Any recommendation for two adults for one day tour from Las Vegas to Zion and Bryce canyon national park

Question

I would like to travel to Zion Park and Bryce Canyon, for a whole day from Las Vegas and return on the late evening to Vegas.

I would like to get out from the hotel in the early morning and return on the same day. I found that organized tours are very expensive and I won't have a car, can I do it with public transportation? Zion Park as a shuttle so I guess it is possible to make it with out a car, but Bryce Canyon doesn't have a shuttle in it. the tour from agency is about 150$ per each adult but I think I can do it by myself with public transportation for less money, ain't I?

Answer 1

As I mentioned in my comment you have too much faith in US public transportation system. Outside the major cities you should rely on a car to get you around.

To get to Zion Park you can get a shuttle from Springdale the only problem is the closest you can get to Springdale without a car is by bus from Las Vegas is St. George, from which there doesn't appear to be any service to Springdale.

On top of this the ride from LV to St. George is about 3 hours so adding at least another hour or an hour and a half to get to Springdale and from there to the park you will lose half your daylight to travelling.

My advice: rent a car for a day. You will pay $40-$50 + gas and will be free to do whatever you like rather then being tied down by the schedules of the bus.

Answer 2

I can't comment on Bryce as I've never been there, but I have done the trip from Las Vegas to Zion a few times.

Public transport/etc to get there is basically non-existant. It's possibly you might be able to pick up a "tour" from Vegas, but this will only end up costing more and taking longer - especially with two of you. Rental cars are generally cheap in Vegas (cheapest I've paid is

Personally I wouldn't recommend trying to do Zion in a single day. It's at least a 3 hour drive one-way to even get to the entrance of the park. Within the park (for most of the year, including the next 6+ months) there are (basically) no cars allowed, so you have to use the shuttle buses to get around. A single loop of the shuttle, without getting off at any of the stops, takes around 90 minutes.

So allowing some time to get into and out of the park, return driving, and a single shuttle loop you've already taken up over 8 hours! If that's all you intend to do then it's certainly possibly to do it in one day, but IMHO that would defeat the entire reason for going to Zion - the see the park, especially via some of its brilliant hikes.

Spending a night, either in Springdale (located within walking/shuttle distance from the park itself) or one of the nearby towns (eg, Hurricane, St George) will give you much more time to enjoy the park, and make the entire trip far more relaxing. Personally I've always stayed in Hurricane - about 20 miles away from the park, but with cheaper and easier to book accommodation than Springdale.

Zion is an amazing place - trying to do it as a day trip just isn't going to do it justice!