2024 Zion National Park Travel Guide
Zion is one of America’s most spectacular national parks — a remarkable landscape filled with stunning geology and world-class outdoor adventures.
But with limited time, you’ve got to plan your trip wisely. Zion: The Complete Guide puts the best of Zion National Park at your fingertips, helping you plan an unforgettable adventure!
Discover the Best of
Zion National Park
The #1 Zion guidebook.
Zion National Park Travel Tips
Best Times to Visit
There’s never a bad time to visit Zion. Sunny summers, snowy winters, spring wildflowers, autumn foliage — Zion has it all!
Best Driving Routes
Learn the best driving routes to Zion. Experience natural wonders, fascinating sights, and great restaurants along the way.
Best Zion Hotels
From rustic lodges to upscale B&Bs, find the best places to stay inside and outside Zion National Park.
Best Views
There’s no better way to put Zion’s remarkable landscape in perspective than visiting a spectacular viewpoint.
Best Hikes
From day hikes in Zion Canyon to overnight backpacks along the rim, there’s no shortage of incredible trails in the park. The more effort you put in, the more you’ll be rewarded!
Seasonal Weather
Learn about Zion’s seasonal weather patterns, including thunderstorms during monsoon season and dangerous flash floods. Understanding nature’s warning signs will help you plan a safe trip.
Camping in Zion
Discover the best campgrounds and campsites in Zion National Park. There’s nothing like spending the night surrounded by Zion’s stunning scenery.
Camping Near Zion
When park campgrounds are full — or you want modern luxuries like hot showers or wifi — consider these great private and public campgrounds near Zion.
Introduction to Zion National Park
Adapted from Zion National Park: The Complete Guide
Located in southwest Utah, Zion is a small park filled with big adventures. Sculpted by the Virgin River over the past two million years, Zion Canyon shelters some of America’s most incredible scenery.
Sheer cliffs tower above narrow slot canyons, dramatic hiking trails rise to panoramic viewpoints, and unlikely springs nourish cool, lush oases. It’s as if Mother Nature gathered everything lovely about the desert Southwest and placed it into a single, scenic masterpiece.
Radiating out from Zion Canyon are additional marvels. East Zion is a sprawling expanse of wavy sandstone, easily explored along a 10-mile road. Southwest Zion marks the northeast fringe of the Mojave Desert, which is home to amazing plants and animals.
To the west, Kolob Terrace Road rises through bold canyons into an alpine forest of aspen and pine—a landscape more like the Rockies than the desert Southwest. And Zion’s most remote destination, Kolob Canyons, is a rugged outpost with towering rock spires, gorgeous hiking trails, and one of the world’s largest free-standing rock arches.
All this natural beauty is made possible by Zion’s geology. Over the past 300 million years, Zion has hosted a head-spinning variety of unlikely environments, including tropical seas, sand dune deserts, lakes, rivers, and swamps. Each environment laid down a new layer of eroded sediments, which were ultimately buried and compressed into sedimentary rocks. Tectonic forces pushed these rock layers thousands of feet above sea level, and rivers carved through the scenery to create Zion’s legendary canyons and cliffs.
At 230 square miles, Zion National Park is just one-eighth the size of Grand Canyon. Although relatively small, the park’s wrinkled topography is a natural jungle gym that lures outdoor junkies from around the world.
Easy day hikes and multi-day backpacks crisscross the park, opening up hidden alcoves and forested plateaus. Biking is a great way to explore Zion Canyon, and rock climbers enjoy some of America’s most accessible big walls.
Perhaps most extraordinary is Zion’s world-class canyoneering. Dozens of narrow canyons slice through the park, luring canyoneers who hike, scramble, swim and rappel through the psychedelic slots. You could easily spend a month in Zion and not run out of things to do. So let’s get started!
Discover the best of Zion National Park
The #1 Zion guidebook.