Zion National Park – Logistics and Planning

Getting through the logistics and planning of any trip can be both fun and stressful. After you have chosen the location and activities in your itinerary, there is still more to do. Travelers need to determine when to go, choose their departure day to coordinate with the hours of operation for the itinerary attractions, and decide what tickets to purchase ahead of time (as well as when). This post makes the logistics and planning for the 7 Day Zion National Park exploration very easy.

As with most National Parks in the United States, the busy season is the summer when most families have a break from school, and the weather is great for vacations. This means that the most crowded times to visit Zion are often between Memorial Day at the end of May and Labor Day at the beginning of September. This busy travel season is despite the really hot temperatures that Zion sees in the summer. Daytime temperatures often top 100°F. Regardless of the crowds, higher prices, and hotter temperatures, many still find it a great time to visit as everything around the park will be in full swing. Also, many people have to align vacation with scheduled time off from school so this becomes the only available time.

Two other times of year that Zion National Park attracts a lot of visitors is Easter weekend and Utah schools’ fall break (which usually falls one week in October). Visitors at this time of year tend to be more local to Zion National Park. In addition, the weather is much nicer in the fall and the spring. Because Zion National Park is so dry, rain and precipitation aren’t a problem. The average monthly precipitation doesn’t exceed 2 inches at any time of the year.

If you have flexibility in when you travel, the last few weeks of spring (before the summer rush) and all of fall tend to be great times to visit Zion National Park. First and foremost, there will be fewer people in the park. This means parking is easier in and around the park. There will be fewer people on the shuttles. The main Zion Canyon roads open back up so you can skip taking a shuttle and drive your personal car to the trailhead. Second, prices will also be lower since it isn’t peak season. Finally (and maybe most enjoyable), the temperatures will be much more moderate.

In general, it is best to avoid visiting Zion in the winter and early to mid spring. Unless you want to do snowshoeing or other winter outdoor sports, many of the trails will be closed. Zion also gets very cold so hiking and outdoor activities will not be very enjoyable. In the early and mid-spring, snow melt from the mountains makes many of the activities difficult or impossible to complete. Several trails will still be closed. The water flow through the canyon means slot canyons and hikes like The Narrows will be closed for flooding.

This is a 1 week long itinerary so it is fairly flexible when you start this trip. The activities during the week are planned at your own pace. Additionally, the majority of the activities in Springdale and around the park are available everyday of the week. This means picking a particular starting day of your vacation won’t matter too much.

That being said, the majority of people travel to Zion for a weekend or for a full week starting on Saturday. This is typically when you will find the most availability, but there isn’t any reason that this trip can’t be done mid-week, such as a Wednesday to Wednesday.

There are a number of attractions on this list that need to be booked ahead of time. While the flights and accommodations are obvious, there are a number of events that may be less obvious to most. Many of the most famous tours and hikes appeal to a large number of people. In order to make this more accommodating for visitors, reservations are often necessary. Similarly, personalized tour experiences such as canyoneering also have limited time slots. Therefore, visitors will want to book these ahead of time to get ideal times or times in alignment with your itinerary. Just one sold-out attraction or event time slot can mess up a well-planned itinerary.

• Roundtrip flights into McCarron Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada or St. George Regional Airport, St. George, Utah.
  • Book these as early as possible and monitor for the best prices.
• Springdale, Utah Accommodations
  • Book this as early as possible to get maximum availability (especially if traveling in the high season).
• Angel’s Landing Permits
  • Permits are offered via two lottery processes. One occurs three to four months before the planned trip, and the another occurs the day prior to hiking.
  • See our post on Angel’s Landing for more information.
• Canyoneering Adventure
  • Book three to four months out from your scheduled trip for maximum available/date flexibility.

Many other activities on this itinerary will offer to sell tickets ahead of time. There are only two real reasons to buy a ticket ahead of time:

• Lock in a certain date and time because there is a chance it will sell out.
• Save time by not standing in a ticketing line.

My recommendation is to keep yourself flexible. For example, National Park Passes can be bought ahead of time online. However, it is just as easy to get these at the front gate of the park when you are entering. All visitors have to wait in the same car lines to enter the park and to buy a park pass. Therefore, there is no benefit to purchasing these ahead of time. Save yourself the potential hassle of losing it or being without a way to cancel if something happens where you are unable to take your trip.