Salt Lake City To Arches National Park Road Trip Itinerary

Recently, a friend of mine came out to visit me in my campervan for a week of exploring the Utah Might 5 National Parks. We wanted to visit all 5 of the Utah parks in a little over one week, so planning the perfect itinerary was necessary to make the most out of our time. The first leg of our trip was from Salt Lake City to Arches National Park.

If you want to see all of the Utah parks, I recommend this itinerary. It’s a one way route to save you time without requiring you to double back. You can do this route in the direction we went (Salt Lake City to Arches National Park, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce and Zion before ending at Las Vegas) – or you can do it in reverse and head the opposite direction which takes you from Zion to Arches.

In this article I’ll cover:

• The best route from Salt Lake City to Arches National Park
• Stops along the way
• Itinerary for Arches National Park
• Where to stay

Closest Airport To Arches National Park

The closest airport to Arches National Park is Canyonlands Field Airport (CNY), followed by Grand Junction Airport (GJT) then Salt Lake City (SLC). Typically Salt Lake City is the best airport for Arches National Park, even though it’s a little farther away, because it has more flight options and the prices are better.

Canyonlands Field Airport – 11 miles from Arches
Grand Junction Airport – 109 miles from Arches
Salt Lake City Airport – 230 miles from Arches

In my experience, it’s far cheaper to fly into Salt Lake City airport and drive to Arches. Plus, it can actually be faster because there are limited flight options into CNY and GJT airports which will cause longer travel times and layovers.

Additionally, if you’re renting a car you’ll have more options and cheaper prices if you pick up from Salt Lake City.

Compare flight prices here.

Compare rental car deals here.

Or you could consider renting a campervan for your trip! This is my favorite way to travel because you don’t have to pay for a hotel and it gives you a ton of flexibility to go at your own pace or tweak your itinerary.

Best Route From Salt Lake City To Arches National Park

The distance from Salt Lake City to Arches National Park is about 230 miles, and takes 3 and a half hours to drive.

It’s a fairly direct route on major highways, and an easy drive. You’ll take I-15 to Provo, then pick up US-6 for a majority of the drive before turning onto I-70 near Arches National Park. Follow signs for Moab.

Antelope Island

Before you leave Salt Lake City, I recommend stopping by Antelope Island. It’s a state park, just outside of Salt Lake City, where you can see buffalo, big horn sheep and antelope.

The park entrance fee is $10. You can get more information from their official website.
Or, you can take a private 5-hour guided tour for $145.

There are a few great hiking trails in the park, like Lady Finger Trail (half a mile, easy trail) or Lakeside Loop (5 miles, easy trail) which takes you along Great Salt Lake with many opportunities to spot bison grazing.

Homestead Crater Mineral Dome

A second great stop on your road trip from Salt Lake City to Arches National Park is Homestead Crater Mineral Dome.

This is a slight detour from your route and is located near Park City. It’s a geothermal hot spring you can swim, snorkel or scuba dive in! The most unique part is that the swimming hole is located in a beehive shaped dome of limestone.

Rates start at $15 per adult, you can find more information on their official website.

Arches National Park Itinerary

It’s a smaller park, but there are tons of things to do in Arches National Park. In fact, there are over 2,000 arches in the park which makes it the densest concentration of arches on the planet!

Check out my complete Arches National Park Itinerary & Travel Guide here.

Unfortunately, Arches can get quite crowded. The summer season is the worst for crowds, and as a result Arches has vehicle timed-entry requirements from April through October. This means you need an advanced reservation if you’ll be entering the park between 7am and 4pm. Personally, I think Arches is one of the best National Parks to visit in the winter, primarily because it has fewer crowds and the weather is perfect.

On my road trip from Salt Lake City to Arches National Park, we left SLC late in the afternoon and camped near Arches the night before which allowed us to enter the park before sunrise the next day. This is ideal if you’re only planning for one day in Arches National Park because it makes the most out of your time.

Get An Early Start And Watch The Sunrise At Delicate Arch

If you’re entering the park before 7am, like we did, then you won’t need a timed-entry reservation – you can simply drive right in!

