The Zion National Park Travel Guide
LOCATION
Zion National Park - Utah, USA
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how to get to zion national park
Flying or Driving
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CLOSEST AIRPORT(S) TO zion national park
Las Vegas, Nevada
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Car rental
Required
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best time to visit zion national park
March - December
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things to do in zion national park
Zion Hikes, Drives & Stargazing
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How Long do you need in zion national park
2 Days Minimum
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where to stay near zion national park
Springdale (& Other Options)
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WHERE TO EAT near zion national park
Coffee, Dinner & Groceries
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WHAT to explore near zion national park
Bryce Canyon, Antelope Canyon, Grand Canyon, & Sedona
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What to Pack for zion national park
Off-Season & General Tips
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intros
Hello! If this is your first time on The Weithouse - welcome! My name is Taylor and I’m the girl behind the screen and camera bringing you resources to help you plan the trip of your dreams.
In this Zion National Park Travel Guide, I will be sharing our experience traveling to visit Utah and Zion National Park for the first time to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary.
We visited the park in early December, and we’re sharing everything from how to get to Zion National Park, things to do in Zion National Park and where to stay near Zion National Park, so that you can plan your trip and get exploring the stunning landscape that awaits you.
Location: zion national park
Where exactly is Zion National Park?
Zion National Park is in the state of Utah, in the Western portion of the United States. The park is located in Southwestern Utah on the edge of a region known as the Colorado Plateau, and the closest town is Springdale, Utah. The park itself covers 146,597 acres and sits just Northwest of the Grand Canyon and is close to the borders of both states of Nevada and Arizona,
How to to zion national park
To get to Zion National Park, you will ultimately need a car. There is no airport near the park itself, with the closest major airport being Las Vegas Airport (LAS) in Nevada, (officially known as Harry Reid International Airport).
To access Zion National Park, you can also fly into St. George regional airport, but most likely won’t be able to fly direct, unless flying from Salt Lake City.
Once you’ve landed in Vegas, you will then need to rent a car for the 2 hour and 40-minute drive from Las Vegas to Springdale, Utah (if you decide to stay in Springdale, more on where to stay near Zion later in this post).
You could also use this as an opportunity to spend a night in Las Vegas either on the front end or tail end of your trip.
What Type of Car to Rent for Visitng Zion National Park
For the rental car, you won’t need anything special. You most likely won’t be driving in the park at all (if you’re there in the summer, you can only enter the park through the shuttle), and you’ll be on highways for the rest of the trip. We ended up in a compact and had no issues or need for more space.
Best Time to Visit: March-December
I can’t really say I’m a big fan of “the best time to visit” places. We spent our December honeymoon in Canada. We’ve been to the desert in June, and Amsterdam in January. A lot of folks on the interwebs would tell you that those are the “worst times” to go places. Mostly because they are either too cold or too hot.
We personally visited Zion National Park in the off-season of early December to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. Although I have not been in peak tourist season, I can say based on my experience that I would recommend a trip in October, November, or December if you’re looking to beat the crowds and see beautiful foliage like in the images below.
To help you decide when the best time to visit Zion National Park is, below are some quick facts about tourism in the park.
According to NPS.gov, in 2019, Zion welcomed 4,488,268 visitors and according to their breakdown of visitation statistics, 70% of those visitors come during the busiest six months, which are April-September.
Even with the challenges that COVID brought in 2020, the park still welcomed a total of 3,591,254 visitor and March 2021 has already welcomed more visitors than any year its prior.
All of that data to say, the most popular times to visit Zion National Park are April through September. If you go during that time, it just means you will be sharing the park with a lot of other people. It means you will be hiking to Angel’s Landing and through the Narrows with a lot of other strangers by your side. It means accommodations near Zion will probably be much less available and much more expensive.
Visiting Zion National Park in early December, we had no issues finding a place to stay, nor with crowds in the park. And we even got to experience snow flurries over the beautiful red rocks. If we would have visited any later in the season, we couldn’t have done most of the things we did do in the park, so I wouldn’t recommend visiting Zion in the Winter season.
If you want to know more about what the different seasons in the park look like, you can find more details in this article.
Things to Do in zion national park
When it comes to things to do in Zion National Park, there are endless options. You could spend months hiking through the park and exploring all of the nature and activities available. However, if you only have a few days to visit Zion, we’re going to cover the best things to do in the park, like hiking the narrows, going stargazing, hiking Angel’s Landing and driving the Zion National Park Scenic Drive.
HIKing THE NARROWS in zion national park
Ryan (my husband) surprised me with our trip to Zion, so I had zero time to plan anything in advance. I didn’t really know much about the park, and I planned our entire trip the evening of our arrival in Utah.
After my research, we decided we wanted to hike to Angel’s Landing on day one of our trip because we honestly didn’t even know if we would be able to hike the Narrows. It was December and 40ish degrees and we couldn’t really find any information on the nps.gov website saying whether or not the Narrows were still open. There was also a bacteria in the water at the time, so we assumed that meant it was a no-go for us.
