Springdale is the most popular place to stay near Zion National Park, but you can also look at hotels in Virgin, La Verkin and Hurricane if you want unique places to stay or cheaper lodging options. We’ve stayed at hotels in each nearby town, as well as Zion Lodge and even Watchman Campground, and they all have lots of pros and cons.
In this guide we walk you through where to stay near Zion National Park based on our experiences.
Our Experience
Over the course of trips to Zion in October 2019 and December 2021, we’ve stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and Best Western Plus in Springdale, Hotel Zion Inn and La Quinta in La Verkin, Fairfield Inn in Virgin, Sleep Inn in Hurricane, Zion Lodge (the only park-run lodging inside the main canyon) and Watchman Campground. We know, that’s a lot of hotel stays in the area!
Our Summary: We think Springdale is the best place to stay near Zion for most first time visitors because it’s convenient for hiking and sightseeing in the main canyon, and it’s a great little town with lots of restaurants and hotels. But Virgin is much better if you’re looking for a romantic glamping experience under the stars. For us, La Verkin and Hurricane are only worth considering if you’re visiting on a tight budget because they’re a 30 minute drive from the main canyon. Read more about us.
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View Zion GuidebookZion Lodge
Your first option is Zion Lodge, which is the only national park run lodging anywhere in the park. The historic lodge has a wonderful location half way up Zion Canyon scenic drive, near some of the famous trails like Angels Landing and Emerald Pools. You can choose between staying in traditional hotel rooms or semi-detached cabins, and there’s a gift shop, a cafe and a grill.
Our experience: We spent a night in a semi-detached cabin and we have to say it really wasn’t great. The door connecting with the other cabin had huge gaps around the frame and our neighbors were loud, it wasn’t particularly clean and the food overpriced. And we even had to pay extra for coffee!
It wasn’t all bad because we woke up and hiked to Angels Landing summit in time for sunrise. But we paid more for one night in Zion Lodge than we did for the previous 2 nights at a hotel in Springdale, and we think it should be better.
Here’s how you can book Zion Lodge:
Zion’s Campgrounds
The only other way you can stay inside the park is by camping. Zion’s two major campgrounds are called Watchman and South, and they’re both located near Springdale. Lava Point campground can be a third option, but you’d have to drive one hour from the visitor center to the end of Kolob Terrace Rd.
Our experience: We spent a night in Watchman Campground after hiking The Narrows bottom up in October 2019. Luckily, we were able to book a last minute cancellation, but not so luckily it was a freezing cold night! The next morning we woke up and hiked The Watchman for sunrise.
South campground has 117 reservation only sites but it closes in winter, whereas Watchman campground has 176 reservation only sites and stays open all year. We recommend booking as far in advance as possible if you want to camp at Zion because it’s such a popular place to visit.
More information:
Exclusive: We’ve teamed up with The Dyrt Pro to offer our readers an exclusive no-strings 30 day free trial which you can use to get notifications when fully booked campgrounds like Watchman get last minute cancellations.
Springdale
Springdale is a lovely small town on the doorstep to Zion’s main canyon. It has lots of quality restaurants and hotels, grocery stores, bike rentals and places to hire waterproofs for hiking The Narrows like Zion Outfitter. It’s definitely more expensive to stay in Springdale because of its convenience and amenities, but we think they’re well worth paying a little extra to have.
Our experience: We’ve visited most popular US national parks and Springdale is one of our favorite towns to use as a base. We like the shuttle network running between hotels in Springdale and Zion’s main canyon, and it has a great vibe at night. We’ve stayed at the Holiday Inn Express and Best Western Plus, but there’s lots of other great options.
Our favorite restaurants:
Top Rated Hotels
We’ve rounded up hotels in Springdale with the highest guest ratings for each price category as per Booking.com and Google reviews.
Cheap:
Mid-budget:
Luxury:
Next time we’re in Zion we’ll try to book a room at Cable Mountain Lodge. It has an outdoor pool, hot tub and exclusive picnic tables right on the Virgin River. Plus, you could throw a stone from the hotel to Zion visitor center and it’s affordable.
READ: Where to stay in Springdale Utah
Virgin
Virgin is the second closest town to the main canyon and we think it’s where you should stay near Zion if you’re looking for a romantic escape or a fun family friendly glamping experience. Lodging options here are very isolated and unique, including luxury tents, converted campers and wagons. But be warned, it’s very quiet around Virgin, there’s only one restaurant called Balcony One and absolutely no nightlife. It’s all about tranquility!
