The riding around St. George and nearby Hurricane isn't as known as Moab for mountain biking and off-road, but there is plenty to be had, and it's great! St. George is 10 miles from the Arizona border, and less than two hours from Las Vegas or the Grand Canyon. Hurricane is right by Zion national park. It's obvious the area offers great potential for vacations and the mountain biking is well worth a long drive to get there.
Oldtown downtown Saint George sadly doesn't really exist anymore - it seems to have been mostly replaced with newer buildings, and most of the locals and visitors seem to be pulled to the malls and strips at the three exits.
Pick up a free copy of Where It's @ at kiosks all over town for local music and movie listings, and a not-very-complete guide of where to eat.
Red Rock was definitely our bike shop of choice. It seemed to be the friendliest, most geniune shop in town. The best part of the shop was that it was a maze of rooms in two connected old buildings.
Kind of a generic shop that carries generic brands - Schwinn and Cannondale. They did have a shockingly large collection of USGS maps for sale.
I think that this might be a newer shop. It was hard to tell what the shop was like. They seemed to have a lot of downhiller gear, but weren't limited to that.
For my tastes, the dive motels along St. George Blvd. are the way to go. They are cheap, have character, and you can walk to plenty of places to eat. To get to these motels, take the St. George Blvd. exit and head West into a vaguely defined downtown. There are cool old motels along the boulevard, mostly on the north side of the street.
If you'd rather pay more and stay in something newer, there are plenty of hotels surrounding all three exits in St. George. They are all generic mid-priced (for my cheap ass) hotels, if that's what you need. The only reason i'd stay at any of the exit-huggers is that they have free wireless internet, and the dive hotels probably aren't even sure what that means.
I've only been to St. George once now, and didn't get to explore everything. If anyone knows of any good camping or Bed & Breakfasts, please tell me. If you run a B&B in St. George or the surrounding area, please send me your info (name, address, phone, prices, and i'd love a picture) and i'll post it here.
This is THE local breakfast spot. Everyone recommended it to us, and we had to wait 15 minutes to get a table. The menu was impressive, almost overwhelming, but the atmosphere not as cozy as we had expected - the floors were carpeted and the furnishings felt like they were from a hotel supplier. We ultimately found our food to be good, but also less than we were expecting. Our dishes tasted simple and not well thought out.
The problem seems to be that there isn't much of an alternative. The only other breakfasts we could find (besides the chain crap around each highway exit) were at the little independent coffee shops.
75 N. Main St.
The Bean Scene was a cool little coffee shop with a handful of breakfast options too. We didn't have time to eat there, and just grabbed a coffee.
511 E. St. George Blvd.Charlie's is like a dairy queen that isn't as cold and generic, but still somehow ends up not feeling that much better. The floats use soft-serve ice cream. Some people like that, but that's completely wrong in my opinion. They also have subs, chili, and more, but we didn't try anything savory.
287 W. Saint George Blvd.
(just 'cause they call it a diner don't mean there's any chrome)
One local we talked to recommended it, saying, "I'm sure you've seen it, but didn't even think about going inside," and that's exactly how we felt. It was definitely the locals hangout, but had plenty of tourists, too. The staff was friendly, and the food geniune. The decor was over-the-top kitschy, but perfect for the place.
531 N. Bluff St.It's amazing that a Utah desert town has a great little spot like this. This was definitely our favorite spot in town. The menu includes Italian, Greek, & Middle Eastern cuisine, like fresh eggplant lasagna, phylo spinach pie, Italian subs, chicken and pork kabobs, 4 cheese ravioli, salads, gyros, felafel, hand-made meatball sandwiches, desserts, and more.
11am-9pm Monday through Saturday
1013 East 700 South St.
This is one of the most genuine little Mexican places i've been to. I absolutely loved it. I wish we could have stayed longer and eaten here again! Don't expect fine dining, but you'll feel like your stopping at a roadside place on an imaginary road-trip to Mexico.
515 S. Bluff St. just south of St. George Blvd.I wanted to eat here, but we'll just have to wait until next time.
144 W Brigham Rd. St. 16