How to Ride a Bike into Bryce Canyon: Rentals, E-bikes, Trails, and More

We’re always looking for variety on our vacations. We’ve really grown to enjoy renting bikes and ebikes because they are usually fun, affordable, and allow you to be in nature without being behind a windshield.

We recently rented ebikes at Bryce Canyon and we want to help you to prepare if you’re thinking of doing the same.

Bikes and ebikes are allowed in Bryce Canyon National Park. If you want to rent an e-bike and ride into Bryce, there are four companies nearby you can rent from. You can only ride an e-bike on paved trails, and there is only one paved trail near Bryce: the 17- mile Canyon 2 Canyon Trail which connects Bryce Canyon National Park to Red Canyon State Park.

If you’re looking for a little adventure, we highly suggest renting an e-bike, BUT we suggest riding your bike to Red Canyon instead of Bryce Canyon. Keep on reading for more information about options for renting and trails.

In this article we’ll cover:

• How to rent an e-bike and ride into Bryce
• Bike rental companies
• Street biking vs mountain biking
• Things to know about riding an eBike
• Canyon to Canyon Trail
• Mountain bike trails near Bryce
• Maps and resources

How to Rent a Bike and Ride into Bryce

The process is easy.

1. Rent your bike or e-bike from one of the four companies listed below. One company only offers mountain bikes, which are not ebikes but are more affordable.
2. Hop on the Canyon 2 Canyon Bike Path — accessible by bike from all four rental locations — and follow it to Bryce Canyon. See below for more about the Canyon to Canyon bike path.
3. Show your park entry pass (or pay your entry fee) at the ranger booth as you enter.
4. After entering the park, turn left on the bike path directly across from the visitor center parking lot, and head on out to the canyon (you can’t miss it)!
5. Consider riding to nearby Red Canyon in addition to, or instead of, Bryce Canyon. The ride there is more scenic than the ride into Bryce Canyon, and we recommend this instead of riding to Bryce Canyon (assuming you’ll already be visiting Bryce Canyon by car). We discuss this more below.

Bike Rental Companies

1. Ruby’s Inn

Ruby’s Inn practically owns Bryce Canyon City, which sits at the entry of Bryce Canyon. It’s a resort that offers just about everything, including ATV, horseback, and helicopter tours.

CHECK OUT: The Best Places to Stay at Bryce Canyon.

It also has bike rentals, with many different options to choose from, including street bikes, mountain bikes, ebikes, and cruisers.

Ruby’s Inn is located on the Canyon to Canyon trail, which is a paved trail connecting Bryce Canyon to the gorgeous Red Canyon. From this trail, you can also enter Bryce Canyon National Park and ride your bike right to the rim of the canyon. See below for more about this trail.

This is the only trail you can ride e-bikes in the area.

If you’re looking to do mountain biking, Ruby’s Inn makes it super easy to get to other trails as well! You can rent a bike rack from them and haul the bikes yourself, or you can pay them to shuttle the bikes to a location (but they won’t shuttle you).

Prices range from ~$10 per hour for a regular bike to ~$70 for a half day for an e-bike. They also have trailers to tow the little ones.

How to Ride eBikes in Bryce Canyon

2. Outta Here e-Bikes

Outta Here eBikes offers only e-bikes for rent.

They are located in Bryce Canyon City, right at the intersection of Highway 12 and Highway 63 (where you turn in to go to the park).

Prices range from ~$25 per hour to ~$80 for a full-day rental.

They don’t have pull-behinds for the kids, but they offer “Rad Wagons,” which are larger bikes designed to carry a child on the back. These cost ~$119 for a half-day rental and ~$139 for a full-day rental with an additional $20 for a child seat for kids 20-40 pounds.

We rented one of these Rad Wagon bikes and actually carried two children on them. You can see what it looks like in the video above.

3. Bryce Canyon EZ Riders

Bryce Canyon EZ Riders offers only e-bikes for rent.

The company is located near the Bryce Canyon Airport, very close to Bryce Canyon City and the national park.

