Torrey, Utah / Where to stay / Which town
Three towns, one park, and a 2,500 foot difference in elevation
Torrey, Bicknell or Hanksville
Torrey, Bicknell or Hanksville is the real question once you have decided to come here, and the three are less interchangeable than a map suggests. Torrey is eleven miles from the visitor center with most of the beds and all of the dining. Bicknell is seven miles further with the county's only clinic. Hanksville is thirty seven miles east and 2,500 feet lower, which changes what a January or July trip feels like. Here is what each one actually has.
If you read one section
Torrey unless you have a specific reason not to
Torrey is the default and it is the right default. It is the closest town to the park at eleven miles, it has fuel, it has restaurants, and the county tourism office lists 22 of the county's 54 lodging properties in it. If you are here for two or three nights to see Capitol Reef, book Torrey and stop reading.
Take Bicknell if Torrey is full, if you want a quieter and slightly cheaper night, or if someone in the party might need a clinic. It is seven miles further out, which is nothing, and it has the only medical and dental care and pharmacy in the area.
Take Hanksville if you are coming from or heading to Moab, Lake Powell or Goblin Valley, or if you are here in deep winter and want to be 2,500 feet lower. It is a long way from the visitor center at thirty seven miles, but it puts the whole eastern half of this landscape on your doorstep.
Once you have picked the town, the Torrey hotels page is a decision matrix for the individual properties, cabins and glamping covers the non standard beds, and the camping page covers the campgrounds.
Everything published, side by side
The three, compared
Distances are the Park Service's own, measured from the visitor center. Elevations come from Wayne County. Populations are the 2020 census. The services rows are what the Park Service lists, which is worth reading for what it leaves out as much as what it includes.
| Torrey | Bicknell | Hanksville | |
|---|---|---|---|
| From the visitor center | 11 miles west | 18 miles west | 37 miles east |
| Elevation | 6,800 ft | 7,000 ft | 4,300 ft |
| Population, 2020 census | 231 | 323 | 158 |
| Fuel | Yes. The Park Service names it as one of the two nearest fuel stops | Not listed by the Park Service | Yes, including a station its own town describes as pumping 24 hours |
| Groceries | Seasonally | Not listed by the Park Service | A small year round grocery store |
| Restaurants | Several. The Park Service calls it the closest to the west | The Sunglow has its own restaurant, 11am to 8pm | Several, including Stan's Burger Shak, Duke's Slickrock Grill and Outlaws Roost |
| Medical | None | The Wayne Community Health Center. Medical, dental and a pharmacy, plus a second dental practice | None |
| Lodging properties listed | 22 | 4 | 5 |
| Laundry | Yes, for a fee | The Aquarius Inn publishes guest laundry | Several properties publish laundry, one of them complimentary |
Two rows deserve emphasis. The Park Service lists neither fuel nor groceries in Bicknell. That is an absence from an official list rather than a statement that neither exists, but it is the right way to plan: fill the tank in Torrey.
And the 2,500 foot drop to Hanksville is the fact that changes a trip. Torrey at 6,800 feet gets proper winter. Hanksville at 4,300 does not, or not as much. In January that is a warmer bed and clearer roads; in July it is the opposite, and Torrey is the one you want.
Nobody official publishes town to town distances out here, only distances from the visitor center. Subtracting gives roughly 7 miles Torrey to Bicknell and roughly 48 miles Torrey to Hanksville, but that is our arithmetic on the park's figures rather than a published number, and we would rather say so.
The default, and usually correct
Torrey
What it gives you
Eleven miles to the visitor center, which is about fifteen minutes, so a 7am start is easy. Fuel, laundry, the densest cluster of restaurants in the county and 22 of its 54 listed lodging properties, from a $45 cabin to a resort. Almost every guide and outfitter in the area is based here or answers a phone here.
It is also a certified International Dark Sky Community, Utah's first, which is not a marketing line: the town rewrote its lighting ordinance and retrofitted its street lights to get it.
What it costs you
It is the most expensive of the three and the first to sell out. In the spring and autumn peaks, booking late means Bicknell or nothing. And at 6,800 feet with a small winter population, a meaningful share of the town shuts between November and March.
The town's own site says about 300 residents; the 2020 census counted 231. Either way, this is a very small place, and it behaves like one on a Sunday in February.