Our experience: We spent a night at Fairfield Inn because it has excellent ratings and we wanted to spend the night close to Kolob Terrace so we could wake up early and hike The Zion Subway. It worked out great for us because it was peaceful at night and we grabbed a free breakfast in the morning.
Top Rated Hotels
We’ve rounded up hotels in Virgin with the highest guest ratings for each price category as per Booking.com and Google reviews.
Cheap:
Mid-budget:
Luxury:
If we stayed in Virgin again, we’d likely stay at one of the three mid-budget places because they’re unique and affordable. Under Canvas looks amazing, it’s far more expensive.
READ: Where to stay in Virgin Utah
La Verkin
La Verkin is a 30 minute drive from Zion’s main canyon but it has much cheaper hotels, so it’ll work great if you’re visiting the park on a tighter budget. Another reason to stay in La Verkin is if you plan to visit all three of Zion’s major regions, because it has a central location between the main canyon, Kolob Terrace and Kolob Canyons.
Our experience: We enjoyed our stay at La Quinta in La Verkin. It did exactly what we needed it to, and at super-affordable rates. We ate at a popular restaurant in town called Stage Coach Grille, and overall we thought the town worked just fine. It wasn’t as good as Springdale, but it was definitely cheaper.
Top Rated Hotels
We’ve rounded up hotels in La Verkin with the highest guest ratings for each price category as per Booking.com and Google reviews.
Cheap:
Mid-budget:
Luxury:
If we stayed in La Verkin again we’d likely book The Dwellings because it’s a real step up in class. Otherwise, we’d be more than happy to stay at the La Quinta again.
READ: Where to stay in La Verkin Utah
Hurricane
Hurricane is slightly further from Zion than La Verkin, and it’s the largest city within striking distance of the park. You’ll find lots of typical fast food joints like McDonalds, but also some surprisingly great restaurants. Couple the food with a better selection of affordable hotels and we think Hurricane is actually a good place to stay for visiting Zion.
Our experience: We spent a night at the Sleep Inn after a long day visiting Valley of Fire State Park and it was great for the price we paid. Booking a cheap night here between Las Vegas and Zion was a great way to save money before spending the next few nights in Springdale where it was more expensive.
Top Rated Hotels
We’ve rounded up hotels in Hurricane with the highest guest ratings for each price category as per Booking.com and Google reviews.
Mid-budget:
There’s not a huge amount of difference between the hotels in Hurricane (they’re all highly rated and similarly priced), so we’d probably check each one out for our travel dates and book whichever had the cheapest rates at the time.
Zion Hotels Map
Click or touch the map below to activate. Zoom in and out, and move around the area to see exactly where each hotel is located.
Map key:
- Yellow – Zion Lodge
- Purple – Campgrounds
- Red – Springdale
- Green – Virgin
- Blue – La Verkin
- Orange – Hurricane
The Morgan Conclusion
Springdale, Virgin, La Verkin and Hurricane are four great places you can stay near Zion National Park. Each offers different perks like convenience, price or amenities, so you can choose whichever suits your travel style and budget.
Personally, we think Springdale is the best place to stay near Zion because it offers the ultimate convenience and it has a great selection of hotels and restaurants. Yes, it’s also the most expensive, but that’s a trade-off we’re willing to accept. Are you?
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Want more Utah content? Head over to our Utah Travel Guides to explore the Mighty Five National Parks and beyond.
We hope this where to stay near Zion guide helps with planning your visit to Utah!
Please let us know if you have any questions or need help planning your visit by commenting below.
Happy Travels,
Mark and Kristen
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Mark and Kristen Morgan are travel, hiking and photography experts. Over the last 6 years traveling full time, they have explored more than 40 countries and 30 US states.
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We’ve stayed at the Cable Mountain Inn and can recommend it highly. We had a spacious apartment with full kitchen and could just walk across the bridge into the park. Our only drawback was that our patio overlooked a dirt hill. However, the units on the opposite side, while looking into the park, did so across the parking lot. We would stay there again. Not fancy, but definitely comfortable.
Just a note about parking at any other hotel: the Springdale shuttle makes frequent stops, therefore one can just leave one’s car at the hotel and ride the shuttle to the park entrance.
Thank you for letting us know about your experience at Cable Mountain Lodge. This is a hugely popular place to stay because of its convenient location right next to Zion Outfitter and the main visitor center. But as you have mentioned, staying anywhere else in Springdale also works fine thanks to the frequent shuttle service. Hope you had a great trip to Zion!