Utah might not have the most national parks of any state – that honor goes to California – but it certainly has the highest concentration.
All of Utah’s “Mighty 5” are within easy driving distance of one another, meaning that the state is prime for an epic national parks road trip that you can even squeeze into a short amount of vacation time. With only a week to spare, it’s possible to get to know the distinct personalities of each of the state’s national parks.
Here’s how to plan an unforgettable drive in Utah.
Where should you start a Utah national parks road trip?
You can tackle Utah’s national parks west to east or vice versa, depending on your starting destination. Going from west to east is generally the most popular option because Zion National Park is just a few hours from the international airport in Las Vegas. You could also start this road trip in Salt Lake City, heading for either Zion or Arches first.
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Where should I rent a car for a Utah road trip?
If you’re flying in to visit Utah’s national parks, it’s easiest to rent a car at your arrival airport. After picking up the car, head to the grocery store to buy water, snacks and other supplies before you hit the road, especially if you’re looking for something specific. The gateway towns to Utah’s national parks are small, and their stores often don’t have as wide of a selection.
When is the best time to drive between Utah’s national parks?
What to do: Zion Canyon is one of the most intriguing natural wonders in the country, and it chalks up the visitor numbers to prove it. See what makes Zion so extraordinary by taking on the national park’s two iconic hikes: Angels Landing (permit required), a chain-assisted white-knuckle climb to a lofty narrow plateau, and the Narrows, where the trail is the Virgin River and you wade through the water as it churns through a towering slot canyon.
What to eat: In the heart of the canyon, the historic Zion Lodge has two places to eat: a small cafe and a full-fledged restaurant. The food isn’t particularly memorable, but the setting certainly is, and it’s the only place to eat inside the national park if you don’t bring your own supplies. Just outside Zion National Park’s south entrance, Zion Canyon Brew Pub was the first microbrewery in southern Utah and serves up pub grub that pairs perfectly with its beers. More restaurants, coffee shops and small grocery stores abound in Springdale, the gateway town hugging Zion’s south entrance.
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Where to stay: Zion National Park has two in-park accommodation options: camping or Zion Lodge. You need to book months in advance to get a reservation for either. Springdale has lots of excellent places to stay. See if rooms are available at Under the Eaves Inn, Red Rock Inn or Desert Pearl Inn, or head a bit further from the canyon. In East Zion, Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort is ideal for families, with tons of activities for all ages. To the west, AutoCamp Zion offers a hip stay in Airstream trailers, and Under Canvas has set up gorgeous luxury glamping tents on Kolob Terrace Road.
The drive (75 miles, 1 hour and 25 minutes): Leave Zion National Park through the east entrance, driving through the tight-squeeze Zion–Mt Carmel Tunnel, which was the longest tunnel in the country when it opened in 1930. Continue on Hwy 9 to Mt Carmel Junction and then head north on Hwy 89. Turn east on Scenic Byway 12, nationally recognized as an “All-American Road” for its history and landscapes. You get a taste of what’s in store at the next national park as you drive through redrock arches and past intriguing rock formations shaped like Crayola crayons – and colored just as brightly.
Want to know more about Zion? Here’s our guide
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Stop 2: Bryce Canyon National Park
The vibe: Alien rock formations
What to do: Bryce Canyon hides its treasures from view when you first enter the park, but as soon as you reach the rim of the plateau, an army of rock spires called hoodoos stands at attention in the bowl of the natural amphitheater. The paved road through the national park is sprinkled with scenic overlooks where you can stop and gawp at these mesmerizing formations. Inspiration Point and Rainbow Point are wow-worthy pull-off points. But getting in among the hoodoos is a must. Hike the Navajo Loop from Sunset Point, book a horse ride on Peekaboo Loop or find a quieter collection of hoodoos on the Fairyland Loop.
What to eat: Bryce Canyon is Utah’s only other national park (besides Zion) that has a historic lodge inside the park, which has a restaurant (don’t miss the elk chili). There’s also a park general store that sells pizza, craft beer, ice cream and snacks. Bryce Canyon City is just outside the national park gates, but the restaurants in the small town of Tropic, a short drive to the southeast, are better. Try the pulled pork at IDK Barbecue or have a classy white-tablecloth dinner at Stone Hearth Grille.
Where to stay: Book far in advance to snag a place to sleep inside the park, either a campsite or a room at Bryce Canyon Lodge. Bryce Canyon City has several options near the park entrance, but it’s worth driving a little further to Bryce Glamp & Camp, a scenic, secluded spot where you can watch the night sky from your bed in a bubble dome.