Worth knowing for the geography: the junction of Highway 24 and Scenic Byway 12 sits east of Torrey, which the Park Service puts 10 miles west of the visitor center. So if you are arriving from Bryce Canyon over Boulder Mountain, you reach that junction before you reach town. The getting here page has all four road approaches with the park's own mileages.
Seven miles further, and quieter for it
Bicknell
Bicknell is the county's institutional town rather than its tourist one. It holds the school district, the library, and the Wayne Community Health Center at 128 South 300 West on 435 425 3744, which the Park Service names as the nearest medical care to the park, offering basic medical and dental care and a pharmacy. There is a second dental practice in town as well. For a family, or anyone traveling with a condition that might need attention, that is a real argument.
| Property | Phone | What they publish |
|---|---|---|
| Aquarius Inn and Motel | 435 287 5813 | Open year round, which matters here. King, queen and family rooms, several with kitchen facilities. A seasonal indoor pool with hot tub from early April to October, a year round fitness room, guest laundry and pet friendly rooms. Their restaurant is described on their own site as closed at this time. No room count or rates published |
| Sunglow Motel and Restaurant | 435 425 3821 | Double, family double, family suite and king rooms, with free parking and wifi, an exercise room and a conference room. Non smoking, no pets. The restaurant runs 11am to 8pm. No room count, rates or season published |
| Ant Hill RV Park | Not published | Two deluxe RV sites only, 145 and 101 feet long, with 50 foot concrete pads, pergolas, smokeless fire pits, a private dog run, horse facilities including a stable and corral, and free wifi. Two sites means booking early or not at all |
| Sunglow Campground | Forest Service | Two miles east of Bicknell on the Fishlake National Forest at about 7,200 feet, open May to September, with drinking water and flush toilets. Reservable on recreation.gov |
Also in town: the Historic Bicknell Theater at 11 East Main, showing new films every Friday at $5 for adults and $3 for children and seniors. Open Thursday to Sunday, closed Monday to Wednesday. On a rainy afternoon or after a long hike that is a better option than most towns this size can offer, and nobody else writes about it.
Bicknell has no working official town website that we can find. The domain search engines still return for it now serves an unrelated foreign gambling site. Do not follow it. For town business, the Wayne County offices in Loa are on 435 836 2765.
Far from the visitor center, close to everything else
Hanksville
Thirty seven miles east of the visitor center and 2,500 feet lower, with 158 people at the last census. Judged as a Capitol Reef base it is the worst of the three. Judged as a base for everything east of the park it is comfortably the best.
What sits on its doorstep: Goblin Valley State Park, Factory Butte and the Swing Arm City OHV area twelve miles west on Highway 24, the Henry Mountains, the San Rafael Swell, Lake Powell, and the road to Moab. If your trip is a loop rather than a Capitol Reef stay, basing a night here saves real driving.
| Property | Phone | What they publish |
|---|---|---|
| Whispering Sands Motel | 435 710 8212 | 250 South Highway 95. Free parking, on site laundry, high speed internet and a 24 hour front desk, which almost nothing out here has. Office staffed 3pm to 10pm. No room count or rates published |
| Muddy Creek Mining Co. | 877 711 3857 | 280 East 100 North. Cabins with full baths, including a family cabin sleeping 8 and an ADA cabin with a roll in shower. Complimentary laundry, smart TVs, self check in by QR code, pet friendly rate available. No rates published |
| Duke's Slickrock Campground | 435 542 3235 | 275 East Highway 24. Pull through, back in and trailer sites, tent areas, showers and restrooms, a 24 hour coin laundromat, campfire pits and free wifi. Luxury cabins with a full bathroom and two queen beds, open year round. Rates vary by demand |
| Hanksville RV and Marine | 435 210 6673 | 20 North 100 East. RV park plus marine services and decontamination, useful if you are towing a boat to Lake Powell. Open 9am to 5pm. No site count or rates published |
The dinosaur quarry
The Hanksville Burpee Dinosaur Quarry sits about 10 miles north and west on Cow Dung Road, the last stretch gravel with high clearance recommended in wet conditions. Morrison Formation sediments about 150 million years old holding sauropod, stegosaur, theropod and ornithischian remains. Free guided tours run seasonally, led by Burpee Museum paleontologists, about 30 minutes, with dates varying each year.
No fees. You may visit outside tour times. Bring water, there is none on site, and cell service is limited to nonexistent.
