Things to Do in Utah With Kids (Mighty 5 Road Trip)

With a staggering five US national parks, Utah is the perfect place for a road trip with kids! Each of the national parks in Utah has its own charm and character, so it may be hard to decide. We visited each of the Mighty 5 national parks on our 3-week road trip in Utah with kids. This post will share our favorite things to do in Utah with kids, in hopes that it will help you plan the very best family road trip to Utah possible.

With so many of the best national parks for families in the US, we loved our road trip in Utah with kids. Having 3 weeks allowed us to see every one of the Mighty 5, along with several other amazing Utah state parks. We recognize that most families will not have 3 weeks for a family trip to Utah, so we will help you narrow down the best places to visit in Utah for your family.

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Best Things to Do in Utah With Kids (Trip Highlights)

We were worried that after a while the 5 Utah national parks would all start to look the same. We are happy to say that didn’t happen. Each of the Mighty 5 national parks is amazing in it’s own right. We found each of the parks different enough that we were still excited to explore and hike each day.

Here are our favorite things to do in Utah with kids:

1. Hiking Fairyland Loop in Bryce Canyon National Park

The Fairyland Loop hike in Bryce Canyon is a truly amazing family hike. At each turn, there’s an incredible view to be had. We highly recommend this hike to anyone physically able to do it!

2. Goblin Valley State Park

A stop at Goblin Valley State Park will probably be the most fun time your kids have in Utah. On a whim we added it to our itinerary after many other families recommended it to us. We think the kids would agree this was the most fun state park to visit in Utah with kids.

3. Hiking Angels Landing in Zion (without kids)

I couldn’t visit Zion National Park without hiking Angels Landing. Thankfully Zion has plenty of short easy hikes Dan was able to take the kids on while I accomplished this goal.

4. The Frying Pan to Cassidy Arch Trail in Capitol Reef National Park

The Frying Pan Trail to Cassidy Arch to the Grand Wash trail was the best hike we did in Capitol Reef National Park. We were so proud of our kids for completing this 13.2 km / 8.2 mile hike – their longest hike ever!

5. Slickrock Foot Hike in Canyonlands National Park

Every once in a while we come upon a hike that our kids absolutely love. They’ll run through the hike from one thing to the next excited the entire way. Hiking the Slickrock Foot Trail in Canyonlands National Park was one of these hikes.

6. Camping in Utah with Kids

We had spent a lot of time camping prior to kids, but never got back to doing it once we had our kids. We spent a large portion of our time in Utah camping with kids.

Between camping by the river in Zion National Park with incredible views and the fun campground staff in Moab, it was a camping trip we all loved!

The Mighty 5 Utah National Parks with Kids

Bryce Canyon National Park with Kids

We arrived in Bryce Canyon National Park in the afternoon, which left just enough time to complete the Queen’s Garden hike. We spent our remaining time in Bryce Canyon with kids visiting the various viewpoints, hiking the Fairyland Loop and the Mossy Cave. We also dedicated three days for hiking in the nearby areas of Red Canyon and Kodachrome Basin State Park.

While Bryce Canyon has some of the most impressive views, the other hiking areas definitely held their own. The Angel’s Palace and Panorama trail in Kodachrome Basin State Park were super fun for the kids. In the Red Canyon area, we highly recommend the Golden Wall Trail.

Where to Stay in Bryce Canyon NP: We stayed just minutes outside the park’s gate at the Best Western Plus Ruby Inn. This rustic hotel is good value for the money, considering its amazing location. The Ruby Inn offers great amenities for the kids: an indoor swimming pool, hot tub and a very well stocked gift shop with groceries.

Zion National Park with Kids

Zion National Park has many short easy hikes that are fun for kids. While we weren’t able to hike the famous Narrows hike, we still made sure to hike the Riverside Walk. This hike was short enough that we were able to also hike the Lower Emerald Pool Trail in the afternoon.

Hiking the Watchman Trail with kids was more of a challenge, but the views from the top more than made up for the effort. We also loved spotting California condors overhead

Though Angels Landing wasn’t a possibility for our kids, one of us had to hike Angels Landing while in Zion National Park. Thankfully Dan was able to keep the kids busy hiking the Weeping Rock Trail, the Grotto Trail and finishing up on the Pa’rus Trail.

We also did an easy hike called Northgate Peaks in the Kolob Terrace area of Zion. This was our way of escaping the crowds on a day we knew would be extra busy in Zion National Park.

Where to Stay in Zion National Park: We camped at the Zion Canyon Campground and RV Resort near Springdale Shuttle Stop 3.

Arches National Park with Kids

After Zion, we drove to Moab where we set up our campsite in preparation for a few days of exploring Arches National Park with kids.

We spent our first two days seeking out as many arches we could find. We hiked to Delicate Arch with kids and although it was mostly easy, we had to take some extra precautions near the end of the trail. The path is narrow and clings to the side of the rockface. We made sure to hold hands with the kids and keep them on the inside edge the whole time.

On our second day, we hiked the Devil’s Garden Loop (as much of it that we could safely hike with two small children). We finished each of the days with a series of easy hikes in Arches National Park that included Double Arch, Sand Dunes Arch and Park Avenue trail.

Where to Stay in Arches National Park: We stayed at the Moab Rim RV Campark, which is located just outside of town but only a few minutes’ drive from town center.

Canyonlands National Park with Kids

While still in Moab, we dedicated a couple of days to hiking in Canyonlands National Park with kids. The Slickrock Foot Trail in the Needles area of Canyonlands was one of our favorite hikes.

