1 Car and 5 Tents with Under Canvas Glamping

Allow us to show you the ultimate portmanteau of family trips with luxury tents as your home base to national parks.

The saying “kill two birds with one stone” sounds a little brutal, doesn’t it? Let’s say we’ve evolved past equating the achievement of multiple tasks to MURDER, and on to achieving multiple tasks with family-friendly adventure instead. There’s the kid-approved “roast two dogs with one stick” or the dad-joke-approved “saw two logs with one campsite.” 

We can go with “see five parks with one minivan” for your next family road trip. And hey, look who just pulled up! Under Canvas, the ultimate glamping in Utah guides.

A Family Road Trip to Rule Them All

Make it a national park tour that fits two weeks of adventure under one roof. Well, five roofs when you’re following this glamping in Utah itinerary.

This trip is definitely multiple things combined. It’s exploraxation: relaxing nights and a world of exploration. It’s a dramedy: nature’s drama combined with road trip comedy. It’s your own rockumentary: a red-rockin’ family documentary. Because let’s BeReal, you’ve gotta capture the beauty in the moment. 

It’s glamorous lodging combined with rugged(ish) camping. It’s glamping. So grab your backpack, or portmanteau if you’re an old-fashioned traveler, and hit the road with Under Canvas and The Grand Circle Road Trip.

Grand Circle Travel: Infinity Amenities

The Grand Circle Road Trip is a cool way to show your family the Southwest’s national parks and monuments. Stay at Under Canvas properties along the way, where you’ll be surrounded by nature, but sleeping in the utmost comfort, style and luxury each night. See? Glamping. 

You’ll drive a giant loop of over 950 miles and more than spectacular scenery if you take the full recommended route. You can stay one night at each place, but we recommend multiple nights at each stop, making for about two weeks of glamping in Utah. This lets you make the most of everything along the way and at each destination. Some of the journeys to each glamping spot may take most of the day, especially if you stop to hike or sightsee.

For this loop, you’ll stay at five of the Under Canvas destinations. Each location has its own charm and beauty. Twinkling lights inside safari-style tents and stargazing at twinkling lights in some of the darkest skies? Talk about ambiance. 

After a day of adventuring, you can sit your butte down at your campsite to enjoy:

• Hot showers with organic bath products
• King-sized beds and kid suites
• Wood-burning stoves for authentic camp cookin’
• Comfy West Elm furniture for the most stylish of lounging
• On-site camp activities like live music 
• Adventure coordinators (in case you can’t decide which adventure to do)
• Optional en-suite bathrooms (is that really an option, though? Seems like a no-brainer to book this one)
  

Under Canvas knows y’all be road trippin’ and knows y’all need snacks to sustain your adventures. Especially those with kiddos. Each site provides: 

• Free coffee and tea to keep that buzz going, ya know?
• Free afternoon fruit to stave off the 3 p.m. sleepies
• On-site dining with seasonal food (except Moab)
• Fresh grab-n’-go items like sandwiches or parfaits 
• Free nightly s’mores (but it’s BYOHD — bring your own hot dog)

Tent space matters. No more stepping on your tent-mates and slipping on their sleeping bag when getting up for a 2 a.m. bathroom break. Under Canvas has spacious tent options for couples, small groups or bigger families:

• Suite tents sleep up to four people
• Stargazer, Safari and Deluxe tents sleep two people
• Kids tents sleep two kiddos
• Some locations have two-tent suites for larger groups

Destination Deets

Once you pick your group size and desired tent size, put on your safari hats and start your glamping in Utah road trip.

Can’t Think of a Moabetter Place

Your road trip starts 3-½  hours from Salt Lake City near the base of the La Sal Mountains. You’ll be surrounded by a plethora of plateaus, gear shops, dusty mountain bikers and granola grandmas with Chaco tan lines.

Welcome to Under Canvas Moab, named Best Resort Hotel in Utah by Travel and Leisure. That’s pretty impressive for fancy camping! This one is just north of Moab by Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park, with access to some of the craziest outdoor activities in the world. 

