If you're interested in astronomy, or are simply a city dweller craving an undisturbed view of the night sky, then Clear Sky Resorts in Bryce Canyon is the perfect place for you.
Located just 15 minutes from the breathtaking national park, this hotel proves why Utah is famous for its stars.
The Beehive State is a world leader in dark sky preservation with 23 accredited Dark Sky Places, meaning it has some of the darkest skies in the US.
These designated places include national parks like Bryce Canyon, Arches and Canyonlands, as well as cities such as Moab, which is located about 250 miles northeast closer to the Colorado border.
For an unaccustomed visitor, the darkness takes a bit of getting used to, but reaps the most wonderful results.
What makes Clear Sky Resorts special is that guests stay in so called 'sky domes' with floor-to-ceiling panoramic glass.
This means going to sleep gazing up at the Milky Way (and a shooting star or two if you're lucky) and waking up to views of the resort's private and secluded 80-acre canyon.
Driving up to the hotel is quite the spectacle, as a sea of domes appear to come out of nowhere just off the Scenic Byway 12, a 124-mile-long stretch of road offering a smorgasbord of dazzling landscapes.
The domes blend into the rock formations, as if they too are part of the ancient landscape.
In fact, the resort opened in Bryce Canyon last summer, marking the first Clear Sky hotel in Utah alongside another location in Valle, Arizona, which opened in 2021.
I visited the hotel in November, which meant that it got dark at around 4.30pm (in mid-summer, sunset can be as late as 9pm).
While this meant getting up a little earlier to enjoy a stunning sunrise at one of Bryce Canyon's countless viewpoints, it also meant a greater opportunity to enjoy the expansive night sky.
For guests curious to learn more about what they're seeing, the hotel offers nightly stargazing telescope tours, which give a deep dive into constellations and celestial bodies.
While this costs $15 per person, there are also plenty of complimentary activities on offer.
These include 'Discovery Walks' of the surrounding area, campfires dotted around the property where guests can roast s'mores, and three different daily yoga practices led by Matt, an experienced instructor, in a special dome.
Matt also leads an evening sound bath ($15 per person) which will leave you really feeling as if you have entered onto a different celestial plane. Horseback riding is also available during the summer months, and there are lots of kid-friendly activities too.
The rooms (and more importantly the beds) are spacious, with everything you need for a comfortable stay, and there are different sized domes available sleeping two, four or eight.
The full glass paneling of the dome makes keeping the temperature right a bit of a challenge, but the AC system just about does the trick (if with a little tinkering).
The resort also has its own onsite restaurant, Sky Nova Bar & Grill, which is a welcome feature given the limited dining options nearby, serving dishes such as Sweet Chili Miso Glazed Salmon and a 16 oz New York Strip steak as well as specialty cocktails.
While the food is good, it is only here that it feels like the resort may be trying to keep up with the theme at the expense of the experience.
One of the biggest glass dome restaurants in the world (with a 28-foot floor-to-ceiling panoramic glass wall), it at times felt cavernous and even a tad gloomy.
It is indisputable, though, that the hotel makes for an ideal base for exploring the staggering landscapes on its doorstep — and other national parks a little further afield like Zion and Capitol Reef.
Bryce Canyon is famous for its hoodoos, which are thin spires of rock formed through erosion from water and ice over millions of years.
These formations are astonishing up close — in the kind of vibrant shades of reds, oranges and pinks which simply cannot be captured in a photo.
Standard entry to the national park costs $35 for a private vehicle, and there are endless vistas and hiking trails to explore with a range of difficulty levels.
For those craving a higher energy excursion, ROAM Outdoor Adventure Co. offer a huge variety of activities, including UTV tours, canyoneering and slot canyon hikes.
The adventure company, which has four other locations across southern Utah, opened a new base in Bryce Canyon earlier this year.
I opted for the UTV tour in the Bryce Canyon backcountry, where you can off-road in your own UTV (or be driven by a guide if you'd prefer), while marveling at wide-open desert views.
This tour promises to show 'the kind of backcountry scenery most visitors never get to see,' and it certainly delivers on that promise.
On the two-and-a-half hour tour (which costs $119 per person before tax) we only came across a handful of other people including a real-life cowboy and his cattle.
The tour ends at the 'The Grand to Bryce Overlook' viewing point, a panoramic vista of towering cliffs and the confluence of several major canyons. This view alone is well worth the cost of the trip.
But the highlight of the tour has to be the guides, who not only know absolutely everything there is to know about the area, but their genuine passion for its history and unique geography makes for a really special experience.
The staff at Clear Sky Resorts too were helpful and knowledgeable about all the wonders that Bryce Canyon has to offer.
It is a nature lover's paradise and a haven for thrill seekers, which only gets better after dark.
Sky Dome rates start at $525 a night plus taxes and fees. Discounts up to 25 percent apply for early bird reservations with multiple night stays and up to 40 percent discounts apply for multiple night stay in the winter off season from December 1 to February 28.
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