My husband and I will be flying into SLC and doing a one week loop. I am looking for decent motels in good areas (not sketchy). I can't see paying $300+ a night when we will be gone all day long. We are thinking 2 nights in Moab, 1 night in Monument Valley, 1 night in Page, 1 or 2 nights in Zion, and 1 or 2 nights in Bryce, maybe Capitol Reef, and then back to SLC. Do you have any recommendations for motels for those areas.

We like the Hyatt Place in Moab, Cradle Mountain Lodge in Springdale (near Zion), Best Western Plus right outside the gates to Bryce and Red Sands Hotel near Capital Reef.

We like the Cradle Cable Mountain Lodge in Springdale (near Zion), and Bryce Lodge, inside the park and steps to the rim at Bryce. Staying just outside the gates is ok too, but we like the convenience of one of us being up at dawn for sunrise or a early morning coffee whle the other sleeps, and the same convenience of stepping outside under the dark skies and stargazing.

At Zion there are many other hotels right in Springdale. Some prefer staying at Zion Lodge, inside the park. We prefer the access to town, being able to walk into the park from Cable Mtn Lodge & pick up the shuttle bus. No right or wrong answer, just preferences.

Oops, thanks for the correction, confused with Tasmania which has a Cradle Mountain Lodge, but still recommend Cable Mountain Lodge - we loved our stay there.

Thank you for these suggestions. We will be coming from Page AZ, going to Zion, then to Bryce, then back to SLC. Would Springdale or Kanab be more convenient for us as far as overall drive times. The map looks like Springdale is on the southwest side of the park? Are there two separate entrances to Zion? Which entrance would be closest if we are coming from Page. We have 3 days for Zion and Bryce combined. Would it be best to stay 1 night in Zion and then 2 in Bryce or vice versa.

Also here to vouch for Cable Mountain Lodge in Zion. You didn't mention when you're going so it's hard to recommend given hotel rates vary a lot based on season. We also stayed inside Bryce Canyon at the Lodge. We picked these 2 for their locations, and for us, it was worth paying extra for them.

Cable Mountain Lodge is just outside the main entrance to Zion; you walk inside the park in 5 minutes. If you stay at other hotels/motels in Springdale, some are almost a mile away or more; you will have to either walk or wait for the shuttle bus to get to the entrance, faster if you rent a bike/e-bike.

Bryce Lodge is a 5-min walk to the rim, which is super convenient if you want to watch sunrise or stargaze.

At Page we stayed at holiday inn express and suites. It has free breakfasts and a pool, which is nice when we visited in June (it was hot in the 90sF).

- For Bryce you’ve got to at least try for in park lodging. Basic but clean, comfortable, and right at the rim for sunrise and night time skies.

- For Springdale we’ve stayed several times at the Cliffrose a few doors down from Cable Mountain lodge right on the river and really liked it. It is now part of the Hilton Curio collection and rates seemed to have gone way up though.

- For Moab the last two times we stayed in a 3-bedroom condo (Robbers Roost – very nice) in town as we had six adults. Previous we’ve stayed at the two Best Westerns. Both comfortable, well located in center of town, decent breakfast, reasonable.

The rating of hotels can be checked on Booking . com but I would prefer housing from AirBnb because motels and hotels are a little overpriced there. Also all cnyons are diffrent but very similar so my experience was that I couldn't see any difference after third canyon.

If you are coming from Page the fastest route is through the East entrance. But the heart of the park is the narrow deep canyon along the Virgin River that passes right through Springdale. The portion of the park from the East Entrance before you head down the switchbacks to Springdale is worth at least a little bit of time to stop at the overlooks and see the checkerboard sandstone formations, and to take the short walk on the Canyon Overlook trail. There is a small parking lot right before you enter the tunnel for that trail.