Rolling Plains & Majestic Mountains Tour

Rolling Plains & Majestic Mountains Tour Itinerary

Day 1 – UK / Chicago
A daytime flight from your chosen UK airport will take you to the busiest airport in the world, Chicago, where you are met on arrival and transferred to your hotel for a two night stay. Summon the energy to see a little of the Windy City tonight, even if it’s just a lakeside walk in a bracing breeze or a glimpse of America’s biggest post office among the soaring skyscrapers.
Hotel: Best Western Grant Park

Day 2 - Chicago
With a full day at leisure in Chicago, you could make a beeline for the stylish shops and galleries of North Michigan Avenue… affectionately known as the Magnificent Mile: take your pick from a whole host of museums – celebrating everything from holograms to industry and local art. Enjoy an effortless perspective on the city from the decks of a harbour cruise, or opt for sightseeing in shorthand... with panoramic views from the Skydeck of Sears Tower, 1,353 feet above the street.
Hotel: Best Western Grant Park

Day 3 – Chicago / Sioux City
As we cross Illinois and Iowa our route takes us through massive flat plains, gives us a glimpse of small town America and crosses the mighty Mississippi before reaching the banks of ‘the muddy’ Missouri, at the point where it meets the Big Sioux River.
Hotel: Holiday Inn Downtown

Day 4 – Sioux City / Mt. Rushmore / Keystone
Wild-west movie watchers will feel right at home today as we cross the South Dakota grasslands passing lunar-stark Badlands National Park and then enter the Black Hills to be numbered among the 3 million visitors a year who make it to Mt. Rushmore. Carved on the granite cliff-side are the 60-foot high faces of former Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt. No matter however many times you’ve seen the photographs, you are never prepared for the sheer scale of this mammoth monument. Just three miles north is Keystone, our overnight destination.
Hotel: Presidents View Resort

Day 5 – Keystone / Bighorn Mountain / Cody
The wilds of Wyoming’s Sioux territories are the backdrop to much of our journey today, but first we’ll visit Deadwood – a historic National Landmark with restored gold-rush buildings and an air of respectability that belies it’s legendary past inhabitants…. Gunslingers Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp, Alice Tubbs – the brothel owner, Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok – who was shot in the back here in 1876. Climbing the Bighorn Mountains, we overnight in the high plateau town of Cody.
Hotel: Buffalo Bill Village

Day 6 – Cody / Yellowstone National Park
Leaving Buffalo Bill country, we follow the flow of the Shoshone River and take the Sylvan Pass though the Absaroka Mountains to reach the miles of wilderness that form Yellowstone National Park. Bears and bison, moose and elk are among the frequently spotted inhabitants and our tour of the park will take us past the crashing crescendo of the fall, to mud pots and hot pools and gushing geysers. We will overnight within the park.
Hotel: Yellowstone National Park Lodges

Day 7 – Yellowstone / Salt Lake City
A wildlife watching journey continues with a visit to neighbouring Grand Teton National Park, and we make a stop at Jackson (an odd mix of western town and ski resort), then track the Snake River to the triple-state boundary of Wyoming, Utah and Idaho and make our way out of the Rockies and down to the flatlands surrounding the Great Salt Lake and its City – where we overnight. This world-famous centre of the Mormon Church is a calm and intriguing place to stroll during an evening at leisure.
Hotel: Howard Johnson Express (B)

Day 8 – Salt Lake City / Bryce Canyon
From the forested foothills of the Wasatch Mountains, through lush green valleys, we travel to totally different landscapes among the red rocks of southern Utah and the amazing creations of Nature that form the eerily enticing Bryce Canyon. From the Colorado Plateau to New Mexico and Arizona, this stunning park is strewn with columns and cathedrals of carved stone, shaped by millennia of ice, wind and water. We overnight here.
Hotel: Best Western’s Ruby Inn

Day 9 – Bryce / Lake Powell / Grand Canyon
A scene-shifting journey south of here brings us to the grandest of natural attractions, the unerringly named Grand Canyon. We’ll cross the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River, cut through the 15- million acre Navajo Indian reservation, experience the arid emptiness of the Painted Desert and feel the welcoming coolness of the waters of Lake Powell before reaching our destination in time for a sunset spectacular at the Canyon’s rim.
Hotel: Grand Canyon National Park Lodges

Day 10 – Grand Canyon / Las Vegas
What a difference a day makes as we leave this awesome work of nature and its ghost-town surroundings to make our way to one of the liveliest places on earth - entertainment city, Las Vegas. Once you’re over the culture shock, have a glitzy night out at a swish cabaret, tour The Strip just to see the lights, enjoy the result of unbounded imagination in the form of truly fantastic hotels and maybe catch a song or two from the city’s ubiquitous Elvis impersonators.
Hotel: Imperial Palace

Day 11 – Las Vegas / Los Angeles
Leave the oasis of lights to re-enter the desert today, this time the Mojave en route to the San Bernardino Mountains. Once across the mountains, journey’s end is in sight as we head for the Pacific coast and city of Los Angeles. This sprawling city, with its toe in the water, stretches back into the hills – where the Hollywood sign reigns supreme. We give you a brief orientation tour en route to our hotel for the final night of the tour. Your evening is at leisure in L.A.
Hotel: Hollywood Heights

Day 12 – Los Angeles / UK
Sightseeing, sun soaking and souvenir shopping could be on your agenda this morning before transferring to the airport in comfortable time to check in for your overnight return flight to the UK.

Day 13 – Return Landing
Morning arrival at your chosen UK airport. Times vary.

Inclusions

• ■ Trans-Atlantic flights on scheduled airlines
• ■ 11 night’s accommodation
• ■ Services of a professional Jetsave Tour Director days 1-12
• ■ Meals as detailed: Breakfast (B)

Please be aware:
2010 itineraries may vary slightly to the 2009 itinerary shown. Please contact reservations for more information.

Please note:
Alternative but similar hotels may be used at certain times of the year.

FREE Transfers to your nearest international airport with National Express. Simply request your vouchers at time of booking.