The drive (125 miles, 2 hours and 40 minutes): Continue on Scenic Byway 12, which gets even more beautiful as you crest the rollercoaster hills and sail down the switchbacks. Much of the surrounding land is part of Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument, which covers nearly 2 million acres. Tempting trailheads beckon, particularly around the towns of Escalante and Boulder – pull over and hike if you have time. Scenic Byway 12 ends at Hwy 24 near Torrey, the gateway town to Capitol Reef National Park.
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First time in Bryce Canyon? Here’s what you need to know
What to do: Capitol Reef wears its past on its sleeve, and when hiking in this national park, you’re following in the footsteps of many generations past, from the little-understood Native Fremont people to Mormon settlers. Don’t miss the petroglyphs east of the Capitol Reef Visitor Center (accessible via a boardwalk) and on the hike through Capitol Gorge, where ancient Native rock art is carved a short distance from the Pioneer Register, recording the names and dates of 19th-century settlers who passed through this slot canyon. In the center of the park, Fruita was a Mormon settlement established in 1879 and is well known for its orchards, which the National Park Service still maintains. Pick up one of the famous fruit pies from Gifford Homestead, where Fruita’s last inhabitants lived.
What to eat: Torrey is a short drive from the entrance to Capitol Reef National Park, and for such a small town, it has some impressive food options. At Torrey Grill & BBQ, a Culinary Institute of America graduate makes magic with smoked meats, while adorable Wild Rabbit Cafe serves phenomenal all-day breakfasts and sandwiches. Hunt & Gather is a surprising spot for fine dining, showcasing lovingly plated dishes of local ingredients.
Where to stay: Capitol Reef has one developed campground, as well as free primitive sites in the backcountry (free backpacking permit required). If you’d rather stay within four walls, try Torrey Schoolhouse B&B, a 1914 schoolhouse brought back to life as an elegant bed and breakfast. One of the best places to stay in Torrey is Skyview, which has rooms with hot tubs that look out on the redrock scenery, geodesic domes with skylights over the bed for nighttime stargazing, and a rooftop terrace.
The drive (155 miles, 2 hours and 30 minutes): Head east on Hwy 24, called the Capitol Reef Scenic Byway, which turns north at Hanksville. If you have time, detour west of Hwy 24 to Goblin Valley State Park to wander among its bizarre rock formations. On the east side of Hwy 24, Horseshoe Canyon is part of Canyonlands National Park and has one of the most significant Native rock art sites in North America – it’s nicknamed the “Louvre of the Southwest.” The road to Horseshoe Canyon is not paved, and a high-clearance 4WD vehicle is recommended. When Hwy 24 comes to an end near Green River, join Interstate 70 east and carry on until the Moab turnoff at Hwy 191. Turn west on Hwy 313 to reach another area of Canyonlands National Park.
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Hanging around in Capitol Reef?Here’s what to do there
Stop 4: Canyonlands National Park: Island in the Sky district
The vibe: Epic views
What to do: Canyonlands is Utah’s largest and least-visited national park. Few travelers venture to its most remote areas (and those who do require suitable vehicles and self-sufficiency), and Canyonlands’ quieter nature can be a welcome break from Utah’s busier parks. It is divided into four districts, the most accessible of which is Island in the Sky, near Moab. This area stretches out atop a majestic mesa thousands of feet above the Colorado and Green Rivers, the powerful forces that sculpted this land into sheer canyons and needle-like pinnacles. The scenic drive through the Island in the Sky district dawdles past a number of overlooks. Get a 360-degree bird’s-eye view of the landscape from the humbly named Grand View Point where the paved road ends.
What to eat: Moab’s main street is lined with great restaurants where you can fuel up for a day out, and the town is just a 40-minute drive from the Island in the Sky Visitor Center. In the northern part of Moab, Proper Brewing has an excellent beer garden where you can kick back and enjoy a burger and a Utah-made brew.
Where to stay: The Island in the Sky district has one campground. More campsites on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land are scattered along Hwy 313, the main road into the national park, as well as along Hwy 128 and the Colorado River south of Arches National Park. For hotel accommodations, stay in Moab for an easy journey. Field Station is one of our top picks for location, price and adventure-seeking atmosphere, housed in a well-renovated roadside motel.
