National parks in the US are very popular. There’s no doubt about that. Some have become more popular than others have. Indeed, these more popular parks started instituting timed entry permits (or a reservation system) to control the crowd at the gates. Since we know that Bryce Canyon is a popular park, it’s only natural to ask if this national park requires such a reservation for entry. So, that’s what we’re talking about today. Does Bryce Canyon National Park require a timed entry permit (or reservation) for entry?
Why You Might Think You Need a Timed Entry Reservation for Bryce
Given how Bryce Canyon is set up, you might very well believe that it might require a timed entry reservation. After all, there’s only a single entrance to the park proper with 3 gates. Approximately 2 to 2.5 million people enter through those gates every year. You can imagine that the entry line can extend quite a ways back. Indeed, it can during certain blocks of time.
Examples of Crowd Control in Bryce
If you try entering the park on the Saturday of Memorial weekend, you will encounter long lines. In fact, the park shuts down entry for private vehicles from about noon to about 4PM because of the crowd density and lack of parking. You can only enter the park using the free shuttle service during that time block.
Other shutdowns include big events such as when the annual eclipse of 2023 appeared in the skies above Bryce. When that happened, the rangers closed off access to the Sunset Point parking lot before 8AM due to it filling up so early. They then closed off entrance to the park to private vehicles thanks to parking filling up most everywhere in the park. It didn’t fill up where I chose to shoot, but I chose an unexpected location to set up my tripod.
Does Bryce Canyon Actually Require a Reservation or Permit to Enter?
So, given these points above, you might believe that Bryce Canyon National Park requires a timed entry permit through the reservation system on recreation.gov where the lottery systems for each park may be found. However, that’s where you’d be wrong.
Bryce Canyon does not require any reservation or timed entry permit (at time of writing). All they require is an entrance fee or the standard national park pass for entry. You can always check on the latest information on passes and entry reservations for yourself on their website page talking about fees and passes.
Please keep in mind, they could change their minds about this point at any time. However, given the volume of traffic passing through the gates at Bryce vs. other more popular parks, it probably won’t be any time soon. So, you can visit Bryce Canyon at any time without worrying about whether or not you have a reservation to enter the gate.
Does Bryce Require Reservations of Any Kind?
Since we’ve already covered entry reservations and timed entry permits for Bryce Canyon, you might ask next if they require reservations for anything. Well, they do require some reservations. These reservations are for the North and the Sunset campgrounds. Also, they require reservations for some of the back-country campsites. Obviously, staying at the lodge requires a reservation too. These reservations are first-come first-served. However, you will see the camping reservations disappear during the off-season. This is because tourist traffic drops so low that they don’t need to worry about availability during that window of time.
So, yes. Bryce Canyon does require some reservations. However, these reservations are a bit specialized. Most people won’t need to worry about them unless planning on staying or camping inside the park itself.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Bryce Canyon does not currently (at time of writing) require any form of reservation or timed entry permit for park entrance. You can freely enter the park, with the appropriate entry fees paid, any time you want. However, Bryce does require reservations for staying inside the park itself.
So, there you have it. Bryce Canyon doesn’t require much in the way of reservations outside the normal kind: accommodations. You can visit Bryce without worrying about keeping an eye on your watch for a timed entry permit. Please enjoy this beautiful and unique landscape with 1 less worry on your mind.
