Zion National Park and Bryce canyon 

Overview:

Two won­ders for the price of one – the majes­tic neigh­bours of Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al park — who lie just an hour away from each oth­er – are both stun­ning­ly beau­ti­ful and yet indi­vid­u­al­is­tic in the unique scenery, land­scape and expe­ri­ences they offer. With the icon­ic mil­lion old dis­tinc­tive gold­en orange hoodoos of Bryce Canyon being oth­er-world­ly in nature, and the tow­er­ing sand­stone cliffs, rolling deep canyons and breath-tak­ing nature and wildlife found in Zion park, com­bin­ing to make Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al park not only the best of Utah’s ‘Mighty Five’ but togeth­er they com­prise one tru­ly spe­cial won­der of the world.  

With the two parks being explorable on a day-trip – or as part of an epic mul­ti-day adven­ture – the stark and spe­cial con­trast in the two parks is evi­dent on arrival, with explor­ers get­ting to sam­ple Bryce Canyon at 9,000 feet and Zion at a low­ly 4,000 feet – with the dif­fer­ent alti­tude adding not only to the dif­fer­ent cli­mates you’ll expe­ri­ence when explor­ing each park, but also the dra­mat­ic scenery, as you move from the cold­er cli­mate and high-desert expe­ri­ence of Bryce canyon into the warmer and desert like cli­mate of Zion.  

It is this change in cli­mate which also affects the expe­ri­ences and scenery in each park – with Zion being alive with desert plants and charm­ing trees – which lend them­selves to nature trails, explo­ration and the best of the worlds wilder­ness, where as with­in Bryce you’ll find deep­er forests, pine trees and bush­es – which reflects it’s more high desert and cold­er envi­ron­ment.  

Yet while the parks may dif­fer in cli­mate and their appear­ance – which com­bine to make their explo­ration so spe­cial – you’ll also find sim­i­lar­i­ties across both parks, with the ter­rain, beau­ty and over­looks in both parks mak­ing them a hiker’s dream – with their close prox­im­i­ty also mak­ing them a photographer’s dream.  

Along­side this, for those less inclined on long hikes you’ll find the infra­struc­ture in both parks is world-class, with both parks eas­i­ly reach­able from Salt Lake City or Las Vegas, and both being served by a fre­quent and com­fort­able Shut­tle Bus­es. For the more adven­tur­ous you’ll find the oppor­tu­ni­ty to rock-climb, snow-mobile, ski and fish as well in both parks.  

Trav­ellers can of course also tai­lor the length of time in each park to their needs and desires, with those who fan­cy soli­tude – par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing high sea­son and want to tru­ly con­nect with wilder­ness, able to camp and explore the high-desert ter­rain and stun­ning cliff for­ma­tions of Bryce Canyon, where­as those look­ing for wildlife, hik­ing and breath-tak­ing scenery able to spend their days tra­vers­ing the beau­ty of Zion Nation­al Park.  

Bryce Canyon: How­ev­er trav­ellers opt to explore these stun­ning parks – and for how­ev­er long – their prox­im­i­ty not just to each oth­er, but to the great – and tourist towns of Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, will see most trav­ellers head­ing to Bryce Canyon first, before trav­el­ling onwards to Zion.  

It is with­in Bryce, that you’ll find year-round incred­i­ble scenery – thanks in short part to the stun­ning rock-faced hoodoos – with these tow­er­ing cliffs, which are eas­i­ly seen and pho­tographed from a series of view­points, turn­ing deep gold­en as they reflect the ris­ing sun in Sum­mer, and being coat­ed in glis­ten­ing snow in the win­ter.  

Named after Ebenez­er Bryce – a Mor­mon who set­tled with­in the park – the beau­ty of Bryce Canyon, which is actu­al­ly not a canyon at all – has been carved over mil­lions of years of ero­sion and cli­mate changes – and it’s earned a rep­u­ta­tion as being not only one of the great places to walk through evolv­ing his­to­ry, but thanks to the clear skies and amphithe­atre nature of the hoodoos – one of the best places in the Unit­ed States, and even the world, to stargaze and spot the Milky Way.  

A true priv­i­lege to wit­ness, undoubt­ed­ly star-gaz­ing at Bryce Canyon is a spir­i­tu­al expe­ri­ence, and for those stay­ing for mul­ti­ple days and camp­ing you’ll get to enjoy not only this incred­i­ble spec­ta­cle, but also a tru­ly mag­i­cal sun­rise and sun­set as the gold­en hoodoo’s lit up in a kalei­do­scop­ic per­for­mance that brings to val­ley below to life.  

Bryce Canyon is also unique, in that for those who don’t fan­cy long hikes, but want to see this incred­i­ble park in all its glo­ry you’ll find a series of incred­i­ble over­looks eas­i­ly acces­si­ble by a year-round shut­tle. With those who are dri­ving able to take on the scenic num­ber 12 or 15 high­way, that cuts across Bryce Canyon Park – stop­ping at 15 scenic high­ways – includ­ing the famed arch canyon high­way where you can dri­ve your car through a moun­tain – before head­ing deep­er into the park or to one of the parks many camp­sites.  

Bryce Canyon is also blessed with more than 160 bird species and more than 60 species of mam­mals – includ­ing the pho­to­genic Mule Deer – and undoubt­ed­ly the best way to encounter some of these wildlife, as well as explore the depths of Bryce Canyon, is by tak­ing on one of the 15 hikes across the Canyon.  

All acces­si­ble by the 5.5 mile Rim Trail – which is one of the tru­ly great hikes in Bryce, and which the name sug­gests takes explor­ers across the Rim of Bruce for a series of dif­fer­ent but tru­ly pho­to­genic view­points out over this mag­nif­i­cent vista – for those want­i­ng to dive deep­er into the Canyon, we’d sug­gest tak­ing on one or more of the Swamp Canyon Trail­head – where you’ll pass through two small creeks – which are known to be home to wildlife, the Twin Bridges Trail – which is a chal­leng­ing 3 mile route over a series of switch­backs, the Nava­jo Loop which takes you from sun­set point to view­point and through a nar­row canyon slot as you came face-to-face with the Canyon Walls – of the Fairy­land loop, a chal­leng­ing 8 mile descent into the heart of the Hoodoo’s and Bryce Canyon, where a sprin­kle of Mag­ic awaits you.  

It’s through these trails – or by tak­ing on the Rim Trail by Road, that the icon­ic images and views of Bryce Canyon can be cap­tured, with this nation­al park being famed for its mul­ti­ple view­points – that are a pho­tog­ra­phers and explorer’s dream. Chief among these is the well named Sun­set Point – which gives incred­i­ble views of a Hoodoo known as Thor’s Ham­mer, and which of course is the pre­mier point for Sun­set watch­ing.  

You’ll also find incred­i­ble views out over the Canyon at Fairview point, where Grey (Kaiparow­its Plateau), White (Mol­ly’s Nip­ple) and (Aquar­ius Plateau) cliffs are on view, as well as the Nava­jo Moun­tains, and at the Yovim­pa Point – where an incred­i­ble view of the nat­ur­al lime­stone Grand Stair­case-Escalante Nation­al Mon­u­ment awaits you. A true icon of Bryce, this stun­ning stair­case includes not just views of the three mul­ti-coloured steps seen from Fairview – but also deep views into the heart of the Canyon and its sur­round­ing cliffs, for a stun­ning – of some­what over­crowd­ed view­point.  

Com­bine these stun­ning view­points, with the Canyon look­outs of Agua and Pon­derosa – both of which stare deep into the heart of Bryce Canyon and offer incred­i­ble views of this stun­ning nat­ur­al park, and its easy to under­stand why this spec­tac­u­lar oth­er-world­ly park, with its incred­i­ble sun­sets, star-gaz­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, hik­ing trails and view­points is a true won­der of the world. With those lucky enough to spend time explor­ing this spec­tac­u­lar par­adise of nature then in for a fur­ther treat as they trav­el south towards the ‘Jew­el of America’s Nat­ur­al Parks’ in Zion.  

Zion Nation­al Park: The ‘Oasis with­in the Desert’ Zion nation­al park is blessed with the deep Vir­gin Riv­er that winds across the park and which gives life to stun­ning sand­stone cliffs, wild roam­ing forests and a deep Canyon – which com­bine to make this incred­i­ble park a kalei­do­scope of nat­ur­al beau­ty and a tru­ly awe-inspir­ing spot to vis­it.  

A park whose enjoy­ment will be defined by time of year you opt to vis­it and your abil­i­ty to with­stand crowds – Zion is offi­cial­ly the fourth most vis­it­ed park in Amer­i­ca attract­ing , and with its pop­u­lar­i­ty comes mass­es of vis­i­tors – over 4 mil­lion a year, so much so that queu­ing to access the high­lights of the park – par­tic­u­lar­ly in peak sea­son is com­mon.  

In an effort to address this vis­i­tors are banned through three sea­sons of the year from dri­ving their own vehi­cles along Zion’s scenic dri­ve and instead you’ll have to take the free shut­tle bus to reach the most scenic spots with­in the park. Chief among these high­lights is undoubt­ed­ly Zion Parks giant Canyon – that aver­ages more than 2,000 feet deep – and with­in whom you’ll find not only the oppor­tu­ni­ty to take on one of many hik­ing trails to explore its 20 foot floor, but the chance to swim in its sooth­ing waters, for a sur­re­al and tru­ly immer­sive nat­ur­al expe­ri­ence.  

A tow­er­ing Canyon that is close towards a town known of Spring­dale – which makes for a great place to stay the night or grab a bite to eat, Zion Canyon is also of the four main hik­ing areas with­in Zion Park, along­side the areas of East Rim, Kolob Ter­race, and the South­west Desert.  

While each area is unique in its own way – and takes trav­ellers through stun­ning nature, nat­ur­al scenery and the chance to spot wildlife, Zion Canyon is the focal point for the trails, with it being here that the two must hike trails, Angels Land­ing and the Nar­rows lie. Tak­ing on Angels Land­ing first – and this 5.4 mile ascent to the top of the Canyon over­look is a true test of both your car­dio and your nerves, with this trail – which has led to trav­ellers sad­ly falling to their deaths, see­ing you ascent more than a thou­sand feet up to canyon using a some­what unsta­ble chain 2.7 miles to the top of the Canyon where a breath-tak­ing panoram­ic view of the high­light and heart of Zion Nation­al Park awaits you.  

For those who think that such a hike is a walk in the (Zion) park – the chal­leng­ing 9.4 mile Nar­rows trek may be more up your street. With this hike which again offers incred­i­ble views of the cliffs and val­leys of Zion see­ing you wade through the Vir­gin Riv­er itself in water­proof gear to trace the path and carv­ings of the Zion Canyon. A hike only to be made in safe con­di­tions, the nar­rows is a true test for any trav­eller, with the risk of thun­der­storms, land­slide and crowds all adding to the poten­tial­ly life-threat­ing dan­gers on this hike.  

While Angels Land­ing and the Nar­rows are both tru­ly stun­ning and immense hikes, they can be over­crowd­ed, so for those seek­ing soli­tude or want­i­ng to explore deep­er into Zion Canyon then the off-the-beat­en track hike of Obser­va­tion Point – which offers fan­tas­tic views of Zion Canyon may be more up your street. As too will the hike of Low­er Emer­ald Pools – which at just over a mile, is ide­al for those want­i­ng a view of some of the stun­ning pools of Zion, on a gen­tle walk with min­i­mal ele­va­tion gain.  

