I think everybody should visit Arches National Park in winter!
We were there at the beginning of December, and the weather was beautiful and the crowds were non-existant!! It was absolutely perfect.
That being said, there are downsides to visiting in winter. So I’ve put together a whole guide about what it’s like to visit Arches National Park in winter, hike to Delicate Arch (the one on the license plate), and other things to do on a winter trip to Utah.
Year Visited: 2024
Time of Year: December
What’s in this Article:
- Arches National Park Overview
- How to Get to Arches National Park
- Moab in Winter
- How to Hike to Delicate Arch
- Other Arches NP Hikes
- Other Things to Do
Arches National Park Overview
Arches National Park is one of 5 national parks in the state of Utah. It is about a 3 1/2 hr. drive south east of Salt Lake City, and 20 minutes north west of Moab.
Arches is a relatively small park, only 119 square miles, compared to the 528 square miles of nearby Canyonlands National Park.
Hours & Entry Fees
Arches National Park cost & hours:
- Vehicle Entrance Fee: $30 (per car)
- America the Beautiful Pass: $80 (for one year)
- Park Hours: The park is open 24/7, and entrance fees are collected at all times.
- Visitor Center Hours: The Visitor’s Center is open from 9:00 am-4:30 pm in the winter.
- If you are coming in the winter, you do not need to book a timed entry. Timed entries are only needed April 1-July 6, and August 28-October 31.
- Good to Know: If you have a fourth grader, you can enter any national park for free!
- National Parks are free to the public several times a year:
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (January)
- The First Day of National Park Week (April)
- Juneteenth (June)
- Anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act (August)
- National Public Lands Day (September)
- Veterans Day (November)
How much time do you need at Arches National Park?
You can easily visit the main sites of Arches in one day.
On our trip, we spent one full day in Arches, and one day in Canyonlands, on a road trip from Salt Lake City. We hiked to Delicate Arch, and saw many of the other main sites, without feeling rushed. Some people even visit on a day trip from Salt Lake City, although that will make for a very long day, and you won’t get to experience the park as well as you might like.
Visitor’s Info
The Visitor’s Center is right at the entrance to Arches National Park. The winter hours are 9:00 am-4:30 pm. There are bathrooms and water fountains, a gift shop, and a small museum about the park.
To get into the actual park from the visitor’s center, you will have to drive up the mountain into the park area. This road is wide, and well-paved, but it is a little curvy, so be aware of that if you are afraid of heights or prone to motion sickness.
This road is 18 miles long, and is known as “Arches Scenic Drive.” It will take you to all the main points of interest in the park.
Point of Interest in Arches National Park
There are lots of great things to see in Arches National Park, but these are the most famous and popular sites:
- Hike to Delicate Arch (the arch on the Utah license plate)
- Balanced Rock Viewpoint
- Double Arch Hike
- Windows Hike
- Devil’s Garden Trail
- Landscape Arch
Map of Arches National Park
Noted on the map are points of interest in Arches NP, and its relativity to Moab and Canyonlands National Park:
Why Visit Arches National Park in Winter
I loved our visit to Arches in December! The weather was perfect for our visit, which isn’t always guaranteed… But coming from western NY (where the winter is always grey!), Utah in winter feels like a sunny paradise!
We visited the first week in December (which I guess is technically still fall, but I would consider “winter” to be November through March). The weather was in the 40s (F), and perfectly sunny. There was a little bit of snow on the ground, but the roads and trails were completely clear.
There was absolutely no line to get into the park when we arrived (around 9), and we only saw a few people all day. The weather was PERFECT for hiking to Delicate Arch, and we even had the area to ourselves for a good long while. Though our picnic lunch got a little cold (us, not the food…), we packed multiple layers, and had a great day!
- Bonus: You also don’t have to worry about booking a timed entry to the park if you visit in winter!
How to Get to Arches National Park
Start in Salt Lake City
The best airport to fly into for Arches National Park is the Salt Lake City Airport. It is about a 3 1/2 hr. drive to Arches National Park from Salt Lake City. You can go directly from the airport to Moab, or you can spend a few days exploring the Salt Lake City area (which I highly suggest!).
Join a Tour
If you don’t want to drive yourself, you can join guided tours from Salt Lake City to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, or even to all 5 of Utah’s national parks.
I think renting a car and driving yourself is better (and more affordable), but here are a couple of tour options, if you prefer to go that route:
- 2-Day Arches & Canyonlands Tour
- 3-Day Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches NP Tour
- 3-Day Arches, Canyonlands & State Parks Tour
- 4-Day Zion, Bryce & Arches NP Tour
- 5-Day Utah’s Mighty 5 National Parks Tour
Driving from Salt Lake City to Moab
You can rent a car at the airport, or take an Uber to a car rental agency in Salt Lake City (we took an Uber from our friend’s house where we were staying in Salt Lake to pick up our rental car).
