When researching where we wanted to go for spring break and hoping to cross my “Take the kids to a National Park” task from my 50 Before Fifty list, we landed on visiting Zion National Park in Utah! This is a very family friendly destination visited by many in the spring and one I can now highly recommend. Check out where we stayed, ate and the complete itinerary for our time spent in Zion National Park.
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Zion National Park is a beautiful destination, considered one of the “Mighty 5” national parks in Utah and yet another one not super close to any airports. We flew into Las Vegas, spent one day hiking at Red Rocks Canyon then drove the 2 hours and 40 minutes to Zion for a few days.
Our Spring Break and Zion National Park Itinerary
DAY 1 – TRAVELING TO LAS VEGAS
Travel to Las Vegas and stayed at Hampton Inn & Suites in Summerlin. (this is not where you’ll stay for Zion, so keep reading!)
DAY 2 – HIKING AT RED ROCKS CANYON, NEVADA
8am – began our trip around this 13 mile scenic drive with hiking stops along the way. Read all about our time at this time at this previous post that outlined which hikes were our favorite and more tips for visiting!
Drove 2 hours and 40 minutes to Zion National Park in the afternoon. This drive includes a whole lot of nothing on I-15, including bathrooms or places to eat along the way, so take advantage of a stop when you see one. Driving through the Virgin River Gorge is a beautiful area and keep your eyes peeled for cows!
Tip: Consider stopping at Valley of Fire state park on the way. We thought we’d hit it on the way back to Vegas, but it didn’t seem as impressive once seeing the beautiful of Zion, but we do think we would’ve liked it more if we hit it on the way there!
DAY 3 – HIKING IN ZION
7am – Ordered sandwiches at Sol Foods Grocery Store near our hotel to bring on our hike. We attempted to then drive up to the visitor’s center, but it was full by the time we got there at 7:30. We returned to the hotel and waited for the free shuttle in.
We took the Springdale town shuttle to the stop 1, the Visitor’s center, where everyone has to get off and switch to the other shuttle. Make sure to stop in and ask the Park Rangers for a Junior Rangers book. If the kids complete a certain amount of pages, they get a cool Zion badge. If visiting National Parks is your thing, you can also buy and get a National Parks passport and get it stamped here.
We took the shuttle up 45 minutes to stop 9, the last in the park, to complete the 1 mile paved Riverwalk Hike that leads to the start of the Narrows. While we didn’t do the Narrows hike, we did appreciate seeing what all the fuss was about. (see more about The Narrows in the tips section below). This Riverwalk Hike was a paved path but also had some off shoots near the river you could explore.
At Shutte Stop 8, Big Bend, we explored down by the river area.
At Shuttle Stop 7, we took the mostly vertical walk up the paved walkway to see Weeping Rock, which wasn’t all that impressive as it’s more of a drippy wall, but the view was pretty!
At Shuttle stop 6 The Grotto, we took the Kayenta Trail, that quite literally put you up along a cliff for a 2 mile, 1.5 hour hike. Most of this hike was in the sun so it was hot this time of the day! This trail connected with the Pools trails and we decided to do the Lower Pools portion that ended at Stop 5, Zion Lodge. This walk back in the Lower Pools trail was shady so nice this time of day! Note: some of this trail connection is a one person at a time situation with some tricky paths to climb down so expect there to be a line!
At Zion Lodge, timing worked out that we got cell service and were able to meet up with friends for ice cream! Note: The line for ice cream is on the left so you can bypass those waiting on line for food. There’s also real bathrooms and sinks at the lodge.
This full day of hiking deserved a dip in the pool before we washed up and had dinner at Zion Brewery at stop 1 of the Springdale Shuttle. Note: The shuttle stops running at 7pm so we had to walk 32 minutes back to our hotel afterwards.