Along­side the hikes, you’ll also find a series of stun­ning over­looks across Zion – that offer tru­ly incred­i­bly pho­to­genic stops and wide-rang­ing views over the best of this mag­nif­i­cent park. With our two favourites undoubt­ed­ly being Canyon Over­look – which lies out­side the main part of the park, but from where you can get pic­ture per­fect views of the Canyon of Zion, and Weep­ing Rock- where thanks to a water flow that cuts through the Sand­stone Rock an illu­sion of a cry­ing rock presents itself to explor­ers – reflect­ing the mag­ic and beau­ty of this tru­ly glo­ri­ous park.  

Along­side the hikes and view­points, you’ll find Zion a fan­tas­tic place for cycling – with there being a series of ded­i­cat­ed routes that cut through the best of the park – includ­ing the Zion Scenic Dri­ve – which is well work doing. With bik­ing mak­ing for a great way to explore the park for those who don’t fan­cy tak­ing the shut­tle bus.   

Those trav­ellers who fan­cy a true adven­ture are also able to find incred­i­ble rock climb­ing – which includes routes up to the side of tow­er­ing canyons, and from where you look down at the rolling val­ley below – as well as a series of famed arch­es, which offer some fan­tas­tic explo­ration on both foot and bike. Chief among these is to pho­to­genic Kolob Arch, for which you’ll need to ded­i­cate a full day to explore – as the route to its sum­mit requires a stren­u­ous 14 mile hike across rivers, forests and up cliff face edges, for a tru­ly chan­nelling but reward­ing route.  

For those for­tu­nate enough to be stay­ing overnight – either in one of the great lodges in the near­by town of Spring­dale, or in one of the three Zion camp­sites, then you’ll be treat­ed not only to glo­ri­ous sun­ris­es and sun­sets – which like Bryce Canyon, make the stun­ning forests, the vir­gin riv­er – and in par­tic­u­lar­ly the tow­er­ing Zion Canyon come to life in a range of deep rouge colours – but some of the best stargaz­ing on the plan­et.  

So immense is the stargaz­ing around Zion, thanks to the clear skies, Spring­dale has earned the nick­name of the ‘Inter­na­tion­al Dark Sky Park’ – with the absence of air pol­lu­tion and the clear night skies being tru­ly beau­ti­ful, with those for­tu­nate enough to be with­in the park able to wit­ness shoot­ing stars, plan­ets and even the Milky Way from the Kolob Canyon View­point – which rep­re­sents a spir­i­tu­al and undoubt­ed­ly the best of the stun­ning Zion Nation­al Park.  

Two stun­ning won­ders, vis­it­ing the con­trast­ing yet equal­ly beau­ti­ful nation­al parks of Zion and Bryce can offer one of the most adven­tur­ous and sceni­cal­ly stun­ning days of your life – or for those lucky enough a thrilling mul­ti-day road trip. As trav­ellers tra­verse and explore two stun­ning parks – with Bryce Canyon offer­ing a series of awe-inspir­ing views with oth­er-world­ly grand scenery under the gaze of orange hoodoos, arch­es and cliffs, and Zion Nation­al Park offer­ing nature at it’s absolute best, with its strik­ing canyon, free-flow­ing vir­gin riv­er and thou­sands of kilo­me­tres of end­less hikes and view­points being a true dream for any nature lov­ing explor­er. Cou­ple this with awe-inspir­ing sun­ris­es and mul­ti-coloured sun­sets, as well as some of the planet’s most spir­i­tu­al and clear stargaz­ing – with views across the galaxy – and there’s no doubt that togeth­er the twin parks of Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park are scenic, adven­ture and a sim­ply stun­ning won­der of the world.  

Where:  

Found just 62 miles apart – and con­nect­ed by two high­ways – the twin won­ders of Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park lie with­in the great state of Utah with­in the Unit­ed State of Amer­i­ca.  

Offi­cial­ly with­in the coun­tries south­west, the prox­im­i­ty of south­ern Utah to Ari­zona – and the tourist hotspot of Las Vegas – means that the towns of Salt Lake City with­in Utah and ‘SinCi­ty’ Las Vegas with­in Ari­zona serve as per­fect base and arrival cities from which explor­ers can depart. With those spend­ing mul­ti­ple days with­in the parks able to find both accom­mo­da­tion and food with­in the park cities of Spring­dale and St. George, which lie in the shad­ows of the mighty canyons and hoodoo’s of Bryce and Zion.  

Two incred­i­bly acces­si­ble won­ders of the world – that are acces­si­ble and equal­ly stun­ning year round, vis­it­ing Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al park offers trav­ellers a chance to explore some of the world’s great­est nat­ur­al scenery and take on some of the most awe-inspir­ing hikes – and you’ll find there’s a range of options, to suit every trav­ellers require­ments, when it comes to get­ting to these immense won­ders of the world.  

Getting There: 

Two inter­linked won­ders – that offer diverse and yet equal­ly stun­ning land­scapes, expe­ri­ences and scenery – while both Bryce and Zion are the peak of serene nation­al parks that are not only close neigh­bours – the parks also lie just a stone’s throw away from some of the Unit­ed States most noto­ri­ous and acces­si­ble cities (Las Vegas and Salt Lake City) – as well as Zion being served by a series of gate­way and entrance cities.  

So regard­less of where you find your­self in the world – your first port of call when head­ing to the twin won­ders of Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al park will be to get your­self to either Las Vegas’s McCar­ran Inter­na­tion­al Air­port – which lies 170 miles away from the parks or Salt Lake Cities Inter­na­tion­al Air­port which lies with­in the state of Utah some 300 miles away from the parks.  

With both air­ports being served by a range of domes­tic car­ri­ers – and for those head­ing to the twin won­ders from out­side Amer­i­ca by a series of inter­na­tion­al car­ri­ers, reach­ing your start­ing point for your jour­ney into the great wide open of the best of Utah should be a sim­ple mat­ter of choos­ing your start­ing city – based on cost and avail­abil­i­ty – and board­ing the air­port to begin your adven­ture.  

Once you’ve land­ed in either Las Vegas or Salt Lake city, you’ll then need to decide on your method of get­ting to the parks them­selves – and there are three main options; through self-dri­ve, by tour or by pub­lic trans­port.  

To Bryce & Zion by Self-Drive Car: 

For those who feel com­fort­able dri­ving abroad – hir­ing a car is undoubt­ed­ly the best to get to and explore both Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park, with the road from Vegas being par­tic­u­lar­ly stun­ning into the parks and tak­ing you on a scenic tour of Utah over the course of two hours – and the road from Salt Lake City get­ting you to the parks in three hours and again giv­ing you incred­i­ble view of the best of America’s stun­ning nat­ur­al won­ders.  

For those who take the option of self-dri­ving do be warned that you can­not take your car on Zion’s scenic panoram­ic dri­ve (you’ll need to use the shut­tle – see below) but out­side of that the route along High­way 9 and through the Mt Caramel high­way that span the lengths of both parks are tru­ly stun­ning.  

For those leav­ing from Salt Lake City it can be a sim­ple man­ner of fol­low­ing the inter­state 15 south and then drop­ping onto inter­state 20 and 12 to con­nect with Bryce Canyon park for your first nation­al park. If you opt to head this way we’d advise to head direct towards Bryce and make some time for some pho­to stops as you enter the parks grounds – as a shot of a car dri­ving through the open Hoodoo and arch being a fan favourite at this park. 

Once with­in Bryce you’ll then have all the time in the world to explore this stun­ning park, includ­ing tak­ing in the dif­fer­ent views from the rim Trail, tak­ing on one of the many trails that lead into the canyon, and for those lucky enough stick­ing around to wit­ness a glo­ri­ous sun­set and the night stars, which are par­tic­u­lar­ly mag­i­cal with­in Bryce.  

Hav­ing explored the park ful­ly you can then pro­ceed to dri­ve back along inter­state 12 and con­nect to 89 – which will take you all the way, on a stun­ning­ly scenic dri­ve to the heart of Zion and the town of Spring­dale, from which you can explore this incred­i­ble ‘Oasis with­in the desert.’ 

For those set­ting off from Las Vegas – we’d rec­om­mend dri­ving to Bryce Canyon first and then head­ing to Zion in a cir­cu­lar route which will return you to Las Vegas – where a bit of down time will be well earned. For those depart­ing from Las Vegas on a self-dri­ve expe­di­tion you can opt to take a direct route to Bryce along inter­state 15 and then con­nect to route 89 to reach Bryce or you can take a more scenic route – which affords you a route across stun­ning land­scapes on your way to the twin won­ders of Bryce and Zion.  

First up from leav­ing Las Vegas we’d advise tak­ing Inter­state 15 north, nav­i­gat­ing the city traf­fic and then com­ing upon the grand Juras­sic era Val­ley of Fire Park 50 miles after depar­ture.  

A park that lives up to its name – as at sun­rise and sun­set the red rock geo-log­i­cal mar­vels found with­in the park cre­ate the illu­sion of the park being on Fire – The Val­ley of Fire Park is an often over­looked – but tru­ly incred­i­ble stop for some stun­ning sun­rise or sun­set pho­tog­ra­phy.  

It also marks your final stop before pass­ing the Ari­zona State Line (anoth­er pho­to wor­thy stop) but not before you are treat­ed to incred­i­ble views of the Vir­gin Riv­er Gorge that serves not just as a com­pan­ion to your jour­ney, but also is the same Vir­gin Riv­er that breaks through and into Zion – offer­ing a great pre­view of the beau­ty of this riv­er that’s to come.  

Hav­ing then entered Utah and passed into the State Line, you can make a quick stop at the St. George Dinosaur Dis­cov­ery Site – where a muse­um fea­tur­ing fos­sils, dinosaur skele­tons and an out­side foot­print of a 200-mil­lion-year-old dinosaur foot­print awaits you – for a true throw­back to the Juras­sic era.  

After step­ping back in town you can con­tin­ue north on the inter­state 15 – and we’d encour­age you to make a stop at either the town of Hur­ri­cane or Rock Ros­ters – two stun­ning towns that lie in the shad­ow of sceni­cal­ly stun­ning tow­er­ing moun­tains – and which rep­re­sent a great place to stock up on food, snacks and water before ascend­ing to the amphithe­atre and won­der of Bryce Canyon – where your explo­ration of these twin won­ders will then begin.  

Self-driving from Bryce to Zion:  

After a scenic jour­ney self-dri­ving from Salt Lake City of Las Vegas to Bryce Canyon – and tak­ing to take on some of the incred­i­ble view­points – wit­ness a kalei­do­scop­ic sun­rise and sun­set, mar­vel at the many hoodoo’s and cliffs from the obser­va­tion points and rim trail and mar­vel at the mag­i­cal night time stars, con­stel­la­tions and the milky way – it will be time to leave Bryce Canyon behind – and head down to the oasis in the desert and scenic par­adise of Zion Nation­al Park.  

Thank­ful­ly – owing to the incred­i­ble infra­struc­ture and parks ser­vice with­in the Unit­ed States the 72 mile dri­ve that sep­a­rates these parks can be achieved bt tak­ing the route 89 down south to enter the east gate of Zion and con­nect­ing to the pic­turesque Zion-Mt Carmel high­way – that will take you past a series of stun­ning turnoffs and pho­to spots before mak­ing your way towards the south of Zion – and, for those stop­ping overnight, to the charm­ing and scenic town of Spring­dale – where serves as a great base to explore Zion.  

Las Vegas to Bryce Canyon & Zion National Park by Tour:

While Self-Dri­ving to the twin won­ders of Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park is the best way to explore the parks with total free­dom – for those trav­ellers short on time, who don’t fan­cy dri­ving or who want to take the has­sle out of plan­ning their trip but still want to see the high­lights of Bryce and Zion – then a day or mul­ti-day tour is a great option.  

With most tours leav­ing from Las Vegas, you’ll need to get your­self to Sin City ahead of the depar­ture and you can then select from a range of tour com­pa­nies that offer tours in both exec­u­tive high end vans or in clas­sic minibus­es to explore the parks.  

