We spent a night in a deluxe tent at Under Canvas Zion, a glamping camp just outside Zion National Park, and then stayed on for a second evening while we explored the quiet west side of the park. We were there in early November, the last week before the camp closed for the season, so this review comes from a cold-weather stay. It’s meant to help you decide whether the tent is for you: what’s inside it, how the bathroom and charging really work, what the evenings are like, and who should probably book a regular hotel instead.
I haven’t quoted nightly rates or season dates anywhere in this article, because both change. The camp’s own page has the current ones.
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The short answer
- Worth it if you want a view-first stay that feels like camping without the work: a real king bed, a private bathroom with hot water, a wood stove, and a lobby with a fire, food and live music on site.
- Skip it if you need electricity in the room, want total bathroom privacy, or are hoping to be in the middle of Zion Canyon. This is a remote spot on the Kolob Terrace Road, not in the main canyon.
- The biggest trade-off: there’s no electricity in the tent, so everything charges from supplied USB battery packs, and the bathroom door is a barn door, not a solid one.
- The biggest surprise: how much a “tent” has in it. One of us called the deluxe tent the no-frills option, and then spent the rest of the tour pointing at frills.
If that sounds like your kind of stay, you can check current rates and availability for Under Canvas Zion, and read on for the details that decide it.
What our stay looked like
| When | Early November, the camp’s last week open before it closed for the season |
| Tent | A deluxe tent |
| How we arrived | A long same-day drive from California through Nevada and the corner of Arizona |
| What our footage shows | Check-in, the deluxe tent and its bathroom, the wood stove, the lobby tent, dinner, the fire pit and s’mores, live music, and a day driving the Kolob Terrace Road |
| What this review can’t cover | Our videos don’t cover the other tent types (stargazer, suite or family tents), summer heat, or a hot shower on camera, so I can’t review those first-hand |
Getting there and where it sits
Under Canvas Zion is in Virgin, Utah, on the Kolob Terrace Road. It’s outside the park, as all the glamping camps here are, and on the west side of Zion, not in the main canyon. Coming from Nevada, the red rock gets prettier the closer you get. We passed a few other glamping resorts back toward Virgin, and when we pulled in we thought Under Canvas had the best view of the lot.
Check-in happens at the main lobby: a quick check-in, a little about the property, some paperwork. Then you drive up the hill to your tent. There are no keys, only zippers. The road reaches the national park boundary only a quarter mile or so past the camp’s turnout, so you’re close to the quiet back side of the park (more on that below). If you want Zion Canyon itself, with its famous hikes, you’ll be driving from here, and it’s worth checking what guided Zion tours are available before you decide how much of that driving you want to do yourself. For the canyon side of the park, see our guide to Zion National Park.
The deluxe tent
The camp has several tent categories, including a stargazing tent and a family tent. One of us described the deluxe tent as the no-frills option, “but for a tent this has a lot of frills.” Here’s what was in ours:
- A seating area just inside, with leather chairs. Everything is on brand, very western.
- A king-size bed, with a bench at the foot that doubles as storage and a rawhide rug on the floor.
- No electricity. The camp gives you battery bricks for charging, plus USB-powered lanterns and USB fans. Anything that charges by USB plugs into those, and you can swap them out as often as you like. If you’ve got a laptop, you’ll be charging it in the car, as we did.
- A wood-burning stove, with wood supplied inside the tent and more outside.
- Windows you can roll up for fresh air, with zip-down flaps, plus one by the bed.
- A bathroom in the tent (below).
The bathroom
The bathroom is the thing that makes this better than camping. There’s a sink with running water and a mirror, a flushing toilet and an actual shower with hot water. All of it is built to save water: the shower runs on a pull chain, and the sink and toilet are push-button. You don’t have to stumble out into the dark to find a toilet.
The privacy is limited. The bathroom door is a reclaimed-wood-style barn door, and one of us said on camera that it won’t do much for privacy, so make sure you like the people you’re sharing a tent with. We didn’t use the shower on the first night because it was cold and we were tired. Our footage doesn’t show a shower, so I can’t tell you how it feels to use.
