The Two Temples of St. George: Which Is Which, and What You Can Visit
St. George has two Latter-day Saint temples — the 1877 original downtown and Red Cliffs out in Washington Fields. What each one is, where they are, and what the public can actually see.
Two Temples, Eleven Miles Apart
Search for temples in St. George and you will find results for two different buildings, which is a reasonable source of confusion for anyone planning a visit. The city genuinely has two.
The St. George Utah Temple is the white pioneer-era building downtown, dedicated in 1877. The Red Cliffs Utah Temple is a modern building in the Washington Fields area on the east side of town, dedicated in March 2024.
That pairing is rarer than it sounds. When Red Cliffs was dedicated, St. George became only the fourth city in the world — and the third in Utah — with two operating temples, alongside Provo, South Jordan, and Lima, Peru. For a city of this size that is genuinely unusual, and it is a direct consequence of how early this corner of the territory was settled and how fast it has grown since.
The Old One
The downtown temple is the reason the historic core looks the way it does. It was the first temple dedicated in Utah, and the first anywhere in more than thirty years, following a decades-long gap after Nauvoo. It has been in continuous operation longer than any other, which makes it the oldest working temple in the church.
It closed in late 2019 for a structural and mechanical overhaul — one of more than ten renovations in its history, an earlier of which replaced the cupola after a lightning strike in 1883 — and was rededicated in December 2023. It was the first of the pioneer-era temples finished under the restoration program begun that same year.
The New One
Red Cliffs was announced in October 2018 for Washington County, and originally carried that name before being renamed in June 2020. It was placed on the growing east side of the valley rather than in the historic center, and that siting is the practical reason it exists at all: the population out there had long since outrun a single downtown building.
The two were dedicated 147 years apart, which means a single city holds buildings spanning almost the entire history of temple construction in the state.
What You Can Actually Visit
This is the part that matters for planning, and it is the same at both buildings: the interiors are reserved for members of the church, and the grounds are open to everyone.
In practice that means the landscaped grounds, the exteriors, and the photography that most visitors come for are all available without restriction, at either temple, at no cost. What is not available is going inside.
The exception is the visitors' center near the downtown temple, which is free, open to the general public, and does not require any affiliation. If you want to go indoors and understand what you are looking at, that is where to do it — and it is a few minutes' walk from the Tabernacle, which is itself a public building anyone may enter.
Which One to Visit
If you have time for one, make it the downtown temple. It is the historic building, it is walkable from historic downtown and the rest of the pioneer-era sites, the visitors' center is there, and it is the one the city was built around.
Red Cliffs suits a different visit — it is modern, it sits in open country with the Pine Valley Mountains behind it, and the drive out through Washington Fields shows you the part of the valley that has done most of the growing. Photographers tend to prefer it in the evening for that reason.
Both are at their best in December, when the grounds are lit for Christmas and the downtown temple in particular draws people who have no connection to the church at all.
Frequently asked questions
How many temples are there in St. George?
Two, and they could hardly be less alike: a pioneer-era landmark in the historic core and a modern building out on the eastern edge of the valley, separated by about eleven miles and a century and a half. Very few cities anywhere have a second one at all, which is why the search results confuse people.
Can the public go inside?
Not the temples themselves — those interiors are reserved for members. Everything outdoors at both sites is open to anyone at no cost, which covers what most visitors and photographers come for. If you want to get indoors and understand the buildings, the visitors' center downtown is the place, and it asks nothing of you.
What is the difference between the temple and the tabernacle?
They are different buildings a few streets apart downtown, and they work differently: the tabernacle is a public meeting hall anyone may enter, while a temple is not open to the public. Visitors mix them up constantly, so if your plan involves going inside a historic pioneer building, the tabernacle is the one you want.
Which temple is older?
The downtown one, by 147 years. It was the first temple dedicated in Utah and the first anywhere in over three decades, and it has operated continuously longer than any other in the church. Red Cliffs followed in 2024, so the pair spans almost the whole history of temple building in the state.
Where exactly is the Red Cliffs Utah Temple?
On a fourteen-acre site in the Washington Fields area, east of the historic center and about eleven miles from the downtown temple. Navigate to it by name — it is well outside the old part of town, in country that was farmland within living memory.
Is it worth visiting if I am not a member of the church?
Yes, on the same basis as any significant piece of civic architecture. The downtown temple is the landmark the historic core is organized around and is free to walk up to, the visitors' center explains the building to anyone who wants the context, and the December lighting draws a substantially non-member crowd every year.