The drive (29 miles, 40 minutes): Canyonlands and Arches are about as close as two national parks can be, and it’s just a 30-minute drive from the Island in the Sky Visitor Center to Arches Visitor Center. If you can’t get enough of the views, take a detour to Dead Horse Point State Park for even more memorable vistas. Take Hwy 313 to Hwy 191 and drive south for a few miles to the turnoff for Arches National Park.
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Want to see even more of Canyonlands? Here’s what you need to know
What to do: The main draw of Arches is right in its name, and nowhere on Earth has more of this type of rock formation than this national park. Delicate Arch is the most iconic, enshrined on Utah’s license plates, and many more can be seen along the park’s main paved road on short hikes and from easy-to-reach viewpoints. At the end of the road, the Devils Garden Trail packs several arches into an easy or adventurous hike, depending on how far you want to go, including 306ft Landscape Arch, one of the longest in the world.
What to eat: There’s nowhere to eat inside Arches National Park, so bring in supplies from Moab or fuel up in town before or after a day of arch admiring. Find a variety of crowd-pleasing, budget-friendly options at Moab Food Truck Park or reserve a table at Desert Bistro, one of the best restaurants in this part of the state, for game and seafood in an 1892 former dance hall.
Where to stay: Arches has one campground inside the park (book far in advance), and campers can also find lots of sites on BLM land just outside the park boundaries. Otherwise, Moab makes for an excellent base camp, with plenty of hotels along its main street and beyond. Secluded south of town, ULUM Moab offers luxury glamping tents with views of its very own arch.
The drive: Round off your Utah national parks road trip by heading back to Salt Lake City (235 miles from Moab) or Las Vegas (460 miles from Moab). The fastest but least interesting way to get to Las Vegas is to take the interstates (I-70 north of Moab and then I-15 south), but if you have time, take the long road south from Moab, stopping at the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park, checking out film-famous Monument Valley on Navajo land and testing your luck by trying to get a permit for the Wave – one of the most sought-after hikes in the Southwest – in Kanab.
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Need more info about Arches? Here’s our guide for first-time visitors
Tips for EV drivers
Despite how remote some parts of the state are, Utah is an excellent place for an EV road trip, especially to the national parks. Some campgrounds and many hotels, including Zion Lodge inside the national park, have EV chargers for guests. Tesla has several Superchargers across the state, particularly along I-15 and I-70, including in St George (about 45 miles from Zion National Park’s south entrance), Green River and Moab (close to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks) and Blanding (about 70 miles from Canyonlands’ Needles district).
A tricky stretch for EV drivers is the journey between Capitol Reef National Park and Moab. The Capitol Reef gateway town of Torrey has chargers, as does Green River, but you might need to be careful about how many places you explore in between.
SALT LAKE CITY — The presence of federal immigration agents tracking immigrants has increased in Salt Lake County-area courtrooms since mid-February as have complaints about how they’re carrying out their duties.
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents may have carried out operations at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City, according to Lacey Singleton, a public defender who’s regularly at the facility.
“Now it is like they are there all the time … They just basically hang out, and they’re either sitting in the courtroom, or they’re lurking in the hallways,” she said. They wear normal street garb, she said, but for regulars in the courtroom, “they stand out.”
Immigration enforcement action at courthouses around the country has become “a cornerstone” in the efforts of the administration of President Donald Trump to detain and deport immigrants in the country illegally, according to the American Immigration Council, an immigrant advocacy group. Since an arrest of one of Lacey’s clients around Feb. 12 or 13, she and others say, the practice has become more and more common in Utah.
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ICE didn’t respond to a KSL query seeking comment, but the practice aligns with the Trump administration’s push to crack down on illegal immigration. Agency guidance notes that the people ICE seeks may appear in courthouses to address unrelated criminal and civil matters, and that such facilities are typically secure.
“Accordingly, when ICE engages in civil immigration enforcement actions in or near courthouses, it can reduce safety risks to the public, targeted alien(s) and ICE officers and agents,” reads a May 27 memo on the matter.
Critics, though, say immigration agents’ efforts can be disruptive and could spur immigrants, otherwise trying to resolve their legal issues, to steer clear of court, jeopardizing their cases. As word spreads of the activity, it could also spur fearful immigrant witnesses and crime victims to steer clear of the legal system, Lacey worries.
