The Grand Canyon

Overview:

One of the great­est and most sweep­ing nat­ur­al won­ders on the plan­et, the incred­i­ble Grand Canyon with its famous rocky tow­er­ing cliffs, incred­i­ble vis­tas and the beau­ty of the Col­orado Riv­er is one of the most stun­ning sights on the plan­et – with it’s incred­i­ble view­ing points, amaz­ing day hikes and the chance to explore this immense nat­ur­al attrac­tion by air, boat or mule mak­ing it a tru­ly unique and awe-inspir­ing won­der of the world.  

Found in the North­west cor­ner of the state of Ari­zona, the Great Grand Canyon is the stuff of leg­ends and stretch­es for some 277 miles and offers ele­va­tion gains of 8,000 feet that plum­met all the way down to the stun­ning Col­orado riv­er below. Offi­cial­ly made up of sev­en dis­tinct dis­tricts – with the post­card pic­ture ele­ments and most pop­u­lar parts of the Grand Canyon being at its North and South Rim, which are eas­i­ly accessed from the neigh­bour­ing major towns of Phoenix and Las Vegas, with these rims being where you will find the best view­points, the start of the major hik­ing trails and dur­ing peak times mil­lions of tourists who come to view this incred­i­ble sight.  

Acces­si­ble by both a scenic train ride and con­sid­ered a major stop on the some of the great­est road trips on the plan­et – includ­ing being one of the best places to get your kicks on route 66 — the incred­i­ble Grand Canyon is also an archae­o­log­i­cal par­adise, being home to mil­lions of unique fos­sil records that have helped chart the his­to­ry and ori­gin of the plan­et. 

Although the exact ori­gin and cre­ation of this incred­i­ble Canyon remains unknown, this doesn’t detract from the incred­i­ble and immense stun­ning views found at the canyon, – with the chance to look out over miles of stun­ning scenery and explore the won­der from a series of dif­fer­ent view­points, that par­tic­u­lar­ly light up dur­ing sun­rise and sun­set, com­bined with some of the best hikes, scenic heli­copter rides and raft­ing on the plan­et undoubt­ed­ly mak­ing the incred­i­ble Grand Canyon one of the most stun­ning and nat­ur­al won­ders on the plan­et.  

 Where:

The stun­ning hun­dreds of miles of the Grand Canyon is found in the Unit­ed States of Amer­i­ca in the North West of the Ari­zona and on the bor­der of Neva­da – with Phoenix and Las Vegas both being the biggest towns clos­est to it.  

 Getting there:

Hav­ing made your way to the Unit­ed States there are a range of options to get to the Grand Canyon – includ­ing one of the most scenic train jour­neys in the world and the option of vis­it­ing the Grand Canyon as part of an incred­i­ble road trip adven­ture across the Unit­ed States.  

For the train which is rumoured to run on reusable veg­etable oil, you’ll need to get your­self to the town of Williams Ari­zona – and then look for the Grand Canyon Rail­way sign – with this train depart­ing one a day from Williams and tak­ing you through 60 miles of incred­i­ble scenery of the Mojave desert and moun­tains to the doorstop of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon – for an incred­i­ble and relax­ing expe­ri­ence – it’s also a great way to trav­el onwards to Williams form the Grand Canyon for those of you tak­ing the Amtrack across the states.  

For those self-dri­ving and road trip­ping – the Grand Canyon makes an incred­i­ble high­light dur­ing Route 66 or on a road trip on the west coast of Amer­i­ca between Vegas and LA – it’s also incred­i­bly easy to reach after you’ve sort­ed your rental car just head down US High­way 180 for the SOuht Rim and fol­low the signs or the AZ 67 for the North rim – just be warned that the North Rim is closed dur­ing win­ter – from our side a road trip to the canyon is the best option as it gives you the flex­i­bil­i­ty to explore all of the incred­i­ble won­der at your own best and the scenic roads on the her­mit dri­ve and desert view dri­ve are some of the best in the world.  

Along­side Dri­ving and tak­ing the train, you can also fly to the Grand Canyon – either by heli­copter from Las Vegas as part of a tour – or by get­ting a small char­ter flight to the Grand Canyon Nation­al Park Air­port from Ari­zona of Vegas nation­al air­port or head­ing to the Pull­man airstrip in Flagstaff and then eit­er dri­ving or grab­bing a taxi to the entrance of the south Rim – while this route is per­haps eas­i­est and time effi­cient it’s also cost­ly and if pos­si­ble we’d advise either the train or a self dri­ve trip as your first option.  

