12 Best Sights in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

By walking this extended 3-mile loop, you can get a clear sense of what makes this park so special; it takes a little more than two hours. The route passes fantastic formations and an open forest of pine and juniper on the amphitheater floor. Descend into the amphitheater from Sunrise Point on the Queen's Garden Trail and ascend via the Navajo Loop Trail; return to your starting point via the Rim Trail. Moderate.

This hike is the easiest way down into the amphitheater, with 450 feet of elevation change leading to a short tunnel, quirky hoodoos, and lots of like-minded hikers. It's the essential Bryce "sampler." Allow two hours total to hike the 1½-mile trail plus the ½-mile rim-side path and back. Easy.

A 1-mile section of this level trail connects Sunrise and Sunset points and is an ideal way to launch or wrap up your day. Take your time strolling. Evening is the best time for photos, as much of the rim looks out to the east over the amphitheater. Listen for songbirds, look for a silent swooping owl, and watch the sun’s last rays dance on the hoodoos. This section of the trail is wheelchair accessible, and pets on leashes are welcome. More ambitious walkers can enjoy the full trail, which extends 5½ miles between Bryce Point and Fairyland Point—this longer hike trail does have some elevation changes. Easy to moderate.

This 1-mile trail with a modest 200 feet of elevation gain lets you see the park from its highest points of more than 9,000 feet, alternating between spruce and fir forest and wide-open vistas out over Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument and beyond. You might see yellow-bellied marmots and dusky grouse, critters not typically found at lower elevations in the park. Allow about an hour. Easy.

Hike into whimsical Fairyland Canyon on this trail that gets more strenuous and less crowded as you progress along its 8 miles. It winds around hoodoos, across trickles of water, and finally arrives at a natural window in the rock at Tower Bridge, 1½ miles from Sunrise Point and 4 miles from Fairyland Point. The pink-and-white badlands and hoodoos surround you the whole way. Don't feel like you have to go the whole distance to make it worthwhile. But if you do, allow at least five hours round-trip with 1,900 feet of elevation change. Difficult.

This short hike (0.8 mile) has a little bit of everything you might be looking for in Bryce: the sound of rushing water, a small waterfall, a grotto, and hoodoos. The trailhead is on Highway 12, north and east of the main entrance, and it follows an irrigation ditch dug in the 1920s by Tropic farmers looking to divert water from the Sevier River for agriculture. Since the dig predates the park, the water right-of-way belongs to the farmers. This is an especially fun hike in winter, when the waterfall transforms into a display of dazzling icicles. 

One of Bryce's most popular and dramatic attractions is this steep descent via a series of switchbacks leading to Wall Street, a slightly claustrophobic hallway of rock only 20 feet wide in places, with walls 100 feet high. After a walk through The Silent City, the northern end of the trail brings Thor's Hammer into view. A well-marked intersection offers a shorter way back via the Two Bridges Trail or continuing on the Queens Garden Trail to Sunrise Point. For the short version allow at least an hour on this 1½-mile trail with 515 feet of elevation change. Moderate.

The reward of this steep trail is The Wall of Windows and The Three Wise Men formations. Start at Bryce, Sunrise, or Sunset Point and allow four to five hours to hike the 5½-mile trail or 7-mile double-loop. Horses use this trail spring–fall and have the right-of-way. Difficult.

One of the park's two true backpacker trails, this rigorous 9-mile path has overnight options at three campsites along the way. You'll journey past groves of twinkling aspen trees and the eponymous spring close to the campsite. Start at either Yovimpa or Rainbow Point and be prepared for 1,500 feet of elevation change. Campers need to check in at the visitor center ahead of time for backcountry permits. Difficult.

The sedimentary haberdashery sits 2 miles from the trailhead. Hard gray caps balance precariously atop narrow pedestals of softer, rust-color rock. Allow three to four hours to travel this somewhat strenuous but rewarding 4-mile round-trip trail, the first part of the longer Under-the-Rim Trail. Moderate.

This relatively short but steep, less-crowded hike on the Fairyland Loop Trail takes you to a natural bridge deep in the amphitheater. Walk through pink and white badlands with hoodoos all around on this 3-mile trip that takes two to three hours and incurs 760 feet of elevation change. Moderate.

Starting at Bryce Point, the trail travels 23 miles to Rainbow Point, passing through The Pink Cliffs, traversing Agua Canyon and Ponderosa Canyon, and taking you by several springs. Most of the hike is on the amphitheater floor, characterized by up-and-down terrain among stands of ponderosa pine; the elevation change totals about 1,500 feet. It's the park's longest trail, but four trailheads along the main park road allow you to connect to the Under-the-Rim Trail and cover its length as a series of day hikes. Allow at least two days to hike the route in its entirety, and although it's not a hoodoo-heavy hike, there's plenty to see to make it a more leisurely three-day affair. Difficult.