Kanab: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
Kanab was settled by Mormon families in the 1870s, but its fame came from Hollywood. From the 1920s on, studios filmed westerns in the red cliffs and canyons around the town, and the actors stayed at Parry Lodge on the main street. Today the town is better known as the base for Zion, Bryce, the Grand Canyon's North Rim and the slot canyons. This short route stays in town and then heads to the animal sanctuary and a pioneer fort.
A short history of Kanab
Kanab, near the border between Utah and Arizona, was founded in 1870 by Mormon settlers, on a spot where a small fort had stood before. From the 1920s onwards hundreds of westerns and television series were filmed among the red cliffs around it, and the town earned the nickname 'Little Hollywood'. In 1984 the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, one of the largest in the United States, was established in a nearby canyon. Today it is a base for trips to the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce.
The ten best sights in Kanab
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1Little Hollywood Movie Museum
Old western film sets and props behind a gift shop on the main road; free
2Parry LodgeThe motel where the movie stars stayed; their names are on the doors
3Kanab Heritage MuseumA restored pioneer home on the main street; check opening days
4Grand Staircase Visitor CenterMaps and road conditions for the back country; ask here before driving dirt roads
5Pipe Spring National MonumentA stone ranch fort over a desert spring, 25 minutes south-west in Arizona
6Maynard Dixon Home and StudioThe painter's log home and studio at Mount Carmel, now a living history museum; tours in season
7Moqui CaveA family museum inside a sandstone cave, 10 minutes north
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8Best Friends Animal Sanctuary
America's largest no-kill animal sanctuary; free tours, book ahead
9Coral Pink Sand DunesSoft pink dunes to climb or sandboard, 30 minutes west
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10Belly of the Dragon
A short walk through a water tunnel carved under the highway
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Kanab →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Kanab:
Free walking tours in Kanab
Little Hollywood
Kanab was settled by Mormon families in the 1870s, but its fame came from Hollywood. From the 1920s on, studios filmed westerns in the red cliffs and canyons around the town, and the actors stayed at Parry Lodge on the main street. Today the town is better known as the base for Zion, Bryce, the Grand Canyon's North Rim and the slot canyons. This short route stays in town and then heads to the animal sanctuary and a pioneer fort.
- Parry Lodge · The Parry brothers opened the lodge in the early 1930s and talked the film studios into shooting westerns around Kanab. Stars from John Wayne to Frank Sinatra stayed here, and many rooms carry the name of an actor who slept in them.
- Little Hollywood Movie Museum · More than a hundred films and television westerns were shot around Kanab, which earned it the name Little Hollywood. The wooden false-front buildings here are real sets from those productions, moved into town when the filming was over.
- Kanab town centre · In 1912 Kanab elected a town council made up entirely of women, with a woman as mayor, one of the first all-female town governments in the United States. The women served one term, from 1912 to 1914.
- Kanab City Park · The town takes its name from a Paiute word for the willows that grow along Kanab Creek. The creek runs south from here into Arizona and reaches the Colorado River deep inside the Grand Canyon.
- Best Friends Animal Sanctuary · Founded in 1984 in Angel Canyon, it is the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in America, with dogs, cats, horses, birds and rabbits. In 2007 it took in some of the dogs rescued from the dog-fighting ring of the American football player Michael Vick.
- Pipe Spring National Monument · Mormon ranchers built the stone fort, Winsor Castle, over the spring in the early 1870s to guard the water and the church's cattle herd. It housed the first telegraph station in the Arizona Territory, opened in 1871.
North on Highway 89 towards Zion
Highway 89 climbs north out of Kanab through a canyon of red cliffs towards Mount Carmel Junction, where the road to Zion's east gate turns off. On the way there is a cave museum, a tunnel carved by floods and a detour to a field of pink sand dunes. Beyond the junction the road enters Zion through the white, cross-hatched rock of Checkerboard Mesa. The whole drive is about 45 km each way.
- Moqui Cave · The Chamberlain family turned the sandstone cave into a museum in 1951, and it is still run by the same family. Its collection includes dinosaur tracks, ancient tools and one of the largest displays of fluorescent minerals in the country, glowing under ultraviolet light.
- Belly of the Dragon · The tunnel began as a drainage channel dug under Highway 89, and the floods that rush through it have since carved its sandstone walls into ribs like the inside of an animal. It is only a few minutes' walk from the car.
- Coral Pink Sand Dunes · The wind is squeezed through a notch between two mountains here, speeds up, and then drops the pink sand eroded from the Navajo sandstone cliffs. The dunes are the only home of the Coral Pink Sand Dunes tiger beetle, found nowhere else on earth.
- Mount Carmel Junction · The Thunderbird restaurant at the junction has advertised its Ho-Made Pies on a roadside sign for decades, a classic stop on the road to Zion. The junction is where Highway 9 heads west to the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel.
- Maynard Dixon Home and Studio · Maynard Dixon, the great painter of the American West, spent his last summers here from 1939 with his wife, the artist Edith Hamlin. After his death in 1946 his ashes were buried on the hill above the house.
