Where to base yourself, and what each choice costs
Springdale is the obvious answer and the expensive one, and its supply of rooms is capped by town ordinance rather than by demand. Here is the honest comparison with everywhere else, including the towns you can reach on a five dollar bus.
- At the gate
- Springdale
- On the bus route
- Hurricane, La Verkin, Virgin
- Nearest airport
- St George
- Needs the tunnel
- The east side
Springdale is best, and it is capped by law
Staying in Springdale means walking to the park entrance and using a free town shuttle instead of a car. It is genuinely the best base and it is expensive, and the reason it is expensive is unusual enough to be worth knowing.
Springdale limits new lodging by ordinance. Any establishment renting for 30 consecutive days or less counts as transient lodging, new transient lodging is only allowed in a specific overlay zone, and the town accepts a maximum of five applications for that zone each calendar year, in even numbered years only.
So supply is not responding to demand. It is set by a town that decided, deliberately, not to let short term rentals eat its housing. Whatever you think of that, it is why a room here costs what it costs, and it is not going to change. The full detail on the ordinance.
What the premium actually buys
One thing, mostly: the ability to be on the 7:00am canyon shuttle without driving. That is worth a great deal in peak season and nothing at all if you are a nine o’clock starter. How to judge position properly.
Three towns sit on a five dollar bus route
The SunTran Zion route runs 42 miles from St George to the park, calling at Washington, Hurricane, La Verkin, Virgin and Springdale.
That is a scheduled public bus, $5 one way, Monday to Saturday, and it changes the whole calculation. Hurricane, La Verkin and Virgin are all stops on it, which means you can stay in a town with ordinary lodging prices and reach the park without driving or parking.
Virgin is the closest of the three to the park and Washington the furthest. None of them is Springdale: there is no walking to the entrance, no evening in a canyon town, and the bus runs to a timetable rather than every ten minutes. In exchange you are outside a market where supply is legally capped.
The Sunday problem applies here too
There is no Sunday service on the SunTran route and none on designated holidays. If you are basing outside Springdale and relying on the bus, a Sunday needs a car or a day that does not involve the park. The full car free picture.
The two that are not really Zion bases
Both get recommended constantly, and both are a different kind of trip rather than a cheaper version of the same one.
St George
A city with the nearest airport, a full range of lodging and prices that bear no relation to Springdale’s. It is also the far end of the 42 mile bus route, which the park describes as about an hour’s drive from the south entrance.
Sensible as a first or last night around a flight. As a base for several days in the park it means an hour each way, every day, and you will not be on the 7:00am shuttle.
The east side, toward Mt Carmel and Kanab
You approach through the park’s east entrance and the Zion–Mt. Carmel tunnel, which is spectacular and comes with hard vehicle limits: over 7 ft 10 in wide or 11 ft 4 in tall needs a $15 permit, and over 35 ft 9 in long is not allowed on that road at all.
No bus serves it. It suits a trip that is also doing Bryce Canyon or the Grand Canyon north rim, and it is a poor base for repeated early starts in Zion Canyon.
Five bases, compared honestly
We are not quoting nightly rates for any of these, because they move by season and by date and a stale figure is worse than none. What does not move is the structure below.
| Base | On the bus route | Walk to the park | The trade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Springdale | Yes | Yes | The best access anywhere, and a market where new lodging is capped at five applications every second year. |
| Virgin | Yes | No | Closest of the bus towns to the park. Very little in the way of a town. |
| La Verkin and Hurricane | Yes | No | Ordinary towns with ordinary lodging supply, and a bus in. No canyon on the doorstep. |
| St George | Yes, the far end | No | The airport and a real city, about an hour from the south entrance. An hour each way, every day. |
| East side, Mt Carmel and beyond | No | No | Through the tunnel, with vehicle size limits. Good for a wider parks trip, poor for early starts in the canyon. |
One base we have not listed
Watchman Campground is inside the park at $35 to $45 a night and closer to the pedestrian entrance than any hotel. If the reason you are looking outside Springdale is money rather than availability, that is the first thing to check.
Answer two questions and it picks itself
Will you start at seven?
If yes, base in Springdale and pay for it, ideally at the low numbered end of the town shuttle line. Nothing else gets you onto the first canyon bus, because the town shuttle does not run until 8:00am and everywhere else is a drive.
If no, the premium buys you very little and the bus route towns do the job.
Are you hiring a car?
If no, your options are Springdale or a town on the SunTran route, and nothing else works. If yes, everything opens up, and the honest question becomes how many hours of driving you are willing to spend across the trip.
Common questions about where to base yourself
Should I stay in Springdale or Hurricane for Zion?
Springdale if you intend to start early, because it is the only base you can walk to the park entrance from and the town shuttle connects it. Hurricane if the cost matters more, since it sits on the $5 SunTran bus route into the park and has ordinary lodging supply.
Why is lodging in Springdale so expensive?
Supply is capped by town ordinance rather than by demand. New transient lodging is restricted to a specific overlay zone and the town accepts a maximum of five applications for that zone each calendar year, in even numbered years only.
Can I stay outside Springdale and still visit Zion without a car?
Yes, if you stay in Virgin, La Verkin, Hurricane, Washington or St George. All are stops on the SunTran Zion route, which costs $5 one way and runs Monday to Saturday. There is no Sunday service.
How far is St George from Zion National Park?
The park describes it as about an hour's drive to the south entrance, and the SunTran bus route between the two is 42 miles.
Is Kanab a good base for Zion?
It suits a wider trip taking in Bryce Canyon or the Grand Canyon north rim. For Zion Canyon itself it means approaching through the east entrance and the Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel every day, with its vehicle size limits, and no bus serves it.
What is the cheapest place to stay near Zion?
Watchman Campground inside the park is $35 to $45 a night and closer to the entrance than any hotel. Beyond that, the towns along the bus route have ordinary lodging supply rather than Springdale's capped market.
Position first, price second
The question is whether you will be on the 7:00am shuttle. Everything else follows from that one answer.
Also useful: visiting without a car, camping and closest to the entrance.
Three towns on the bus route have lodging Springdale cannot legally add.
All the places to stay