Typ­i­cal­ly the tours will depart Vegas and head straight to Bryce Canyon and then to Zion – and for those depart­ing on a day trip, you can expect an ear­ly depar­ture around 6 – 7am and then pro­ceed to Bryce – mak­ing a few pho­to stops along the way before arriv­ing at the Canyon. With­in Bryce you’ll then get the chance to walk the Rim Trail and take in some stun­ning view­points – before head­ing to Zion, where you’ll enjoy the parks high­lights – includ­ing views of the Zion Canyon and the vir­gin riv­er before depart­ing back to Vegas.  

A great option for the bud­get and time con­scious trav­eller – while day trips will give you a high­light reel of the two parks – they won’t see you get the oppor­tu­ni­ty to ful­ly explore the parks, in par­tic­u­lar­ly Zion where treks along the famed Nar­rows or Angels Land­ing will fall out­side the time lim­its of a day tour. 

So for those seek­ing an inti­mate and full explo­ration of these incred­i­ble nation­al parks – we’d high­ly rec­om­mend tak­ing a mul­ti-day tour, that will give you an oppor­tu­ni­ty to explore both won­ders to their full poten­tial, and afford you with stun­ning views and expe­ri­ences that will undoubt­ed­ly last a life-time.  

By Public Transport: 

The last option to get to the won­ders is by Pub­lic Trans­port – but be warned that this method is not suit­able in the win­ter or for those seek­ing to head to Bryce Canyon as well as Zion in one go.  

An option that may be suit­able for trav­ellers seek­ing to explore Zion at their own place and who don’t fan­cy dri­ving, get­ting the pub­lic bus to Zion can be done – but is a lit­tle com­pli­cat­ed. First up you’ll need to get your­self to Vegas and then from there it’s a case of either hop­ping on the Nation­al Park Express to Zion nation­al park or tak­ing the Grey­hound from Vegas to St George in Utah – and then get­ting to St George shut­tle bus to Zion Vis­i­tor cen­tre to begin your explo­ration.  

A route and method that is achiev­able (despite what you may read else­where) the bus from Vegas to the nation­al parks will take a full-day to arrive, but should hope­ful­ly have a cou­ple of toi­let breaks and (if you’re lucky) plen­ty of free Wi-Fi along the way to make your jour­ney enjoy­able. But do be warned to expe­ri­ence and explore both parks you may have to spend a day return­ing from Zion to Vegas and then anoth­er day from Vegas to Bryce – instead of being able to explore both won­ders in one round trip – which can take the edge of the mag­ic of the won­ders of the world that are Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park.  

Getting around Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park: 

Giv­en the fast size of both parks – Bryce Canyon clocks in at more than 8.5 km² and Zion clocks in at a mam­moth 590 km² — nav­i­gat­ing the parks to get to the stun­ning view­points and the trail­heads can be some­thing of a chal­lenge for those who are head­ing to Bryce and Zion absent a tour guide or a self-dri­ve car – or for those who arrive with a self-dri­ve car in peak sea­son who will be unable to dri­ve  

In con­sid­er­a­tion of this – and owing to the vast size and to man­age crowds – you’ll find that dur­ing the Spring — Autumn sea­son between March – Novem­ber both parks offer a free shut­tle bus that departs and stops at a series of con­ve­nient­ly placed loca­tions around the park – and will take vis­i­tors the scenic panoram­ic road with­in Zion for some of the most stun­ning scenery and best pho­to stops on the plan­et.  

A great way to get around, those stay­ing longer can also con­sid­er mak­ing use of cycling through the parks if you want to test your car­dio and feel the breeze of nature upon your face – but for those arriv­ing at Zion or Bryce absent a car or tour – we’d high­ly rec­om­mend mak­ing use of the shut­tle bus to get around – which will help you get the absolute best out of and explore the twin won­ders of the world that are Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park.  

Best time to Visit: 

With stun­ning scenery, thou­sands of acres of hikes – and glo­ri­ous astron­o­my oppor­tu­ni­ties – not to men­tion awe-inspir­ing sun­sets and sun­ris­es – both Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park are open year-round – and there is tru­ly no bad time to vis­it these twin won­ders.  

In fact, giv­en that the won­der of the park changes with the sea­sons – with win­ter see­ing the hoodoo’s and amphithe­atre and the tow­er­ing canyon cov­ered in soft snow for a mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence, spring bring­ing with it bloom­ing wild­flow­ers and nature, sum­mer see­ing the park bustling with crowds and warm tem­per­a­tures and autumn see­ing the parks nat­ur­al scenery and the leaves and forests with­in the parks turn into a kalei­do­scope of colours that is a pho­tog­ra­phers dream – we’d advise decid­ing on your time to vis­it based on your pref­er­ence for crowds, weath­er and activ­i­ties – as well as your bud­get and time.  

So for those who are seek­ing to avoid crowds with­in both Bryce and Zion – and who just want to see the high­lights of Bryce and Zion – we’d advise vis­it­ing in the win­ter or ear­ly spring and late Autumn. While vis­it­ing dur­ing this peri­od will come with cold­er tem­per­a­tures and you’ll need to wrap up warm – you’ll find that areas of both parks are com­plete­ly absent crowds giv­ing you a more inti­mate expe­ri­ence with the parks. On top of this vis­it­ing in the win­ter months – between Late Novem­ber to March is the best time for those self-dri­ving who want to both avoid traf­fic and dri­ve the scenic road with­in Zion by them­selves – as it being dur­ing this peri­od that the shut­tle bus­es do not oper­ate. Yet giv­en that the shut­tle bus­es do not oper­ate and the hikes with­in the parks are either dan­ger­ous or closed dur­ing this peri­od, vis­it­ing dur­ing win­ter is not rec­om­mend­ed for those using pub­lic trans­port to reach the parks – and instead we’d sug­gest that this peri­od is absolute­ly ide­al for those on a day tour and with lim­it­ed time with­in the parks — – where you can enjoy the many snow-cov­ered hoodoo’s with­in Bryce and the snow topped canyon with­in Zion – with the soft snow cre­at­ing a true feel­ing of mag­ic dur­ing your vis­it.  

For those who are okay with– and even enjoy the hus­tle and bus­tle of – crowds, and who want to expe­ri­ence the parks with warm weath­er and guar­an­teed gor­geous sun­sets and sun­ris­es, as well as take on the trails – the vis­it­ing in the sum­mer is for you. A time when the trails with­in both parks will be guar­an­teed to be open, but that you’ll need to get per­mits for, vis­it­ing in the sum­mer of Bryce and Zion required advanced plan­ning – but brings with it clear blue skies where the best of both parks are on dis­play. An option ide­al for solo trav­ellers – as you’re guar­an­teed to nev­er be with­out com­pa­ny, vis­it­ing dur­ing the sum­mer will like­ly bring with it extend­ed wait­ing time and queues, so we’d encour­age any­one vis­it­ing dur­ing this peri­od to bud­get at least four days – if not longer to explore the best of these parks.  

Yet for those seek­ing the joint best of Bryce Canyon and Zion – includ­ing tak­ing on the hikes in mod­er­ate tem­per­a­tures, with min­i­mal crowds and reduced prices – then the best time to vis­it Bryce and Canyon is in the Spring or Autumn – with the months of April to May or Sep­tem­ber to Octo­ber being ide­al. A peri­od where you will still need to plan in advance – vis­it­ing dur­ing ear­ly spring or late autumn will see the peak sum­mer crowds absent from the parks – but still the shut­tle bus run­ning and the trails open­ing – giv­ing you a chance to enjoy the absolute best of these two stun­ning won­ders in a per­fect set­ting.  

There­fore, whilst there’s no bad time to vis­it the won­ders of Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park – and each trip is guar­an­teed to give trav­ellers a unique explo­ration and oppor­tu­ni­ty to enjoy these tru­ly world­class and stun­ning beau­ti­ful won­ders – we’d advise tai­lor­ing the time of your trip to your own per­son­al pref­er­ence (crowds, hikes, dura­tion) – with our rec­om­men­da­tion being – for those who are seek­ing to ful­ly explore the parks with com­fort­able weath­er, min­i­mal crowds and with the high­lights of the parks and the trails open – that the best time to vis­it is between the months of April to May and Sep­tem­ber to Octo­ber.  

How long to stay & Suggest Itinerary: 

Two incred­i­ble won­ders, that tru­ly offer the absolute best of nat­ur­al beau­ty, adven­ture and some of the most incred­i­ble sun­ris­es, sun­sets and stargaz­ing on the plan­et – thanks to the inter­con­nec­tiv­i­ty and close prox­im­i­ty of Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park — a jour­ney to these twin won­ders can tru­ly be defined by the trav­ellers.  With those on a bud­get and short of time able to cov­er both parks in a sin­gle day, where­as those who wish to tru­ly explore the depths of this work – and take on the incred­i­ble treks with­in both parks – able to spends days – and even weeks explor­ing their beau­ty.  

One Day: For those on a strict bud­get and short timetable – the eas­i­est option will undoubt­ed­ly be to book a one-day group tour that leaves from Las Vegas – that will take you to the main high­lights of Bryce Canyon – includ­ing the mul­ti­ple look-out points along the Rim Trail and then into Zion Nation­al Park to mar­vel at the Canyon – ride the scenic rail and glimpse a kalei­do­scop­ic sun­set before depart­ing back to Sin City – with the high­lights and a taste of these incred­i­ble parks behind you.  

Three to four days: Yet for those with more time our rec­om­mend would be to bud­get at least four days days to see both of both Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park. Across these four days you can plan for an action packed adven­ture – begin­ning at Bryce Canyon where you can check out the dif­fer­ent view­points along the Rim Trail and at inspi­ra­tion point and take on the one of the Swamp Canyon or Loop Trail before enjoy­ing the glo­ri­ous sun­set from sun­set point. After the lights go out – and you’ve enjoyed a bit of din­ner we’d then sug­gest find­ing a good spot along the Rim Trail to watch as the amphithe­atre and hoodoos lit up under the night star – and the plan­ets, con­stel­la­tions and milky way appears before you in a daz­zling and awe-inspir­ing dis­play.  

After get­ting a good night’s rest, we’d sug­gest get­ting up ear­ly to wit­ness the sun­rise over Bryce Canyon’s amphithe­atre and tak­ing on the almost 70 mile across the Zion-Mr Carmel high­way towards Zion Nation­al Park. Arriv­ing around mid-day you’ll have plen­ty of time to check out Obser­va­tion Point – and park your car before tak­ing the shut­tle along the scenic high­way. Hav­ing returned to your car and found your lodg­ing we’d then advise head­ing to Kolob Canyon at dusk to wit­ness both an incred­i­bly sun­set – and for those with enough ener­gy – take advan­tage of the stun­ning astropho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties avail­able – as the con­stel­la­tions and milky way once again before you.  

Hav­ing got a good nights sleep, you can then beat the crowds and the sun and spend day three tak­ing on the chal­leng­ing Angels Land­ing trek – with this two a half mile trek requir­ing you to con­quer thou­sands of feet of ele­va­tion and scram­ble and pull your­self up to the view­point at Angels Land­ing – where a stun­ning view of the Zion Canyon and the Vir­gin Riverbed await you. A poten­tial­ly full-day trip, it’s essen­tial to start as ear­ly when tak­ing on the Angel’s Land­ing trip – and for those who fin­ish before sun­set – and still have ener­gy left we’d advise head­ing to weep­ing rock and the tow­ers of the vir­gin to tack­le anoth­er one of Zion’s famous hikes before call­ing it a day.  

