Zion National Park

Zion is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year-round, and for most of the year the one road into its main canyon is closed to your car. The Zion Canyon Scenic Drive is served by a free shuttle through the shuttle season, with exceptions only for guests holding Zion Lodge or Canyon Trail Rides reservations; private vehicles may drive it in the non-shuttle season, which the National Park Service describes as usually December through February. No reservation, permit or ticket is needed to enter the park or to ride. On the October 25 to November 28 schedule the first bus leaves at 7 a.m., the last leaves the visitor center at 5 p.m., and the last bus out of the canyon leaves the Temple of Sinawava at 6:15 p.m.; there is no service from November 29 to December 25, and it returns December 26 to January 2 running from 8 a.m., with the last bus out of the canyon at 5:45 p.m. The Springdale town shuttle is also free and loops between Hotel DeNovo and Zion Canyon Village about every 10 to 15 minutes. The information desk at the Zion Canyon Visitor Center is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Entry is $35^* per private vehicle of 15 passengers or fewer, valid 1 to 7 days, $30^* per motorcycle, or $20^* per person arriving on foot or by bicycle, with visitors aged 15 and under admitted free; a Zion Annual Pass is $70^*. Non-U.S. residents aged 16 and older pay an added $100^* per person unless they hold an Annual or America the Beautiful pass. Cards are preferred and cash is accepted. Parking inside the park often fills by early or mid-morning, and the park's own instruction when a lot is full is not to wait for a space but to move on and try again later, or to leave the car in Springdale and ride in; it also notes that the wait for a shuttle can run longer than an hour at busy times. Early February through late November is the busy stretch. In December, January and February, when cars are allowed up the canyon, the Scenic Drive often closes for the day once its parking runs out.

Angels Landing cannot be decided on the morning of the hike. Everyone who climbs the chains between Scout Lookout and the summit needs a permit, and permits are issued by lottery: a seasonal lottery months ahead, or a day-before lottery that opens at 12:01 a.m. and closes at 3 p.m. Mountain time, with results sent after 4 p.m. that day. Applying costs $6^* for up to six people and is non-refundable, with a further $3^* per person if the permit is awarded. The walk as far as Scout Lookout needs no permit: about 2.25 miles from the Grotto, shuttle stop 6, climbing 1,000 feet.

Some conditions change the drive rather than the walk. The tunnel on the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway, State Route 9, is fully closed overnight from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. while crews pull cable through it, nightly from Monday, October 26 to Friday morning, October 30 and again from Monday, November 2 to Friday morning, November 6, with vehicles turned around at Canyon Junction on the west side and about 50 feet short of the east portal; the Utah Department of Transportation says that schedule can move with weather and materials. The same tunnel is why a large vehicle cannot simply cross the park: a single vehicle longer than 35 feet 9 inches, wider than 7 feet 10 inches, taller than 11 feet 4 inches or heavier than 50,000 pounds is not permitted between Canyon Junction and the East Entrance at all, measured to include mirrors, bike racks and air conditioners, and a vehicle towing a trailer is held to 50 feet overall. On the trails, a rockfall has partly closed the East Rim Trail, which leaves Observation Point reachable only from the east, and Hidden Canyon is closed. The Narrows closes whenever the Virgin River runs above 150 cubic feet per second or a Flash Flood Warning is issued, and the park asks visitors not to drink from or submerge their heads in any water in the park because of toxic cyanobacteria. Kolob Canyons, the park's northwest district at Interstate 15 exit 40, is a separate drive 45 miles north of Springdale and is covered here as its own stop.

*Fees subject to change, please check nps.gov for updated information.

We checked fees, reservations, seasonal opening, opening hours, operating status and closures on 2026-10-29. These change without notice — confirm with nps.gov and udotinput.utah.gov the week you travel.