Once at the Canyon – giv­en it’s size you have mul­ti­ple ways of get­ting around to vis­it the four rims, you can either self dri­ve or take one of the many shut­tle bus routes that will fery you not only to the best view­points along the her­mit drove and desert view dri­ve from the south­ern rim, but also to the North Rim when it’s open between May and Novem­ber – with these shut­tle bus­es all run­ning from bus stops found in the Canyon Vil­lage and not requir­ing fees – they are espe­cial­ly use­ful for those who take on the rim to rim chal­lenge and want to get back to their start­ing rim.  

 You also have the option of explor­ing the canyon by heli­copter and along the Col­orado riv­er by boat and by raft on a range of tours – and of course by either mule or on foot – with the Grand Canyon offer­ing some of worlds great­est day hikes for a tru­ly incred­i­ble way to explore this stun­ning won­der of the world.  

Best time to Visit:

The Grand Canyon is unsur­pris­ing­ly a major hotspot for vis­i­tors – result­ing in major crowds build­ing up dur­ing the sum­mer months and the school sum­mer peri­od which can take away from your enjoy­ment at the won­der. It’s also sit­u­at­ed in a desert and gets the bulk of the warm Ari­zona and Neva­da sun­shine which at times can make it uncom­fort­able hot espe­cial­ly dur­ing the sum­mer months – and for this rea­son we’d advise vis­it­ing in June – July which is both peak tourist and heat sea­son.  

On account of the snow­fall that falls in the North Rim dur­ing win­ter that makes both the roads and the North Rim side of the Canyon dan­ger­ous, the North Rim oper­ates on a sea­son­al basis  — being closed between Novem­ber and May each year, which takes away not only one of the best spots to view the incred­i­ble won­der but the option of both raft­ing and doing the Rim to rim hike.  

So if pos­si­ble we’d also advise against vis­it­ing between the months of Novem­ber and May – although you will find the south­ern rim is open year round includ­ing the Grand view point, bright angel trail head and the Desert view dri­ve – which still gives you an immense Grand Canyon expe­ri­ence and offers incred­i­ble views.  

There­fore in our view the best time to vis­it the Grand Canyon would be in the month of Sep­tem­ber – when the weath­er will be cool­er, the hoards of tourists will have dis­ap­peared and the North Rim will be open giv­ing you the best chance to take on as many of the explo­ration activ­i­ties you desire from the guide below.  

Explore:

With it’s stun­ning rock for­ma­tion, deep gorges and the immense sparkling Col­orado Riv­er, the Grand Canyon is a true won­der – and as it stretch­es for more than 250 miles and drops down more than a mile there are plen­ty of options to explore the canyon, from gen­tle and stun­ning view­points, to chal­leng­ing hikes, to adven­tur­ous raft­ing of the riv­er and even from the heav­ens above the Grand Canyon can be explored by every­one.  

The nation­al Park area is divid­ed into two main sec­tion – the North and South Rim – with the East and West rim, which offi­cial­ly sit out­side the nation­al park area, com­bin­ing to make the whole of the Grand Canyon.  

There is no doubt that it’s the South rim which is the most pop­u­lar, acces­si­ble and fea­tures the best views and beau­ty of the incred­i­ble won­der — with the tow­er­ing red rock views, the famous post­card images and eas­i­ly acces­si­ble view­points and activ­i­ties mak­ing the south rim our rec­om­men­da­tion to begin your jour­ney through the Grand Canyon. 

The South Rim:

Hailed as the real Grand Canyon and undoubt­ed­ly the images you’ll have seen on post­cards and shows, the South Rim of the Grand Canyon is also the most acces­si­ble part of the Canyon being a half day dri­ve from the major cities of Phoenix and Ari­zona.  

Start­ing from the entrance – eas­i­ly known as the South Entrance – the South Rim opens up to either the Her­mit Road an incred­i­ble scenic dri­ve – or to the mul­ti­ple main base view­ing points which offer dif­fer­ent angles and per­spec­tives of the won­der, includ­ing the stun­ning Math­er view­point and Grand­view point – two absolute­ly incred­i­ble view­ing spots that allow you to soak in the com­plete majes­tic scale and beau­ty of the Grand Canyon in front of you and peer deep into the Grand Canyon basin and the Col­orado view below – with either of these view­points mak­ing for stun­ning sun­rise or sun­set view­points of the Canyon.  