DAY 4 – DRIVING AND HIKING IN ZION
Grabbed our rental car and drove through the Mount Carmel Highway (using the $35 vehicle pass we bought the day before at the park), through all the switchbacks eventually finding a parking spot at the Canyon Overlook Trail. This was a fairy anxiety inducing hike if you are afraid of heights or you have little kids as much of it is without railings and sometimes single file passes.
We continued on the highway a bit with another stop at Checkerboard Mesa, another cool spot that doesn’t really offer a true hike, but plenty of exploration on this large hill that looks like a checkboard from afar. If you squint you can see our kids and their friend had climbed up on here for a shot.
Took the Shuttle bus up to Stop 5 and did the Lower Pools hike again with friends then stopped for a photo at Stop 4 Court of the Patriarchs then got back on the shuttle for the last time, stopping at Stop 3. We then took the easy 3.5 mile, 2 hour walk back along the Pa’rus Trail to the visitor’s center. It’s an easy, paved path loved by many of the E-bikers so you are moving to the side a lot but very pretty. If I’m being honest, I would’ve done this earlier in the day as I didn’t realize the distance and my kids were all shot by this walk!
DAY 5 – HOOVER DAM VISIT AND DROVE BACK TO VEGAS STRIP
We ended up hitting the Hoover Dam on our way back to the Vegas Strip, knowing there wasn’t much for our kiddos to do while in Vegas. It’s about 40 minutes outside the city and was very educational to understand how they built this large dam. Yes, there were lots of dad dam jokes by the tour guide on our trip as they have a well run business there sharing the history.
There are several tour options to buy but I’d recommend the Guided Power Plant Tour ($25 adults/$15 kids) which allowed you see the free museum area things, watch a 10 minute video about it, then ride the elevator down to the diversion tunnels and see the generators with an educated tour guide.
DAY 6 – FLEW HOME
Tips for Enjoying your Time in Zion National Park
- Stay in Springdale and use the Springdale free shuttle – Zion itself is supported by the town of Springdale, which offers a free shuttle through town that ends at the visitor’s center to the park where you’d then need to get a different shuttle to head to any of the 9 stops inside the park. The town offers plenty of beautiful lodging options and a variety of places to eat or drink. Once we got into Springdale, we only used our car the day we drove out to the Canyon Overlook trail, which I’ll mention later.
- There is no cell service in Zion National Park, except the visitor’s center and stop 5 Zion Lodge. If you’re with a group, make sure to connect prior to any separation! Tip: Pick up a lightweight portable phone charger, like this one I got for Christmas, so you can take lots of photos and videos while on the trip that you can share with said friends later!
- Parking at the Visitor Center fills up early – Yes, you CAN drive into the visitor’s center but parking fills up quick! We gave it a try on day 1, but it was completely full by 7:30am so we went back down to our hotel and took the shuttle. Shuttles do fill up in the morning so if you’re between 2 stops, stand at the one further away from the park so you can hopefully squeeze on one to get into the park.
- Buy your visitor’s pass online to skip the line. There was a separate ranger checking prepaid passes, vs waiting on line at the entrance so save time and get it ahead of time. On Day 1, we purchased the $35 vehicle pass even though we were walking in, as it allowed us to both bring in 2 paid passengers into the park (my husband and I as kids under 16 are free) but also allowed us to drive through the Mount Carmel Tunnel to visit the Canyon Overlook Trail the next day.
- If you plan to hike the Narrows, arrange to rent your gear early and plan to dedicate most of that day to that hiking adventure. The Narrows is one of the most well known hike at this National Park, as you literally hike through flowing Virgin River through a large slot canyon. It is considered a “Strenuous hike” and can include cold water at different seasons. The water was 48 – 51 degrees the days we were there with hikers renting full bibs, socks, shoes, dry bags and wooden poles in order to explore the up to 9 mile hike. (You can go as little or as far as you want and turn back around). We did NOT do this hike as it seemed pretty daunting and I didn’t want to spend the whole day at one hike.
