My husband and I are teachers in the Kansas City area. For a long time, a trip like this — Zion, Bryce Canyon, Antelope Canyon, the Grand Canyon, and Sedona — felt completely out of reach. But points and miles changed everything, and this is the exact trip we took our family of four on for almost nothing out of pocket. If you are ready to start building your own travel strategy, head to my [Best Offers page] to see the cards I personally use and recommend. Everything you need to get started is right there.

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The Trip Overview

We flew roundtrip from Kansas City (MCI) to Las Vegas (LAS), picked up a rental car, and spent about ten days road tripping through southern Utah and Arizona before finishing in Sedona and flying home. Here is everything we paid and how we booked it.

Flights: $45 total for all four of us Rental car: $0 Zion area hotel: $0 Sedona hotel: $0

The only things we paid out of pocket were food, national park entrance fees, and one canyon tour.

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Flights: Southwest Points and the Companion Pass

Four roundtrip flights from Kansas City to Las Vegas cost us just under $45 total. We used Southwest Rapid Rewards points combined with the Southwest Companion Pass, which is hands down our most-used travel strategy every single year.

The Companion Pass lets you designate one person to fly with you on any Southwest flight, paid or award, for just the taxes and fees (typically around $5.60 each way on domestic routes). To earn it, you need to accumulate 135,000 qualifying Rapid Rewards points in a single calendar year. The fastest way to get there is through welcome bonuses on Southwest credit cards. Both my husband and I hold a Southwest personal card and a Southwest business card. When the welcome bonuses from both cards post to the same Rapid Rewards account, you can cross the 135,000-point threshold quickly and hold the pass for nearly two full years if you time it right.

I have a full step-by-step breakdown of exactly how we earn the Companion Pass on repeat. (Southwest Companion Pass Guide) And if you are ready to look at the cards that make it possible, visit my [Best Offers page] to see current options.

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Rental Car: Booked on Points Through the Chase Travel Portal

I booked our rental car through the Chase Travel portal using flexible Ultimate Rewards points. When you book through the portal with a Sapphire card, you also get primary rental car insurance built in, which means you can decline the coverage the rental company tries to upsell you at the counter. That alone saves a significant amount on most rentals. Our car effectively cost us $0 out of pocket. I have a full post walking through exactly how to book rental cars on points. [Link to rental cars on points post]

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Hotel: Zion National Park Area

For the first portion of our trip, we stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites Springdale/Zion National Park, booked on Hilton points using the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card. The property is walkable to all the restaurants and shops in Springdale and sits about a mile from the Zion Canyon entrance. Complimentary breakfast is included, and the view from the pool is genuinely stunning.

The staff went above and beyond in ways I did not expect. There were hot cocoa stations, trail snack bags to grab and go, afternoon cookies by the pool, and the woman at the front desk had a little case of petrified tree bark from her own property that she let our kids choose a piece from as a souvenir. It was one of those small details that made the whole stay feel special.

A few tips for booking Hilton properties on points: book as far in advance as possible to lock in lower point rates, and always take advantage of the fifth night free when you book five or more nights on points. That perk alone stretches your points significantly further.

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Zion National Park with Kids

Summer in Zion is stunning and hot. The key to a great experience is getting there before the crowds do. The front desk at our hotel told us to aim for the visitor center parking between 5:45 and 6:30 AM, and that advice was the best tip of the whole trip. By mid-morning, cars were parking all along the road in Springdale just to get inside.

If you want to avoid crowds entirely, Kolob Canyon is a much less visited section of Zion and absolutely worth a stop.

All of the hikes below are kid-friendly. The Narrows was closed during our visit, but we still had more than enough to keep the whole family busy.

Riverside Walk, Weeping Rock Trail, Grotto Trail, Emerald Pools, Sand Beach Trail, Pa’rus Trail, and Watchman Trail were all highlights.

One more thing: if you have a child currently in fourth grade, look up the Every Kid Outdoors program. It gives fourth graders free national park admission for the full school year, and the free pass also covers adults in the same vehicle at fee-based sites.

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Bryce Canyon National Park and the Drive Between

Bryce Canyon is one of those places that genuinely stops you in your tracks the first time you see it. We hiked Bristlecone Loop, Queen’s Garden Trail, the Sunrise to Sunset Rim Trail, the Hoodoo Trail, and Birdeye Trail. All are manageable with kids and each one gives you a completely different view of the hoodoos.

On the drive back to Springdale from Bryce, do not skip Red Hollow Slot Canyon in Orderville, Utah. It is a short, easy hike through a narrow red rock canyon and completely free. Right after that, we stopped at Archie’s Food to Die For, also in Orderville, and it was absolutely worth it. This little stretch of highway between Bryce and Zion has more to offer than most people realize.