Here again, you can just park your car here, rent the bike, and head out on the Canyon to Canyon trail, leading to Red Canyon or Bryce Canyon.

Prices run about $40 for 2 hours per rider. They also offer tow-behind trailers for the little tikes.

4. Bryce Canyon Scenic Tours

Bryce Canyon Scenic Tours offers mountain bikes for rent.

Mountain bikes are for those wanting to enjoy some of the non-paved trails in the area, such as the famous Thunder Mountain Trail (see below).

Mountain bikes cost ~$10 per hour and ~$40 for the day.

They rent ebikes starting at ~$40 for two hours up to ~$139 for the day.

They also offer shuttle bus and hiking tours of Bryce Canyon.

VISITING BRYCE CANYON AND NEED A GAME PLAN? CHECK OUT OUR ITINERARY.

Street Biking vs. Mountain Biking

E-bikes are for paved trails only, and the only paved trail around is the Canyon to Canyon trail. You cannot mountain bike with an e-bike.

Mountain bikes typically have larger tires and suspension systems. You can ride them on paved trails or on off-road trails.

I’m not a mountain biker, but the thing to do here is the Thunder Mountain Trail. People rave about this trail so much that the next time I visit I want to ride it!

All you need to do is rent your bike from Ruby’s Inn and tell them you want to ride the Thunder Mountain Trail (it’s rated intermediate/difficult, so beware — ask the workers about this trail). You can even have Ruby’s Inn take your bike to the trailhead for you.

General Things to Know About Riding E-bikes

If you’re like us and you’ve never ridden an e-bike before, here are some things to know:

• They are for paved trails only. At Bryce, that means the Canyon to Canyon trail is your only option (and a great option!)
• They have 5 levels of “pedal assist,” which means while you’re pedaling, the bike starts doing some of the pedaling for you. It feels a little funny at first (although super cool), and at times the pedals will outpace your legs a little. But don’t worry, you won’t go out of control — as soon as you stop pedaling the pedal assist stops and the bike starts to coast as a normal bike does.
• The bikes also have a lever on the handlebar to make it go on its own — no pedaling required! This is a lot like using an electric scooter.
• The more you use the lever and the higher the level of pedal assistance you use the faster the battery will wear out. However, I used it quite a bit (I wanted my money’s worth!) and rode the bike for over 2 hours and still had plenty of battery left.
• Riders generally need to be 5 feet tall.
• E-bikes are much heavier than normal bikes. This just takes a few minutes to acclimate.

The Canyon to Canyon Trail

The Canyon to Canyon Trail is the only paved, e-bike path in the area that I’m aware of.

This trail connects Red Canyon and Bryce Canyon and continues into Bryce Canyon National Park, where you can ride your bike right to the rim of the canyon.

But the highlight of this trail is actually Red Canyon because you get to ride through this cool canyon. At the end of the ride, you can stop and hike around the formations.

Some people call this the Red Canyon bike trail. The trail is 17 miles from Bryce Canyon to Red Canyon.

It’s basically impossible to get lost on this trail! It’s paved and it has a definite beginning and ending. Once you arrive in Red Canyon, the path dead-ends into a parking lot.

Other Mountain Biking Trails

As I mentioned, I’m not much of a mountain biker, so I won’t talk too much about something I don’t know. But here are some popular trails. Use the Garfield County Tourism website for more information.

• Thunder Mountain Trail
• Cassidy Trail
• Losee Trail
• Casto Canyon Trail

Maps and Resources

• The Garfield County Tourism website has many trails and maps!
• The Canyon to Canyon Trail website.
• The MTB Project has a nice webpage on the Thunder Mountain Trail.
• Bryce National Park has a page about the Canyon to Canyon Trail, which they call the Shared-Use Path.

Visiting Bryce Canyon Soon?

Most travelers want to visit the most popular sites and still avoid the crowds. We have a detailed itinerary that gives you a step-by-step game plan so you can get to the best places at the right times.

But that’s not all! Our itinerary includes a free audio guide to listen to while driving with some interesting stories about the park!