We also loved our day hiking in the Island in the Sky area of Canyonlands National Park. We were able to do three family-friendly hikes in Canyonlands in one day, although we did end up carrying both kids on our final hike. They were getting tired and there was an impending storm we wanted to avoid.

Where to Stay in Canyonlands National Park: We were still at the Moab Rim RV Campark while we visited Canyonlands National Park.

Capitol Reef National Park with Kids

Our final stop in Utah was hiking in Capitol Reef National Park with kids. The highlight for us, besides the delicious pies from the Gifford Homestead, was hiking the Frying Pan to Cassidy Arch Trail. We encountered some of the most incredible views in Utah along this hike.

Also included in our time in Capitol Reef National Park was hiking the Hickman Bridge Trail, hiking the Chimney Rock Loop Trail, and the one the kids probably liked best, hiking the Capitol Gorge Trail.

Where to Stay in Capitol Reef National Park: After 10 days of camping were so happy to finally kick back and relax in a charming vacation rental in Teasdale, not far from the Capitol Reef National Park.

3 Week Road Trip Itinerary for Utah with Kids

Here is the exact itinerary we followed on our 3-week road trip in Utah with kids. Please use it as a starting point, which can be customized for your own family trip to Utah:

5 Days in Bryce Canyon National Park with Kids

• Day 1: Hike Queen’s Garden Trail.
• Day 2: Red Canyon hikes: Bird’s Eye Trail, Pink Ledges Trail & Golden Wall Trail.
• Day 3: Mossy Cave hike & Angels Palace hike in Kodachrome Basin State Park.
• Day 4: Hike Fairyland Loop.
• Day 5: Panorama Trail in Kodachrome Basin.

5 Days in Zion National Park with Kids

• Day 1: 1.5 hour drive from Bryce to Zion National Park and setting up camp.
• Day 2: Northgate Peaks trail in Kolob Canyon.
• Day 3: Riverside Walk and Lower Emerald Pools hikes.
• Day 4: Hike Watchman Trail & Zion Human History Museum.
• Day 5: Hike Weeping Rock, Grotto Trail & Pa’rus Trail.

5 Days in Moab (Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park)

• Day 1: 5 hour drive from Zion National Park to Moab and setting up camp.
• Day 2: Arches National Park – Hikes to Delicate Arch, Double Arch and Windows Trail.
• Day 3: Arches National Park – Devil’s Garden Trail, Sand Dunes Arch, and Park Avenue Trail.
• Day 4: Canyonlands National Park – Slickrock Foot Trail in the Needles.
• Day 5: Canyonlands National Park – Hiked Mesa Arch Trail, Grand View Point Trail, and Upheaval Dome.

4 Days in Capitol Reef National Park with Kids

• Day 1: 1.5 hour drive to Goblin Valley State Park then another 1 hour drive to Capitol Reef National Park.
• Day 2: Gifford Homestead for homemade pie then hiked to Hickman Bridge and the Chimney Rock Loop.
• Day 3: Easy family hike at Capitol Gorge.
• Day 4: Hiked Frying Pan to Cassidy Arch to Grand Wash Trail.

While 5 days in each of the national parks in Utah might seem like a lot, there was one day allotted to travel each time we changed parks. This left us with closer to 4 days in Bryce, Zion and Moab and only 3 days in Capitol Reef.

We also had to spend a couple of days on each end driving down from Canada.

We encourage you to read our detailed family guides for each of the Mighty 5 National Parks in Utah, which include the family-friendly hikes we did throughout the parks.

Hiking in Utah with Kids

Our kids are no strangers to hiking, given that we hike at home in Banff, Canada. We also incorporate outdoor activities like hiking, biking or kayaking into every family trip regardless of where we are around the world.

Our tips for hiking with kids are what we use, especially when we plan a trip with as much hiking as our trip to Utah had.

We should also mention that our kids were 3 and 5 at the time of our family trip to Utah, so we had to take into consideration how much hiking we did with them and consciously taking time each day to let them have time to just play.

Junior Ranger Program at Utah’s National Parks

At each of the Utah National Parks, we always stopped in at the Visitor Center first. This gave us an opportunity to grab a map, learn about the trails but more importantly get the Junior Ranger Booklets for the kids.

Our kids loved completing all the exercises in their Junior Ranger books, but they loved saying their Junior Ranger Oath with a Park Ranger and getting their Junior Ranger badges even more!

We highly recommend taking the time to do with your kids when visiting any US National Park. It’s educational and fun for kids.

What to Bring for a Utah Road Trip with Kids

We know that we are minimalists when it comes to packing both on our trips and for our daily outings, but here’s our must-haves for visiting the Utah National Parks:

The days can get quite hot, so we recommend staying well protected from the sun. Hats, sunscreen, sunglasses and plenty of water are a must for visiting these 5 Utah parks with kids.

Our Utah road trip with kids was in April, so layers were key for us. While we were wearing jackets, hats and mitts in Bryce Canyon, we had to switch to shorts and t-shirts for Zion and Arches. It was easiest to bring packable down jackets that didn’t take a lot of space, especially since we only used them for Bryce Canyon.

We also packed fleece jackets for days that started out cool.

We knew we’d be spending the majority of our time hiking, so we had proper hiking boots for us and for the kids.

The other must-haves for us were backpacks for carrying everything we needed for the day, complete with hydration packs for the adults and kids.

We also packed two toddler carriers with us. These were so useful if we wanted to do an extra long hike or if one of our kids needed a small break from hiking.

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