However, after our first full day of hiking in Zion, we decided to walk down Riverside Walk, a paved path that leads to where you enter the narrows, and on our walk down, we passed group after group of hikers who had obviously completed their Narrows hike for the day.
We debated on whether or not we should do it. It would truly be the craziest, most adventurous thing we’d ever done up to this point. Prior to this trip, we hadn’t done anything I would label as outdoorsy. I would have never self identified as a hiker or camper or national park lover.
So we almost didn’t do it. Again, it was December. Again, it was cold. Again, hello, not really an outdoorsy person here!
We almost used our second day to take a day trip to Bryce Canyon instead. I wanted to see more of Utah and more parks, and was probably a little bit scared of this “hiking the narrows in Winter” thing.
But ultimately, we both agreed that we should do it. It was one of the must do things in Zion National Park, and what if we never got another chance to do it again?
Hiking the Narrows in Zion is by far one of my favorite travel decisions we’ve made. I felt like a warrior hiking princess. It was incredibly challenging. I fell into the ice-cold water twice. My waterproof pants got filled with said water. Our hands were freezing and our legs were tired. But we laughed a lot. And we felt like conquerors.
If you do plan on visiting Zion in the off-season, here are a few tips on renting gear for hiking the Narrows:
We rented our gear from Zion Outfitter the evening before our hike. They’re located right on the edge of the park entrance, so it’s super convenient for picking up your gear in the morning.
They have a really helpful FAQs page on their website with additional details on reservations and equipment.
The cost of renting gear per person (in December) was $41 dollars which included boots, pants, socks and a hiking stick.
We added a waterproof backpack for $10 so that I could in good conscious bring my camera with me. I’m really glad we did because I fell in the water twice, remember?
Regardless of when you go or how long you have in Zion, just give yourself enough time to hike the narrows. In all of our travels I’ve never done anything like it and it’s one of my favorite travel memories to date.
STARGAZING IN ZION NATIONAL PARK
Whether you consider yourself a stargazer or not, one night of your trip you need to drive into Zion, park somewhere safely (aka not in the middle of the road) and take in the galaxies above.
Although Zion is not officially an International Dark Sky park (yes that’s a real thing), you will still be in for a real show of the galaxy above. And if you’re a photographer, don’t be a dummy like me and not bring your camera.
HIKing ANGEL’S LANDING in zion national park
The third must-do thing in Zion National Park is to hike Angel’s Landing. I think many people would make this hike the first of things to do in the park, and I can’t fault them on that. The reason it’s number three on my list is because honestly, during the hike itself, I had a complete mental breakdown and couldn’t complete the hike.
You can read more about my thoughts on that experience in this post.
Nonetheless, you should give yourself enough time to hike Angel’s Landing. Here’s a little background on the hike pulled from the National Park website in case you were like me and know absolutely nothing about it:
Challenge Level: Strenuous
Distance: 5.4 Miles Round Trip
Estimated Hiking Time: 4 Hours
Pets Allowed: No
Description: Long drop-offs. Not for young children or anyone fearful of heights. Last section is a route along a steep, narrow ridge to the summit.
Did you catch that last part? Re-read in case you missed it.
Long drop-offs.
Not for those afraid of heights.
Last section is a route along a steep, narrow ridge to the summit.
Oh, and what the description leaves out:
Some sections of the hike are along a cliffside where you can cling to a chain link for dear life.
Let me be honest.
I did not make it to the top of Angel’s Landing.
Here is why:
December 10, 2020, as a 27-year-old woman, I learned a little something new about myself. I do not like to put myself in situations where I could accidentally fall off a cliffside to my death. Some might call this a fear of heights. I call this being reasonable.
If you already identify with being fearful of heights, then I advise you think twice about hiking Angel’s Landing. Of course, facing our fears is healthy to some extent. But that’s my warning.
Here’s the good news though. The majority of the Angel’s Landing hike is not on a cliffside. Most of the hike is along winding paths and through the tree-lined Zion canyons and is absolutely gorgeous. The incline is steep most of the way, but you can go as slowly as needed to make your way up the mountain.
When you hit a point in your hike requiring chain link, you can decide if you’d like to keep moving forward or not. There’s actually a trail that goes a different direction you can take instead if you don’t want to hike up the cliff.
Regardless of what you decide to do, I recommend hiking as far as you feel comfortable going along this hike as the views overlooking the entire park are stunning.
TAKing the ZION NATIONAL PARK SCENIC DRIVE (via UT-9)
The fourth and last thing that should be top of your travel itinerary when visiting Zion National Park is driving the Zion National Park Scenic drive. The drive takes you along the major road that runs through the park and even includes access through the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel.
The drive is an easy itinerary item that you can add to the end of a long day hiking. As you make the drive, be sure to pull off a handful of times to take in the checkerboard mesas, sunsets, or different angles of beautiful Zion in front of you.
How Longyou need to visit zion national park
Now that you’ve got an idea of things to do when visiting Zion National Park, you can start to build out your travel itinerary.
The number of days you allocate towards your trip is completely dependent on what you are desiring out of it. For instance, if you’re an avid hiker and you want to conquer all the trails, you’re going to need to give yourself a week solid in order to do so.