Wak­ing up on your last day and anoth­er of the park’s incred­i­ble hikes will await you – this time the Nar­rows,  a poten­tial­ly nine mile trek across the Vir­gin Riverbed – that will see you wade your way through the riv­er while tak­ing in incred­i­ble views of the icon­ic of Zion – the Zion Canyon. One of the most scenic – and unique hikes on the plan­et – the Nar­rows will require plen­ty of sta­mi­na and makes for a fit­ting end to any explo­ration of these twin won­ders – with the scenery and pho­to shots along this hike rep­re­sent­ing some of the most and most scenic on the plan­et.  

Hav­ing made time for one last sun­set at Kolob Canyon – and hav­ing explored the best of Zion and Bryce Canyon, you can then begin to make your way onwards from your jour­ney – with two of the best nation­al parks behind you.  

While a four day, three night explo­ration is our rec­om­mend­ed itin­er­ary for those head­ing to twin won­ders of Bryce Canyon and Nation­al Park – for those who are more for­tu­nate it’s pos­si­ble to spend longer in each park – mak­ing time to take on addi­tion­al trails with­in Zion – includ­ing Obser­va­tion Point and the Sub­way – and spend­ing longer explor­ing the depths of the Canyon at Bryce.  

There­fore with trip dura­tions to suit every trav­eller – from one day for the high­light – to weeks on end, our rec­om­men­da­tion would be to bud­get four days and three night to explore these stun­ning twin won­ders – but there’s no doubt that any trip to the of Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al park will leave you breath­less and inspired by the stun­ning scenery and nature with­in these two won­ders of the world.  

Top Tip:

Two stun­ning Nation­al Parks – Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park are an adven­tur­ers, pho­tog­ra­phers and natur­ists dream – with their close prox­im­i­ty, stun­ning beau­ty and the dif­fer­ing land­scapes tru­ly offer­ing some­thing for every­one to explore, get lost with­in and re-dis­cov­er them­selves.  

Yet while the twin won­ders are tru­ly mag­nif­i­cent, it’s essen­tial for explor­ers to under­stand and respect the envi­ron­ments into which they are enter­ing – if they are both to stay safe and enjoy their time explor­ing these nation­al parks. With the dif­fer­ing cli­mates, chang­ing sea­sons, death-defy­ing trails and wildlife all pos­ing poten­tial prob­lems to explor­ers.  

Com­bine this with the increas­ing­ly pop­u­lar­i­ty and crowds with­in the parks – which see’s road clo­sures and the require­ment for per­mits to access parts of the parks and treks, as well as need­ing to know the best time to vis­it and the poten­tial­ly life-sav­ing equip­ment and sup­plies you’ll need with­in the park – and an explo­ration to these twin won­ders can become a com­pli­cat­ed and com­plex under­tak­ing.  

There­fore, to make any jour­ney to both Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park as enjoy­able and stress-free as pos­si­ble – and to ensure you get the absolute best out of these increi­d­ble parks while stay­ing safe, we’ve round­ed out our top tips when vis­it­ing the won­ders of the world that are Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park: 

Come Prepared for the Conditions & Season:

First up, and in our view the most impor­tant when vis­it­ing both Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park, is to bring the rel­e­vant cloth­ing and equip­ment for the sea­son in which you are vis­it­ing and the dif­fer­ing cli­mate with­in each park.  

Par­tic­u­lar­ly essen­tial for those vis­it­ing dur­ing the win­ter sea­son, where tem­per­a­tures can drop to minus –25 centi­grade – well past freez­ing, we’d rec­om­mend that any trav­eller comes to Bryce and Zion with plen­ty of lay­ers – includ­ing a warm fleece jack­et, Gloves and a warm bob­bly hat – not­ing that tem­per­a­tures can rapid­ly change and are par­tic­u­lar­ly known to be cold at night. With those bring­ing the extra lay­ers able to stay warm and enjoy world-class star and con­stel­la­tion spot­ting in both parks in com­fort.  

In addi­tion, both parks – regard­less of the sea­son can see sud­den and intense rain­fall – which can be par­tic­u­lar­ly treach­er­ous for those under­tak­ing hikes with­in the parks. For this rea­son, we strong­ly rec­om­mend that every trav­eller bring with them a sol­id rain jack­et, pon­cho and even an umbrel­la to guard against any rain­storms that may occur.  

As well as com­ing with plen­ty of wet and cold weath­er sup­plies, those tak­ing on one of the hikes in either park – and par­tic­u­lar­ly for those tak­ing on Angels Land­ing or the Nar­rows with­in Zion Nation­al Park, it’s essen­tial that you come pre­pared with the hik­ing essen­tials – includ­ing sol­id and worn in but com­fort­able hik­ing shoes, plen­ty of water, good qual­i­ty wool socks, plen­ty of snacks, a first aid kit, a torch – and plen­ty of snacks – to get you through the hike. 

Fur­ther, regard­less of whether you take on a trek with­in either nation­al park or the sea­son you are head­ing to these twin won­ders, it’s essen­tial that you take a good qual­i­ty Hat and plen­ty of sun­screen with you  — to pro­tect against the strong sun that you’ll expe­ri­ence in the parks.  

Final­ly, in con­sid­er­a­tion of the stun­ning land­scapes, incred­i­ble treks, kalei­do­scop­ic sun­rise and sun­sets, and the star­lit nights that make both Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park a true pho­tog­ra­phers dream – we’d rec­om­mend com­ing with and invest­ing in a top qual­i­ty cam­era, with a high DLR and that is capa­ble of cap­tur­ing star and night shots – to allow you to pre­serve and re-life the stun­ning scenery and beau­ty of these two stun­ning won­ders of the world.  

Be prepared for the Hikes and Treks: 

So much of the won­der and beau­ty of both Bryce canyon and Zion Nation park are found in the incred­i­ble hikes – from the Rim Walk and Nava­jo Loop Trail with­in Bryce to Angel’s Land­ing and the Nar­rows with­in Zion.  

Yet to get the best out of these trails, it’s essen­tial that you fol­low a series of safe­ty rec­om­men­da­tions – includ­ing com­ing pre­pared for the tricky con­di­tions that you’ll find on the trails with the cor­rect gear (men­tioned above), plen­ty of water and a thor­ough under­stand­ing of the route ahead of you – with this being par­tic­u­lar­ly essen­tial for those tak­ing on the nar­rows – where deep trekking through the Vir­gin Riv­er can be extend­ed.  

For those tak­ing on the more pop­u­lar hikes with­in Zion – includ­ing the nar­rows and Angels Land­ing – be warned that you’ll need to apply for per­mits in advance to take on these treks – owing to their pop­u­lar­i­ty and to ensure the safe­ty of hik­ers on the trail.  

Still despite the intro­duc­tion of per­mits on these trails, those tak­ing on the Angels’ Land­ing trail need to pre­pare for delays and queues when you reach the sum­mit part of the trail, specif­i­cal­ly where you reach the chains up the boul­ders that lead to the Angel’s Land­ing view­point. This sec­tion – which does fea­ture a series of drop-offs – fre­quent­ly see’s peo­ple get­ting frozen or stuck on the trails, and it’s essen­tial regard­less of how you may feel that you do not seek to over­take or rush any­one on the chains – as it can and has result­ed in loss of life before.  

In con­sid­er­a­tion of the poten­tial traf­fic queues that can build on the trails, as well as the extend­ed time that some hikes can take – as well to ensure you get to enjoy the full beau­ty of these stun­ning nation­al parks – we’d high­ly rec­om­mend that you start your hikes as ear­ly as pos­si­ble. Start­ing your hikes ear­ly will not only give you a heads start on the crowds that will fol­low lat­er, but will give you more time to enjoy the stun­ning views – and for those who start incred­i­bly ear­ly give you a chance to wit­ness a stun­ning sun­rise – which can tru­ly be one of the best moments of your time explor­ing these won­ders.  

Final­ly while the hik­ing with­in both Bryce and Zion can – and like­ly will — be one of the most incred­i­ble and awe-inspir­ing parts of your trip, there’s no doubt that the chal­leng­ing nature of the hikes – par­tic­u­lar­ly for those tak­ing on Angel’s Land­ing can take their toll on your car­dio lev­els and your legs – leav­ing you in a sit­u­a­tion where you’re unable to take on a fur­ther hike lat­er and enjoy your ream­ing days with­in the won­ders. For this rea­son, it’s absolute­ly essen­tial that you recov­er well and rest between hikes – being sure to put your feet up after hikes, take on plen­ty of stretch­ing – and treat your­self to a hearty meal so as to ensure you can ensure your days with­in the parks are as action-packed and enjoy­able as pos­si­ble.  

Getting Around: 

Giv­en the vast size of both nation­al parks – as well the vol­ume of stun­ning trails and sights to explore, get­ting around both Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park can be one of the most chal­leng­ing aspects of your adven­ture – and one that cer­tain­ly has the poten­tial to make or break your explo­ration and adven­ture of this stun­ning park.  

While our get­ting there sec­tion cov­ers this in more detail – and this like­ly won’t be a con­cern for those trav­el­ling to both nation­al parks on a guid­ed tour. For those who are self-dri­ving or mak­ing an inde­pen­dent way to both parks, it’s essen­tial to know how to get around, par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing the high sea­sons in sum­mer – where crowds and traf­fic are con­stant across the park.  

So for those self-dri­ving, it’s essen­tial that you come to both parks with a full tank of fuel – not­ing that while the dri­ve between each parks is just over 60 miles, explor­ing the parks them­selves can drain your fuel, and there are no ser­vice sta­tions with­in the parks them­selves. 

For those vis­it­ing Zion Nation­al Park, there’s no doubt that the parks Scenic Dri­ve will be one of the high­lights, with every turn and stop-off brin­ing it with stun­ning view­points and look­outs that tru­ly show­cas­es the absolute best of this incred­i­ble nat­ur­al won­der. How­ev­er, for those self-dri­ving and for those seek­ing to explore the incred­i­ble scenic dri­ve, it’s essen­tial to know that access to the Zion Canyon Scenic Dri­ve is only by Shut­tle Bus between the months of March – end of Novem­ber. For this rea­son, it is essen­tial that any­one self-dri­ving refrains from enter­ing this scenic dri­ve dur­ing this time – or else you risk a fine, a telling off by park rangers and a series of unhap­py explor­ers.  

In com­pli­ment to this, while the Zion Canyon Scenic Dri­ve is the only offi­cial road that self-dri­ves can­not dri­ve with­in Zion nation­al park, we’d encour­age any­one vis­it­ing dur­ing the high peri­ods of Spring – August, to refrain from dri­ving with­in the park, and instead take the Shut­tle Ser­vice – which runs from March to Novem­ber to get around.  

From a self-dri­ving per­spec­tive, it’s incred­i­bly easy to leave your car in the town of Spring­dale near­by and then get a shut­tle ser­vice into the park – with those then with­in Zion or Bryce Canyon then able to board a free, reg­u­lar and effi­cient Shut­tle Ser­vice that will drop you off at or close by the many high­lights of the park.  

Book in advance: 

Giv­en the stun­ning nat­ur­al beau­ty of both Bryce Canyon and Zion nation­al park, and their twin sta­tus as a true won­der of the world, not only can you not dri­ve you car across Zion Nation­al Park, but you’ll find that with­in both parks accom­mo­da­tion and those hik­ing trails with­in Zion that require a per­mit are booked up fast, so for this rea­son we’d strong­ly advise Book­ing your trip to both parks in advance.  

Under this top tip there are two main aspects to con­sid­er, the first of which is to book your accom­mo­da­tion ear­ly. Espe­cial­ly rel­e­vant dur­ing peak vis­it­ing sea­sons, giv­en the incred­i­ble sun­rise, sun­set and night time vis­tas that you’ll find in both parks, as well as the high cost of accom­mo­da­tion – you’ll find that camp­grounds, park lodges and in par­tic­u­lar­ly around Zion and hotels with­in Spring­dale will book up – some­times 12 months in advance – so for this rea­son it’s absolute­ly essen­tial that you book ear­ly.  

