campgrounds
 

Any advice for which campground is best at Bryce Canyon for tents?

Also - Mather Campground at Grand Canyon - any tips?

beej,

At Bryce, the South Campground is nearer to the Lodge and main part of the canyon. It's hilly, but there are enough places for tents.

The North Campground is more flat overall and further towards the entrance of the park. If I remember correctly, only the North has hookups for RVs (if you care about that).

Depending on when you are going, you will need to have reservations to get a spot. That, or arrive by 8am in the morning to snag an unreservable spot where somone has just left. If you are going off season - after mid-Sept, you shouldn't have trouble getting a spot.

Have fun

I just stayed at South campground in Bryce and really liked it better than North. It's more wooded and closer to the best viewing areas. You are on the west side of the road but it's a short walk over to the rim and there is a shuttle stop there too. I thought the spots in South were plenty level. I didn't notice any difference in the two campgrounds on that point.

South may be closer to the lodge (not much) but North is much closer to the really important things--showers and laundry!! They are located at the General Store just north of the lodge. North is closer to the rim than South but you don't have views from the campground.

It just depends on what your priorities are.

I was impressed with how much space there was between campsites unlike some national parks that pack you in.

Thank you so much for that information. I guess I'll have to see who has reservations. Views from the campground are nice - so are showers (lol)
Is South the same as "Sunset?"

PS - I logged on to the campgrounds and it says that Sunset (South) doesn't take reservations. Since I'm traveling up from the Grand Canyon, I'd better make reservations because I'll never get there by 8 am.

We camped at South (Sunset) the week before Memorial Day. We arrived at noon on a Monday and found the campground half full. I would imagine September and October would be similar.

There are no "views" from the campsites in either campground but we found the sites to be spacious and very pleasant which is not always the case in National Parks.

We also camped at Kodachrome Basin which is about 30 minutes from Bryce and found the campsites to be more scenic with more modern bathroom and shower facilities. It's also slightly lower in elevation so it's not as cool at night.

That's good information as North had no availability for the dates I wanted.

I just had a frustrating experience with Mather campground after I talked to a lovely woman who helped me pick out a nice, quiet campsite, but was having trouble with the computer and couldn't input my Senior Pass number. I was told to call back in 1/2 hour. When I did, the campsite was already booked.