Three Days in Zion: A Day-by-Day Plan That Actually Works
Three days is the sweet spot for a first visit to Zion. Enough to hit both headline hikes — Angels Landing and the Narrows — without cramming them into one leg-destroying scramble. Enough to ease in, hit the canyon hard, and still leave wanting more.
Here's the plan. Follow it loosely. The bones are right.
One thing to handle before you read another word: Seasonal lotteries open months ahead; there's also a day-before lottery you can try once you arrive. About $6 to apply. Everything below works with or without that permit — but it's better to know. The rest of the pre-trip admin lives in our 18 Zion tips.
if you want the Angels Landing chains, apply for the permit lottery on recreation.gov now.
Day 1: Arrive, settle, and let the canyon set in
Fly into Las Vegas (LAS) and point the car northeast. It's about 2.5 hours up I-15, then east on UT-9 through Hurricane and Rockville, and the cliffs swing into view roughly 20 minutes before you reach Springdale. That first look stops conversation in the car. Every time.
Springdale is your base — one walkable street of cafes and outfitters jammed against the park's south entrance. Check into your lodging, drop the bags, and don't try to hike anything big today. You've been traveling. Ease in instead.
Make your first stop the Zion Canyon Visitor Center. Grab the flash-flood forecast, the shuttle schedule, and a look at the trail-conditions board. This is your scouting run — you'll know exactly how tomorrow's logistics work. Buy your pass here too: $35 per vehicle for 7 days, or the $80 America the Beautiful annual pass if Bryce or the Grand Canyon are on your route — our Zion questions answered weighs up whether to add either park.
Then take an easy evening walk on the Pa'rus Trail. Paved, flat, 3.5 miles round trip from the visitor center along the Virgin River. It's the only trail in the park where bikes and dogs are allowed, and the cliffs go rust-orange at golden hour. No effort, big reward — and it loosens up legs that have been folded into a car seat for hours.
Use this evening to do one more practical thing: confirm tomorrow's shuttle start time and pin down where you'll catch it. The schedule shifts by season, and the first run can be as early as 6am. Knowing exactly when and where saves you a panicked dawn scramble.
Dinner at Oscar's Cafe in Springdale — green-chile burgers and generous plates on a patio under the cliffs. Budget $20 to $30 a person. Sleep early. Tomorrow's the big one.
Day 2: The marquee climb
Up before dawn. Seriously.
Catch the first Zion Canyon shuttle — around 6 to 7am in summer — to The Grotto. Private cars are banned on the scenic drive from March through November, so the free shuttle is your only way up the canyon, and the earliest runs are nearly empty. You want that. The trail and the heat both get worse as the morning goes on.
From The Grotto, start up the West Rim Trail toward Scout Lookout. It's 2 miles each way and about 1,000 feet of climbing — through the shaded slot of Refrigerator Canyon, then up Walter's Wiggles, the 21 tight switchbacks engineered into the rock. You'll reach Scout Lookout in a couple of hours with a massive view already in front of you.
Here's the fork.
If you won the permit, the final half-mile to Angels Landing clings to a knife-edge spine with chains bolted to the sandstone and 1,500-foot drops on either side. It's exhilarating and genuinely exposed — not for anyone uneasy with heights. Take your time, hold the chains, let faster hikers pass at the wide spots.
No permit? Turn around at Scout Lookout and call it a win. The view from here is enormous, you've done the hard, beautiful climbing, and you skip the most crowded, most exposed stretch entirely. That's not a consolation prize. It's a great hike on its own terms — plenty of seasoned hikers stop here by choice and never miss the chains.
Whichever way the fork goes, give yourself time at Scout Lookout. Sit down. Eat something. Watch the canyon swallows wheel off the cliff faces below you. The light shifts fast up here, and the spot rewards anyone who lingers instead of rushing back down.
Back down, refuel at the Red Rock Grill at Zion Lodge — the only sit-down food inside the canyon, so book ahead. Then, if your legs have anything left, loop the Lower Emerald Pool from the Lodge: an easy 1.2 miles past a seasonal waterfall curtain. A gentle cooldown. After that? You've earned the evening off.
Day 3: Into the river
Today you walk up a river.
The Narrows is the other bucket-list hike, and the bottom-up route needs no permit. But it does need prep, so start in Springdale. Rent neoprene socks, canyoneering boots, and a sturdy walking stick at Zion Outfitter or Zion Adventure Company — roughly $25 to $55 for the day. Add a dry pack for your phone.
Then the non-negotiable step: check the flash-flood potential rating that morning. The Narrows is a slot with no high ground — flash floods from distant storms have killed hikers here. If the rating reads "probable," don't go. If the river's running too high, the canyon closes anyway. Clear forecast? You're on.
Ride the shuttle to the Temple of Sinawava, the last stop, and go early to beat the river crowds. Walk the paved 1-mile Riverside Walk past hanging gardens until the pavement ends and the Virgin River becomes the trail.
Now wade. The walls climb a thousand feet and squeeze to 20 feet apart in places. Most day-hikers push up toward Wall Street, the most dramatic narrows about 3.5 miles in, then turn back — there's no shame in turning around earlier. The current is strong, the rocks are slick, and that stick is the best $10 you'll spend all trip. Go as far as it stays fun, then float back down with the canyon to yourself.
That's your three days.
Why this plan works
The pacing is the whole point. Day 1 is gentle on purpose — travel days are no time for a 1,500-foot climb. Day 2 hits the hardest, most exposed hike while your legs are fresh and the morning is cool. Day 3 ends in the water, which is forgiving on tired muscles and lets you turn around whenever you've had enough.
You also front-load the logistics — pass, forecast, shuttle timing — on Day 1, so the big days are just hiking. No fumbling.
Got a fourth day? Drive the east side through the Zion–Mt. Carmel Tunnel to the short Canyon Overlook Trail (1 mile round trip, no permit, sweeping view straight down the main canyon), or escape the crowds entirely at the quiet finger canyons of Kolob Canyons off I-15. But three days, paced like this, gives you the real Zion. The climb, the river, and the canyon that holds them both.
