Things to Do in Cedar City, Utah

Cedar City is a college and festival town of about 42,000 at 5,846 feet on I-15 in Southern Utah. Its calendar is built around the Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival and Southern Utah University, and its backyard runs from desert trail systems on the edge of town to Cedar Breaks and Brian Head above 10,000 feet. Kolob Canyons in Zion National Park is 17 miles south. Here are the best things to do in Cedar City, in town and within an easy drive.

Things to do in Cedar City at a glance

• Theater: the Utah Shakespeare Festival, June to early October, plus the free Greenshow most summer evenings.
• Free stops: the Southern Utah Museum of Art, the Greenshow, the Parowan Gap petroglyphs.
• History: Frontier Homestead State Park Museum.
• Trails near town: Iron Hills, Thunderbird Gardens, the Coal Creek trail and Three Peaks.
• Up the mountain: Cedar Breaks, Brian Head, Navajo Lake and the bristlecone pines along SR-14.
• Day trips: Kolob Canyons in Zion, about 17 miles south, and Bryce Canyon, roughly 80 miles away.

1. See a play at the Utah Shakespeare Festival

The Utah Shakespeare Festival is the reason Cedar City calls itself Festival City. It was founded in 1961, won the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 2000, and runs a summer-to-fall season of Shakespeare, musicals and other plays. The 2026 season, its 65th, ran June 18 through October 3. Shows are staged at the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts on the SUU campus, which has three theaters: the open-air Engelstad Shakespeare Theatre (about 921 seats), the indoor Randall L. Jones Theatre (about 770) and the Anes Studio Theatre (up to 200). Popular shows sell out, so book ahead.

2. Catch the free Greenshow

You don't need a ticket for the Greenshow. During the summer season it runs about 30 minutes, Monday through Saturday at 7:10 p.m., on the Ashton Family Greenshow Commons next to the theaters, with music, dancing and performers in costume. It's one of the easiest free evenings in town.

3. Visit the Southern Utah Museum of Art

The Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA) is on the SUU campus near the festival theaters, and admission is free. Its permanent collection of about 2,000 objects includes a gallery of work by Utah painter Jimmie F. Jones, and its exhibits rotate through the year.

4. Walk downtown Main Street

Downtown Cedar City runs along Main Street, a few blocks from campus and the festival, with locally owned shops, galleries, coffee and restaurants. It's the natural place to eat before a show, and Main Street Park hosts the summer Renaissance Faire. Frontier Homestead State Park Museum is on Main Street too.

5. Tour Frontier Homestead State Park Museum

This Utah State Parks museum covers Cedar City's pioneer and iron-making history. Its horse-drawn wagon collection dates from 1850 to 1920, and the grounds include historic cabins and a replica blast furnace. Seasonal events include Sheep to Shawl and Iron Mission Days.

6. Ride or hike the trails on the edge of town

• Iron Hills Trail System: 16 trails and more than 30 miles near town, designated a National Recreation Trail, from easy rides to downhill runs.
• Thunderbird Gardens: twisty, technical singletrack on the edge of the city, reached from 900 North.
• Coal Creek trail: a paved path that follows the creek from town up into Cedar Canyon, good for walking and easy rides.
• Three Peaks Recreation Area: BLM land about 10 miles west with roughly 42 miles of OHV routes, more than 27 miles of mountain bike trails, an equestrian trailhead, disc golf and Rocky Peak Campground.

7. Stand on the rim at Cedar Breaks National Monument

Cedar Breaks National Monument is about 21 to 23 miles east of town, a huge eroded amphitheater with a rim around 10,000 feet. A new visitor contact station opened in August 2024. The monument is an International Dark Sky Park, and rangers run free night-sky programs at Point Supreme in summer. Visitor facilities generally close from mid-October to mid-May.

8. Find the ancient bristlecone pines

• Bristlecone Pine Trail: an easy half-mile loop off SR-14, about 18 miles east of town, out to a viewing platform on the edge of the mountain.
• Twisted Forest Trail: about 0.9 miles out and back, off SR-143 between Brian Head and Cedar Breaks, reached by a dirt road.

9. Drive the Cedar Canyon Scenic Byway (SR-14)

SR-14 climbs east from town through Cedar Canyon into stands of aspen and pine. Navajo Lake, near 9,000 feet, is stocked with rainbow and brook trout, and Navajo Lake Lodge rents small boats. Duck Creek Village and its ponds are a little farther on. In fall, the aspens make this one of the best color drives in the area. You can loop back by heading north on SR-148 past Cedar Breaks and down SR-143 through Parowan Canyon.

10. Spend a day at Brian Head

Brian Head Resort is just north of Cedar Breaks, in a town at about 9,800 feet. In winter it's a ski resort. In summer the lifts serve a downhill mountain bike park, and the cool air is a break from desert heat.

11. See the Parowan Gap petroglyphs

About 16 miles north of Cedar City, by way of SR-130 and Gap Road, the Parowan Gap is a notch in the hills lined with petroglyphs. The main panels stretch about 600 feet along the gap, right off the road, and there's no fee.

12. Day-trip to Zion's Kolob Canyons

The Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park is at I-15 exit 40, about 17 miles south of Cedar City. Its scenic drive climbs into red rock canyons, and the visitor center is right off the freeway. Bryce Canyon is roughly 80 miles away by road.

Cedar City events by season

• Summer: the Shakespeare Festival opens in June; the Utah Midsummer Renaissance Faire fills Main Street Park in mid-July (free admission); the Neil Simon Festival plays at the Heritage Center Theatre; SUU hosts the Utah Summer Games.
• Fall: the festival season ends in early October; the Livestock & Heritage Festival brings the Heritage Sheep Parade, about 1,000 sheep driven down Main Street from Cedar Mountain pastures, plus cowboy poetry and a Dutch oven contest.
• Winter: skiing at Brian Head; Cedar Breaks' visitor facilities close for the season.
• Spring: the trails near town dry out first, while the high country stays snowy into May.

Living near all of this

For people who live here, these are everyday options, not vacation plans: trails on the edge of town, theater in summer, and the mountains less than an hour away. If you're thinking about a move, read the pros and cons of living in Cedar City, browse Cedar City homes for sale, or look at homes with acreage and homes with views. Cedar City homes sold for a median of $387,200 in the latest completed month; see the Cedar City market stats for trends. Nearby towns include Enoch, Parowan and Brian Head.