Class C motorhome driving a desert highway toward red sandstone formations

Tool · airport comparator

Which airport for your RV trip?

Seven airports, ten parks: drive miles and km, the RV depots near each airport, time zone, altitude and winter catches. Estimates are marked [A]. No fares, because we can’t check them for your dates. Checked 2026-10-29.

Photo: Pond5 · licensed stock · credits

The cheapest flight is not always the cheapest trip. Every extra hundred miles in a rental motorhome costs fuel, rental miles and part of a holiday day. Pick the park you care most about, and two airports if you already have fares for them. The tool tells you how far each airport is, which RV depots sit near it, and what changes when you switch.

The park furthest into your trip, or the one you won’t skip

Optional

Optional. Flying in from Europe to LAX or SFO? Pick it here.

Your result

Pick a park to see the result.

Drive figures are car estimates from OpenStreetMap routing, airport to park, no stops [A]. A motorhome is slower: we add an hour or two on a full day [A]. Fuel uses 7–10 mpg for fleet Class C motorhomes from agent sheets [A]. The page address keeps your choice, so you can share it.

Quick answer

  • Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Death Valley: Las Vegas is the shortest start for Zion and Death Valley; Phoenix is the shortest for the Grand Canyon South Rim (233 mi vs 278 mi from Las Vegas) [A].
  • Arches and Bryce: Salt Lake City is closest to Arches (236 mi) and close to Bryce (275 mi, about the same as Las Vegas) [A].
  • Yellowstone: Bozeman is about 122 mi from Old Faithful, Salt Lake City about 356 mi [A]. In winter most park roads are closed (NPS).
  • Rocky Mountain: Denver, 76 mi to Estes Park [A].
  • California entry (LAX, SFO): good for Joshua Tree (LAX, 144 mi), Yosemite (SFO, 187 mi) and Death Valley (LAX, 270 mi). For Zion or the Grand Canyon you start 440 to 780 mi away, so a one-way rental or a domestic connection to Las Vegas or Phoenix is worth pricing.

All drive distances

Airport terminal to the park point named, by car, no stops [OSRM, A]. Miles first, kilometres below.

ParkLASPHXSLCDENBZNLAXSFO
Grand Canyon (South Rim)278 mi447 km233 mi375 km528 mi850 km706 mi1,136 km932 mi1,500 km508 mi818 km782 mi1,259 km
Zion (Springdale)171 mi275 km397 mi639 km313 mi504 km660 mi1,062 km716 mi1,152 km444 mi715 km718 mi1,156 km
Bryce Canyon273 mi439 km432 mi695 km275 mi443 km591 mi951 km678 mi1,091 km545 mi877 km820 mi1,320 km
Arches (Moab)466 mi750 km477 mi768 km236 mi380 km375 mi604 km639 mi1,028 km738 mi1,188 km975 mi1,569 km
Yellowstone (Old Faithful)783 mi1,260 km1,016 mi1,635 km356 mi573 km558 mi898 km122 mi196 km1,055 mi1,698 km980 mi1,577 km
Grand Teton (Jackson)680 mi1,094 km914 mi1,471 km282 mi454 km519 mi835 km217 mi349 km952 mi1,532 km930 mi1,497 km
Rocky Mountain (Estes Park)808 mi1,300 km873 mi1,405 km500 mi805 km76 mi122 km690 mi1,110 km1,081 mi1,740 km1,239 mi1,994 km
Yosemite Valley418 mi673 km686 mi1,104 km612 mi985 km1,070 mi1,722 km985 mi1,585 km315 mi507 km187 mi301 km
Joshua Tree196 mi315 km295 mi475 km622 mi1,001 km969 mi1,559 km1,025 mi1,650 km144 mi232 km482 mi776 km
Death Valley (Furnace Creek)121 mi195 km406 mi653 km557 mi896 km904 mi1,455 km960 mi1,545 km270 mi435 km501 mi806 km

RV depots near each airport

From each rental company’s own location pages. Distances are what the company publishes; where it only says “minutes”, we quote it. Nobody on this list picks you up at the terminal as standard: Cruise America says you arrange your own transport. More in airport pickup and one-way fees and the Arrival check, which tests your landing time against depot hours.

Las Vegas (LAS)

Pacific Time (UTC−8 in winter, UTC−7 in summer) · elevation 2,183 ft (665 m) [AIRNAV]

  • Cruise America: Henderson, 551 N. Gibson Rd · about 15–20 min (Cruise America) from the airport · Uber/Lyft named by Cruise America; closed Sundays [CA-LAS]
  • Cruise America: Las Vegas North, 1700 Industrial Rd · closed Sundays [CA-LASN]
  • El Monte RV + Road Bear RV: 3800 Boulder Hwy, Las Vegas · 7.5 mi (12.0 km) from the airport · same address on both sites [EM-LAS] [RB-LAS]
  • roadsurfer: Las Vegas station · address in the booking [RS]
  • Escape Campervans: Las Vegas · “just minutes” (Escape) from the airport · address given at booking [ES]

Summer heat is the issue here, not snow. Las Vegas hub →

Phoenix (PHX)

Arizona time, UTC−7 all year (no daylight saving) · elevation 1,135 ft (346 m) [AIRNAV]