The drive from Salt Lake to Moab takes around 4 hours, and is pretty straight forward. There are a lot of gas stations and restaurants at the beginning of the drive, till a little ways past Provo, where you get on Highway 6. From there, things become more scarce, but every so often you will come across a small town or the occasional rest stop.
Our local friends suggested stopping in Helper on the way to Moab. It is a cute little town with art galleries, a museum, local restaurants, and historical sites.
- Fun Fact: The town of Helper gets its name because the railway tracks were on such a steep incline, trains could not get through the town without a helper locomotive.
We stopped in Price for lunch. We considered visiting the Utah State University’s Prehistoric Museum that was just down the street, but since we’re not good at spontaneity… decided to just keep going on to Moab.
Driving Soldier’s Summit in Winter
The route from Salt Lake City will take you through an area on Highway 6 known as “Soldier’s Summit.” This stretch of road goes up a mountain pass, and can become treacherous in the winter. On our visit in December, the roads were perfectly clear, and we had no problem driving.
If the road is closed (or too intimidating for you), you can take an alternate route from I15 to I70, instead of cutting across Highway 6. This will add about an hour to the drive. You can check the UDOT traffic cameras to see road conditions before you leave.
Driving around Arches National Park
As I mentioned above, the road to enter Arches National Park is steep and winding, but the road is very well paved and maintained.
Arches Scenic Drive is the 18 mile road that runs through the park, and all of the viewpoints and parking areas will be off of this road. There are also pull-off places to stop and take pictures along this road.
The views are absolutely stunning. Even if you are not a hiker, just driving this road and pulling over to take pictures will be worth it. I had so many pictures to choose from, it was hard to decided which ones to include!
Moab in Winter
Moab, Utah is the best place to base yourself for a visit to both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. It is about a 4 hr. drive from Salt Lake City, and only 20-40 minutes to each park.
That being said, it’s important to note that Moab is a seasonal tourist town, and some of the businesses close up for the winter.
What’s Open in Moab in the Winter
When we visited the week after Thanksgiving, some downtown shops had just closed down that weekend! Which is why November is an ideal time to visit! You will have the best chance of good weather, and most of the shops and restaurants will still be open.
Not all of the downtown shops were closed down, but most of the gift shops were. The Discover Moab website has a list of shops that are open year-round, as well as shops that close seasonally.
Here are some of the places we visited in Moab (or thought about visiting) in December:
- Moab Coffee Roasters
- Back of Beyond Books
- Desert Wild
- Slickrock Cinema 3
- Moab Giants Dinosuar Museum
- Moab Museum of Film
- Moab Museum (closed from Christmas-mid February)
Where to Eat in Moab
Aside from a quick visit to Moab Coffee Roasters, we bought food at City Market to cook at our Airbnb and take with us into the parks.
Here is a full list of restaurants in Moab, if you want to eat out during your stay. Most restaurants tend to be open year-round. A few specific recommendations are:
Where to Stay in Moab
Another perk of visiting in winter is that popular hotels won’t fill up, and prices tend to be cheaper! However, you won’t be able to use the swimming pools with epic views… But, what you can use is a hot tub!
My husband and I love sitting outside in a hot tub in the winter, so we were really hoping my sister would book a rental with a hot tub! She, however, prioritized having a garage for the rental car over a hot tub (big sisters… amiright?).
But the place we stayed was wonderful! Just off the main road, it was a two-story townhouse with four bedrooms, a huge kitchen, a patio we didn’t use (because December…), and of course the garage.
There are a lot of great Airbnb options available, so definitely take some time to peruse through there and see what you can find. Honestly, in the winter, I think an Airbnb or apartment rental with a living room and kitchen (and maaaaybe with a hot tub) is better than a hotel room with a pool you won’t be using. We spent plenty of time just relaxing in the living room of our Airbnb (or you can also search for apartment rentals on Vrbo or Booking.com).
But if you do want a traditional hotel room, here are a couple of good suggestions:
- Red Rocks Lodge
- Springhill Suites Moab
- Fairfield Inn & Suites
- Holiday Inn Express & Suites Moab
- Best Western Plus Canyonlands Inn
How to Hike to Delicate Arch (in Winter)
Hiking to Delicate Arch is the #1 thing to do in Arches National Park.
And let me just start off by saying that we are not hard core hikers. I mean, we’re not… terriblyyy out of shape. But also we just don’t have a lot of places to go hiking (another perk of living in western NY!). And we were so nervous about hiking to Delicate Arch in the winter!