The sec­ond main con­sid­er­a­tion – par­tic­u­lar­ly for those vis­it­ing Zion is the per­mits required for hik­ing trails, with our advice being to book hik­ing trails at least 6 months in advance if pos­si­ble. Par­tic­u­lar­ly rel­e­vant for those seek­ing to take on the incred­i­ble hike of Angel’s Land­ing, the pop­u­lar­i­ty of the hikes with­in Zion are leg­endary — and for good rea­son with the stun­ning and chal­leng­ing hikes tru­ly afford­ing the best views across the whole of this incred­i­ble park – so in order to ensure you get the chance to expe­ri­ence this tru­ly buck­et list expe­ri­ence, be sure to get and book your per­mit well in advance.  

Come Early: 

Final­ly, as a result of both the vol­ume of immense beau­ty there is to explore across both Bryce Canyon and Zion nation­al park – but most impor­tant­ly as a result of the crowds, it’s essen­tial to give your­self a head start against oth­er explor­ers and begin your day and explo­ration as ear­ly as pos­si­ble.  

Essen­tial for those tak­ing on one of the hikes in either park – par­tic­u­lar­ly dur­ing the peak sum­mer peri­ods – being first on the shut­tle bus to the trail­heads is essen­tial, as by 9am you can expect long queues to form at the shut­tle lines, which can result in you either miss­ing your expe­ri­ence on a trail, or even worse, under­tak­ing a trail with­in the park after dusk – when con­di­tions can be tru­ly dan­ger­ous.  

We’d also strong­ly advise you to start your day ear­ly to min­imise entrance lines at vis­i­tor cen­tres, entrance gates and for those trav­el­ling from fur­ther out than Spring­dale – traf­fic queues on the high­way.  

While arriv­ing ear­ly can be daunt­ing and will require a strong-will to get up before the sun, it will not only mean that you get to ful­ly enjoy the absolute best of these stun­ning Nation­al Parks, but also get a head start on the trails and the chance to enjoy them with­out sig­nif­i­cant crowds. But best of all you’ll get to enjoy- hope­ful­ly in rel­e­vant soli­tude – sun­rise over the stun­ning­ly beau­ti­ful parks of Bryce Canyon and Zion nation­al Park – with a chance to wit­ness the deep kalei­do­scop­ic sun­rise bring­ing the park and your road ahead to life being undoubt­ed­ly one of the great expe­ri­ences with­in these twin won­ders of the world.  

Cost:  

Whilst Bryce Canyon and Zion nation­al park are twin won­ders, vis­it­ing these increi­d­ble nat­ur­al icons (thank­ful­ly !) don’t car­ry with them the cost of vis­it­ing two won­ders – with both parks – thanks in large to the nat­ur­al ele­ment of them and the increi­d­ble work done by the parks and recre­ations team with­in both parks – being avail­able for explo­ration by explor­ers on all bud­gets.  

In fact, while there are entrance fees at both parks, the major­i­ty of cost in vis­it­ing both Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al park will come in the form of your ‘get­ting there’ costs and in any extras you need to sup­port your­self (gear, food and essen­tials) when explor­ing these increi­d­ble won­ders.  

Get­ting there: For get­ting there, the eas­i­est option will be to fly into either Las Vegas or Salt Lake City – and use either city of as base from which to begin your explo­ration into Bryce Canyon and Zion nation­al Park. So for inter­na­tion­al trav­ellers based with­in Asia and Aus­trala­sia, we’d encour­age you to bud­get between $1100 -$1500 Usd for return flights into either city — and we’d also rec­om­mend that giv­en you’ve trav­elled such a long way com­bin­ing your trip with some of the oth­er won­ders with­in North Amer­i­ca.  

For those based with­in Europe and South Amer­i­ca, you can expect your cost of flights to slight­ly reduce – clock­ing in at between $750 — $1200 Usd , with those based with­in North Amer­i­ca able to catch cheap inter­na­tion­al or domes­tic flights for between $300 — $650 Usd on aver­age to reach Las Vegas or Salt Lake City.  

Once you’re at your base for explo­ration, the next cost of your trip will be decid­ed upon the method of trav­el you take to reach Bryce and Zion Nation­al Park, with the bud­get option being to go by pub­lic trans­port and camp, the medi­um range option by Self-Dri­ve and in nicer lodg­ings – and for those with a health­i­er bud­get or who are short on time able to trav­el to Bryce canyon and Zion on a tour.  

By Tour: For those tak­ing on a tour, which can be either pri­vate or in a group, this is a great option for those who don’t fan­cy dri­ving to Zion and Bryce and who are short on time, the cost of a tour will vary based large­ly on its dura­tion – with a shared one day tour from Las Vegas that offers a whis­tle-stop tour of the high­lights of both won­ders like­ly to come in at around $150 Usd, where as a pri­vate mul­ti-day tour which includes an extend­ed time to explore both won­ders and includes accom­mo­da­tion and food like­ly to begin from $550 Usd.  

With prices to suit most bud­gets, tak­ing a tour can be a relaxed and stress-free way to explore both won­ders, and while you will be trav­el­ling on a fixed sched­ule, for those seek­ing a flat rate cost to explore these won­ders, a tour can be a great way to get to and explore these parks – just be sure to do your research before book­ing.  

Yet for those seek­ing to delve fur­ther into both Bryce Canyon and Zion nation­al park, and take on some of the incred­i­ble hik­ing treks includ­ing the Nava­jo Loop Trail in Bryce and the Angel’s Land­ing and Nar­rows treks with­in Zion – then arriv­ing at both parks by your­self is the only-real­is­tic option, and arriv­ing by either pub­lic trans­port or through self-dri­ve are both fan­tas­tic options for this.  

By bus: Start­ing with the cheap­er option first, to get to Bryce and Zion by bus, the eas­i­est option is to depart dur­ing the sum­mer months and hop onto either the direct bus­es that run from Vegas to Zion dur­ing these months – which can cost $30 Usd one way, or for a cheap­er option take the grey­hound bus from Las Vegas to St George in Utah – and then grab a St George shut­tle bus to Zion Vis­i­tor cen­tre to begin your explo­ration ($15 Usd) — with you then being able to use the free shut­tle bus with­in Zion to get around and reach Spring­dale for those stay­ing overnight.  

A much cheap­er option then a tour, and one that affords you more free­dom to take on the trails – do be warned that depend­ing on bus routes and where you stay, you may have to explore both parks in sep­a­rate sit­tings (retun­ing to Las Vegas or tak­ing a bus north into Utah and mak­ing your way towards Bryce Canyon from any of the small­er towns there) when trav­el­ling by pub­lic trans­port – which will like­ly dou­ble your cost for the over­all trav­el when explor­ing Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park by pub­lic trans­porta­tion.  

Entrance fee: Addi­tion­al­ly when it comes to bud­get­ing for enter­ing either park by pub­lic trans­port – do note you’ll get charged for enter­ing on foot or by bicy­cle at the entrance gate to both parks – which will cost $20 at each park and which is payable on arrival – adding an extra $40 USD to your total cost.  

While arriv­ing by pub­lic trans­port will like­ly be the cheap­est option – it is, in all hon­esty, not the most con­ve­nient – with trav­ellers being depen­dent on bus sched­ules to get around and being lim­it­ed to the sup­plies they can car­ry with them – with the pub­lic trans­port route also like­ly to add at least three extra days on your trip, cut­ting into the time you have to explore these two incred­i­ble won­ders of the world.  

Self-dri­ve: For this rea­son, our rec­om­men­da­tion when seek­ing to explore the twin won­ders of Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park is to self-dri­ve to the base cities of Salt Lake city or Las Vegas and then head first­ly to Bryce Canyon and then to Zion Nation­al Park. To do this you’ll need to get your hands on a rental car – which is eas­i­ly done with­in both base cities and at each air­port. 

Unless you’re trav­el­ling in win­ter – where snow tires may be required – a stan­dard car (sedan’s are always rec­om­mend­ed) will suf­fice for those on a bud­get, where as those who fan­cy includ­ing in an Amer­i­can Road-trip to the won­ders able to indulge and stretch their bud­get towards an SUV or sim­i­lar more com­fort­able vehi­cle.  

Ensur­ing that your rental car comes with insur­ance and a GPS (which are stan­dard inclu­sions with most rentals) you can bud­get between $30 USD — $75 Usd a day for car rental (not includ­ing petrol) which giv­en the free­dom and com­fort a rental car affords is well worth it.  

For those self-dri­ving we’d advise to bud­get an extra $100 USD for petrol for those stay­ing for a cou­ple of days, and do bear in mind that you can­not access Zion’s Scenic Dri­ve dur­ing the months of March – Novem­ber when self-dri­ving, with tak­ing the shut­tle to get around Zion and leav­ing your car in spring­dale being one of our top tips when vis­it­ing.  

Along­side the cost of rental and petrol, you may need to bud­get $35 Usd for entry fees for both parks if self-dri­ving ($70 Usd in total) — how­ev­er in com­ple­ment to our top-tips for bud­get­ing for a trip to Bryce and Zion – and applic­a­ble for those arriv­ing into both won­ders by either pub­lic trans­port we’d advise that rather than pay the $40 Usd for walk­ing or bik­ing into the park or the $70 Usd for Bryce and Zion if self-dri­ving – that you instead invest in the Amer­i­ca the Beau­ti­ful Nation­al Park Pass which is an $80 Usd pass valid for 12 months that grants you access to more than 2,000 Nation­al Parks – includ­ing the twin won­ders of Bryce and Zion. With this pass being per­fect for the bud­get con­scious trav­eller who’s look­ing to expand their vis­it to Amer­i­ca with the oth­er stun­ning Nation­al park won­ders.  

Aside from those tak­ing on a tour to explore the twin won­ders – where your price will be fixed in advance – those self-trav­el­ling using either pub­lic trans­port or Self-dri­ving will also need to account for the cost of food and accom­mo­da­tion.  

Food & Acco­mo­da­tion: With those on a bud­get encour­aged to pur­chase their food in advance and able to get through a day on around $10 Usd. Where as those who fan­cy to indulge and a hearty meal after tak­ing on one of the walks with­in either Bryce or Zion advised to increase their food bud­get up to $20 Usd a day on stock up on plen­ty of carbs and pro­tein ahead of time. For those who don’t man­age to get food in advance – or who eat through their sup­plies – the best place to stock up for both Bryce and Zion is with­in Spring­dale – but you can expect prices there to be high­er and we’d encour­age you to bud­get as much as $30 Usd a day for your meals – if not high­er.  

For those self-trans­port­ing, you’ll also need to account and bud­get for accom­mo­da­tion – with the soon­er you book in advance the cheap­er your cost like­ly to be — with camp­sites, lodges and hotels like­ly to be booked up more than a year in advance. Whilst this makes for­ward plan­ning essen­tial – if you’re luck enough to get a spot to stay with­in the parks, you can expect the night­ly cost for a camp­site to come in at around $30 Usd, a lodge to be $50 — $75 Usd and a hotel or B & B with­in Spring­dale to start at $100 Usd and rise to as much as $250 depend­ing on the sea­son and your lux­u­ry.  

 Fac­tor­ing in a lit­tle bit of mon­ey for hik­ing sup­plies ($100 Usd) and sou­venirs ($25 Usd) – and exclud­ing flights you can expect a self-guid­ed pub­lic trans­port tour to Bryce and Zion to cost $220 as a base and then increase by at least $40 Usd for each addi­tion­al day, a self-dri­ve tour to start with a base of at least $220 as a base, and then increase by an extra $70 Usd — $150 Usd based on food and accom­mo­da­tion – and a guid­ed tour to cost a min­i­mum of a flat rate of $150 Usd for a day trip to both parks – and increase by an extra $200 Usd for each addi­tion­al day.  

