Bryce Canyon National Park Self-Guided Driving Audio Tour

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. Embark on this epic adventure through Bryce Canyon National Park just before the Visitor Center. As we begin the drive, we'll learn about how the canyon got its namesake and about the original Paitue people who called this land home. Note: The tour is over 60 miles long, with more than 30 audio stories, and takes about 1-2 hours to complete. New, Lifetime access, no expiry. Use it anytime, on any trip, as many times as you want.

   10 min

2. Named after the Mormon Pioneer Ebenezer Bryce, Bryce Canyon became a National Park in 1924. Bryce is famous for its unique geology, which consists of a series of horseshoe-shaped amphitheaters carved from the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau in southern Utah. Named after the Mormon Pioneer Ebenezer Bryce, Bryce Canyon became a National Park in 1924. Bryce is famous for its unique geology, which consists of a series of horseshoe-shaped amphitheaters carved from the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau in southern Utah. The erosional force has shaped the colorful limestone rock of the Claron Formation into bizarre shapes, including slot canyons, windows, fins, and spires called hoodoos.

   Passes by

3. Our first detour is at the breathtaking Fairyland Point. This overlook offers a great sneak peek at everything Bryce Canyon contains: sweeping vistas, sheer cliffs, and, of course, the world-famous hoodoos!

   5 min

4. Our next stop is one of the most famous in the entire park: Sunrise Point. From this vantage point, we'll see unique, picturesque rock formations spread out in front of us and a plethora of natural trails leading into the vast, alient landscape.

   5 min

5. Our self-guided driving tour continues around the famous Bryce Amphitheatre! The canyon curves around in the shape of a giant semicircle and dips far below our feet.

   5 min

6. Our drive brings us to another striking vista point overlooking the Bryce Amphitheatre: Sunset Point. Here, as we gaze out over the implausible shapes below us, we'll learn about the science behind their formations and understand what, exactly, makes a hoodoo. We'll explore the impact of geology and erosion over a monumental time scale, hoping to understand how such a incredible landscape came into existence.

   5 min

7. We continue our self-guided tour deeper into Bryce Canyon, towards Inspiration Point. As we drive, we learn about the Paiute people and their mythologies. They had their own explanation for the uniqueness of this landscape and the origins of Bryce's famous hoodoos.

   5 min

8. This brings us to Bryce Point, which offers one of the most scenic vistas of the full amphitheater. Bryce Point is also famous for its extraordinary sunrises. From here you can watch the tops of hoodoos set alight as if by fire from the first rays of the rising sun. Like fire, the orange light quickly spreads driving shadows from all but the deepest recesses of the amphitheater. As we drive here, we'll learn about the Mormon settlers who followed the Paitue and tried to eke out a living in this unforgiving climate.

   10 min

9. Our self-guided tour continues to Paria View, where we see the effects of a centuries-old glacier. As the earth warmed about 12,000 years ago, the last ice age came to an end. As the enormous glaciers which covered the American continent melted, all that new water had to go somewhere. Answer: down the canyon!

   5 min

10. Now our drive takes us into the lesser-trafficked part of the park. As we drive to Swamp Canyon Overlook, we'll learn about a famous local: Butch Cassidy! We'll learn all about Butch, Sundance, and the difference between fact and fiction as we continue the self-guided tour.

    10 min

11. Our next stop is at Farview Point. It’s not just the elevation that allows for such incredible views here -- the land here also offers something becoming increasingly rare in today’s world. Can you guess what it is? Clean air! That's helped along by the abundance of bristlecone pines here, which are the Earth's oldest trees.

    5 min

12. The self-guided tour passes by Natural Bridge next, which features unusual arches and formations -- in case we weren't already amazed by the hoodoos of the amphitheatre!

    10 min

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 89 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in Bryce Canyon National Park

• Its from-price is 90% below the median of the 39 experiences we list in Bryce Canyon National Park.
• It is shorter than most of them.
• By number of reviews it ranks 4 of 39.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah is a high plateau edge carved into thousands of red-orange rock spires called hoodoos.

Bryce Canyon is not a single canyon but a series of natural amphitheatres cut into the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau in southern Utah, at an altitude of 2,400 to 2,800 metres. Frost and snowmelt have eaten the pink, orange and cream limestone into thousands of hoodoos, slender spires and fins, which glow at sunrise and sunset. The Bryce Amphitheater, seen from Sunrise, Sunset, Inspiration and Bryce Points, is the heart of the park.

Top-ranked sights in Bryce Canyon National Park: Inspiration Point, Sunrise Point, Rainbow Point.

See all 39 experiences in Bryce Canyon National Park