Bryce Canyon tours from Salt Lake City. Tour from Salt Lake City to Zion National Park

Itinerary

Please do not bring any checked luggage on this tour.

Day 1 - Flight from Salt Lake City - About 1 hours, 15 minutes

This tour starts at the Salt Lake City airport, from where you will take a flight (included in the tour price) to southern Utah. After you land, one of our guides will pick you up to take you on your tour of Zion and Bryce Canyon. Depending on your date, when you book, and our schedule for that day, you may have a wait at the airport of about an hour before you are picked up.

This is a small group tour, and we will make our way up the freeway for a few miles after leaving the airport.

Day 1 - St. George to Zion - About 45 minutes

Map

The Interstate is left behind just outside St. George, at the turn off to the small town of Hurricane, as we travel through really picturesque scenery, and a number of tiny towns, on the way to Zion National Park.

Hurricane overlook on the way to Zion and Bryce Canyon.

Day 1 - Zion to Bryce Canyon - About 45 minutes

Map

We tour through Zion on the way to Bryce Canyon, taking a leisurely drive through the park, stopping frequently to take photographs and enjoy the scenery. Zion's story is one of rock and water, with plenty of both to be seen. The relatively soft and porous Navajo Sandstone is often layered over impregnable Kayenta Shale, and the interaction of this rock with the water has created myriad amazing shapes and patterns.

The road goes past the Great Arch of Zion, which is a natural photo stop, before proceeding up a series of switchbacks and through an incredible tunnel that has been blasted into the rock. On the other side of the tunnel we will come across striking rock formations, with trees actually growing in the rocks, and see how massive sand dunes have been cemented into rock over the millennia. With any luck we may see some big horn sheep on the way.

We'll leave the park at the less traveled east exit, which most visitors don't even get to see.

As we traveled through Zion we climbed up to the top of a plateau, and we'll now drop down a little, through the pygmy forests of southern Utah, prior to climbing up again to Bryce. The road to Bryce is a particularly scenic one, through picturesque, rural countryside, first next to the Virgin River, and then alongside the Sevier River.

Bryce Canyon is situated at altitude, at over 8000 feet (almost 2500 metres), and it can be cold, even though Vegas and Zion are hot. Please check the weather forecast before you leave and bring appropriate clothing.

Day 1 - Bryce Canyon

Many who have seen both Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon tell us that Bryce is far more spectacular. You will marvel at the weirdly shaped hoodoos, in an amazing array of colorful hues.

Bryce is not really a canyon, but a large amphitheater carved out of a variety of rock types. People tell us they have had a spiritual experience when they gaze out over the hoodoos for the first time. You will wonder not only how they got there, but also what carved them into those mythical shapes, in assorted colors.

You can take an easy stroll along the rim from Sunrise Point to Sunset Point. This is relatively flat, and provides amazing views! You will enjoy a sack lunch at Bryce.

There are two other main areas we will visit at Bryce, both of which are even more spectacular than what you've seen already. These are the aptly named Inspiration Point and Bryce Point. Please be aware that Bryce is at a high elevation. You may become breathless if you are not used to the altitude, and you shouldn't try and overdo it.

On the way out of the park we will stop briefly at the Visitor Center, where you can buy souvenirs of your trip.

Day 1 - Back to Salt Lake

Map

Departing from Bryce Canyon there is an optional stop at Red Canyon, a state park which we pass through on the way.

We travel north across the Paunsaugunt Plateau, through the tiny town of Panguitch, and over a small mountain range, before picking up Interstate 15 going south. You will be dropped off at a southern Utah airport for the flight to the Salt Lake City airport where the tour ends.

Please note the following...