Experience Americas Most Treasured Roads
Touring the Byway
385 miles | 11 Days/10 Nights | Gateway City: Albuquerque, New Mexico
The traditional way to travel Historic Route 66 is from East to West – the same direction those escaping the Midwest headed for California. We begin this itinerary in Albuquerque, now with the longest urban stretch of Route 66 in the country (Arizona’s stretch is rural), winding its way through four of the city’s historic neighborhoods.
As you pass through the Painted Cliffs, you’ll come upon Lupton, the first Arizona town on Historic Route 66. As you travel west, take in the classic attractions such as tipi lodging, roadside diners, motor court hotels, and the famous neon signs!
View the Detailed Itinerary below to see the full route, which is complete with dining, shopping, and lodging recommendations!
Highlighted Attractions
Grand Canyon National Park
A World Heritage Site and geologic wonder, the Grand Canyon encompasses over 1.2 million acres. Over 1,500 plant, 355 bird, 89 mammal, 47 reptile, 9 amphibian and 17 fish species are present. At the Grand Canyon Visitor Center get information about shuttle buses and ranger-led programs. Get your first view of the canyon by walking to Mather Point. An eight-mile round trip on Hermit Road takes you to the river at Hopi, Mohave and Pima Points, as well as to Hermits Rest, a historic landmark with a great view of the river. Refer to the shuttle information to visit other parts of the Park.
Petrified Forest National Park
The nearly 350 square miles of Petrified Forest National Park are littered with petrified wood pushed upward by cataclysmic natural events, the same ones that created the highly eroded and colorful surrounding badlands. The Rainbow Forest, strewn with colorful petrified wood, surrounds the Rainbow Forest Museum that explains the geologic history that created the Park. Be sure to see the petroglyphs on Newspaper Rock, the ruined village of Puerco Pueblo, and the Painted Desert Inn, a 1930s adobe building that serves as a Hopi museum.
Grand Canyon West Rim
The Hualapai tribe, “People of the Tall Pines” created new attractions to feature different views of the Grand Canyon from their reservation. The Skywalk is a 10-foot-wide horseshoe-shaped cantilever bridge with a glass walkway to view the canyon floor 4,000 feet below. You can also immerse yourself in Native American culture through dance performances and a self-guided tour on a path lined with traditional housing, ovens and sweat lodges, all the while imaging simpler times when the Hualapai, Navajo, Plains, Hopi, and Havasupai roamed the lands.
The Powerhouse
Once suppling power to the area’s towns and mines, today you’ll find that the 1907 building of the Desert Power and Water Company has been completely transformed into the Arizona Route 66 Museum featuring vintage cars and motorcycles dioramas, the Route 66 Electric Car Museum, the Carlos Elmer Photo Gallery, Bob Boze Bell’s ‘The 66 Kid’ Exhibition, the offices of the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, and Kingman Visitor Center.
Las Vegas
Everybody has to experience Las Vegas once in a lifetime! There’s no other city like it in the world. Interestingly, Las Vegas began as a Mormon settlement in 1855, but it wasn’t until the land was auctioned off in 1905 that the town began growing. Gambling was legalized in 1931, the same year that construction on the Hoover Dam began. When the first hotel opened on the strip 10 years later, Las Vegas had a population of 8,500. Today the population is over 1 million and the city welcomes over 30 million visitors each year. The route referred to as “The Strip” is a National Scenic byway lined with mega monolith resort casinos hosting every fantasy land imaginable. In addition, another National Scenic Byway, the Las Vegas Boulevard, traverses downtown. If you are under the impression that Las Vegas is all casinos and neon lights, granted, there is a lot of that. Yet, within the glitz and glamour, you’ll find an amazing number of art galleries and museums that punctuate the town.
To experience all that Historic Route 66: Rambling the Mother Road has to offer, review the complete itinerary below!
This detailed itinerary includes:
- A complete trip experience organized in geographic order, to print down and go.
- A full description of the Byway tour.
- Each trip experience begins in a gateway city with commercial flight availability (and often ending in another) to enhance the Byway experience.
- Attractions and activities along the full length of the Byway selected to truly tell the story of the places you visit.
- Detailed description of each attraction and activity, including the address, telephone number, hours of operation, admission fees and suggested time to allow for a visit.
- Accommodations (related to the theme of the Byway or unique to the destination wherever possible) positioned in the correct locations and including breakfast wherever possible.
- Dining suggestions positioned in the correct locations for lunch and dinner.
- All attractions, accommodations and dining locations arranged into Days that allow time for relaxation, savoring meals and enjoying the experience.
- A road trip to create memories and intrigue your mind.