There­fore, with a range of options to both get to Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park – which afford trav­ellers to chance to explore these twin won­ders regard­less of your bud­get — the beau­ty of the twin won­ders of Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Park are found not just in the stun­ning scenery and glo­ri­ous sun­ris­es, sun­sets and stargaz­ing – but in the acces­si­bil­i­ty and avail­abil­i­ty to each and every explor­er to trav­el and enjoy these incred­i­ble nation­al parks.   

Top Sights, Hikes & Best Photo Spots: 

Twin won­ders, Bryce and Zion Nation­al Parks offer some of the world’s most stun­ning nat­ur­al view­points and scenic pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties.  

Thanks to the dif­fer­ing alti­tude with­in each park (Bryce Canyon stands at 9,000 feet, while Zion clocks in at 4,000 feet) you’ll find a stun­ning yet con­trast­ing cli­mate and land­scape with­in each park that affords stun­ning snaps. Par­tic­u­lar­ly with­in Bryce you’ll be greet­ed by pho­to­genic and tow­er­ing canyons and Hoodoo’s arranged in an amphithe­atre of won­der that is eas­i­ly explorable through view­points and gen­tle hikes, where­as Zion is a true ‘Oasis with­in the Desert’ offer­ing the stun­ning Vir­gin Riv­er that brings to life the parks hills and mead­ows that lead towards the impos­ing and deep Zion Canyon – whose best pho­tog­ra­phy shots lie at the end of chal­leng­ing and test­ing trails.  

Yet while the two parks may con­trast in alti­tude and land­scapes, you’ll find sim­i­lar­i­ties between them when it comes to pho­tog­ra­phy – most notably that both Bryce and Zion offer some of the most incred­i­ble sun­rise, sun­set and night-time astron­o­my pho­tog­ra­phy – includ­ing shots of the milky way – on the plan­et. 

Both parks are also awash with hun­dreds of species of ani­mals – who against the stun­ning back­drops of both park can make for incred­i­ble wildlife shots. You’ll also find that both parks are blessed with year-round stun­ning scenery – with the win­ter sea­son see­ing the canyons in Zion and Bryce being cov­ered in a soft blan­ket of snow – mak­ing for beau­ti­ful (if cold) win­ter snaps, and the spring, sum­mer and autumn sea­sons bring­ing out the best of the wildlife and shin­ing nat­ur­al beau­ty in both parks – mean­ing there is tru­ly no bad time to vis­it and pho­to­graph Bryce and Zion nation­al parks.  

Such is the stun­ning nature of the scenery with­in both parks, those vis­it­ing on small­er day trips and not stop­ping overnight will have no prob­lem snap­ping stun­ning shots on some­thing as basic as a high-qual­i­ty cam­era phone – where as those stop­ping overnight and pho­tograph­ing the sun­rise, sun­sets and par­tic­u­lar­ly the twin­kling night skies through astropho­tog­ra­phy required to come with advanced equip­ment – includ­ing a stur­dy tri­pod, a pow­er­ful DSLR cam­era – and plen­ty of snacks as you wait for that per­fect shot to arrive.  

Tru­ly majes­tic, the close prox­im­i­ty of Bryce and Zion canyon affords trav­ellers and pho­tog­ra­phers a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to cap­ture con­trast­ing yet equal­ly stun­ning land­scapes that are undoubt­ed­ly among the best in the world. Yet giv­en the vast size of the parks, the short span of trips to each park and the many dif­fer­ing view­points avail­able, it can be a chal­lenge to make sure you get the pic­ture-per­fect shot with­in each park and cap­ture the full beau­ty of these twin won­ders.  

So to make your life – and trip – as easy and spe­cial as pos­si­ble, we’ve round­ed out our top pho­tog­ra­phy picks at the incred­i­ble won­ders of the world of both Bryce Canyon and Zion Nation­al Parks. 

Bryce Canyon:

Inspiration Point (Lower, Upper and Inspiration Point) 

Tow­er­ing Hoodoos, majes­tic nat­ur­al arch­es and stun­ning vis­tas that stretch into the hori­zon – Bryce Canyon is a true pho­tog­ra­phers dream – and no more can the icon­ic shot of this stun­ning nat­ur­al park be cap­tured than at the three inspi­ra­tion point look­outs with­in the park.  

Found on the rim trail, just off the main road for the canyon, so stun­ning are the views from these look­outs, that they have been divid­ed into three dif­fer­ent shots – low­er – where you’ll get a direct look into the amphithe­atre and the stun­ning canyons, upper – where a view of the top of the hoodoo’s awaits you – and the Inspi­ra­tion point itself, which com­bines the best of low­er and upper for a stun­ning 180 degree panoram­ic view­point out over the whole of this majes­tic canyon.  

Offi­cial­ly the most pop­u­lar pho­tog­ra­phy spot with­in the park, Inspi­ra­tion Point is an incred­i­ble spot for sun­rise pho­tog­ra­phy – as not only do you miss the day­time and day tour crowds, but you get the thrilling and emo­tive shot of watch­ing the sun rise and light up the orange cliff faces in a gold­en kalei­do­scop­ic dis­play, that tru­ly brings this stun­ning nation­al park to life.  

More­over, it’s from both upper inspi­ra­tion point and inspi­ra­tion point itself that you can observe some of the icons of Bryce Canyon, that make this park so spe­cial, includ­ing the nat­ur­al bridge – one of the most promi­nent and awe-inspir­ing arch­es across the whole of the park, and the canyons of the hunter – one of the most impos­ing and tallest canyons with­in Bryce, as well as the ‘Rab­bit’ Canyon – both of which give a scale of the sheer size of this canyon – and of course views stretch­ing to the hori­zon of a mil­lion Hoodoos set against green pon­derosa pines – for a tru­ly majes­tic shot.  

A tru­ly spe­cial place, any­one of the three Inspi­ra­tion points will live up to its name and we’d encour­age you to get here ear­ly and bud­get plen­ty of time to snap what are sure to be some icon­ic and tru­ly mem­o­rable pho­tos of the stun­ning beau­ty of Bryce Canyon.  

Bryce Point – sunrise & Sunset & nighttime:

Mov­ing from inspi­ra­tion to icon­ic, the pho­to stop of Bryce Point is tru­ly awe-inspir­ing – with the views from this look­out offer­ing explor­ers a tru­ly stun­ning panoram­ic view over the full length of the icon­ic hoodoo Amp­ithe­ater – for a pho­to and mem­o­ry that tru­ly encap­su­lates the absolute best of this stun­ning won­der of the world.  

Offer­ing sweep­ing views out over the gold­en and rouge-coloured Hoodoos and out­wards the hori­zon, the lev­el of detail and view from Bryce Canyon is tru­ly stun­ning dur­ing the day – but gets even bet­ter at both sun­rise and sun­set — where the ris­ing or descend­ing sun lights up the whole of the canyon in a kalei­do­scop­ic dis­play for an immense and spe­cial pho­to.  

Par­tic­u­lar­ly spe­cial on a win­ter’s day – where a blan­ket of snow gives a mag­i­cal feel to the Hoodoo’s, and rocks, for those for­tu­nate enough to vis­it Bryce Canyon on a clear day be sure to point your cam­era in the way of the peak of Boat Mesa – which lies on the fairy­land Loop – allow­ing you to pho­to­graph a true icon of the immense Bryce Canyon.  

A fan­tas­tic place also for night-time pho­tog­ra­phy – where you’ll find the wide-rang­ing and panoram­ic views, com­bined with the clear skies and absence of air-pol­lu­tion give you a fan­tas­tic view of the stars, con­stel­la­tions, plan­ets and even the Milky Way – Bryce Point is a tru­ly spe­cial place and one that we’d rec­om­mend all explor­ers ven­ture too in both the day and night for awe-inspir­ing pho­tos of the best of Bryce Canyon.  

Paria View:

For those at Bryce Point, there’s anoth­er small­er but less crowd­ed view­point that you’ll find just a short way away from Bryce Point known as Paria view – where the views are equal­ly stun­ning – par­tic­u­lar­ly for sun­set and night-time – but where the crowds are at a min­i­mum.  

Offer­ing wide-rang­ing views out over the west­ern part of Bryce Canyon – with stun­ning views of the Hoodoo’s that stretch to the hori­zon, Paria View is an equal rival to the great views at Bryce Point – with both the sun­rise, sun­set and night-time views here being some of the best on over across the whole of Bryce Canyon.  

A spot for those seek­ing soli­tude and who want to take their time and pho­to­graph the beau­ty of Bryce Canyon, Paria View offers a qui­eter and calmer view com­pared to Bryce Point and is one of our top picks to vis­it at night for incred­i­ble silent views out over the beau­ty of Bryce Canyon, illu­mi­nat­ed by the moon, stars and Milky Way.  

Yovimpa Point:

As well as snap­ping the clas­sic and icon­ic panoram­ic 180-degree views of Bryce Canyon, the beau­ty of this stun­ning nation­al park can also be found in its unique geo-log­i­cal for­ma­tions and rock lay­ers, none more so than the pho­to­genic and tow­er­ing Grand stair­case, which is eas­i­ly pho­tographed from the stop of Yovim­pa Point.  

A view­point lying some 9,100 feet – offi­cial­ly the high­est point with­in Bryce Canyon – Yovim­pa Point – offers incred­i­ble views south-west over the steps and peak of the Grand stair­case – and is an fan­tas­tic point for pho­tog­ra­phers to zoom in and take in the full detail of these tow­er­ing steps.  

For those mak­ing the ascent to Yovim­pa Point, and tak­ing in the Grand stair­case be sure to look for some of the well named and famed points on the stair­case – includ­ing Mollys Nip­ple, which belongs to the red stone based white cliffs to your south, the Ver­mil­ion Cliffs which are a deep­er rouge beside them and the tow­er­ing Choclate Cliffs that lie on the North Rim of the Canyon.  

A tru­ly spe­cial place, that allows pho­tog­ra­phers to go deep­er into explor­ing the mag­ic of Bryce Canyon, a pho­to stop at Yovim­pa Point to take in the immense views of the Giant Stair­case and beyond is a must for any­one seek­ing to cap­ture the full geo­log­i­cal beau­ty of this stun­ning park.  

Farview Point: 

Offer­ing sim­i­lar views to Yovim­pa Point, Farview point lives up to its name – offer­ing less focused but more inclu­sive views of the hoodoos’s of Bryce Canyon, the pon­derosa trees and the geo-log­i­cal fea­tures – includ­ing the Grand stair­case and grey and white cliffs.  

A view­point that can be par­tic­u­lar­ly spe­cial in the win­ter – where the soft snow cre­ates a mirage across the whole of the Canyon bring­ing it to life, the view from Farview offers a more serene and nature focused shot, with the clus­ter of green trees that lie at its heart help­ing to under­line the forest­sy and life that swells with­in Bryce canyon – that can some­times get lost beneath the shad­ow of the Hoodoo’s.  

An alter­na­tive as well to Yovim­pa Point for those seek­ing geo-log­i­cal shots, with views out over the Kaibab Plateau and – on a clear day – the Nava­jo Moun­tain – Farview point stands as an off-the-beat­en and under­rat­ed spot, where for those who ven­ture here you may be able to snap one of the best shots across the whole of Bryce Canyon.  

Swamp Canyon Trailhead: 

Mov­ing from look­out points to explor­ing the park itself, and Bryce Canyon is blessed with a series of gen­tle hik­ing trails that can take explor­ers into the park itself – where you can not only won­der amongst the Hoodoo’s but the stun­ning nature and wildlife found with­in it – where a series of glo­ri­ous and inti­mate shots await you.  