You’ll also find the South Rim being the start­ing point for some of the incred­i­ble Grand Canyon Trails — includ­ing the bright head trail, the south rim trail and the south to north rim trail which all pass through the incred­i­ble view spot of Ooh Aah point – mak­ing the south rim the best spot to begin explor­ing the canyon for the avid hik­ers who want to explore deep­er into the Canyon.  

With its stun­ning views and easy acces­si­bil­i­ty, the South Rim is not only the place where you’ll find the most crowds, but also a spot for the begin­ning of a series of Grand canyon Explo­ration tours – includ­ing the famous Mule rides, heli­copter rides and the Col­orado raft­ing rides – which com­bined with the stun­ning views and easy acces­si­bil­i­ty makes the South Rim our start­ing pick to being explor­ing the Grand Canyon.  

 North Rim

Although 10 miles in dis­tance from the South Rim and view­able from the many south rim view­points, the North Point can take a whole day to reach from the South Rim main entrance – as there’s the small mat­ter of cross­ing the Col­orado Riv­er involved. 

For this rea­son – and the fact that you have to take a 200 mile detour around half of the cir­cum­fer­ence of the Grand Canyon, the North rim is a less pop­u­lar option for the vis­it­ing the won­der. Yet despite its inac­ces­si­bil­i­ty – the North Rim still pro­vides sweep­ing and incred­i­ble views of this incred­i­ble won­der.  

High­er in alti­tude than the south­ern rim b a full thou­sand feet, the North rim is known for it’s ani­mal encoun­ters, includ­ing some aggres­sive squir­rels, and makes a great place to vis­it in the autumn, when the sur­round­ing trees com­bined with the beau­ty of the canyon to make a stun­ning-coloured kalei­do­scope spec­ta­cle for incred­i­ble views.  

Despite being open only between the months of May – Octo­ber on account of heavy snow­fall and being less acces­si­ble than the south­ern rim, the North Rim when open still offers all the delights of the South, with the walk­ing trails in par­tic­u­lar being spe­cial here on account of their remote­ness and rugged­ness – as well of course as the tra­di­tion­al Mule rides, heli­copter trips and raft­ing expe­ri­ences.  

The north also pro­vides a series of stun­ning view­points in the form of the stun­ning Angels Win­dow and the less­er known Cape Roy­al which pro­vides incred­i­ble panoram­ic views of the great canyon allow­ing you to stare for miles at its sheer beau­ty – with the North side although less vis­it­ed pro­vid­ing a much more authen­tic and natur­ist expe­ri­ence of the Canyon – offer­ing explores a chance to enjoy this incred­i­ble won­der in a calmer and qui­eter envi­ron­ment as nature intend­ed – with the North Rim being the best pick for those who wish to under­stand and delve deep­er into the incred­i­ble beau­ty of the Grand Canyon.  

Grand Canyon East Rim (Letchworth State Park)

While the North and South Rims com­bine to make up the most vis­it­ed sec­tions of the park, there is also the stun­ning Grand Canyon East and the Grand Canyon West (Huala­pai Indi­an Reser­va­tion) Rims to vis­it – with the Grand Canyon east being not only for its stun­ning views – but also one of the most scenic and most pho­tographed areas of the park in the stun­ning Horse­shoe Bend.  

Offer­ing one of the few chances to grab pho­tos of the Canyon with the full beau­ty of the Col­orado Riv­er in the back­ground – espe­cial­ly at sun­set – the Horse­shoe bend is an absolute must see at the Canyon – as it the stun­ning Lit­tle Col­orado Riv­er Trib­al Park an incred­i­ble spot at the Grand Canyon which allows you to walk and pho­to­graph the red cliffs of the won­der in all their glo­ry.  

Although some­times over­looked and a lit­tle hard to access, the Grand Canyon East Rim offers tru­ly stun­ning and spe­cial views and one of the best sights and pho­to spots in the whole of the Canyon – and real­ly shouldn’t be missed by any explor­er.  

Grand Canyon West Rim (Hualapai Indian Reservation)

The west Rim of the Grand Canyon Huala­pai Indi­an Reser­va­tion (also known as Grand Canyon West) sits out­side the Grand Canyon Nation­al park and is locat­ed on the Trib­al land of the Huala­pai Indi­an Tribes – a group that has called this part of the coun­try home for Gen­er­a­tions.  