My sister bought crampons, which, if you’re not a hiker, are things you attach to your shoes to help with traction in the snow (like putting chains on tires!). We brought the crampons with us, but we ended up leaving them in the car and ultimately returning them to Amazon.
Overall, the hike was not bad. Again, we were super nervous, about the snow, the elevation gain, the length… But if our local friends’ retired parents could do it, by golly so could we!
Delicate Arch Trailhead
Finding your way around Arches National Park is honestly so easy! To get to the Delicate Arch trailhead, just turn onto Delicate Arch Road from the main road (there will be signs). Follow this until you come to Wolfe Ranch Parking Lot on the left. There are several outhouses available here before you start the hike.
It is best to do the hike first thing when you arrive at the park, as it will be less crowded, and the parking lot can fill up. However, if you are visiting in the winter, you shouldn’t have to worry about the parking lot being full. I think we saw maybe 50 other people the entire day (counting the tour bus at sunset).
Before you get too far into the hike to Delicate Arch, you can see the Wolfe Ranch hut, and take a 1-minute side trail to the petroglyphs, which are really cool to see. This trail is super short and flat, so you can easily view the petroglyphs, even if you are not up for hiking all the way to Delicate Arch.
Delicate Arch Trail
Delicate Arch trail stats to know:
- Distance: 3.2 miles (round trip)
- Elevation Gain: 480 ft.
- Time: 1-3 hours
- Level: Moderate
- Best in: Morning
After struggle-bussing through the trail there, we decided that “moderate” was a fair evaluation, but in actuality, the trail was much less intimidating than we thought it would be (again…we don’t usually hike). If you’re used to hiking, it’s probably fairly easy.
There was a stretch that seemed to go on and on (and up) forever, and we (I) had to stop to catch my breath a couple times, but otherwise the trail was not bad at all.
It takes 1-3 hours round trip, depending how quickly you hike, and how long you stay at the arch viewpoint. We took about 2 hrs. there are back.
After the first flat part, you start climbing up a huge rock face that is completely in the sun (see above photo). This is the part where we started stripping all our winter clothes and stopping to catch our breath (well… I stopped to catch my breath. Pretty sure my brother-in-law didn’t stop once).
That was the hardest part of the climb. From there, it becomes a rocky wilderness that is flatter, and fun to climb over. There is not an actual trail that you follow like if you were hiking a path in the woods. There are little signs to keep you pointed in the right direction.
Delicate Arch Trail in Winter
Obviously conditions can change throughout the season, and our experience was not representative of every day in winter, but the trail was almost completely clear of snow. It was perfectly sunny for our week in Utah in December, and while there were traces of snow in the shadows, the trail itself was clear.
If there has been a lot of snow (and not a lot of sun) recently before your trip, you might want to bring the crampons. Like I said, we brought them, but left them in the car, as we could tell that the conditions were fine (and then returned them unused to Amazon!).
There is only one slightly intimidating part of the hike to Delicate Arch, just before you reach the end. The trail gets very narrow and goes around the corner of the cliff. This is the part that can get snowy and slippery, especially since it is usually in the shade. It was clear for our trip (see photos below), but it can get icy.
Delicate Arch
When you come around the bend, out of nowhere the arch appears in your view! It is amazing! I wish I could relive that moment we first saw the arch over and over.
We took pictures and sat down to stare at the beautiful piece of nature. Luckily, there was another woman sitting there who let us know we could climb down to the arch, because we absolutely would not have even considered it otherwise…
We did climb down to get up close to the arch, but as the rock is sloping heavily downward directly underneath the arch, we did not stand right in the middle of it! But we got lots of pictures and even had the whole place to ourselves for quite a while before more people came.
The best time to hike to Delicate Arch is first thing in the morning. The path was more shady (in other words, less melted snow), but since the weather was so good, that was not an issue. It is less crowded in the morning, and the less crowds at Delicate Arch, the better. It was so amazing to stand there with no one else around!
What to Pack for a Hike to Delicate Arch
Just a couple ideas of what you should bring with you if you are going to hike Delicate Arch in the winter:
- Hiking boots
- Crampons (Bring them in the car if you have them. You can always return them if you don’t use them).
- Wear layers. We got hot on our hike, and kept stripping off coats and hats and rolling up our sleeves.
- Good to Know: My sister figured no one would see her shirt in photos (since she was wearing a coat). But we pulled off our coats, so she was disappointed she hadn’t worn a cuter shirt (like me!).
- Bring a full water bottle. You can fill up at the visitor’s center. There are bathrooms at the trailhead.
- Bring snacks. Delicate Arch is a nice spot for a picnic (minus the thieving crows…). Plus hiking just makes ones hangry.
- Some good hiking snacks are raisins, granola bars, fruit snacks or fruit leather, cheese or peanut butter crackers. And trail mix. Obvi.
