Zion and Bryce are about 85 miles apart by road, and the road between them goes through Zion’s tunnel — which a rockfall closed to through traffic from 30 September to 9 October 2026. The places to stay on the east side are Mount Carmel Junction, where State Route 9 meets US-89, and Kanab, 17 miles south of it. Either one puts Bryce and the country east of Zion in day-trip range. Zion Canyon is the part that moved while the road was shut: it was about two hours from Kanab around the outside of the park, and it is again whenever the highway closes. For most of the year the drive still ends with finding somewhere to park before you can ride the shuttle.
The road between the parks
From Zion Canyon, State Route 9 climbs through the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel to the East Entrance and on to Mount Carmel Junction, 13 miles east of the entrance by the Park Service’s figure. Bryce is north from the junction: US-89 to State Route 12, east on 12, then south on State Route 63 into the park. Kanab is the other way, 17 miles south on US-89.
For nine days that road was shut in the middle. The Park Service’s alert, posted 30 September, closed the highway to through traffic from Canyon Junction to the East Entrance, after a large rockfall damaged the road. The park reopened the east end, the 7.5 miles from the East Entrance to Great Arch Overlook, for scenic driving and day use on 6 October, and the whole highway on 9 October; the closure is gone from its alert feed. Where the road was damaged it laid gravel, and it set 26 to 30 October to repave it, with one-way traffic and minor delays east of Canyon Junction for the work; its alert for the paving had come down by 1 November. The Scenic Drive in Zion Canyon was open to the shuttle and to Zion Lodge guests throughout; everything on this side of the park is reached from US-89. If the road closes again, the detours UDOT publishes go round the park: south by State Route 59 through Hildale, Arizona 389 through Colorado City and Fredonia, and US-89A to Kanab; or north by I-15 and Highway 20 to US-89. The routes and the latest are on the tunnel page.
| If the tunnel road is closed, from | Zion Canyon Visitor Center | Bryce Canyon visitor center |
|---|---|---|
| Zion Canyon Visitor Center, Springdale | - | 157 mi, 3 hr 35 min, by I-15 and Highway 20; 164 mi, 3 hr 45 min, by Kanab |
| Zion Mountain Ranch, Highway 9 | 112 mi, 2 hr 35 min, by Kanab and Hildale | 70 mi, 1 hr 35 min |
| Mount Carmel Junction | 104 mi, 2 hr 25 min, by Kanab and Hildale | 61 mi, 1 hr 25 min |
| Kanab | 86 mi, 2 hr, by Fredonia and Hildale | 78 mi, 1 hr 45 min |
| Bryce Canyon City | 155 mi, 3 hr 30 min, by Highway 20 and I-15 | 3 mi, 10 min |
With the highway open, the times are these:
| From | Zion’s East Entrance | Zion Canyon Visitor Center | Bryce Canyon visitor center |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zion Canyon Visitor Center, Springdale | 11 mi, 30 min | - | 85 mi, 2 hr 10 min |
| Zion Mountain Ranch, Highway 9 | 4 mi, 10 min | 16 mi, 40 min | 70 mi, 1 hr 35 min |
| Mount Carmel Junction | 13 mi, 20 min | 25 mi, 50 min | 61 mi, 1 hr 25 min |
| Kanab | 30 mi, 45 min | 42 mi, 1 hr 15 min | 78 mi, 1 hr 45 min |
| Bryce Canyon City | - | 83 mi, 2 hr 5 min | 3 mi, 10 min |
The distances and times are from OpenStreetMap’s car router (OSRM), run on 1 October 2026 for the open road and 2 October for the detours, and rounded up to the next five minutes. They allow for no stops, no line at an entrance station and no construction waits. The two sources differ on the longest legs: the Park Service’s own detour figures put Zion to Bryce by the tunnel road at about 87 miles and a little under two hours, where the router says 2 hours 10 minutes, and by Highway 20 at roughly 150 miles and 2.5 hours, where the router says 157 miles and 3 hours 35 minutes. Plan on the longer. The Park Service says the highway inside Zion usually runs under 30 mph, which is why the last 11 miles to the canyon take half an hour.
Kanab: one base for both parks
Kanab is where most of the east side’s rooms are. Booking.com’s Kanab list is several times the size of Springdale’s, which matters most in spring and fall, when Springdale books out months ahead. From Kanab, Zion’s East Entrance is 40 to 45 minutes and Bryce’s visitor center an hour and three quarters, so with the tunnel road open both parks are day trips from the same bed. It is also on the road to the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, about 80 miles south by US-89A and Arizona 67, which is another trip.
The cost is Zion Canyon itself. The Visitor Center is an hour and a quarter away through the tunnel, and when the highway is closed, about two hours the other way round, by Fredonia, Hildale and Hurricane. From early March to late November — this year, to 28 November — the Scenic Drive is closed to private cars and the shuttle starts at the Visitor Center, and the Park Service warns that from early February to late November its parking often fills by early or mid-morning. A Kanab morning that starts after breakfast ends in a Springdale parking space and the town shuttle; the parking page has the town’s zones and rates. For a dawn start on Angels Landing or the Narrows, Kanab is the wrong bed.
The east side is where it is strongest. Canyon Overlook, just past the tunnel’s east portal, is the short hike on this side, and an early start from Kanab or the junction is the way to find its small lot with space in it. It is also on the stretch a rockfall closed to through traffic from 30 September to 9 October 2026, though the park reopened the East Entrance end, this trailhead included, on 6 October; if the road closes again, ask the park on 435-772-3256 whether it can be reached from the East Entrance before you drive up for it. Observation Point, whose trailhead is outside the park, can now be reached only from the east, since the East Rim Trail no longer connects to the canyon; see the Observation Point page. The UTV, jeep and slot-canyon trips run outside the park on this side too, and Kanab’s own Peekaboo slot is on the East Zion UTV page. None of it needs the shuttle.
