Most people heading to Zion drive right through La Verkin, Utah without realizing there are geothermal hot springs sitting just outside town. La Verkin is about 20 miles from Zion National Park, close enough to use as a base but far enough from Springdale that the pace feels different. It’s a small southern Utah town surrounded by red rock, the Virgin River and some of the best canyon country in the state. One of the biggest reasons to stop now is Zion Canyon Hot Springs, which opened in 2025. The complex has more than 30 geothermal soaking pools, along with cold plunges, saunas and mineral pools. After a day hiking around Zion, sitting in hot water with the cliffs around you is a pretty good way to finish. The location also puts you close to parts of Zion that get much less attention than the main canyon. Kolob Canyons is north of town and has a five-mile scenic drive through massive red cliffs, along with trails that head into the backcountry. The La Verkin Creek Trail leads toward Kolob Arch and gives you a very different side of the park from the shuttle stops and crowds around Zion Canyon. There are slot canyons all over this part of Utah too. Zion is famous for The Narrows, but experienced hikers and canyoneers have plenty of other options nearby, including routes that involve scrambling, swimming and rappelling. Some require permits, so this isn’t the kind of place where you should just wander into a canyon without checking conditions first. La Verkin itself is quieter than the places built almost entirely around national park tourism. You’re not walking past a long line of souvenir shops and galleries. It feels more like a real town that happens to sit next to some spectacular country. The geography around town is easy to overlook if you’re just passing through. La Verkin sits above the Virgin River gorge, with the river cutting through the landscape below. The cliffs, hot springs and canyon routes all come back to the same geology that shaped this corner of Utah. That makes it a good place to slow down for a couple of days instead of treating it as somewhere between you and Zion. Spend one day in the national park. Take another to explore Kolob Canyons or Kolob Terrace. If you’re comfortable with canyon hiking, look into one of the permitted routes. Then come back to La Verkin and soak. I wouldn’t take “zero crowds” literally. Zion is one of the busiest national parks in the country, and the towns around it can get busy too. But La Verkin gives you a little more breathing room and makes it easier to spend time in parts of the area most visitors skip. Southern Utah gets so much attention that it can feel like every worthwhile stop is already famous. La Verkin is a good reminder that some of the best places are sitting right outside the ones everyone already knows. That’s the kind of place I write about in the Timeless Traveler. The towns and stops that can make a trip better once you know they’re there. If you like finding places like this, subscribe to my newsletter.

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