Scenic Drives Near St. George, Utah
Scenic drives around St. George: the short paved routes minutes from downtown, the half-day trips into Zion and the high country, and the unpaved byways worth the clearance.
Some of the best scenery here is a fifteen-minute drive from the middle of town, and some of it is a full day out. This guide covers both — the short paved routes any car can manage, and the day trips worth planning around.
Short routes, close to town
Snow Canyon Drive is the quickest payoff in the region. The road through Snow Canyon State Park winds past red and white Navajo sandstone, black lava flows and petrified dunes, with trailheads and pull-offs the whole way. Fifteen minutes from downtown, and it delivers scenery most places would build a national park around. Drive it in half an hour or stop constantly and spend a morning — see the Snow Canyon guide. Best early or late, when low sun rakes across the rock.
The Red Hills Parkway runs along the bench above St. George, with overlooks across the city toward the cliffs. It is the classic view of the town and it takes minutes. This is also the easiest sunset in the city — see sunset spots — and it connects to Pioneer Park if you want to get out and scramble.
West toward Ivins and Santa Clara, a short loop past Santa Clara's historic core and into Ivins at the base of Red Mountain, takes in the most dramatic close-in scenery in the metro. It also passes Kayenta, whose low, earth-toned architecture is built under dark-sky covenants to disappear into the landscape — worth driving through slowly.
South and around the river, the roads through the Tonaquint area and along the Santa Clara and Virgin rivers show a completely different St. George: green bottomland, cottonwoods and water, in a city otherwise defined by rock.
Day trips
Kolob Canyons is a five-mile paved road into red finger canyons at Zion's northwestern corner, with its own entrance off I-15 and a small fraction of the main park's traffic. Late afternoon light is the reason to time it.
Kolob Terrace Road climbs from Virgin onto the high plateau, passing from desert to forest with a genuine change of climate. Seasonal at the top — snow closes the upper section.
Highway 18 runs north out of the heat and keeps climbing until the vegetation changes entirely, ending at the Pine Valley Recreation Area. It is the best hour-long escape the region has in July, and the place the fall color shows up first.
The Veyo, Gunlock and Dammeron loop passes volcanic country, Gunlock State Park and rural valleys most visitors never see.
Cedar Breaks and the high plateau, an hour and a half north, is a high-elevation amphitheater of red rock near 10,000 feet — far cooler than St. George and superb in summer. Seasonal access.
The unpaved byways
Smithsonian Butte Backway runs between Rockville and Highway 59: short, rough and spectacular, with views over Zion and down to Grafton. High clearance recommended.
The Joshua Tree Backway heads southwest into the Beaver Dam Wash country and the northernmost Joshua trees in the world — a landscape completely unlike the red rock people come for, and one of the more surprising drives in the region.
Routes toward Toquerville Falls, Yant Flat and the remoter mesas are unpaved, rough, and change condition after rain. They are genuinely rewarding and genuinely unsuitable for a low-clearance car. Do not set out on the strength of a line on a map: check conditions locally, carry water and a full tank, tell someone your route, and be honest about your vehicle. Recovery out here is slow and expensive.
Practical
- The close-in routes need no planning. They are paved, short and open all year, which is the point of them.
- Early morning and the hour before sunset are worth building around. Midday flattens red rock badly.
- Winter is excellent for the short drives — low sun all day and comfortable temperatures for stopping.
- Fuel before a day trip. Stretches of this country are genuinely empty.
- Elevation changes everything. Take something warm on any drive that climbs, whatever the forecast says down here — the top of these roads can be thirty degrees off the bottom.
- Check seasonal closures on anything high before setting out.
- Watch late-summer storms, which make dirt roads impassable and flood washes fast. See desert hiking safety.
- Get out of the car at least once. Every route here has a viewpoint or a short walk better than the windshield version.
Frequently asked questions
What's the best short scenic drive from St. George?
Snow Canyon Drive, fifteen minutes northwest of town, gives you red-and-white sandstone, lava flows, and petrified dunes with trailheads all along it — big scenery in under an hour round trip. Kolob Canyons Road off I-15 is the next step up: just over five miles into Zion's quiet finger-canyon country.
Do I need a high-clearance vehicle for these drives?
Not for the paved ones — Snow Canyon Drive, Kolob Canyons Road, and Kolob Terrace Road are all paved (though Kolob Terrace's upper section closes in winter). The Smithsonian Butte and Joshua Tree backways are dirt and best driven with some clearance in dry weather; avoid them when wet.
Which scenic drives stay cool in summer?
The ones that gain elevation. Kolob Terrace Road and Highway 18 to Pine Valley both climb thousands of feet into forest, and Cedar Breaks sits near 10,000 feet. All of them can close at the top in winter.
How long do the scenic drives around St. George take?
The close-in routes are anything from twenty minutes to a morning depending on how often you stop. The day trips — Kolob, Pine Valley, Cedar Breaks — want half a day or more once you add stops and the return.
Is there a scenic drive with no crowds?
Kolob Canyons has its own entrance off the freeway and sees a fraction of the traffic the main Zion canyon does. For something emptier still, the back roads northwest through Veyo and Dammeron run past ranch valleys almost nobody stops in.
When is the light best for driving red rock country?
Shortly after sunrise and in the last hour of daylight, when the sun is low enough to rake across the rock and pick out its texture. Midday washes the color out, which is why photographs taken then disappoint.
Can you see Joshua trees near St. George?
Yes — the Joshua Tree Backway southwest of town runs through the northernmost Joshua trees anywhere, in Beaver Dam Wash country that looks nothing like the red rock most visitors come for.