Rockies Explorer

Fourteen nights looping out of Denver through the Rockies, the Black Hills and up into Wyoming, which packs a remarkable amount of landscape into a fortnight. Flights, car and hotels are arranged together from the UK with a road book.

Two nights in Denver start it, then Rocky Mountain National Park, where Trail Ridge Road climbs above twelve thousand feet. Cheyenne follows, then two nights in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and the second of those days is the busiest of the trip: Jewel Cave, Wind Cave, the Crazy Horse memorial and Custer State Park are all within reach, with the Badlands nearby and Mount Rushmore at the centre of it.

Devils Tower, the volcanic plug that rises eight hundred feet out of the Wyoming grassland, comes on the drive to the Bighorns. Cody follows, then two nights in Yellowstone and two in Grand Teton, which is the pairing most people want from this part of the country. Dinosaur National Monument and its quarry wall of exposed fossils sit on the way south, and Glenwood Springs closes the trip before the run back to Denver.

Around 1,500 miles over a fortnight with nine stops. Be direct with them about dates: Trail Ridge Road, the Yellowstone interior roads and the Beartooth Highway out of Cody all close for roughly half the year and the page carries no seasonal note at all, so this is a summer trip in practice. The itinerary is bespoke and departures are arranged around your dates. It suits anyone who wants the Rockies and the Black Hills without the Utah canyons.