  • Cruise America: Mesa, 11 West Hampton Ave · about 15–20 min (Cruise America) from the airport · Uber/Lyft or taxi named; closed Sundays [CA-PHX]
  • roadsurfer: Phoenix station · address in the booking [RS]
  • Escape Campervans: Phoenix · “minutes from” PHX (Escape) from the airport · instructions with the booking [ES]
  • El Monte RV, Road Bear RV: no Phoenix branch listed [EM-ALL] [RB-ALL]

Arizona does not change clocks: in summer it is one hour behind Utah and Colorado and on the same time as Las Vegas. Phoenix hub →

Salt Lake City (SLC)

Mountain Time (UTC−7 in winter, UTC−6 in summer) · elevation 4,231 ft (1,290 m) [AIRNAV]

  • Cruise America: Millcreek, 4125 South State St · no airport time published; closed Sundays [CA-SLC]
  • El Monte RV: West Valley City, 2222 West 2300 South · 8.1 mi (13.1 km) from the airport [EM-SLC]
  • roadsurfer: Salt Lake City station · address in the booking [RS]
  • Escape Campervans: Salt Lake City · “within minutes” (Escape) from the airport [ES]
  • Road Bear RV: no Salt Lake City branch listed [RB-ALL]

1,290 m up: from November to April expect snow on the roads north to Yellowstone and on mountain passes; ask the depot about tyres and chains [A]. Salt Lake City hub →

Denver (DEN)

Mountain Time (UTC−7 in winter, UTC−6 in summer) · elevation 5,434 ft (1,656 m) [AIRNAV]

  • Cruise America: Frederick, 4180 Busch Place · “20–30 min” (Cruise America) from the airport · Frederick is north of Denver; 20–30 min looks optimistic to us [A] [CA-DEN]
  • El Monte RV + Road Bear RV: Commerce City, 6586 Brighton Blvd · 14.3 mi (23.1 km) from the airport · same address on both sites [EM-DEN] [RB-DEN]
  • roadsurfer: Denver station · address in the booking [RS]
  • Escape Campervans: Denver · “easily accessible” from DEN (Escape) from the airport [ES]

1,656 m up: from November to April expect winter driving on the routes west into the mountains [A]; Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park closes for the winter (NPS). Denver hub →

Bozeman (BZN)

Mountain Time (UTC−7 in winter, UTC−6 in summer) · elevation 4,473 ft (1,364 m) [AIRNAV]

  • Cruise America: Bozeman, 69 New Ventures Dr (Big Boys Toys RV Rental Center) · partner rental center; no airport time published [CA-BZN]
  • Escape Campervans: Bozeman page, no depot details · not in Escape’s main location menu: ask [A] [ES]
  • El Monte RV, Road Bear RV, roadsurfer: no Bozeman branch listed [EM-ALL] [RB-ALL] [RS]

1,364 m up: Yellowstone roads are closed to regular vehicles from early November to late April, except Gardiner–Cooke City (NPS). Outside summer, Bozeman is a short drive to a mostly closed park. Yellowstone hub →

Los Angeles (LAX)

Pacific Time (UTC−8 in winter, UTC−7 in summer) · elevation 128 ft (39 m) [AIRNAV]

  • El Monte RV: Santa Fe Springs, 12818 Firestone Blvd · 22.3 mi (35.8 km) from the airport · pick-up after 1 pm on weekdays [EM-LAX]
  • Road Bear RV: Agoura Hills, 28404 Roadside Dr · 34.7 mi (55.8 km) from the airport · 26.9 mi from Burbank (BUR) [RB-LAX]
  • Escape Campervans: Los Angeles · “just minutes away” (Escape) from the airport [ES]
  • roadsurfer: Los Angeles station · address in the booking [RS]
  • Cruise America: Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura areas · use the Cruise America locator for the exact centre [CA-CAL]

Sea level. The depots sit 22 to 35 miles out in LA traffic: plan the transfer as a real leg of the day.

San Francisco (SFO)

Pacific Time (UTC−8 in winter, UTC−7 in summer) · elevation 13 ft (4 m) [AIRNAV]

  • El Monte RV + Road Bear RV: San Leandro, 420 San Leandro Blvd · 14.0 mi (22.6 km) from the airport · 3.6 mi from Oakland (OAK) [EM-SL] [RB-SF]
  • El Monte RV: Dublin, 6301 Scarlett Ct · 39.2 mi (63.2 km) from the airport · 20.0 mi from Oakland (OAK) [EM-SF]
  • Escape Campervans: San Francisco · “just minutes” from SFO (Escape) from the airport [ES]
  • roadsurfer: San Francisco station · address in the booking [RS]
  • Cruise America: Alameda, San Mateo, Oakland areas · use the Cruise America locator for the exact centre [CA-CAL]

Sea level. The El Monte and Road Bear depots are across the bay, closer to Oakland (OAK) than to SFO.

How to use this with fares

What we don’t show: fares (they change by the hour and we can’t check yours), shuttle or rideshare prices, and depot addresses that rental companies only give at booking. Spotted something out of date? Tell us at info@runwaytorim.com.

Sources and how we checked

All pages opened on 2026-10-29. Depot data comes from the rental companies’ own pages. Drive distances and times are our own computation with OSRM on OpenStreetMap data and are marked [A]; your navigation app may differ, especially in winter or with closures.

Affiliate note: this page has no affiliate links. Links to airports, rental companies and the park service are plain links. See our disclosure.