Salt Lake County Sheriff Rosie Rivera brought the issue up at a Salt Lake County Council meeting on Tuesday, saying her office has received “multiple complaints” about ICE agents’ activity in Salt Lake County courthouses, where sheriff’s officials, serving as court bailiffs, provide security.
U.S. agents have ratcheted up immigration enforcement action at Utah courthouses, prompting criticism from some. The photo shows attorney Lacey Singleton, center, questioning a suspected agent recently at Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City. (Photo: Salt Lake City Bail Fund)
Part of the problem, she said, is that the agents typically wear plain clothes and don’t identify themselves, not even to bailiffs. Another issue relates to the actual process of taking an immigrant into custody, which Rivera says should occur outside of public view with the suspects’ lawyers present.
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In one instance, she said, a bailiff heard a scuffle and thought someone was getting assaulted, only to find out it was ICE agents detaining somebody.
A bailiff and an ICE agent subsequently “got into a verbal altercation,” Rivera said. “We are addressing that issue, but I want you to understand, these deputies are put in a really tough situation, and in this situation, I understand how he could get to that point where he had no idea who they were, and he was trying to make sure that somebody wasn’t being assaulted at the time.”
Video from last week, posted to social media by the Salt Lake City Bail Fund, shows Lacey walking past a suspected immigration agent at the Matheson Courthouse, asking for identification but getting no reply. The Salt Lake City Bail Fund, critical of ICE activity, sends observers to the Matheson Courthouse to monitor the agency’s activity.
“That’s a problem because it’s like, who are you?” Lacey said. “For all I know, you’re some random dude who is just, like, off the street and participating in kidnapping people.”
Video supplied to KSL shows an incident outside Riverton Justice Court on Wednesday — four apparent immigration agents in plain clothes wrestling on the ground with an apparent suspect they were trying to take into custody.
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“Don’t resist,” someone off-camera says in Spanish while filming the incident. “Son, don’t resist. Calm down. They’re going to hurt you more.”
The woman asks for his name and contact info after the agents cuff him and take him to a nearby car, while another man on the scene shouts at the officials and berates them. “You guys are disgusting,” the man says.
Anna Reganis, a public defender with the Salt Lake Legal Defender Association, like Lacey, said immigration agents detained a man at Salt Lake City Justice Court on Wednesday. She didn’t witness the actual detention, but heard the aftermath.
“All of a sudden, in my courtroom, we could hear from the lobby blood-curdling screams,” Reganis said. She went to the main lobby, finding a woman holding her infant baby “just inconsolably screaming and crying.” Turns out the woman had gone to the courthouse with her husband, and he had just been detained by immigration agents.
Read more:
Lacey maintains that the people the ICE agents seem to be pursuing aren’t the most hardened of criminals, which the Trump administration said would be the focus when the crackdown started. Reganis echoed that, noting that those with business in the Salt Lake City Justice Court face relatively minor offenses.
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“Myself and my co-workers all had a bit of a wake-up call because we kept telling ourselves that this wasn’t going to happen at the justice court because all of our cases are class B and C misdemeanors and infractions,” she said.
The Salt Lake City Bail Fund launched training sessions late last year for volunteers to serve as courthouse observers, particularly at the Matheson Courthouse. Liz Maryon, who helps oversee the effort, foresees another round of training to get more help. “We’re currently working on expanding our capacity so that we can be there every day,” she said.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
SALT LAKE CITY — Iranians in Utah said Sunday they were celebrating and grateful for U.S. military action against Iran after nearly 47 years of the Islamic Republic regime.
They expressed hope for a future that might bring greater freedom to the people of that country.
“Thank you, Mr. Trump, for helping us,” said Kathy Vazirnejad as she sat inside Persian restaurant Zaferan Café. “The 21st of March is our New Year. For our New Year’s, we do exchange presents and I think President Trump gave us the best gift as any for this year in attacking this government and killing all of those people.”
Vazirnejad moved from Iran to Utah in 1984, graduated from the University of Utah, and obtained U.S. citizenship.
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She said the regime was oppressive and “vicious.”
“They’re just a devil,” she said. “I mean, it’s a government that kills its own people.”
Though she has continued to return to Iran to visit family, she said those visits had become increasingly tense and uncertain, even though most Iranians opposed their own government.
“I have a dual citizenship, Persian passport and an American passport,” Vazirnejad explained. “It’s hard. Each time I go there to the airport, I’m showing them my Persian passport and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, if they see I’m very active in my social media against the government?’”
