Travelling to Bryce Canyon - need recommendations (Panguitch, Escalante: where to stay, hotels)

[jenny82]

I'm hoping y'all can give me some recommendations for travel in the Bryce Canyon area; my eldest son is antsy to go see it since he shares his name with the canyon. My family traveled a lot when I was young, but we never went to or stopped in Utah - only drove through. I want to plan a trip to take my kids - they will be 10 and 6 when we travel, somewhat adventurous; we're not expert hikers, but we do walk nature trails here in Texas. Just need to know where to stay, any other places in the area to visit, restaurants to eat at, etc - it is much appreciated. We plan on driving which is about a 20 hour drive straight through so I'm thinking we'll spend at least 2-3 days in Utah - figuring it will be about a week including driving time and making a stop in Albuquerque for the night to visit my Uncle.

Thanks so much!!

[Fripper]

Ruby's or the Best Western are the closest motels to the park. There is a lodge and cabins at the park, convenient but pricey. For hiking, Bryce is a canyon, if you go down, you must walk back up. If you are going in the summer, bring lots of water. There are horse rides down into the canyon, minimum age is 7. For more hiking opportunities take a couple of days at Zion Nat'l Park also. Zion is only about a two hour drive from Bryce and the drive is beautiful. Many more motel accommodations outside of Zion.

[GoOutsideAndPlay]

Jenny,

You are in for a treat. We moved to southwest Utah to enjoy the outdoors and beauty. Fripper is right on with his recommendations and I also encourage you to add Zion to your list. Bryce is in a somewhat remote area, so there are not a ton of lodging choices. We've only ever camped at Bryce, so I can't vouch for hotels. As Fripper points out, there are 2 chain hotels - Best Westerns - Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel and Ruby's Inn. The first is newer and a little nicer. As for dining, we've eaten at Ruby's a few times and it's average. The last time we were there, we had lunch at the Bryce Canyon Lodge and it was actually pretty good and reasonably priced.

Hiking - The most famous trail is the Queens/Navajo Loop, which has about 600ft of elevation change (down then up). It's about 3 miles long and takes 2-3 hours. One of my favorite things about Bryce is that the skies are often stunningly dark blue looking up out of the canyon. If you go, you might want to continue your drive out to Rainbow Point - it has very nice views.

When to go? Bryce is at over 8,000 feet elevation, which means temps are cooler. They get a LOT of sunshine, and it's very intense, so it feels warmer than the actual temp. Ideal hiking is in the 60's and 70's (June and Sept are very nice). You can see the average temps here:
Weather Outlook - Bryce Canyon National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Can I make a suggestion which would only require about 2 hours a day drive time once you get to UT. I assume you'll take I-40 through Albuquerque. Continue west but head to Springdale, UT (through Flagstaff or Gallup). Start at Zion, staying in one of my favorite little towns - Springdale (about 8 hours from Albuquerque) - we like the Best Western or Pioneer Lodge (Oscars and Zion Pizza/Noodle are good places to eat). Spend a day at Zion (Hikes - Emerald Pools, Riverside and Watchman are all family friendly and shorter). Get up early the next day and drive to Bryce (2 hours). Spend the day in Bryce, get a hotel at one of the Best Westerns (try the Bryce lodge for dinner). Get up the next day and drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (2:15 drive), enjoy the day there - amazing (very different than the south rim). Hikes - Bright Angel Point and Trancept. Eat either at the Grand Canyon Lodge or at the Jacob Lake Inn. At the end of the day, drive back to Jacob Lake and stay there (make sure you get HOTEL accomodations - they are nicer than the cabin/motel units). Get up and drive to Albuquerque (7 hours). That way, you get to see 3 of the best places on earth in one week (all within 2 hours of each other). My kids have done all 3 parks in a week several times (our first time, they were 9 and 7).

Good luck, enjoy.

[skeedoodle]

Also, for a bit further away, you can stay in Escalante. It does depend on the time you'd want to spend at Bryce, though. Bryce is beautiful...but remote...as is any place around there. Not much around, not many great places to eat. Most of the restaurants around are not very good, and Harold's Place has some pretty good pie. It's further out but a better restaurant than many around Bryce. If you do Red Canyon at all, Harold's will be fairly close to that. My family is from Panguitch, so I have places to stay but Ruby's would be my first choice if you can get in. Also, Bryce does have cabins IN the park, too. Just try and beat the French bookings to Ruby's and the park.

Originally Posted by GoOutsideAndPlay

Jenny,

You are in for a treat. We moved to southwest Utah to enjoy the outdoors and beauty. Fripper is right on with his recommendations and I also encourage you to add Zion to your list. Bryce is in a somewhat remote area, so there are not a ton of lodging choices. We've only ever camped at Bryce, so I can't vouch for hotels. As Fripper points out, there are 2 chain hotels - Best Westerns - Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel and Ruby's Inn. The first is newer and a little nicer. As for dining, we've eaten at Ruby's a few times and it's average. The last time we were there, we had lunch at the Bryce Canyon Lodge and it was actually pretty good and reasonably priced.

Hiking - The most famous trail is the Queens/Navajo Loop, which has about 600ft of elevation change (down then up). It's about 3 miles long and takes 2-3 hours. One of my favorite things about Bryce is that the skies are often stunningly dark blue looking up out of the canyon. If you go, you might want to continue your drive out to Rainbow Point - it has very nice views.

When to go? Bryce is at over 8,000 feet elevation, which means temps are cooler. They get a LOT of sunshine, and it's very intense, so it feels warmer than the actual temp. Ideal hiking is in the 60's and 70's (June and Sept are very nice). You can see the average temps here:
Weather Outlook - Bryce Canyon National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

Can I make a suggestion which would only require about 2 hours a day drive time once you get to UT. I assume you'll take I-40 through Albuquerque. Continue west but head to Springdale, UT (through Flagstaff or Gallup). Start at Zion, staying in one of my favorite little towns - Springdale (about 8 hours from Albuquerque) - we like the Best Western or Pioneer Lodge (Oscars and Zion Pizza/Noodle are good places to eat). Spend a day at Zion (Hikes - Emerald Pools, Riverside and Watchman are all family friendly and shorter). Get up early the next day and drive to Bryce (2 hours). Spend the day in Bryce, get a hotel at one of the Best Westerns (try the Bryce lodge for dinner). Get up the next day and drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (2:15 drive), enjoy the day there - amazing (very different than the south rim). Hikes - Bright Angel Point and Trancept. Eat either at the Grand Canyon Lodge or at the Jacob Lake Inn. At the end of the day, drive back to Jacob Lake and stay there (make sure you get HOTEL accomodations - they are nicer than the cabin/motel units). Get up and drive to Albuquerque (7 hours). That way, you get to see 3 of the best places on earth in one week (all within 2 hours of each other). My kids have done all 3 parks in a week several times (our first time, they were 9 and 7).

Good luck, enjoy.

[jfitt]

As someone who has stayed in Bryce at the Lodge, and the Best Western, for the difference in price you will be more comfortable at the Best Western just outside the park and across the road from Ruby's Inn. I would never stay at Ruby's Inn nor eat there. Food is atrocious! Tourist trap as it is the largest place in town. Food is pretty good at the Bryce Canyon Pines---homemade soup and pies! As for Springdale, I second eating at Oscar's! We live about an hour away and have often made the trip to Oscar's for lunch!