Utah is home to five national parks — the famous “Mighty 5” — plus additional National Park Service units. According to the National Park Service, Utah hosts 13 NPS units in total, from national monuments to historic trails.
The Mighty 5
- Arches (Moab): more than 2,000 natural stone arches, soaring pinnacles, rock fins, and balanced rocks in a red-rock landscape.
- Bryce Canyon (Bryce Canyon): the largest concentration of hoodoos — irregular rock columns — found anywhere on Earth, along a high plateau at the top of the Grand Staircase.
- Canyonlands (Moab): a wilderness of canyons, buttes, and spires carved by the Colorado River and Green River, divided into four districts with no roads joining them.
- Capitol Reef (Torrey): cliffs, canyons, domes, and bridges along the Waterpocket Fold, a nearly 100-mile geologic wrinkle in the earth.
- Zion (Springdale): massive sandstone cliffs of cream, pink, and red, narrow slot canyons, and the Virgin River corridor.
Planning a parks trip
- Most of the parks lie in southern Utah, within day-trip distance of one another but spread across hundreds of miles of desert driving.
- Check each park’s official site for current alerts and conditions before you go — access and services vary by season.
- Distances between gateway towns are long; plan fuel, water, and daylight carefully.
For transportation to and from the parks, Book by Destination lists private airport shuttle rides and transfers to Utah National Parks and nearby airports and towns. See also Planning Your Utah Vacation and Explore Utah: A Visitor’s Guide.