Numerous other Iranians shared similar stories of their departure from their homeland, including Ramin Arani, who once served for two years in the Iranian army at the age of 18.
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“It was right after the Iran and Iraq war and I was part of the team that was cleaning the war zone basically in terms of unexploded shells and land mines and all that,” Arani explained. “I put my life on the line for the sake of my country, although I was not treated as a first-hand citizen.”
Arani said when he left Iran, he migrated to the U.S. and graduated from the University of Utah with an engineering degree.
“Every day, I appreciate the opportunity that was provided to me,” Arani said.
He said for decades, Iranians didn’t believe the day would come when much of the Islamic Republic’s leadership would be taken out in military strikes.
“I believe we are watching history unfolding,” Arani said. “Potentially, the course of history is about to change.”
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What that change looks like exactly remains largely uncertain, though there has been much discussion about potential regime change or the Iranian people taking matters into their own hands.
“Regime change is, you know, a be-careful-what-you-wish-for,” said Amos Guiora, a University of Utah law professor and Middle East analyst with family in Israel. “I say, ‘regime change,’ I get the phrase, but how it comes about, time will tell.”
Guiora questioned how long the U.S. intended to stay involved and what the endgame truly is.
“There’s an expression in Hebrew, if I may—zbang ve’ga’mar’no—which means ‘it ends just like that’—that’s not how these things end and obviously there are political calculations,” Guiora said.
He said he feared for the potential loss of life if boots-on-the-ground are ultimately required.
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“(If) any of these things turn into a war of attrition, that would be horrible,” Guiora said.
Guiora, however, said he saw the obvious benefit of different leadership in Iran.
“You know, a shah-like Iran that would not be focused on the support of terrorist organizations and committing acts of terrorism—I think that would be a win-win for the world,” Guiora said.
Arani said if regime change does happen in Iran, he would like to see a constitutional monarchy take root like those in Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe.
“Sweden, Norway, these are all systems that are democratic, or I call them semi-democratic and they still have a monarch, which is a continuation of their culture,” Arani said.
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Arani talked of the rich and proud long history of Iran, dating back thousands of years, and he believed there is much of that to share with the world today.
“The culture of Iran that is hidden underneath the layers of history I’m talking about, it’s all about light,” Arani said. “Iranian culture, the real one I’m talking about, is all about appreciating life, not ‘death to this,’ ‘death to that.’”
Vazirnejad believed as many as “85 percent” of Iranians supported the return of the shah’s family to Iran to lead, and she predicted a future where Iran is a partner with the U.S. and Israel.
She suspected that maybe one in five Iranians who left Iran because of the regime might consider returning permanently to the country under new leadership.
“It’s going to be very good,” she said. “Hopefully, we are celebrating the New Year with (the Islamic Republic) gone and hopefully by next year, the New Year’s 21st of March, we all go back to Iran, at least to visit.”
George returned from a right ankle sprain that kept him out six straight games.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The crowd reacts as Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George (3) hits a 3-point shot at the Delta Center this season.
Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy didn’t need to see much from his young point guard in his return.
“Making shots, missing shots, it’s not anything that’s in question for me,” Hardy said about Keyonte George. “I just want to see him exert himself physically and competitively.”
In that case, mission accomplished.
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After missing nine games in the last month with two different ankle sprains, George returned against the Pelicans on Saturday.
The Jazz lost 115-105.
George’s numbers were fine, scoring 17 points on 4-of-11 shooting in 23 minutes. But Hardy saw enough mobility from George to make him comfortable moving forward.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz Center Mo Bamba sits next to Keyonte George and Jazz forward Jaren Jackson Jr. on the bench in NBA action between the Utah Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans at the Delta Center on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.
“I thought he made some athletic plays in small spaces. I was more concerned with his willingness to slam on the brakes,” Hardy said. “And I thought he had a couple possessions where he did, where he really pushed it athletically.
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“He’s like any player, he’s frustrated. He feels like he should have made a few more shots,” he continued. “But that’s not what I was watching.”
George was on a restriction of 20-24 minutes and he wants to be cautious in the days ahead. Utah plays Denver on Monday before heading on the road.
“Feet are the most precious thing for any athlete. So I want to make sure I feel good, not feeling off balance or nothing like that,” George said. “Just want to be cautious with the ankle injuries and stuff like that.”
But for his return, it was good enough.
“I feel like my pop was there. I didn’t want to force anything,” he finished. “I just wanted to play the game. I feel like I did a decent job tonight.”
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