Again offer­ing incred­i­ble views and view­points of the won­der­ful Canyon, the West Rim is known as an adven­ture spot for the whole of the Canyon with the Huala­pai Indi­an Tribe known to have part­ner­ships with Vegas Casi­nos to fer­ry peo­ple back and forth between the rim – and the west rim known for it’s enjoy­able and incred­i­ble expe­ri­ence of allow­ing explor­ers to drift down the Col­lore­do riv­er from this side of the rim in boats and Pon­toons for an up close and adren­a­line includ­ing expe­ri­ence.  

Along­side this, the west rim is known not only as a pop­u­lar heli­copter spot due to its sheer beau­ty and the mul­ti­ple land­ing zones which allow easy access from Vegas – but also for the incred­i­ble Grand Canyon Sky­walk – a Glass Sky­bridge which allows you to stroll out above the beau­ty of the Canyon and stare down into the steep Gorge below for tru­ly incred­i­ble views.  

 Although the sky­bridge comes with con­tro­ver­sy – being some­thing of an eye­sore – a trip to the West rim is eas­i­ly done as a day trip from Vegas and offers a chance to get your adren­a­line pump­ing over the Canyon as well as stun­ning and unique views of this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.  

While a trip to each of these Rims offer incred­i­ble views and are a tru­ly incred­i­ble way to explore the Grand Canyon – they also con­tain a range unique and adven­tur­ous activ­i­ties and ways to explore them to allow you to tru­ly immerse your­self in this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.  

In no par­tic­u­lar­ly order, the below are our top things to do and see at the stun­ning Grand Canyon to explore, dis­cov­er and tru­ly appre­ci­ate this stun­ning won­der: 

Hiking trails:

Although the Grand Canyon stretch­es for hun­dred of miles, 99% of the vis­i­tors choose to stay at the incred­i­ble view­points on the Rim, with only 1% tak­ing on some of the amaz­ing hik­ing trails that led you deep in to the base of the Grand Canyon.  

With mul­ti­ple hik­ing option and hun­dreds of miles of well defined and scenic trails to explore which all allow you an inti­mate expe­ri­ence away from the thou­sands of vis­i­tors that gath­er on view­ing points of the fours rims, we’d high­ly rec­om­mend tak­ing on a trekking chal­lenge at the Grand Canyon, with the below 5 being our picks that will both chal­lenge you and allow you to get incred­i­ble and sel­dom seen views of this incred­i­ble won­der: 

Rim Trail

Start­ing with the gen­tlest of the walks, the Rim tail is exact­ly as it sounds – lead­ing you from the main view­ing and hik­ing point at the south­ern rim known as the South Kaibab Trail­head across a well-defined trail that leads you to numer­ous view­points includ­ing the incred­i­ble Math­er view­point and Grand­view point – which allow you absolute­ly stun­ning views of the Grand Canyon in all its beau­ty par­tic­u­lar­ly at sun­set.  

Con­sid­ered one of the best walks at the canyon, the Rim trail extends past these main view­points to the great spot of Her­mits rest – and then if explor­ers wish all the way round to the North­ern Rim – some 200 miles away, giv­ing you the chance to walk half of the entire cir­cum­fer­ence of the Canyon, although you’ll prob­a­bly need a few days to rest up in between.  

With stun­ning views, a well-defined trail and being eas­i­ly acces­si­ble the Rim trail from the South Kaibab trail­head to Her­mits Rest and back again is a tru­ly stun­ning walk eas­i­ly achiev­able in a few hours that lets you soak in all the won­der of the Grand Canyon, and one that we’d rec­om­mend for both day trip­pers and mul­ti day stays at the won­der.  

Skeleton Point Trail

A trail that lets you go deep into the Canyon – the Skele­ton Point trail again starts from South Kaibab point, but unlike the rim trail you’ll find your­self wind­ing down the many twist­ing path of the canyon fol­low­ing a route that was cre­at­ed in the roar­ing 1920’s by dyna­mite.  

Beg­ging with stun­ning views – espe­cial­ly if you take the trek on at sun­rise, you’ll find your­self going deep­er and deep­er into the Canyon with more of the Col­orado Riv­er and the stun­ning gorges emerg­ing until you come upon the fab­u­lous and one of the best view­ing points in the whole of the won­der in the Ooh Aah Point.  

