Springdale, Utah and the park next door
One street on the floor of a canyon, at the mouth of Zion National Park. This site compares the guided trips, explains the permits, and tells you the park rules that decide what you can actually book, including the ones the booking pages leave out.
- Zion shuttle
- Free, no booking
- Angels Landing
- Permit required
- The Narrows bottom up
- No permit
- Non US residents, 2026
- +$100 each
Four ways in, depending on what you need
Most people arrive with one of four questions. Pick the one that is yours.
Guided trips, compared
Ten categories, real prices, and an honest answer on whether each one is worth paying for. Zion is a self sufficient park, so several are not.
Plan your trip
Permit deadlines, the shuttle timetable, entrance fees, the best months, and the order to do all of it in.
Where to stay
Springdale hotels, what the premium buys, and the one question about position that changes every morning of your trip.
The town itself
Gear rental, food, galleries and the practical ground once you arrive. There is more here than a car park with beds.
Zion publishes rules that quietly decide what you can book
They are in operating plans, permit conditions and regulation pages that nobody reads. Several of them contradict what you will be sold. Every line below is from the park’s own material or an operator’s own booking page.
| What people assume | What the rule says | Where it matters |
|---|---|---|
| You can book a canyoneering tour in Zion | Commercial guiding is not allowed in the Zion Wilderness, which covers the technical canyons and every climb | Canyoneering and climbing |
| A guide takes you deeper into The Narrows | Guided groups turn round at the Orderville junction, around two and a half miles in, where the wilderness boundary sits | Guided Narrows hikes |
| A guide can get you up Angels Landing | Every person still needs their own permit. Guided parties are capped at six plus one guide, two parties maximum | The permit lottery |
| Group size does not change the trip | Sixteen people or more are restricted to four easy trails. Splitting the group does not lift it | Guided hikes |
| A helicopter tour flies over the park | No low altitude passenger tour aircraft may fly directly over Zion. Every flight works the perimeter | Scenic flights |
| You can add a hike to a bike tour | The park prohibits hiking its trails while on a commercial biking tour | E-bike tours |
| Entry costs $35 and that is that | From January 2026 visitors who are not US residents pay an extra $100 per person aged 16 and over | Entrance fees |
Almost all of it comes back to one sentence
Commercial guiding is closed across Zion’s designated wilderness. That single rule explains the canyoneering ban, the absence of guided climbing and the Narrows turnaround, which are usually presented as three unrelated quirks.
The pages people come back to
The Zion shuttle
Both lines, the 2026 season dates and departure times, all nine canyon stops, and the rules that catch people out. Free, and no booking.
Angels Landing permits
All four 2026 lottery windows, the fees, and the one application rule that cancels every application you made with no refund.
The Narrows
Flow thresholds, the 150 cfs closure, the cyanobacteria advisory, and how far a day hiker may legally go.
Entrance fees in 2026
Every fee, the new $100 non resident surcharge, and the arithmetic on which pass pays for itself.
Best hikes in Zion
Every named trail with the park's own distance, elevation and time, the two that have been closed for years, and the one hike that needs a permit.
The outfitter directory
Who is authorized for what, the tiered permit system, and profiles with real prices for the companies we have checked.
How long have you got
Each plan is built on the park’s published shuttle departures and its own trail distances and times, not on a wish list.
The canyon, hour by hour
Everything turns on the 7:00am shuttle. Riverside Walk, Emerald Pools, Pa’rus and Canyon Overlook, with a version for anyone holding an Angels Landing permit.
One dry day, one wet day
The split that works, and three things to swap in if the river is running too high for The Narrows. Two days is the number we would pick.
Leave the main canyon
Quiet Kolob Canyons, a guided canyon outside the park, or the slickrock east of the tunnel. The third day is the one most people waste.
Still deciding when to come? Best time to visit goes month by month on crowds, water and what is actually open.
Travelling with children, or visiting for the first time? Start with Zion with kids, which puts every published age and weight limit in one table, or the first timers page.
We do not sell trips, and we do not invent facts
What we do
Compare the trips, publish the prices operators publish themselves, read the park’s own permits and operating plans, and link you straight to the company that runs the trip. Every page carries the date its facts were checked.
What we will not do
Invent a price, a rating or a review. Where we have not checked something we say so and leave the page thin, which is why one tour category here carries no prices at all and five operators have profiles rather than twenty five.
Written by a working Utah guide and Wilderness First Responder. The full version of how this site is funded and what it refuses to publish is on the about page.
Common questions about Springdale and Zion
What is there to do in Springdale, Utah?
Springdale is the gateway town at Zion's south entrance, so most visitors use it as a base for hiking, canyoneering and river trips in and around the park. The town itself has outfitters, art galleries, a good restaurant scene for its size and the Virgin River running through it.
Do I need to book anything in advance for Zion?
Lodging, an Angels Landing permit if you want that hike, and any guided trip. The shuttle, the trails and The Narrows from the bottom need no booking at all.
How much does it cost to enter Zion National Park?
$35 per private vehicle for seven days, $30 per motorcycle, or $20 per person on foot or bicycle. From January 2026 visitors who are not US residents pay an additional $100 per person aged 16 and over unless they hold a qualifying annual pass.
How many days do you need in Zion?
Two full days covers the main canyon and The Narrows without rushing. One day is enough for the highlights if you start at 7am. Three lets you add a guided canyoneering day, Kolob Canyons or the east side of the park.
Can you drive into Zion Canyon?
Not during shuttle season, which in 2026 runs March 7 to November 28 plus a holiday week from December 26. The free shuttle is the only way in then. Outside those windows the scenic drive is open to private vehicles.
Does discoverspringdale.com sell tours?
No. We compare trips and link to the operators who run them. We do not operate any trip and we do not take bookings.
Pick the thing you came for, then pick the company
Every category page ends with the operators who actually run that trip, and what each one charges.
New here? Start with the first timers page, or read how this site works.
Zion is a self sufficient park. Know which parts need booking.
Compare guided trips