La Verkin, Utah

La Verkin sits along the Virgin River about 21 miles from Zion's South Entrance, at the southernmost highway junction leading to the park, where travelers coming up from St. George and I-15 turn onto SR-9 for the drive into the canyon. The town began in the late 1880s as an agricultural venture, the La Verkin Fruit and Nursery Company, which brought irrigation canals to the benchland above the river; a post office followed in 1903. Warm mineral springs along the river once supported a small resort and sanatorium in the early 1900s, a piece of history most passersby never learn.

Today La Verkin functions mainly as a junction and supply stop — gas, fast food, and a small number of budget chain hotels — that sits just far enough outside Zion's immediate orbit to offer noticeably lower rates than either Springdale or even Hurricane, its larger neighbor two miles up the road. For visitors counting every dollar, it's often the cheapest legitimate base within an hour of the park.