Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park are two of the most beautiful parks in Utah and they about an hour and a half apart from each other. While I wish I could’ve spent a week exploring each park, our itinerary only allowed for 1 Day for both parks and it is doable!! Here was our itinerary!
9:30- Breakfast: River Rock Roasting Company in La Verkin, Utah
This was such a cute breakfast spot with great views. We stopped here twice on our way from our Airbnb at Zion West RV Park to the NPs. Next, drive to the Zion National Park Visitors Center, it is about 30 minutes.
11:00- Get to Zion
Enter into Zion National Park with your America the Beautiful pass and drive straight to Bryce Canyon. It is about 2 hours. Admire the beautiful views of Zion National Park and the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel as you pass.
1:00-Lunch
Pick up some lunch in the town of Bryce Canyon, we opted for a Subway sandwich.
1:30- See Bryce Canyon
Enter Bryce Canyon National Park and begin with inspiration point. There was almost no one here and the views were incredible, the park has the largest concentration of hoodoos (irregular columns of rock) on Earth.
We then drove to Inspiration Point where we had panoramic views. We sat here and admired the views and read a little more about how the amphitheater.
**We decided not to do a hike here since it was the hottest time of the day and were planning on hiking at Zion. But there are lots of great trails, so be sure to check them out. **
3:00 Head back to Zion National Park
We then drove from Bryce Canyon back to Zion National Park.
5:30 Park along Route 9 Before the Switchbacks
At Zion, we had already planned to do a hike, a short .7 mile hike that ended with a swim in a waterfall. We did the Lower Pine Creek Waterfall Trail. The hike was absolutely beautiful and featured stunning views and involved us climbing over some rocks. We ended swimming and cliff jumping in a waterfall and it was such an amazing time. The cool water felt so nice after a long hot day.
7:00-Leave Zion
Once we returned to the car and dried off we headed back to the glamping tent and picked up some ingredients for a quick dinner at the grocery store.
It was a long day with lots of driving, but so worth it! We got to see two of the most beautiful national parks I’ve ever been to. Bryce Canyon had to have been one of my favorite spots on this trip and I will definitely be returning to visit it in more depth.