- A camera. Pretty much everyone has a camera on their phone, and you will want to take LOTS of pictures!! But don’t be afraid to also bring a DSLR camera if you have one. I used this hiking camera backpack to carry my snacks, camera, and discarded winter hat. I carried a travel tripod on the side, and hooked my water bottle on the front.
Alternative Delicate Arch Viewpoint
If you want less of a hike, or maybe just another angle on the famous arch, visit the Delicate Arch Viewpoint further down the road from the Wolfe Ranch Parking Lot.
There are two viewpoints: the lower viewpoint and the upper viewpoint. The lower view is very close to the parking lot, so you don’t have to hike far at all. The upper viewpoint is a steep uphill climb, but it is a very short climb, and only takes a few minutes.
It is good to know that these viewpoints are pretty far away from Delicate Arch, so it will be very small.
- Good to Know: A lot of people suggest coming here at sunset, because the setting sun (which is behind you) will light up the rocks with a bright glow. We misunderstood, and were expecting to see the sunset from the viewpoint. So really, you want to arrive in the late afternoon, but before the actual sunset, to get the glow on the rocks.
Other Iconic Sites in Arches National Park
Aside from Delicate Arch, there are plenty of things to see in Arches National Park, some of which don’t require any hiking at all.
Balanced Rock
Balanced Rock is probably the second-most famous feature of Arches National Park, and it is the easiest to get to. You don’t even have to hike to it, just pull off into the parking lot and there it is.
Double Arch
Double Arch is a very short and easy trail. It has its own little parking lot, or you can also just walk down from the Windows parking lot, which is right above it. This is probably the easiest hike in the park (other than the “walk” to Balanced Rock.
Windows
Right next to Double Arch is the Windows Trail. It’s an easy hike that can be as long or as short as you want. You can see the Turet Arch, the North Window Arch, the South Window Arch, take the Primitive Loop (the trail does get sketchy here…), or add the Windows Sand Loop Trail.
Basically, there are just a lot of loops.
And arches.
Devil’s Garden & Landscape Arch
We did not hike the Devil’s Garden Trail, the other popular part of Arches National Park. One big trail was enough for us for one day!
Devil’s Garden is a series of trails, the most popular being the 1.6 mile (round trip) to Landscape Arch, the longest arch in North America!
Other Things to Do
There are lots of other things to do on a winter trip to Arches National Park. For our trip, we also visited Park City, Salt Lake City, and Canyonlands National Park.
You can choose to do a road trip around Utah, and only spend one or two days in Moab, or you can stay for a few days and visit some of the museums (and maybe soak in the hot tub!).
Canyonlands National Park
The most common thing to do on a trip to Moab/Arches National Park is to also visit Canyonlands National Park, as it’s just another 20 minutes from Arches.
I liked Arches better, but my sister and brother-in-law preferred Canyonlands, so it is really personal preference. Canyonlands is bigger, and felt a lot more spread out less developed than Arches.
We did the short hike to the famous Mesa Arch, and drove out to the Grand Viewpoint. That was all we had time for on our short visit, as we were driving back to Salt Lake City that day.
Visit the Moab Museums
While you probably won’t be hot air ballooning or horse back riding in the winter, there are several museums in/near Moab that you can visit:
- Moab Giants Dinosuar Museum
- Moab Museum of Film
- Moab Museum (closed from Christmas-mid February)
Visit the State Parks
One of my local friends says that everyone goes to the national parks, but overlooks the state parks. He says they are just as pretty and less crowded!
There are some good state parks to check out near Moab, like Dead Horse Point State Park.
Other National Parks
Utah is a great place for a national parks road trip! In addition to Arches & Canyonlands, there are 3 other parks in the state, plus others that you can easily add on a road trip:
- Capitol Reef
- Bryce Canyon
- Zion
- Grand Canyon (in Arizona)
Salt Lake City Area
There are so many great things to do in and near Salt Lake City in any season! You can day trip to Park City for skiing or a Christmas sing-along, visit the Great Salt Lake (but maybe don’t float in it in the winter…), slide down ice slides at the ice castles, or tour museums, the library, and the school from High School Musical in Salt Lake City.
I absolutely loved our visit to Arches National Park in the winter, and you will too! It is such a magical place to experience without the summer crowds, even if there are less things to do in town.
Any more questions?
If you have any more questions about visiting Arches National Park in winter, or hiking to Delicate Arch, don’t hesitate to email me or comment below.
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Julia is a travel blogger with a Bachelor’s Degree in photography from Indiana Wesleyan University. She worked as a professional photo-retoucher for seven and a half years, before leaving the company to work in the travel industry. She now works at a historic 1800’s hotel. When she’s not working, she’s reading fantasy novels or classic literature, and planning trips to magical destinations.
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