Utah to Palmyra: LDS Church History tour 11-day itinerary

If you’ve always wanted to take your family on an LDS church history tour, you’re in luck! We just drove 11 days from Utah to Palmyra and I have the complete itinerary. You don’t have to plan a thing! Check it out.

My son is planning on leaving on a mission in a couple of years so we wanted to take the whole family to Palmyra before he leaves. Even though driving 4,800 miles across the country is a big undertaking, it was totally worth it. We made memories that will last for the rest of our lives. Here’s what we did and saw each day of our 11-day trip.

Day one: Driving day

We decided to rent a motorhome for this trip. We could have flown but then you have to rent a car, stay in hotels and eat out for every meal. It cost us about $3,000 to rent the motorhome, $2,000 for gas, $500 for food and about $800 for attractions. So, about $6,300.

After picking up our motorhome, we drove about 6 1/2 hours to a rest area in Laramie, Wyoming. Since we were trying to drive all the way to New York and back in 11 days, we knew we would be driving a lot every day.

Day two: Winter Quarters and driving

After driving another 7 1/2 hours, we arrived at the Mormon Trail Center near Omaha, Nebraska. This is a small visitor’s center with a self-guided tour and a short video. Then we walked across the street to the Pioneer Cemetery and the Winter Quarters Temple. You can also visit the Kanesville Memorial Historic site but we were tired of driving. So, we ate dinner and went to bed.

Day three: Omaha Zoo

The next day, we woke up and headed to the Omaha Zoo. This zoo is definitely worth a visit. It is one of the biggest zoos in the world. This was a great way to break up the driving and do something fun with the kids. We spent the entire day there and everyone loved it. Then, around 5 p.m., we drove another 5 1/2 hours to Nauvoo and arrived around 10 p.m.

Day four: Nauvoo

We camped at the Nauvoo State Park campground. We didn’t have any reservations and there were plenty of spots. They had electricity hookups and warm showers. My kids were excited to get a shower after three days of driving. We woke up early and spent the day in Nauvoo. You could probably spend three our four days in Nauvoo because they have so much to see but this is what we fit in:

• Trail to Hope
• Mansion House
• Sisters in Zion vignette
• Wagon ride
• Carthage Jail
• Scovil Bakery
• Baptisms at the Nauvoo Temple

Keep in mind that there are certain attractions in Nauvoo that you have to get tickets for like the vignettes and the wagon ride. We LOVED Nauvoo and wished we could have stayed longer.

After baptisms, we hopped in our motorhome and drove six hours to a rest stop in Howe, Indiana.

Day five: Kirtland

Since day five fell on a Sunday, we found a church along the four-hour drive to Kirtland. It was a nice break from the drive. Although, we along forgot to bring our church clothes. But they still let us in, ha ha.

We got to Kirtland around 2 p.m. and everything closes at 7 p.m., but thanks to some tender mercies and some really kind senior missionaries, we were able to fit in tours of the Newel K. Whitney store, Kirtland Temple and the Johnson farm. Each tour was so amazing and testimony-building. This is definitely a special place.

Afterwards, we ate some dinner and then drove 1 1/2 hours to Cedar Point. This required us to backtrack a little bit. Normally, we would have done Cedar Point first and then Kirtland, but we had some friends we wanted to visit. So, keep that in mind.

Day six: Cedar Point Six Flags

All of our kids were SOOOO excited to go to Cedar Point. This amusement park has some of the biggest roller coasters in the world! Make sure you buy your tickets online before you go because it is about half the cost. We spent the entire day there until it closed at 8 p.m. This was the highlight for our kids obviously and I had a lot of fun too. Then we drove a couple hours and slept at a rest stop that night.

Day seven: Palmyra

We woke up and drove a few more hours until we finally arrived at Palmyra. This was my favorite place that we visited. It was so touching and faith-building. We saw:

• Sacred Grove/Joseph Smith home
• Hill Cumorah
• Grandin Print Shop (where the Book of Mormon was printed)
• Pizza at Nima’s (so yummy)
• Ice cream at the Grill and Chill (huge portions)

That night we camped at Four Mile Creek Campground and this place was awesome. You can swim in Lake Ontario and take a warm shower. Highly recommend.

Day eight: Niagra Falls

Niagra Falls is a little less than two hours from Palmyra. Since we had a motorhome, we had to park on Goat Island in Lot 3 and walk about a 1/2 mile to the falls. So, keep that in mind. We road the Maid of the Mist to the base of the falls. We got so wet but it was so epic and now I can check that off my bucket list. You don’t have to purchase tickets in advance. Just show up and buy them at the gate. After Niagra, we drove for the rest of the day and slept at a rest stop.

Day nine: Driving

Since we were on our way home at this point, we were motivated to drive as much as we could to get home as soon as we could. We visited some family in South Dakota for a couple of hours to break up the drive. That helped but it was just a grind. A lot of driving. But having a motorhome helps so much. The kids are so much happier. They can get a snack, go to the bathroom and lay down on the bed.

Day ten: Mount Rushmore

The last thing we saw on our trip was Mount Rushmore. Of course, you can take a different route home that will get you there a little bit faster, but we didn’t want to miss out on seeing this awesome monument. After Mount Rushmore, we drove and drove and drove.

Day eleven: Home!

We were pretty exhausted, but after driving 4,800 miles, we finally made it. This was one of the most memorable family trips that we have ever done. Hopefully our kids felt the spirit and will carry that with them as they develop their own testimonies down the road.

LDS Church History Tour tips and tricks

• Screens: All of our kids played their tablets for hours and hours during the drive. It is the only way to survive the drive
• Family: Road trips like this are way more fun with cousins or friends. If you have someone you can go with, all the better. Our kids had so much fun with their cousins.
• Meals: I bought enough food so we didn’t have to eat out at all. It saved us so much money. The only time we ate out was for pizza and ice cream in Palmyra.
• Stamp booklets: Each visitor’s center has these little pamphlets that the kids can get stamped. It’s a fun souvenir and memory of the trip.
• Traveling booklet: I designed a cute traveling reference booklet that gives a summary of each site that you visit. This helped prepare our kids a little better for what they were about to see. You can purchase and print this booklet on my blog.

I hope this blog post helps you as you prepare for your own family’s LDS church history tour. Let me know how it goes in the comments below. Here’s a link to a video I made about our entire trip:

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