Northern Adventure (Start Los Angeles) View More Reviews

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Meet up with your Contiki crew and Tour Manager before we hit the road. Journey through Southern California and the vast Mojave Desert, with its renowned Joshua trees, into Nevada.

Get ready to arrive in larger-than-life Las Vegas – a manmade entertainment oasis smack in the middle of the desert. Dubbed “Sin City”, it’s all about glitz, neon lights and excess.

See the bright lights of this city and its world famous casinos in a first taste of Vegas kitsch. As the group heads down the main drag, the “Strip”, your Tour Manager will fill you in on the story behind the city.

Then cruise downtown to Fremont Street where you’ll experience the spectacular light and laser show in a massive pedestrian mall.

Dinner

With a free day, you’ve got time to get a real feel for this outrageous town, so keep an eye out for Elvis impersonators and fast-paced chapel weddings!

Explore more of the Strip and check out over-the-top versions of international icons, like the Eiffel Tower, Venetian canals and gondolas, a Roman temple or the pyramid, whose nightlight can be seen from the moon. Try your luck at one of the casinos and sit yourself down at a blackjack table with the high-rollers. For a different kind of thrill you can visit a Strip-view roller coaster or sky-high theme park. If you work up an appetite, tuck into an all you can eat buffet or eat from the kitchen of a celebrity chef.

Discover the quirky side of Las Vegas’ at the Neon Museum and for a look into this town’s atomic heyday in the 50s, visit the Atomic Testing Museum.

There’s a chance to discover the mind-blowing landscape of the Grand Canyon, one of the world’s most recognizable natural wonders, in a fantastic optional helicopter flight.

If you just want to relax, position yourself poolside back at the hotel and soak up the Las Vegas sun.

Tonight, see an optional variety show with the group or get some pointers on Las Vegas’ hot spots from your Tour Manager and make the most of this towns’ 24/7 action with some of your new friends.

Hotel

It’s a change of scene today when we leave Las Vegas and visit Zion National Park – with loads of greenery, waterfalls, colourful cliffs, and rock formations it’s a far cry from the bright lights and glamour of Las Vegas. Your Tour Manager will point out the park’s landmarks, including the Watchman and the West Temple.

Strap into some waders for an unusual optional through Zion’s Narrows, one of North America’s most popular hikes as sheer vertical sandstone walls climb up to 1300 ft (400 m) and support hanging gardens. This hiking trail runs through the Virgin River, so plan on getting wet!
Later, pull into small-town Kanab, gateway to several national parks. It might look familiar, as over 150 old westerns were filmed here.

Hotel Dinner

Today, we discover the mind-blowing landscape of the Grand Canyon, one of the world’s most recognizable natural wonders and pride of Arizona.
A day here means time to see the breath-taking immensity of the canyon. It’s truly a wonder you can’t take your eyes off!

Hike along the rim for full-blown vistas of the dramatic scenery. See some of the oldest exposed rocks on earth, take in the depths of the abyss and soak up the wildness of the area. There are trails for all levels of hiking, so take it up a notch or cruise along at your own pace.

Hotel Breakfast

This morning hit another national park known for its hoodoos (rock spires streaked in whites, yellows and oranges), Bryce Canyon National Park. Take in the strange shapes, vivid colours and rugged rocks that rise up as we hike a trail in the park.

Then it’s over to Salt Lake City, host of the 2002 Winter Olympics, in an awesome mountain setting. Use your free time to visit Salt Lake City’s most famous site and spiritual centre, Temple Square, where you’ll see the six-spire Mormon Temple and the egg-shaped Tabernacle – home to a 12,000 pipe organ and known for its fabulous acoustics.

Hotel Breakfast

Today you head toward the towering peaks of the Teton Range and stop for lunch in quaint and rustic Jackson – a real rancher’s town. Check out the main square’s archway, made out of hundreds of elk antlers.

Then we’re up for some of the USA’s most awe-inspiring scenery as we head to Yellowstone, the world’s first national park. The result of a massive volcanic eruption, the park is a breathtaking spectacle of nature.