If you’re unsure where to start, Under Canvas has guided activities:

• Hikes and drives through Canyonlands or Arches National Parks 
• Canyoneering through slots like Zig Zag Canyon. Zagyoneering. 
• Rock climbing, with levels from easy-peasy to holy-slickrock
• Hummer Safari rides to famous geological sites
• River rafting along the Colorado River

Bryce is Nice 

Jumping junipers! Up next is Under Canvas Bryce. Take the more scenic route to get there by going through Escalante. It takes you along Scenic Byway 12, an All-American Road, filled with culture, history and some iconic hikes. Hiconics, as we like to say. Lower Calf Creek Falls or Capitol Reef National Park are great places to stop for such hikes.  

This 4 to 5-hour, nearly 250-mile drive takes you to a spot just 15 minutes outside Bryce Canyon National Park. This high-alpine location has cooler temps, and even cooler scenery of gnarled trees and hoodoo figurines.  

Book a guided adventure in Bryce’s out-of-this-world scenery:

• Hike and hide-and-seek among hoodoos (JK, please don’t hide from your guides)
• Scenic driving tour of Bryce Canyon, perfect for when you want the kids to ask someone else, “Are we there yet?”
• E-bike tour along the Red Canyon Bike Path 
• Canyoneering through slot canyons

Zen for Zion 

Next up is Under Canvas Zion, only a 30-minute drive to the entrance of Zion National Park. It’s a place where zen meets adventure. Zenventure. Morning time you’ll be doing yoga beneath towering bazillion-year-old walls, by afternoon you’re on top of those same walls looking down. What a trip.

The drive takes you past photography points like Checkerboard Mesa along the scenic Zion-Mount Carmel Highway. Scenic might be too generic a word, actually. Stunning? Jaw-dropping? Stun-dropping? You’re also close to other stun-droppers like Snow Canyon State Park and Grafton the ghost town. 

Try these guided adventures near Zion:

• Hikes on hikes, including the Narrows or Angels Landing
• Canyoneering in what can only be described as potential water holes (be prepared to swim and don’t actually drink the water!)
• Horseback rides to truly epic overlooks
• Rock climbing for basalt-belayers both novice and experienced
• Mountain biking or e-bike tours for pedal-heads
• Stargazing tours (Zion is an International Dark Sky Park)

Next Steps: Grandest Staircase

From there you’ll head to Under Canvas Lake Powell — Grand Staircase. This is your chance to stay near sandy beaches without having to drive all the way to the coast. Just 10 minutes from Lake Powell’s Lone Rock Beach, you’ll be surrounded by some of the most famous fluvial funventures. 

You’ll be on top of a plateau, with slot canyons and other mind-bending scenery right outside your tent. You can get permits for Antelope Canyon, enter the lottery for The Wave, visit Rainbow Bridge National Monument and see fossils in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Some of the highlight guided adventures:

• Float the Colorado River through Horseshoe Bend
• Hike through Glen Canyon, Lake Powell or even Buckskin Gulch — one of the longest slot canyons in the world!
• Lake Powell boat and watersport tour
• UTV tour through the sandy terrain
• Canyoneering in Elephant Canyon, sans elephants

Side Tour to Something Grand

Take a lil’ detour out of Utah and into Arizona for your final glamping at Under Canvas Grand Canyon. It’s just 25 minutes from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. 

You can drop down into the canyon from multiple trailheads or drive to multiple overlooks, like the one aptly named Ooh Ahh. Just don’t be the dingus that gets too close to the edge for pictures. You’re near Havasupai and its magical blue waterfalls and close to the Kaibab National Forest with lotsa lakes and the lotsa ponderosa pines to mountain bike through.

The Grand Canyon is gargantuan, with gargantuan nearby adventures. Let Under Canvas be your guides:

• Hiking and driving through Grand Canyon National Park
• Jeep tours through rugged terrain to canyon overlooks
• Stargazing and astrophotography tour (we’ve got another International Dark Sky Park!)
• Cycling tour or bike rentals 

Back to Moab

Head back to Moab to complete your 950-mile glamping in Utah route, where you’ll pass through Monument Valley or you can take a little detour to Four Corners. 

And surprise, surprise, there’s one final place to glamp, right next to where you started your trip in Moab. Under Canvas has a new resort brand called ULUM Moab, adding an extra dose of luxury. It features all suite tents, a full-service restaurant and outdoor dipping pools. It also has zentastic activities like a crystal sound bath, paint night and a plant medicine walk.  

You’ve looped through some of the most insane landscapes of all time. Insanescapes. Sounds like this trip came … full circle. 

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