- E-Bike rentals are also an option to get around. While there were bikes with seats on the back for kids, we opted to not do the e-bike thing since you had to be 14 to drive one.
Where We Stayed and Ate In Springdale
- SpringHill Suites by Marriott Springdale Zion National Park – We could not recommend this hotel enough! The rooms were very spacious which included a couch/desk area separate from the large bathroom, bedrooms and walk in closet. The pool, hot tub and splash pad area was very large so it didn’t feel crowded even when were there lots of post hike friends in it. And the continental breakfast options were perfect to get you up and ready before a day hiking in Zion!
- Camp Outpost Co – We all had a nice lunch of different forms of chicken at this pretty stop with picnic tables in back or plenty of indoor air conditioned seating. The Outpost club sandwich was awesome!
- Zion Brewery – We met up with friends and enjoyed a beer and dinner one night after a long day of hiking and everyone ate it all up! It’s at stop 1 so something easy to hit before heading home but note that the town shuttles do stop running by early evening so we have to walk home 32 minutes back to our hotel.
- Sol Foods Grocery Store – I believe this is the only walkable grocery store in Springdale and a great stop jam packs with packaged and fresh foods. Their deli counter opened at 7am where we promptly ordered sandwiches that were packed to go and we enjoyed later at a hiking stop in the park.
- Jack’s Grille – This small hometown sports bar was an easy walk from our hotel and offered a variety of the typical sports bar type food and drink. I enjoyed a delicious pulled pork sandwich I would recommend to a friend!
Hiking Accessories
Since my research for this adventurous vacation shower long hiking days and non stop reminders on the water you should bring and snacks to fuel up with, I made sure to prepare each of us with some new hiking bags and some other accessories for the trip.
- Lightweight Packing Backpacks for the Kids – I gifted both the kids these foldable backpacks that we packed in their carry on luggage. They offered comfortable straps and a big enough large pocket to include their stainless steel refillable water bottle, a bunch of snacks, another smaller pocket that my oldest put her phone and portable charger, and side pockets for sunglasses and chapstick. They come in a bunch of fun colors so one had pink and one had purple, a classic color choice for them lately.
- Ultra Lightweight Packable Backpack – I also wanted to upgrade my backpack option for the trip and grabbed one of these foldable backpacks. It had comfortable straps, with plenty of pocket options to hold our lunches, snacks, extra water bottles and all the accessories needed for longer hiking days.
- TheFitLife Nordic Walking Trekking Poles – Some of the hikes in Red Rocks Canyon and Zion National Park required climbing up or down rocky paths and these Trekking Poles came in handy to keep stable. The kids used them most of them time, but because they are adjustable in height, my husband was able to rock them on these hikes. These come with an assortment of tips so you can swap them out for different surface types. They also come with a travel bag and I can confirm they do fit inside a 22″ standard suitcase.
- Soap Paper Sheets in Cute Animal Containers – Most of the stops at Red Rocks Canyon and Zion National Park included porta potty type bathroom options with no flushing toilets and no sinks. And when you’re taking a snack break on the go you might need to clean your hands before your eat so these adorable soap sheets came in handy as they active with just a little bit of water and are compact to fit in your bag. They came as a set of three so my girls are I were each able to carry a set in our bags.
- Shoes with Grip – While I didn’t think hiking boots were necessary for everyone, I did have everyone bring 2 pairs of sneakers for our trip. I’m glad I did as day 1 we realized my eldest’s sneakers were a bit old and worn on the bottom so she slipped a little more than her sister. The remainder of her trip was spent wearing shoes with better grip for all the sandy rocks we experienced in the following days.
- Bonus: License Plate Journal – While not an accessory for hiking, per say, we were across the country from where we live and saw lots of new license plates we never see. This journal came in handy for my license plate documenting kids as you can easily cross off each one your see from USA, Canada or Mexico with room to document 50 trips!
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