Chief among these trails is the Swamp Canyon loop – which takes explor­ers into the val­ley itself and from where you can grab incred­i­ble close-up pho­tos of the hoodoo’s on an indi­vid­ual basis – for fan­tas­tic land­scape shots that dis­play the unique­ness of this stun­ning park.  

Mov­ing fur­ther through the Swamp Canyon Trail and you’ll come to two small creeks – where, if you’re for­tu­nate you’ll encounter a series of wildlife – includ­ing Elk, Deer and if you’re tru­ly lucky bears – all of which can make for great pho­tos against the back­drop of the stun­ning hoodoo’s.  

A fan­tas­tic trail – and one that is eas­i­ly tread, Swamp Canyon can offer incred­i­ble up-close views of Bryce Canyon, and giv­en that so many trav­ellers stay on the rim trail and don’t ven­ture into the Canyon, for those seek­ing unique and per­son­al shots, the Swamp Canyon trail is one of the most spe­cial and under­rat­ed pho­tog­ra­phy spots with­in Bruce Canyon.  

Navajo Loop Trail (Twin Bridges):

A gen­tle 1.5 mile trail that starts and ends at sun­set point (see below) the Nava­jo Loop Trail is a fan­tas­tic place for cap­tur­ing shots deep with­in the canyon inside the icon­ic hoodoo for­ma­tions – with the pho­tog­ra­phy shots found with­in here being tru­ly spe­cial as you come eye to eye with and enter the icon­ic Bryce canyon.  

A great place to be dur­ing start of after­noon – where you can avoid both the tourists arriv­ing at the view­points above and – for those trav­el­ling in sum­mer – the harsh Utah heat over­head, the Nava­jo loop offers a series of great shots deep with­in the canyon, with out favourite being on the down­ward approach at the start of the trail where you’ll find your­self hik­ing down along with Hoodoo’s and into the val­ley of Canyons which is a great shot – and one that we’d encour­age you to use the panoram­ic fea­ture on your phone at a 90 degree angle to cap­ture a real­ly spe­cial shot.  

For those who take on the whole loop be sure to take a few moments on your ascent – not just to catch your breath as you nav­i­gate the switch­backs – but to snap a great panoram­ic view at Hoodoos lev­el out over the rest of the Canyon and to the hori­zon of this incred­i­ble nation­al park, for one of the world’s most scenic short walks that offers stun­ning pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties.  

Fairyland Point and Loop Trail:

The longest of our rec­om­mend­ed hikes with­in Bryce Canyon, the Fairy­land Loop trails takes you deep into the heart of Bryce Canyon for a chance to snap pho­tos tru­ly off the beat­en track and cap­ture the best – and most unique mem­o­ries of this incred­i­ble park.  

A track that will take a good half-day to com­plete the Fairy­land Loop trail see’s explor­ers descent some 950 feet and then ascent to con­nect with parts of the rim trail before descend­ing into the Canyon once more – before fin­ish­ing at the incred­i­ble look-out of Fairy­land point, where you’ll be able to cap­ture incred­i­ble panoram­ic views over Bryce Canyon – from a unique and less vis­it­ed view­point, for tru­ly spe­cial pho­tos. 

A loop that will require you to set out with plen­ty of snacks – and for those tak­ing it on in sum­mer – sun­screen, the views along the trail are equal­ly as impres­sive as those at the Fairy­land loop, with the descent on the trail tak­ing you along­side and even through the icon­ic Hoodoo’s – where you can snap up close and panoram­ic shots of the Hoodoo’s and across the amphithe­atre of glo­ri­ous stone – before sum­mit­ing to Fairy­land Point – for what is guar­an­teed to be one of the most pho­to­genic trails  and expe­ri­ences on your explo­ration of the won­der of Bryce Canyon.  

Highway 12: 

From Canyon to high­way, the scenic High­way 12 is not just a route con­nect­ing the twin won­ders of Zion and Bryce – but is itself a scenic won­der and one tru­ly wor­thy of a series of pho­to stops.  

Offer­ing incred­i­ble shots of one of the great­est and most panoram­ic roads on the plan­et, High­way 12 winds its way through the north of Bryce Canyon, with each pull-out offer­ing spe­cial and unique van­tage points out over the Canyon and the hoodoo’s. Chief among these pull-outs and a fan­tas­tic pho­to stop is the cave of Mossy – which offers explor­ers a bird’s eye of rich green pon­derosas backed by the Hoodoo’s in the sum­mer – or in the win­ter a chance to explore and pho­to­graph a mys­ti­cal ice cave.  

More­over it’s on high­way 12 that you’ll find a series of unique shots as well, includ­ing the icon­ic chance to pho­to your­self and your car dri­ving through a hoodoo, under­neath a cave and perched atop the rim of Bryce Canyon – where the amphithe­atre below pro­vides a stun­ning back­ground.  

Stretch­ing for 120 miles across some of the scenic high­lights of Utah, we’d encour­age every trav­eller to take a ride on high­way 12 – where you’ll find incred­i­ble scenery, unique shots and the best of Bryce Canyon awaits you. 

Sunset Point:

No pho­tog­ra­phy or explo­ration of Bryce Canyon would be com­plete with­out tak­ing in one of the parks stun­ning sun­sets – and undoubt­ed­ly the best place across the whole of the park for sun­set views and pho­tog­ra­phy is the apt­ly named Sun­set Point.  

Offer­ing sim­ply breath-tak­ing views out over the main amphithe­atre and hoodoos of Bryce Canyon, Sun­set point sits 8,000 feet above sea lev­el – and offers not only access to and the finale of the Nava­jo Loop Trail – but views of the true geo-log­i­cal high­lights of Bryce Canyon – includ­ing the pic­turesque thor’s ham­mer and Grand Stair­case – which come to life with the descend­ing sun as the val­ley below you turns a deep shade of rouge and gold as the Hoodoo’s reflect the descend­ing sun.  

Eas­i­ly acces­si­ble by the Bryce Canyon shut­tle, the view from sun­set point is sim­ply stun­ning – and we’d encour­age you to get here a good hour before sun­set to ensure you get a good posi­tion and can posi­tion your cam­era for a stun­ning shot. Then, once in posi­tion, you can mar­vel at the stun­ning nat­ur­al light show on the Canyon and Amp­ithe­atre below you – that brings this incred­i­ble won­der to life and pro­vides stun­ning, illu­mi­nat­ed pho­tos of the true won­der of the world that is Bryce Canyon.  

Zion National Park:

An oasis with­in the Desert – Zion Nation­al Park is awash with stun­ning mul­ti-coloured nat­ur­al scenery – the hall­marks of which are undoubt­ed­ly the tow­er­ing Zion Canyon and the blessed Vir­gin Riv­er – with this stun­ning­ly scenic nation­al park being a pho­tog­ra­phers par­adise that offer some of the best and stun­ning pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties on the plan­et.  

Yet giv­en the chal­leng­ing Alti­tude across the parks – it begins at 4,000 feet and yet the canyon see’s adven­tur­ous plum­met 2,000 feet down to its floor, the nat­ur­al rock arch­es and the chal­leng­ing ter­rain – unlike Bryce Canyon where some of the best view­points can be found on eas­i­ly acces­si­ble over­looks – to snap icon­ic and spe­cial expan­sive shots across Zion, explor­ers will be required to take on some chal­leng­ing – and in some instances day long treks.  

Offi­cial­ly divid­ed into five main hik­ing areas (Kolob Canyons, Kolob Ter­race, East Rim, South­west Desert and Zion Canyon) the views from each of the Hikes and areas are tru­ly stun­ning and each area con­tains the pos­si­bil­i­ty of wit­ness­ing and snap­ping tru­ly glo­ri­ous sun­ris­es and sun­sets – as well as mul­ti­ple astropho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties.  

While each of the more than 100 trails with­in Zion offer fan­tas­tic shots, we’ve round­ed out the top hikes and trails that offer, in our view, the most spec­taular and mag­i­cal shots with­in the won­der of Zion Nation­al Park.  

Angel’s Landing:

One of the most spec­tac­u­lar pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ties across both Zion nation­al park and across any Nation­al Park on the plan­et, the views from Angel’s land­ing are tru­ly stun­ning – with the view from atop this hike offer­ing an increi­d­ble 360 panoram­ic view of the icon of Zion – the Grand Canyon – as well as views of the sur­round­ing nature, cliffs and riverbed that stretch to the hori­zon.  

A stun­ning view – reach­ing this incred­i­ble spot will require a chal­leng­ing trail – and require you to get a per­mit to under­take it in advance. With those tak­ing on the Angel Trail that leads to the view­point hav­ing to con­quer sheer and step drops, ascend more than 1,500 feet over dusty trails and make the final ascent using bolt­ed chains to drag your­self to the sum­mit – where the incred­i­ble view awaits you.  

A trail not to be under­tak­en light­ly – with a per­son falling to their death on the Angel Trail ever 2 years – and not suit­able for those with a fear of heights – the route to Angel’s land­ing will take a good half day and see you con­quer more than 2.5 miles of ter­rain – adven­tur­ers tak­ing on the hike and seek­ing that pic­ture per­fect shot are advised to leave at 6am and ensure they are mak­ing their descent by at least 2pm – with any ascent up the final chains and at the Angels Land­ing view­point also like­ly to see explor­ers encounter queues to reach the sum­mit and view­point. 

Yet while the hike may be tough – and will undoubt­ed­ly test your car­dio – the view from the top is undoubt­ed­ly worth it, as you stare and cap­ture the full beau­ty of Zion park in one of the most incred­i­ble and breath-tak­ing pho­tos out over the canyon, nature, cliffs and rivers of the true won­der of the world of Zion Nation­al Park.  

The Narrows Trail:

Equal­ly as pop­u­lar and stun­ning as the views from Angels Land­ing, the nar­rows trail encap­su­lates the full beau­ty of Zion nation­al park – and allows explor­ers to step and trek with­in the Vir­gin Riv­er – tak­ing incred­i­ble shots of the 1,000 metre tall Canyon walls and the riv­er as they take on a 9.5 mile upstream trek to a view­point that allows incred­i­ble views and pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties back over the Canyon and out­wards the hori­zon.  

While the pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties are tru­ly spec­tac­u­lar, explor­ers will need to again come pre­pared for the trail – not­ing that they will like­ly find them­selves wad­ing with­in the Vir­gin riv­er along the trail, com­ing with a change of clothes, water­proof shoes and a walk­ing stick is essen­tial – as is ensur­ing that con­di­tions upon the riv­er are safe before you set out.  

While the hike can take a full day – for those set­ting off ear­ly and who trav­el at a good walk­ing pace – we’d also rec­om­mend mak­ing a brief pho­to stop at the Tem­ple of Sinawa­va – that lies at the entrance of the nar­rows trail – which makes for a fan­tas­tic open­ing hike before begin­ning the incred­i­ble trail.  

Once upon the nar­rows trail – and trekking through the Vir­gin riv­er – one cam­era trick and pho­to shot we’d rec­comend is to switch your cam­era to panoram­ic mode and then hold it ver­ti­cal­ly while tak­ing a pho­to – which can give you an incred­i­ble shot of the tow­er­ing thou­sand feet canyon walls – for a tru­ly spe­cial pho­to.  

A sim­ply stun­ning hike – and one that offers both unique expe­ri­ence and the chance to grab some mes­meris­ing pho­tos, explor­ers should pre­pare to get a lit­tle wet when hik­ing through the nar­rows – but it’s a price well worth pay­ing to cap­ture up close pho­tos of this tow­er­ing canyon and one of the icons of Zion Nation­al Park.  