Wolverton Mill
A 1921 mill built in the Henry Mountains, since restored and relocated to the Bureau of Land Management office at 380 South 100 West, right in town. Free, with accessible flush toilets, a drinking fountain, a picnic table and an interpretive panel.
Five minutes and no driving. The best free stop in Hanksville and almost nobody mentions it.
The Mars station you cannot visit
The Mars Desert Research Station sits just west of town and people drive out expecting a tour. There isn't one. The town's own page states that the station does not allow visitors or offer tours, and its operator states that public visits or touring is not allowed at any time, and that approaching the station or interacting with crews outside it is not allowed for any reason.
You may drive past on Cow Dung Road and look from where parking is permitted. That is the whole visit.
Applies to all three
The Sunday and winter problem
One sentence from the Park Service covers more planning trouble out here than anything else: many local businesses are closed during the winter off season, as well as on Sundays year round.
Read it literally. A Sunday arrival in November can mean a closed restaurant, a closed grocery and a closed visitor information office in a town of two hundred people. The park itself never closes, and neither does Highway 24 through it, so the day is not lost. But plan it around a picnic rather than a dinner reservation.
Two workarounds worth knowing. Groceries are year round in Loa, 28 miles west, and there is a small year round grocery in Hanksville, so stock up on the way in rather than on the day. And the Aquarius Inn in Bicknell and Duke's cabins in Hanksville both publish year round operation, which is more than most Torrey properties do.
There is exactly one bank branch in Wayne County according to federal records, and it is in Loa, not in any of these three towns. That says nothing about ATMs in gas stations and motels, which we could not confirm either way. Bring some cash.
Straight answers
Which town questions
What is the closest town to Capitol Reef National Park?
Torrey, at 11 miles west of the visitor center according to the Park Service. Bicknell is 18 miles west and Hanksville 37 miles east. You will see 8 miles quoted for Torrey on state tourism pages, which may be measuring to a park boundary rather than the building. We use the park's own figure.
Is it worth staying in Bicknell instead of Torrey?
If Torrey is full, yes, and the extra seven miles is about ten minutes. Bicknell also has the only medical care in the area, the Wayne Community Health Center, with a pharmacy and dental care. What it does not have, on the Park Service's own lists, is fuel or a grocery store, so fill up in Torrey.
Is Hanksville too far to stay for Capitol Reef?
For a park focused trip, yes, at 37 miles each way. It makes sense if you are linking Goblin Valley, Factory Butte, Lake Powell or Moab into the same trip, or in deep winter when its 4,300 foot elevation gives milder weather than Torrey at 6,800.
How far apart are the three towns?
No official source publishes town to town distances. Working from the Park Service's distances to the visitor center, Torrey to Bicknell is roughly 7 miles and Torrey to Hanksville roughly 48. Treat those as arithmetic rather than published figures.
Where can I buy groceries?
The Park Service says groceries are available seasonally in Torrey, year round in Loa 28 miles west, and that there is a small year round grocery store in Hanksville. It does not list a grocery in Bicknell. On a winter or Sunday trip, shop in Loa on the way through.
Where is the nearest medical care?
The Wayne Community Health Center in Bicknell, 128 South 300 West, on 435 425 3744, which the Park Service names as offering basic medical and dental care and a pharmacy. It is 18 miles west of the visitor center. There is no hospital in any of these three towns.
Is there a bank or ATM?
Federal records list exactly one bank office in all of Wayne County, in Loa. None of the three towns has a bank branch. Whether any gas station or motel runs an ATM we could not confirm from any official source, so carry some cash.
Which town is best in winter?
Hanksville, on elevation alone. It sits at 4,300 feet against Torrey's 6,800 and Bicknell's 7,000, a difference of about 2,500 feet, and that shows up in snow and overnight temperatures. The tradeoff is 37 miles to the visitor center each way on a road that stays low and open.
Distances and services come from the National Park Service local services page, elevations from Wayne County, populations from the 2020 census as tabulated by the University of Utah's Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, and bank data from the FDIC, all checked September 2026. Property details are what each business publishes about itself.
Next step
Pick the town, then pick the bed
For most people this is a short decision and the answer is Torrey. The other two exist for good reasons, and now you know what they are.
Also useful: the town itself, getting here and camping instead and the planning hub. Or who writes this site.