.

WHEN TO GO

Summer is the peak tourist season for most of the Southwest, though temperatures in excess of 100�F render cities such as Phoenix and Tucson all but unbearable, and make it an ordeal even to get out of your car in many of the national parks. Hikers, bikers and rafters do better to come either between mid-September and mid-October, when the crowds are gone and dazzling fall colors brighten the canyons, or in April and May, when wildflowers bloom in the desert.

If your timings aren’t flexible, however, don’t worry. It’s always possible to escape the heat – the thermometer drops by 3�F for every thousand feet above sea level, so Santa Fe, for example, is always relatively cool – and the summer is also peak period for the region’s festivals, as detailed on p.187.

Winters can be seriously cold, and snowfalls close down certain areas altogether – don’t reckon on seeing Mesa Verde, or the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, between October and April. Those parks that remain open are often at their most beautiful when frosted with snow, however, while ski resorts like Telluride and Taos are in full swing, and Tucson and Phoenix fill up with sun-seeking "snowbirds" from colder states.

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