Cold-weather reality
Early November is the off-season here and it’s cold. The temperature was expected to dip below freezing, which is why the wood stove matters. On our first night the tent was chilly, so we built a fire in the stove, and by the time we were ready for bed it had warmed up and, in our words, felt super cozy. Bring lots of layers. If you’re coming in the summer, our videos can’t tell you how the tent copes with heat, so check recent guest reviews for that.
The lobby, food and evenings
The lobby tent is open around the clock, and the camp lights the fires after dark. Our evening went like this:
- Dinner at the on-site restaurant, which meant we didn’t have to leave the camp. We had a burger and a chicken tostada appetizer. The menu isn’t huge, but we thought what we had was pretty good, and the food came out quickly. Wine was sold only by the bottle, so we got a bottle.
- Free drinks and s’mores. There’s complimentary tea, coffee and hot chocolate, and we found a spiced apple cider mix. S’mores are included, and you pick a traditional bag or a mystery bag. Ours had a KitKat in it.
- A fire pit, live music and games. The outdoor area has a fire pit, cornhole and Jenga, and there are board games inside the dining tent.
- Water bottles. At check-in we were given aluminum water bottles, with refill stations around the camp instead of plastic bottles.
On our second evening it rained, the live music moved inside, and the National Park trivia we’d been looking forward to never happened. We spent an hour and a half in the lobby tent with the games, and a puzzle took far longer than it should have. It’s a camp where the evening is the activity.
A day trip from the tent: the Kolob Terrace Road
The next morning, a staff member at Under Canvas told us about the Kolob Terrace Road, which continues past the camp into a backcountry part of Zion that few visitors see. It’s on the west side of the park, not to be confused with Kolob Canyons. We hadn’t known it was there. There was no ranger or fee station on the stretch we drove, though we had a national park pass anyway.
We drove to Lava Point Lookout on a dirt road that looked to be about two miles and was a little bumpy, but not too bad, and it was very windy. We then walked the Wildcat Trail from its trailhead, through ponderosa pine forest that was flat and easy at first. After about an hour it opened up to a huge view with giant rocks. We turned back when the weather got worse and it started to snow. On the way home we picked up pizza and pasta to take back to the camp.
So the location works if you want a quieter side of Zion and don’t mind driving to the main canyon.
Who it suits, and who should skip it
- Book it if the view and the atmosphere matter more to you than convenience, you like the idea of a fire-warmed tent and a lobby with live music, and you can live without sockets.
- Skip it if you want a solid bathroom door, a room with power outlets, or a base right at the mouth of Zion Canyon.
What our videos don’t cover
Our footage covers one deluxe-tent stay in early November. It doesn’t cover the other tent types, the camp in warm weather, breakfast, or stargazing from the camp, and it doesn’t show us using the shower. For anything seasonal or price-related, the camp’s own page is the place to check.
Plan your trip
If you’ve decided it’s for you, you can see Under Canvas Zion on Booking.com. The camp is seasonal and, we were told, books out quickly, so look at its own page for the current dates before you plan around it.
Frequently asked questions
Is there electricity in the tents?
Not in ours. The camp supplies USB battery bricks, lanterns and fans, and you charge your own devices from those.
Does the deluxe tent have a private bathroom?
Yes. Ours had a sink, a flushing toilet and a pull-chain shower with hot water, behind a barn door that doesn’t give much privacy.
How do you keep warm in November?
With the wood-burning stove, wood supplied in the tent, and lots of layers. It was expected to drop below freezing.
Do you need to leave the camp to eat?
We ate dinner at the on-site restaurant, and tea, coffee, hot chocolate and s’mores are included. We did pick up takeout on our second day.
Final verdict
Under Canvas Zion is a stay you choose for the setting and the atmosphere. The deluxe tent had a lot more going for it than we expected: a king bed, a hot-water bathroom, a wood stove and a lobby that does fires, music and s’mores. In exchange you give up electricity and a solid bathroom door. We found it cozy, and on camera we called the view one of the better ones we’d had from an accommodation. If that trade sounds good to you, book early.