Mount Carmel Junction: closest, and small
The junction is 13 miles from the East Entrance and about 50 minutes from the Zion Canyon Visitor Center through the tunnel — about 2 hours 25 minutes round by Kanab when the highway is closed — and Bryce is under an hour and a half north. It is a crossroads rather than a town. Booking.com’s Mount Carmel Junction page lists three places at the junction or on Highway 9 toward Zion — the Best Western East Zion Thunderbird Lodge, the 89 & Nine Motel and Zion Mountain Ranch — and fills out the rest of its list with glamping tents and Airstreams in Orderville, north on US-89, and with hotels in Kanab.
Zion Mountain Ranch is the nearest of the three to Zion: at 9065 West Highway 9, about 4 miles east of the East Entrance and 40 minutes from the Visitor Center through the tunnel, or about 2 hours 35 minutes round by Kanab and Hildale when the highway is closed. It is a ranch resort with its own herd of buffalo.
When the junction’s few rooms are gone, the next beds east are Kanab’s.
Or split the nights
For two or more days in Zion Canyon, the least driving is a night or more in Springdale for the Zion days, where you walk or take the free town shuttle to the park, then a move east for Bryce. With the tunnel road open, Canyon Overlook is the first stop past the tunnel. When it is closed, the move is the long way round, by I-15 and Highway 20 or by Kanab, three and a half hours or more, and it is the strongest reason to do Zion Canyon from Springdale rather than from the east. Springdale hotels by shuttle stop maps the town’s hotels to the walk.
Without a car, the usual way to see both parks is a day tour from the Strip, and it is the opposite of this plan: the Zion and Bryce Canyon tours from Las Vegas give Zion between 30 minutes and 2 hours on the way to Bryce.
At Bryce, the town at the park entrance is Bryce Canyon City, about 3 miles from the visitor center; Tropic is the next town, about 11 miles away down Highway 12. Booking.com calls the first one “Bryce Canyon”, and its list there takes in a few places in Tropic as well.
The Kanab base wins when Springdale is sold out, when the trip is more east side than canyon, or when you would rather not pack up between parks. If the tunnel road is closed, only the middle one holds: for Zion Canyon, Hurricane is about 25 minutes from the entrance and Kanab about two hours. Where to stay near Zion has Springdale, Hurricane and the Lodge.
The tunnel, if you are driving something big
These limits apply whenever the highway is open. Between Canyon Junction and the East Entrance the Park Service allows no single vehicle over 11 ft 4 in tall, 7 ft 10 in wide, 35 ft 9 in long or 50,000 lb. With a trailer, the limit is 50 ft overall and no more than 26 ft from the hitch to the rear axle. The measurements include mirrors, tires and attachments such as bike racks and air-conditioning units. A vehicle over the limits that arrives at the East Entrance is turned around.
For an RV over the limits, Kanab and Mount Carmel Junction are not bases for Zion Canyon. The way round from Kanab is south through Fredonia and Hildale to Hurricane and up State Route 9: about 86 miles and two hours by the same router, and when the highway is closed, it is everyone’s way round. The drive north to Bryce on US-89 does not use Zion’s tunnel. From Springdale to Bryce, the Park Service’s detour by Highway 20, north of Cedar City, is about 150 miles and 2.5 hours — 63 miles longer but only about 42 minutes slower. Everything else is on the tunnel page.
Construction, and the tunnel at night. UDOT’s fiber work closes the highway between Canyon Junction and the tunnel’s east end from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. on its construction nights: it set the first week of them for Monday 26 to Friday morning 30 October 2026, and its project page sets the second for Monday 2 to Friday morning 6 November. On those nights Zion Canyon and this side are the long way round from each other, so from a bed in Kanab or at the junction, be back through the tunnel before 9 p.m. By day its crews work inside the park Monday to Thursday, with traffic delays, into spring 2027. North of the junction, they are laying fiber along the shoulders of US-89 until December, and UDOT expects minimal effect on traffic there.
On to Capitol Reef and Moab
Bryce is the first stop on the scenic way to Moab: Utah 12 east past Bryce Canyon and over Boulder Mountain to Torrey, then Utah 24 through Capitol Reef. The Park Service puts Bryce to Capitol Reef at about three hours on Utah 12, and Moab is about 145 miles on from Capitol Reef’s visitor center. Arches and Canyonlands, near Moab, charge $30 a car each and no nonresident fee. The route, the Arches entry rules and the tours are on the Moab page.
Two parks, two gates
With the highway open, you pay Zion’s entrance fee at the East Entrance even if you are only driving through to Springdale. Zion and Bryce each charge $35 a car, and Zion’s pass lasts seven days. Keep it with you: you show it each time you come back in, and from an east-side base that is every day. Bryce takes no cash; Zion prefers a card and also takes cash.
Both parks are on the Park Service’s list of 11 that charge each non-US resident aged 16 and over $100 on top of the entrance fee, park by park, unless the car is admitted on an annual or America the Beautiful pass. Two non-US adults in one car pay $470 at the two gates; the $250 non-resident annual pass covers both parks for everyone in the car. For a US-resident car the two gates come to $70, so the $80 America the Beautiful pass pays only if a third park that charges is on the trip. Every case is on the entrance fee page.
Below are Zion Mountain Ranch, the Mount Carmel Junction and Kanab lists, and Booking.com’s list for Bryce Canyon City.
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