Hotel Breakfast

Spend the day in this natural wonder made up of mud pools, fossil forests, half the world’s geysers and an unparalleled amount of wildlife. Keep your eyes peeled for herds of buffalo, moose, wolves, grizzlies and eagles. Go explore!

Choose to get a guaranteed and closer look at Yellowstone’s gray wolves and grizzly bears in their natural habitat on an optional trip to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center.

Learn about the forces of nature that formed the park from your Tour Manager, who’ll take you to Yellowstone’s colorful Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Lake and Old Faithful – a very reliable geyser which explodes boiling hot water.

Hotel Breakfast

Today, it’s on to Cody. With pick-up trucks, dusty streets, lots of cattle and some legendary history, this ‘rodeo capital of the world’ still has its Wild West charm.

This afternoon why not try a white-water rafting optional on the river if the conditions are right - and have a go with the paddle in a fun ride.

Or use your free time to check out Cody’s Historic Trail Town and get the low down on the cowboys who used to hang out in the local saloons, like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or see the Irma Hotel Bar, an expensive gift from Queen Victoria to Buffalo Bill Cody, the town’s namesake.

Tonight, if the season’s right, you’ve got a chance to experience an authentic rodeo and see professional cowboys at work in a fun night time optional.

Hotel Breakfast

Cut into Wyoming’s cowboy country and travel across historic routes that the Pony Express (postal service on horseback) used to follow and see where the pioneers lived. Stop off at the Devil’s Tower, a massive natural monument formed by volcanic activity.

Hotel Breakfast, Dinner

Today is all about South Dakota’s Black Hills - sacred land to the Sioux and patriotic hot spot for Americans.

Visit iconic Mt Rushmore and see the 18 m (60ft) stony faces of four former US presidents. It took over 14 years to carve Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington and Roosevelt into the rock.

You’ll be blown away by the massive monument of the famous Sioux warrior, Crazy Horse. Standing at 563 feet tall and carved out of rock, this work in progress is amazing. Get a crash course in heroism and learn how he led the Sioux tribes to victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn.

From Crazy Horse join an optional horse-back ride through the Buckhorn Range of the Black Hills National Forest. Or if horses aren’t for you, take an optional Jeep ride through this rugged land instead. You’ll see the untamed wilderness of the Black Hills, still home to wildlife including bison and bald eagles.

Get ready for Deadwood and a real taste of the Wild West. Packed with old saloons, gambling parlors and Wild West storefronts from the gold rush era, Deadwood is National Historic Landmark. See shoot-outs in the street in the former stomping ground of outlaws like Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok.

Tonight, take a special trip out to see Mt. Rushmore under the starry sky and dramatically lit from below.

Hotel Breakfast

Watch the amazing natural sites of South Dakota go by as you journey through Badlands National Park, past a surreal, lunar landscape of rugged-edged cliffs, sharp spires and crevices. With a stop here there’s time to walk the easy Fossil Trail, take in all the fossils on display within the park.

You travel across the county’s biggest prairies and through a region once dominated by the Sioux Tribes – the only Native American Nation to defeat the US army.

Arrive in Sioux Falls and get the background behind the city’s name with a visit to Falls Park, where many tribes originally established their homes. Tonight dinner is on the east bank of the Big Sioux River in Falls Park, located in a restored 1908 hydroelectric plant.

Hotel Breakfast, Dinner

Today we travel through America’s heartland to Wisconsin and the friendly college town of Madison. If you’re up for a night out, grab a few buddies and hang out with the lively student population on State Street, where there’s a choice of taverns, local breweries, comedy clubs and bars.

Hotel Breakfast, Dinner

This morning we’ll stop in Milwaukee to visit the Harley Davidson Museum and Miller Brewery. Learn about the city’s famous brew in a behind the scenes before heading to the Windy City, Chicago.

Your tour ends this evening upon arrival to Chicago so it’s time to say goodbye to your new friends and Tour Manager. If you’re staying a night in Chicago you can join an optional deep dish pizza dinner.

Hotel Breakfast