We headed straight for Delicate Arch to watch the sunrise in Arches. I highly recommend this because it gets crowded later in the day and parking becomes really difficult at the trailhead.

The hike to Delicate Arch is just over 3 miles and takes about 45 minutes to get to the arch. I recommend starting your hike an hour before sunrise so you’re able to get a good spot and arrive early enough to see the sky changing colors before the sun pops over the horizon.

Explore Devils Garden

Next, head farther into the park. Devils Garden is as far as you can get on the main road and there’s a lot of things to do here.

I like this itinerary for Arches because it goes in the opposite flow of the crowds, who typically start at the beginning of the park and work their way in. Instead, you’ll start at the end of the park and work your way back to the entrance.

Hikes near Devils Garden include the complete Devils Garden Loop (8 miles, hard hike). Or you can complete sections of the loop for shorter hikes, like Landscape Arch Trail (2 miles, easy trail) or extend it a bit to do the Double O Arch trail (4 miles, moderate hike).

Aside from the visitors center, Devils Garden is the only area in the park with drinking water. I recommend refilling your water bottles while you’re here.

If you’re visiting Arches National Park with your dog there are very few places they’re allowed to be, but Devils Garden is a good place to walk them as long as it’s in the parking lot or picnic area and not on the trails.

Balanced Rock

On your way from Devils Garden to Balanced Rock be sure to pull off at Fiery Furnace overlook to check out some deep red rock formations. This is a really unique section of the park and worth a short stop!

Balanced Rock is a great spot to stop on your way to the Windows section. There’s a short path (0.3 miles) around the rock formation so you can see it from all angles. The path is flat and paved so it’s very accessible and easy to walk.

There’s also a picnic area here which is perfect for lunch. If it’s getting too late in the afternoon, I recommend skipping lunch here and heading straight over to the Windows – the parking lot is fairly small and it can be tricky to find parking later in the day.

The Windows Section

There are two trailheads that start from the Windows section parking area. The first is Windows Loop and Turret Arch – this is one of the most popular spots in Arches, and it’s an easy 1.2 mile hike with multiple arches to see.

On the opposite side of the parking area is Double Arch trail. This is my favorite arch in the entire park. It’s massive and so hard to comprehend unless you see it in person! The trail is mostly flat, really well maintained and just half a mile.

Park Avenue Viewpoint

By now you’ve covered the highlights in Arches National Park, so it’s time to head back towards the entrance. Be sure to stop at Park Avenue Viewpoint on your way!

The viewpoint itself is beautiful (especially at sunset), and if you’re up for a hike there’s 2 mile trail that’ll take you down through the courthouse towers for some up-close views.

Arches Visitor Center

I always recommend checking out the National Park visitor centers. They’re a great resource, and you can usually find a ranger on duty who can give you information on the best hikes for your abilities and interest, as well as trail postings or closures because of wildlife activity.

Arches Visitor Center also has a nature trail behind it, which is a short and easy trail with information posted that gives details about the wildlife in the park and the ecosystems.

From the visitors center, Moab is only a 5 mile drive and is a great place for dinner, shopping and has great places to stay near Arches National Park.

If you have extra time in the area, I highly recommend spending time in Canyonlands National Park, which is a few miles south of Arches.

Best Hikes In Arches National Park

These are the best hikes in Arches National Park. I’ve ranked them from my favorite to my least favorite so you can prioritize which ones to do based on the amount of time you have to explore the park.

If you’re visiting Arches in winter I recommend bringing traction devices for your shoes. A lot of the trails are over flat rock, which can become quite slippery in snowy conditions.

Arches National Park Map

Use this Salt Lake City to Arches National Park itinerary map to plan your trip! I’ve labeled the markers with icons to note what type of activity they are, and they’re listed in order of the recommended itinerary.

Tip: Open this map in your browser, then click the star icon on the left-side bar. This saves the map to your google maps app on your phone so you can easily reference it during your trip. Locate this map in Google Maps by selecting ‘you’ at the bottom of the app and then scroll down and click ‘maps’ to find your saved trip maps