- Checkerboard Mesa · The mesa is Navajo sandstone, the frozen slopes of ancient dunes, cut by horizontal lines of cross-bedding and vertical cracks from heating and cooling. Further on the road passes through the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel, 1.8 km long, opened in 1930.
East to the slot canyons
East of Kanab Highway 89 runs through the open country of the Grand Staircase-Escalante and Vermilion Cliffs, where some of the most famous rock in the West lies off rough dirt roads. This is the land of The Wave, the slot canyons of the Paria and the toadstool rocks. Dirt roads turn to mud after rain, and slot canyons flood without warning, so check the forecast at the visitor centre first. The drive to the Wire Pass trailhead is about 70 km.
- Grand Staircase Visitor Center · The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was created in 1996 and covers a vast area of cliffs and plateaus that step up from the Grand Canyon to Bryce. Rangers here explain the permit lottery for the hike to The Wave and the state of the dirt roads.
- Johnson Canyon · A western street was built in this canyon for the movies, and it was used for scenes of the TV series Gunsmoke. Only a few weathered buildings remain, on private land beside the road.
- Toadstool Hoodoos · Each toadstool is a column of soft red Entrada sandstone protected by a boulder of harder rock on top. When the cap rock falls, rain quickly wears the column underneath to nothing.
- Wire Pass · The trailhead is the start of two famous hikes: the narrow Wire Pass slot into Buckskin Gulch, and the route to The Wave, for which permits are limited each day. Wire Pass itself is a short, deep slot that needs no permit beyond a day-use fee.
- Buckskin Gulch · Buckskin Gulch is one of the longest slot canyons in the world, running about 20 km with walls over 100 metres high and often only a metre or two apart. A flash flood can fill it completely, so it is entered only in dry weather.
- Vermilion Cliffs · Since 1996 California condors, then close to extinction, have been released from the top of these cliffs. With wings of nearly three metres, they are the largest flying birds in North America, and they can sometimes be seen soaring along the cliff face.
Getting to Kanab and getting around
- Kanab Municipal Airport · A small airfield south of town for private and scenic flights; airline flights mean St George or Las Vegas
- Mount Carmel Junction · The junction 30 minutes north where Highway 9 turns off to the east gate of Zion
Cheap eats in Kanab
Kanab is the biggest town for a long way in every direction, so it has more choice than its size suggests: a bakery, burger and barbecue places, Mexican food and a few good restaurants on Center Street and 100 East. It is also a town of early starts, so cafés open early for hikers heading to the slot canyons. Buy lunch here before driving out, as there is nothing on the dirt roads.
- Kanab Creek Bakery · Pastries, bread and coffee for an early start, about $4-12
- The Soda Fountain · Shakes, malts and flavoured sodas, about $4-9
- Big Al's Burger · Burgers and fries, about $8-14
- Jakey Leigh's · Breakfast and lunch café on Center Street, about $8-16
- Happy Trails Family BBQ · Barbecue from a food truck, about $10-16
- Glazier's Market · Supermarket with a deli counter for trail lunches, about $5-12
Museums in Kanab
- Little Hollywood Movie Museum · Walk through real western sets; 30 minutes, free
- Pipe Spring National Monument · Fort, orchard and a Kaibab Paiute museum; an hour
- Moqui Cave · Glowing minerals and dinosaur tracks in a cave
- Kanab Heritage Museum · A furnished pioneer house; check opening days
- Maynard Dixon Home and Studio · The painter's studio in the cottonwoods
Nature and day trips near Kanab
- Coral Pink Sand Dunes · Climb the dunes at sunset; rent a sandboard at the park
- Buckskin Gulch · A long, deep slot; dry weather only
- Toadstool Hoodoos · Easy walk to rock mushrooms
- Le Fevre Overlook · A wide view on the way to the North Rim
- Jacob Lake · Pine forest at 2,400 m on the way to the Grand Canyon's North Rim
Things to do in Kanab with kids
- Best Friends Animal Sanctuary · Free tours to meet the dogs, cats and horses; volunteer for a morning
- Belly of the Dragon · Walk through a dark ribbed tunnel; bring a torch
- Coral Pink Sand Dunes · Slide down the dunes on a sandboard
- Moqui Cave · Rocks that glow in ultraviolet light
- Kanab City Park · Shade, grass and a playground
Where to eat in Kanab
- Sego · Modern American dinner; book ahead in season
- The Rocking V Cafe · Dinner on Center Street; popular in season, so book
- Houston's Trail's End · Western-style diner on Center Street
- Wild Thyme · Dinner a block off Center Street
- Escobar's Mexican Restaurant · Mexican dinner at the east end of town
- Thunderbird Restaurant · Pie and a meal at Mount Carmel Junction, on the way to Zion
Frequently asked questions about Kanab
What is there to see in Kanab?
The top sights in Kanab are Little Hollywood Movie Museum, Parry Lodge and Kanab Heritage Museum. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Kanab?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Kanab without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Kanab?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Kanab, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: Little Hollywood.
How do you get to Kanab and get around?
The main ways are Kanab Municipal Airport and Mount Carmel Junction. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Kanab, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Kanab that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Kanab for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.