Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon to Zion Travel Guide
Korri and I spent a week in southern Utah visiting Capitol Reef National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, and Zion National Park, but they weren’t the only highlights of our trip. Of course, there was a lot to see and do between each park as well! And the drives between the parks were gorgeous in their own right.
If you’re planning a Utah Mighty 5 national parks road trip, I highly recommend taking the routes we drove from Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon to Zion (or vice versa)! I specifically carved out one full day to drive to each of the three parks (and spent two nights at each destination) even though the drives themselves didn’t take longer than 2 to 2.5 hours. That gave us plenty of time to stop at a park in the morning or evening as well as take our time enjoying the scenery on the drive, stop at overlooks to photograph the view, or detour to random state parks that weren’t on our original itinerary!
Below, I shared the driving routes we took between Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion and the highlights of each of the routes. I also included an interactive map at the end of the post if you’d like to add any or all of these stops to your own Utah national parks road trip!
READ NEXT: Southern Utah and Eastern Nevada National Parks Road Trip Itinerary
Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon to Zion Travel Guide
Driving from Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon
Highway 12 Scenic Byway
There are a couple of routes you can drive between Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon, and I was dead set on driving the beautiful Highway 12 Scenic Byway as long as the roads were clear. This route takes you through Boulder, Utah, and Grand Staircase—Escalante National Monument. This All American Road is known as one of the most beautiful drives in the country. I’m not a big fan of driving in general, but I was looking forward to this drive for the scenery! Even though the weather was beautiful and relatively warm in Capitol Reef in mid-March, it was a bit of a different story on Highway 12 between Torrey and Boulder.
In between the two towns is the highest point of Highway 12: Boulder Mountain Pass at 9,600 feet! As you probably can guess, there was a lot of snow at the summit, and it was so windy that snow blew across the road in spots. Luckily, the road was mostly clear of snow and there wasn’t a lot of traffic. Utah is really good about clearing the roads in my experience, even in remote areas like this highway. I purchased tire chains for this trip just in case and never had to use them, thank goodness!
Hell’s Backbone Grill and Farm in Boulder was recommended to me, but it’s only open seasonally and wasn’t open when we were there in mid-March. I would have loved to stop for brunch! You’ll also pass by the Anasazi State Park Museum, which features a reconstructed Pueblo village.
Grand Staircase—Escalante National Monument
Grand Staircase—Escalante National Monument is a giant national monument that encompasses basically all of south-central Utah. It’s extremely rugged, and most of it is not easily accessible; expect to drive on unpaved roads meant for 4x4, high clearance vehicles. There are a few hikes directly off of Highway 12 that you can do if you have time on your drive between Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon, but we didn’t. Lower Calf Creek Falls is a popular hike that came recommended to me. I had also checked the road conditions before driving and most of them were not open due to snow or other reasons, but the drive through Grand Staircase itself wasn’t snowy.
If you’re thinking that Grand Staircase—Escalante won’t be as beautiful as the national parks that bookend it, you’re wrong! It was absolutely stunning. When you’re driving into the monument from Boulder, one of the first things you’ll drive through is the Hogback. The road is literally on the peak between steep drop offs on both sides, and there are no guardrails. There are also no shoulders and few places to pull over. After that, you drive down into the canyon next to Calf Creek, and the beautiful views continue! Be sure to stop at Kiva Coffeehouse if it’s open (it wasn’t during our trip). I highly recommend stopping at the overlooks when you can to take in the view.
Stop at the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center on the west end of the town of Escalante to learn more about the monument, watch the short film, and check out the incredible number of insects scientists have found living in Grand Staircase. You can also get your passport book stamped! (It’s green, so even though the monument is in Utah, I put the stamp in the green section of the book.) There is another visitor center in Cannonville as you get closer to Bryce Canyon, but be sure to check the hours; it wasn’t open during our trip and I was glad we stopped in Escalante.
Kodachrome Basin State Park
Even though we didn’t have time to do a long hike, Korri and I did have time for a stop at Kodachrome Basin State Park, accessible from Cannonville. It was basically like a mini Bryce Canyon with much of the same geology: hoodoos and beautiful red rock cliffs! Some of the shapes of the hoodoos would probably make a child or child-like adult laugh. There are a few short hikes you can do if you have the time. There is also a sort of historic-looking laundromat randomly located in the park with nothing else around it called Red Dirt Wash and Dry. Apparently it’s really nice inside with clean bathrooms! The park entry fee was $10.
Driving from Bryce Canyon to Zion
Best Driving Route
The best driving route between Bryce Canyon and Zion involves the Zion east entrance and Zion—Mount Carmel Highway. Starting from Bryce Canyon, take Highway 12 west to the junction at US Highway 89, then head south on 89 all the way until you reach the Mt Carmel Junction. This route will take you directly to the east entrance of Zion. It is well worth the drive! It’s also the most direct route between the two parks. We found it to be a lot more scenic than we had expected.
Red Canyon
As you head east on Highway 12 away from Bryce Canyon, the first geologic area you’ll drive into is Red Canyon. You’ll know you’re there because you’ll drive into beautiful red rocks and through a tunnel! This canyon is like another mini Bryce Canyon with much of the same type of hoodoo formations. Red Canyon looked absolutely beautiful covered in snow when we were there. There are campgrounds and lots of trails to hike. The visitor center and bathrooms were closed during our trip unfortunately. Since it’s not in a national park and it wasn’t busy at all, Korri flew his drone around and got some really cool footage!
Orderville, Utah
We didn’t stop between Red Canyon and Orderville except once to use the rest room. Of note, none of the gas stations we stopped at in between the two were open/had working rest rooms, so keep that in mind. The Shingle Creek Rest Area was the only place we could find that was open. We also noticed that gas was much more expensive as we got closer to Zion!
We ended up stopping in Orderville to fill up the car and noticed a cute little coffee shop next to the gas station called The Shop Coffee Co. It has 4.9 stars on Google—and for good reason! Our drinks were good but the star of the show was their açaí bowl. YUM!!! Definitely recommend stopping there just for that bowl!
Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park
We weren’t planning on detouring to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park but the park ranger at Capitol Reef mentioned how cool it was during the geology talk and we realized it wasn’t too far out of the way! It’s about 25 minutes from Orderville to Coral Pink Sand Dunes and then about 40 minutes back to the east entrance of Zion. It’s really close to the Arizona border!
Coral Pink Sand Dunes is made up—you guessed it—gorgeous sand dunes that really are a coral pink, orange-ish color. It’s SO pretty and so striking against the dark trees and blue skies. Korri and I walked out to the observation deck and then wandered out onto the dunes to a large dune that many people were sledding down. You can rent sleds and sand boards at the visitor center (first come, first served). Lots of folks were riding their ATVs and other off-highway vehicles. There are also a couple of campgrounds and restrooms available. The park entry fee was $10. I definitely feel like Coral Pink Sand Dunes was worth visiting before popping over to Zion!