Observation Point:

A place of tru­ly immense beau­ty that offers an incred­i­ble shot out over the whole of Zion Park – the view from obser­va­tion point gives explores the chance to pho­to­graph the full set of icons of Zion park – from the grand canyon, to the Zion riverbed and across the green scenic nature in the flatbeds below – with views that stretch to the clear hori­zon – for what is undoubt­ed­ly one of the must snap and sim­ply stun­ning shots in this incred­i­ble won­der.  

Often billed as the less crowd­ed but tougher alter­na­tive to Angels Land­ing, Obser­va­tion point is a Zion high­light in its own right, and to snap the incred­i­ble view explor­ers will have to take on a half day 6.5 mile round trip – that will take you 1,000 feet above Angels land­ing – and 2,200 feet from your start­ing point up to one of the high­est look­outs and pho­tog­ra­phy points with­in this nation­al park.  

A hike that we would again rec­comend tak­ing on ear­ly – to avoid both the heat and (hope­ful­ly!) the crowds, trav­ellers with more time can take a slight detour to the pho­to­graph­ic point of Hid­den Canyon – which rep­re­sents one of our favourtie spots with­in the Obser­va­tion Point trail, before con­tin­u­ing along the trail and explor­ing the canyon. 

 While the trail at Obser­va­tion point is undoubt­ed­ly longer than that of angels Land­ing, the drop-offs and dan­ger at Obser­va­tion Point are less severe – and as such for those seek­ing a tru­ly panoram­ic shot of sun­rise and sun­set – and who are com­fort­able and equipped to hike in the dark – Obser­va­tion Point makes for a fan­tas­tic place to begin or end your day at Zion – as you watch the whole of the Canyon come to life in an illu­mi­nat­ed deep rouge kalei­do­scop­ic per­for­mance that lends itself to a tru­ly mar­vel­lous pho­to of this stun­ning nation­al park.  

The Subway:

An immense and unique spot with­in Zion – that so often gets over­looked when it comes to pho­to spots, The Sub­way is an 8‑mile round hik­ing trip that leads hik­ers on a dif­fer­ent path from typ­i­cal spots with­in Zion – and instead takes you through an under­ground canyon tun­nel (hence the hikes name) — where stun­ning emer­ald pools, enclosed caves and deep views of both the inside of the Zion Canyon – and the sur­round­ing scenery of this nation­al park await you.  

A trek that you will need to obtain a per­mit for – be sure to apply no lat­er than a few weeks in advance – and one that will like­ly take all day for those who set off just before sun­rise, those tak­ing on the sub­way trail will need to ensure they come pre­pared with plen­ty of food, water, water­proof cloth­ing and a head­lamp – if they are to safe­ly make their way across and return from this trail.  

Yet for those who two – the sub­way is one of the most pho­to­graph­ic spots across the whole of Zion – with the views inside the canyon offer­ing not just scenic views sel­dom pho­tographed, but a whole series of unique per­son­al shots with­tin the park – which when cap­tured cna back for tru­ly stun­ning mem­o­ries – that will stay with you for­ev­er.  

The Canyon Overlook:

Step­ping out­side of the main Zion nation­al Park walk­ing zone – and cer­tain­ly decreas­ing the vol­ume of hik­ing time but in no way dimin­ish­ing the stun­ning views – the Canyon Over­look lies at the end of a short but steep and chal­leng­ing 1 mile hike – but the over­look pro­vid­ing awe-inspir­ing views out over the Zion Canyon to the grassy pon­derosas below and up towards the hori­zon, where the stun­ning canyon and vir­gin riverbed stretch­es too.  

A trail that can only real­is­ti­cal­ly be reached by car, the stun­ning scenery at Canyon Over­look undoubt­ed­ly lends itself to stun­ning pho­tog­ra­phy of two of the main icons of Zion Nation­al Park – how­ev­er pho­tog­ra­phers and explor­ers should note that while the trail is short­er than pre­vi­ous trails – it is no less chal­leng­ing – with steep drop-offs, mul­ti­ple ascend­ing stairs and unpro­tect­ed path­ways all pos­ing – and being respon­si­ble for – explor­er acci­dents.  

For those who are set on snap­ping this incred­i­ble view – we’d high­ly rec­om­mend being at the Canyon Over­look at either sun­rise or dusk – where not only can you get incred­i­ble shots of the deep Utah sun light­ing up the Canyon – but also where you’ll (hope­ful­ly!) be able to avoid glare on your pho­tos – as the over­look stares direct­ly at the sun.  

A spe­cial – if chal­leng­ing to reach pho­to stop – Canyon Over­look is undoubt­ed­ly off the beat­en track with­in Zion, and for those who ven­ture here dur­ing sun­rise or sun­set you can expect not only min­i­mal crowds but some of the best views across the stun­ning Zion Canyon.  

Emerald Pools (Lower, Middle and Upper):

Mov­ing from chal­len­ing hikes to a gen­tler fam­i­ly friend­ly hike – which still offers incred­i­ble shots of the nat­ur­al beau­ty of Zion – the Emer­ald Pools hike is three hikes com­bined as one, which takes trav­ellers and pho­tog­ra­phers to either the low­er (1.2 mile roundtrip), mid­dle (2 mile roundtrip) or upper (3 mile round trip) falls on a 200 foot ascent – where a series of incred­i­ble emer­ald trans­par­ent pools await you.  

Fed by a series of pho­to­genic water­falls that are ful­ly view­able and snap­pable on the hike up and to which you’ll stand on the edge of thi­er cas­cades if you head to the mid­dle and upper falls — the reflec­tive nature of the Emer­ald Pools, com­bined with their unique shapes (the heart shaped pool is a par­tic­u­lar­ly pop­u­lar spot) make for a series of stun­ning pho­tog­ra­phy shots that allow you to cap­ture one of the most nat­u­ral­ly stun­ning parts of Zion – and which can be enjoyed and pho­tographed by hik­ers and non-hik­ers alike.  

Towers of the Virgin:

A true icon of Zion, the Tow­ers of the Vir­gin are a col­lec­tion of tow­er­ing peaks that lie with­in one of the most acces­si­ble and eas­i­ly reached spots with­in Zion – at the vis­i­tor and Human his­to­ry muse­um.  

Yet while the peaks may be hard to miss – what can be chal­leng­ing and dif­fi­cult is cap­tur­ing the tow­ers of the vir­gin in all their glo­ry, as arrive at the tow­ers of the vir­gin dur­ing the mid­dle of the day on a cloud day and you may feel a lit­tle over­whelmed – as the bare shrub­bery leads to an over­cast and inhib­it­ed col­lec­tion of moun­tains sur­round­ed by human infra­struc­ture – which can mask the beau­ty of these moun­tains.  

How­ev­er, arrive at the Tow­ers of the Vir­gin at sun­rise – and pho­to­graph the Tow­ers from the left of the Human his­to­ry muse­um – and the land­scape and pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty trans­form from one of empti­ness to one of light. As the ascend­ing sun lights up the tow­er­ing moun­tain peaks – and the hori­zon behind it – cre­at­ing a stun­ning mirage of light, nature and scenic beau­ty – that offers one of the most impres­sive and awe-inspir­ing shots across the whole of Zion nation­al park.  

Weeping Rock viewpoint:

The per­fect spot for those who don’t fan­cy a hike, but still want to take in and pho­to­graph one of the most unique spots and the beau­ty of Zion nation­al Park – the Weep­ing Rock view­point lies at the end of a mer­ci­ful­ly short 0.2 mile walk and is one of the most spe­cial places across Zion.  

Named after the curved cry­ing rock illu­sion that the view­point looks out over and into is cre­at­ed by a soft lay­er of water that runs through a gap in the rock base and sand­stone and then soft­ly pro­trudes down an impass­able rock lay­er – to cre­ate a dry tear effect, and one of the most rec­og­niz­able spots across the whole of Zion.  

While the weep­ing rock by itself would be undoubt­ed­ly pho­to-wor­thy, the unique pres­ence of water with­in the rock has helped to allow life to flour­ish – with the weep­ing rock now sur­round­ed by flour­ish­ing plant and even wildlife – which adds fur­ther beau­ty and makes this unique spot even more spe­cial and pic­ture per­fect for explor­ers.  

Canyon Junction Bridge – Sunset Spot:

Offer­ing an incred­i­ble view of the Vir­gin riv­er and the tow­er­ing peak of the watch­man – the Canyon Junc­tion bridge has become syn­ony­mous with sun­set with­in Zion nation­al park – and for good rea­son, as it’s from here where the best of the nat­ur­al beau­ty of Zion comes togeth­er dur­ing the Gold­en hour to light up – as the descend­ing sun brings the rouge moun­tains to life and reflects off the shin­ing vir­gin riv­er for a tru­ly unfor­get­table per­for­mance and a deeply icon­ic and beau­ti­ful pho­tog­ra­phy oppor­tu­ni­ty.  

A sun­set per­for­mance that is mov­ing and warm, the Canyon Junc­tion bridge is found at the inter­sec­tion of  Zion-Mount Carmel High­way and the Val­ley Road – how­ev­er park­ing is extreme­ly lim­it­ed, so we’d rec­comend set­ting off along the scenic Pa’rus Trail that pro­vides an incred­i­ble build to the crescen­do of the view from Canyon Junc­tion Bridge.  

Owing to its extreme beau­ty and the icon­ic sta­tus that sun­set at Canyon Junc­tion Bridge has right­ful­ly earned – the bridge can get incred­i­bly crowd­ed at sun­set – and don’t be sur­prised if spaces on its fore­front are occu­pied and reserved by bud­ding pho­tog­ra­phers tri­pod stands. So, for this rea­son, we’d high­ly rec­comend get­ting to the bridge at least an hour before sun­set – to ensure your view and pho­tos are as spe­cial and direct as pos­si­ble.   

A tru­ly spe­cial place, for those with more time – and plen­ty of snacks – it’s also worth stick­ing around Canyon Junc­tion bridge if the skies are clear for stun­ning view of the Milky Way and con­stel­la­tions above you – but undoubt­ed­ly when it comes to sun­set views of stun­ning nature and espe­cial­ly the Vir­gin Riv­er and glo­ri­ous watch­man peak – it is hard to rival the majes­tic and awe-inspir­ing sun­set view that you’ll find at Canyon Junc­tion Bridge.  

Kolob Canyon – Astrophotography:

While the star, con­stel­la­tion and Milky Way views at Canyon Junc­tion Bridge are tru­ly stun­ning – they are eclipsed by the night-time and star views you’ll find with­in the area of Kolob Canyon – where on a clear night the beau­ty of galax­ies await you.  

Best snapped in our view at either Tay­lor Creek or Kolob Canyons View­point – which are both deep with­in Zion and far from noise and light pol­lu­tion – on a clear night you can expect not only the stars and plan­ets to come alive for you – but also the milky way and galaxy for awe-inspir­ing – and lit­er­al­ly oth­er world views and pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties.  

Such is the beau­ty of the night skies with­in Zion – we’d high­ly encour­age any­one seek­ing to take on any Astropho­tog­ra­phy with­in the park to come with a spe­cialised cam­era – includ­ing a cam­era equipped with a high ISO – as well as a decent tri­pod, and plen­ty of snacks for the long night ahead snap­ping the incred­i­ble beau­ty of the night-time con­stel­la­tions.  

Star­ry views to rival any­where on the plan­et – there is some­thing tru­ly spe­cial and mag­i­cal about stargaz­ing amidst and with­in the stun­ning scenery of Zion nation­al park – and for those for­tu­nate enough to have clear skies and a clear view you can expect some of the most enthralling and sim­ply beau­ti­ful pho­tos before you – as the night sky comes alive to bring Zion Nation­al Park, the skies and the galaxy to life – which will leave any trav­eller in no doubt of the beau­ty and unique­ness of the true won­der of the world that is Zion Nation­al Park.