On the contrary, if you’re not a big hiker, you might only need two or three days to explore what you’d like of the park.
On our trip, we allocated two days to exploring the park which was just enough time to do both Angel’s Landing and the Narrows. It would be impossible to do both in one day, hence the 2-day minimum recommendation.
A really helpful thing to remember when planning your trip and choosing the number of days is that most every hike, excursion, etc. within the park will either take up an entire day or wear you out enough to where you can’t do more than one thing in one day. This will help you nail down just how many days you actually need.
Another helpful thing to remember is that you will need a day at the beginning and end of your trip to drive either to or from the airport in Las Vegas(if you flew in). I would not recommend trying to tackle driving from the airport, checking into your hotel and starting a hike in one day. Again, the hikes will take up a decent amount of time, and you’ll need time to get snacks and shuttle tickets and gear if you need it.
Where to Stay Near Zion National Park
The small town of Springdale, Utah is the gateway city to Zion National Park. Springdale sits quite literally at the foot of the Zion Park entrance and is even nestled by the same dramatic mountain peaks that you will find within the park (see our Airbnb view below). However, with Springdale being such a small town, accommodations aren’t in abundance.
The good news is that there are some really great Airbnb rentals near Zion National Park, both within Springdale and scattered throughout the surrounding area. We’ve rounded up all of our favorites in this post.
Below is the Airbnb we booked for our trip! It had amazing views of the mountains, was right in the heart of Springdale, was walking distance from a grocery store and restaurants, and was just 4-minutes from the park entrance!
In addition to the Airbnb rentals mentioned above, below are some other non-Airbnb options that are popular near Zion. These options will be more likely to book up in advance due to popularity, and some are only available seasonally.
zion lodge
The only way to stay inside the park itself.
under canvas zion
Available for bookings March through November. They offer a 10% military discount and are 20 miles from park entrance.
campgrounds within zion national park
The three campgrounds withing Zion National Park: Watchman Campground, South Campground, and Lava Point Campground.
Where to Eat near zion national park
Let’s be honest, this is a National Park trip, and like we’ve already discussed, Springdale is incredibly small. Be that as it may, we did find a good coffee shop near Zion where we grabbed coffee from before entering the park, a nice place to eat dinner one night, and a great grocery store for buying all of our hiking snacks to help fuel us during our long days in the park.
Coffee Shop: Feel Love - Zion
Restaurant for Dinner: Zion Canyon Brew Pub
Grocery Store: Sol Foods (which was a three-minute walk from our Airbnb)
What to explore near zion national park
Now that you’ve got everything you need to plan your Zion National Park travels, you can consider if you have enough time or want to add more time to see some additional landmarks near the park.
Within driving distance from Zion, you’ll find a handful of additional National Parks you could easily tack on to the beginning or end of your trip.
Other National Parks Near Zion:
Bryce Canyon: 1.5 HR drive from Zion. You could easily make this a day trip.
Antelope Canyon: 2 HR drive from Zion. Could be a day trip from Zion or stop between Zion and the Grand Canyon.
Grand Canyon: 4 HR drive from Zion. Add this as a next stop on your road trip.
Sedona: 4.5 HR drive from Zion. Add this as a next stop on your road trip.
What to pack for zion national park
Last but not least, you don’t have a good itinerary if you don’t have your packing list ready. Below, I break out my packing recommendations in two categories, one specific to what to pack for Zion National Park in the off-season and another more generic Zion National Park packing list.
What to Pack for zion national park in the Off-Season
Waterproof gloves (REALLY wish we would have had these) - something like these should work.
Waist-length jacket, like this cropped Northface one (the Marmot one I brought was too long, so I had to wear a bunch of weird layers when hiking the narrows).
Beanie or head covering, like this Amazon one.
Warm hiking boots. If there’s been snow or rain, tennis shoes won’t get your far on your hikes - these are the Sorel ones I own and I absolutely love them.
Layers - when we hiked to Angel’s Landing, it was pretty cold in the morning and then warmed up throughout the day. So you’ll want to have on some layers in order to shed or add when needed.
What to Pack for Zion national park (regardless of when you visit)
A Camera - you’ll be in nature after all and will want to capture all of that beauty. All images in this post were shot on my Canon 5D Mark IV and with my 35mm lens.
Tripod - if you plan to try to photograph the stars (which I didn’t and regret big time), you’ll need a tripod in order to get that long exposure shot. This is the travel tripod I use since it is compact and fits in my carry-on.
Waterbottles - whether it’s hot or cold, you’ll want to make sure you have plenty of water for your long days in the park.
STICK AROUND FOR A WHILE
Need help planning the rest of your trip?
If you’re still looking for where to stay near Zion National Park, be sure to check out our roundup of the best Airbnbs near the park in this post. And if you love getting away in nature, check out our thoughts on this desert Airbnb, or our roundup of tiny house rentals in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
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A curated list of the best Airbnbs to book near Zion National Park, including Airbnb rentals located in Springdale, Utah, as well as Airbnb rentals in the areas surrounding the park. Find your Airbnb near Zion National Park today!