7 Tips for Visiting Bryce Canyon National Park (Utah)

Bryce Canyon National Park is absolutely one of our favorite National Parks, and it is currently our number 1 park in the state of Utah. Yes, that means we enjoyed it more than Arches National Park. We have not been able to visit Capital Reef National Park or Zion National Park yet though.

If you have not yet been to Bryce Canyon National Park, I urge you to add it to your must-see list. It is not a huge park and it is perfect if you only have a day or two to devote the area.

To get you in the planning mood, I am here to let you know some tips for your visit.

Tip #1 Bring food and water.

If you have been to the bigger national parks, like Yellowstone, you may be surprised to find out that there is no food stands within this national park. They do have water bottle fill stations and a small general store, and a food truck passes through the park a few days a week. However, bringing a cooler with drinks and some food is your absolute best bet.

Along with this, please make sure you are bringing enough water with you per person. Within the desert the air is very dry, the sun is very hot, and water sources are few and far between, all of this combines to increase how quickly you can become dehydrated. It is recommended that each person drink at least 1 liter of water every 2 hours, to prevent dehydration.

Tip #2 Start at the end.

It is going to be so tempting to want to stop all along the road and look at the amazing views but trust me and wait until the return trip to take in the sights. It is not a big park and the roadway is only about 18 miles, from the entrance to Rainbow Point. If you drive straight to Rainbow Point at the end and visit the overlooks on your way back to the entrance you will have much better luck. The reason for this way of traveling is that all of the pull-offs and secondary roads are on the right-hand side of the main road. The parking lots are also set up for you to enter and exit from that right-hand side of the road. This will make your trip much less stressful and help you to just flow with the park.

Tip #3 Take a hike.

If you have read other posts I have written you know that I am always encouraging people who visit our national parks to get out and go hiking, but that is even more so in this amazing national park. Yes, you get a fantastic view of the canyons and the hoodoos from up top, but it does not even compare to seeing the hoodoos up close in person. Hoodoos are the tall, spire like rock formations seen in the canyons throughout Utah. To find out more about hoodoos and how they are formed, check out this page written by the National Park Service.

I highly recommend the Queen’s Garden/ Navajo Loop trail. It is a fairly easily trail, at only 2.9 miles, that allows you to get down into the canyon and among the hoodoos without doing a crazy, 8-hour hike. We started at Sunrise Point and did the Queen’s Garden first, ending at the Navajo Loop trail and Sunset Point. I DO NOT recommend doing it in this direction.

Highlighted in green is the trail that we followed, to see the full map of Bryce Canyon National Park check out the NPS site, here.

Start on the Navajo Loop trail side, at Sunset Point. You can choose to do the Wall Street side of the loop of the Two Bridges side. We chose Two Bridges, but Wall Street looked amazing and the next time we visit the park we will absolutely do that side of the loop. Halfway through the Navajo Loop trail, the trail will intersect with the Queen’s Garden trail. To finish the loop, you will take this intersecting trail. Follow the trail through the canyon, around the hoodoos, and under archways until you come to the offshoot trail to visit the Queen Victoria hoodoo. It is a pretty cool side trail with awesome rock formations. Then continue on your way around the trail. When you arrive at Sunrise Point you can then take the Rim trail back to Sunset Point completing the loop. Here is a warning though, Sunrise and Sunset Point get their names for a reason. They are spectacular places to watch the sunrise and set, and many people will be doing just that. They will have chairs, coolers, food, alcohol, etc and they will all be spread out around the rim to watch the show. If you get a chance, you should join them.

Tip #4 stay for the night.

I don’t mean camp in the park, but that would be amazing. I do however mean that you should visit the park at night or do one of the ranger led night programs. We read on a sign at the park that Bryce Canyon National Park is the darkest place in all of North America and the stars out there are absolutely stunning. They do fullmoon hikes if you are around at that time of the month. You have to join in on a lottery system and hope your name gets drawn, but it would be an absolutely incredible hike and I hope to check it out one day.

Tip #5 check out the visitor center

Most visitor centers are a cool place to get souvenirs and get advice from rangers, but Bryce Canyon National Park’s visitor center is more than that. They have a mini-museum inside that incredibly informative and a fun place to check out. It is absolutely free to check out the museum, so we recommend you do not miss it.

Declan got Parker from this visitor center. Parker is his stuffed Park Ranger doll, that he absolutely loves!

Tip #6 it’s shower time!

I know many people who are out there on the road traveling do not have showers in their rigs. If you are going to be in Bryce Canyon National Park, you might as well take the time to shower. At the general store near Sunrise Point, you can purchase shower tickets.

Tip #7 do not pass up the small town outside of the National Park.

Ruby’s General Store is bigger than it looks from the outside and is a great place to check out for souvenirs, Native American made objects, and a great place to stock up on supplies before heading into the park. Ruby’s also has a hotel and restaurant attached to it. The restaurant has decent food and good service, we recommend it for lunch.

Across the road from Ruby’s you can drop your travel trailers before entering the park, grab some horses for horseback riding throughout the park, get some ice cream, or check out the rock shop. It is a fun little town and a great addition to your visit to the park.

You can also find the shuttle service for the park in this town. If you are in a large vehicle or RV we absolutely recommend you taking the shuttle. Parking inside of the park is limited and the areas are not well situated for large vehicles, to skip the hassle just catch the shuttle instead.

I hope these 7 tips helped you to plan your visit to Bryce Canyon National Park. We camped about 20 minutes outside of Bryce Canyon National Park at the Cabin Hollow Dispersed Camping area within the Dixie National Forest. I am writing up the review of our stay and will have it posted soon. Be on the look out and I will try to remember to update this post when I do!