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Antelope Canyon

South Antelope Canyon was one of the most visually stunning places we have ever been. The light inside the canyon does things that photos can never fully capture. Tours must be booked through the Navajo Nation, and we chose Dixie’s Lower Antelope Canyon Tours. The tour runs about an hour and is worth every penny. Book in advance, especially in summer.

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Grand Canyon: The Drive-By Worth Doing

We did what I call a drive-by of the Grand Canyon, and I would absolutely recommend it even if you only have a few hours. We entered through the Desert View Watchtower entrance on the east side, which is a far less crowded approach than the main South Rim entrance. From there we drove to Grand Canyon Village, took in several viewpoints, and walked the Rim Trail. It gave us a real sense of the canyon’s scale without requiring a full-day commitment.

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Sedona: Where We Swam More Than We Hiked

Sedona surprised us. We had pictured a hot, dry landscape and got something that felt almost lush by comparison, at least in the riparian areas. And in June, swimming was very much on the agenda.

Swimming Holes in Sedona

Sedona has some incredible places to cool off, and most of them are free or low cost. Slide Rock State Park was our favorite. We went early in the morning before the crowds arrived and had the best time. The natural rock slides into Oak Creek are exactly as fun as they look. There is an entry fee, and it can fill up and close early on hot days, so arriving early is essential.

Crescent Moon Recreation Area is a fantastic spot with a beach area along Oak Creek and the famous Cathedral Rock views right behind you. Bootlegger Day Use Area, Grasshopper Point, and Encinoso Picnic Site are all worth adding to your list as well. All of these are along the Oak Creek corridor inside the Coconino National Forest. I put together a full guide to the best swimming holes in Sedona if you want all the details in one place. [Link to Sedona swimming holes post]

Family-Friendly Hikes in Sedona and Coconino National Forest

The Coconino National Forest genuinely caught us off guard. We did not know what to expect from a national forest in Arizona, and it turned out to be one of the highlights of the whole trip. The red rock formations combined with the shade of the forest create a hiking environment that is far more comfortable than you might expect in June.

Some of our favorite family-friendly hikes around Sedona include the Huckaby Trail, Bell Rock Pathway, and Cathedral Rock Trail. These range in difficulty but all offer incredible views and are manageable with kids. I have a full post with mileage, difficulty ratings, and tips for hiking Sedona with children. [Link to Sedona family hikes post]

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Hotel: Sedona Booked on Points

For our three nights in Sedona, we used the World of Hyatt Credit Card to earn Hyatt points and then transferred flexible Chase Ultimate Rewards points to World of Hyatt to top off what we needed. We booked the Hyatt Residence Club Sedona for 36,000 points total. The combined cash value of our Zion and Sedona hotels was around $3,400. We would never have spent that out of pocket, and points made it completely free.

The Hyatt Residence Club is the kind of property where you feel like you are staying at a resort. Parking is included. The activities center had drinks and popcorn out every afternoon by the pool, along with ping pong, cornhole, and board games. Our kids loved every minute of it.

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How to Book a Trip Like This on Points

If you want to take a trip like this yourself, here is the basic framework we used.

For flights, the Southwest Companion Pass strategy is the starting point. You need a Southwest personal card and a Southwest business card, and you want to time your welcome bonuses to post in January of the year you want the pass so it runs through the end of the following year. That is nearly two full years of flying your companion for just taxes and fees. My full guide walks through every step. [Link to Southwest Companion Pass guide]

For hotels, we used two different point currencies on this trip. The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card covered Zion, and the World of Hyatt Credit Card combined with Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers covered Sedona. The key is knowing which cards to hold and how to let your everyday spending build toward real travel over time.

For the rental car, booking through the Chase Travel portal with a Sapphire card gives you both the free booking on points and the primary rental car insurance. You do not need to pay for the coverage at the counter.

Head to my [Best Offers page] to see all of the cards I personally use and recommend. That is the best place to start figuring out which ones make sense for your situation.

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What We Paid for 10 Days in Arizona and Utah

Flights for four: $45 Rental car: $0, booked with Chase Ultimate Rewards through the travel portal Zion area hotel: $0, booked with Hilton Honors points, free breakfast included Sedona hotel: $0, booked with 36,000 World of Hyatt points (cash value approximately $1,800) Total hotel cash value covered by points: approximately $3,400

Out of pocket: food, national park entrance fees, and the Antelope Canyon tour

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This is what points and miles actually look like for a real family of teachers from the Midwest. If you are ready to start building a strategy of your own, I would love to help you get there. Head to my [Best Offers page] to see the cards that made this trip possible and find the right starting point for your situation