Offer­ing incred­i­ble views, you’ll need to pause here at the view­point to take it all in, before con­tin­u­ing down the trail – which winds on a lit­tle bit more past jagged rocks and stun­ning cliffs until you come to the stun­ning Skele­ton Points – where more scenic van­tage points await you – with the view of the canyon, the riv­er below and the gorge infornt being sim­ply mes­meris­ing.  

You’ll need to stop for a minute here to take it all in – and then we’d advise tak­ing it a slow and soft pace and head­ing all the way back up the cliff to the south­ern rim – with the whole jour­ney there and back tak­ing rough­ly 5–6 hours, mak­ing for a per­fect hike into this incred­i­ble won­der.  

For those who don’t wish to hike, or who may the trip back up a lit­tle daunt­ing and steep – you also have the option to go back in time and com­bine this trip with anoth­er of our favourite expe­ri­ences a the canyon by tak­ing a mule down to the bot­tom of the canyon as part of a guid­ed tour – just be sure not to star­tle the mule giv­en the lack of bar­ri­ers on this trail.  

Havasu Falls Hike

Found between the Huala­pai Indi­an Reser­va­tion and the South­ern rim the lit­tle known Hava­su Canyon is still home to native Amer­i­cans and the Hava­su­pai Indi­ans and is known as one of the most gor­geous and lush places in the whole of the canyon, with the famous lime­stone rock and gorges giv­ing way to five stun­ning emer­ald water­falls that whose beau­ty will leave you breath­less.  

While the Hava­su Falls are them­selves tru­ly stun­ning, they are also acces­si­ble as part of the incred­i­ble Hava­su Canyon Hike – one of the best 2 day treks on the plan­et – and for which you’ll need to get your­self to Huala­pai Hill­top on the west side of the canyon and begin hik­ing for 2 miles to reach them.  

As you mar­vel at the beau­ty of the falls, you can then con­tin­ue your trek onwards towards the Hava­su Canyon and after a fur­ther 10 miles you’ll come upon the stun­ning canyon – com­plete with a tow­er­ing water­fall that seems almost out of place giv­en the rocky ter­rain and gorges of the Great Canyon. As you stop and take in it’s immense beau­ty you’ll also notice the emer­ald like qual­i­ties of the water flow­ing into the pool below – which makes for both an incred­i­ble place to take a swim and also stun­ning pho­tos.  

Giv­en the length of the hike, you will be required to grab a camp­ing per­mit or stay in a canyon lodge to begin your hike – regard­less of the time you start (park rangers are insis­tent on this for your safe­ty)  — but the incred­i­ble beau­ty and unique­ness of both the Hava­su Falls and the Hava­su canyon makes for one of the great­est hikes on the plan­et and an incred­i­ble way to explore some of the secret beau­ties of the great canyon.  

Bright Angel Hiking Trail

The most pop­u­lar hike at the Canyon – and for good rea­son, the stun­ning Bright angel hik­ing trail takes you down from the top of the south rim and the Grand­view point down mul­ti­ple zig zags and cross back to the stun­ning Ooh Aah Point and then down some 3,000 feet to one lev­el of the Valley’s stun­ning Bright Angel Camp­ground – for a hike and expe­ri­ence like no oth­er that lets you tru­ly appre­ci­ate the beau­ty of the Grand Canyon.  

A hike that takes at min­i­mum two days for safe­ty and is incred­i­ble well marked both at its entrance and down its path – the bright angel trail­head offers mul­ti­ple scenic spots, that can also serve as places to turn back if you’re short on time, sta­mi­na or if the weath­er turns back – with the first being the Upper tun­nel 15 min­utes town which serves as the first view­ing point and the sec­ond being the low­er tun­nel – which is just past the first rest hut at 2 miles down – from here you’ll then jour­ney down a well defined but jagged path next to the great cliffs of the canyon, with the stun­ning Col­orado riv­er open­ing up to your right as you descend into the won­der.  

For those who choose to take on the full hike – which we’d cer­tain­ly rec­om­mend if your sched­ule allows – after around 6 hours of hik­ing and allow­ing for many many scenic pho­to stops, you’ll even­tu­al­ly come to the stun­ning bright angel camp­ground – for which you’ll need a per­mit – and which sits on the val­ley floor.  

You can expect basic camp­ing facil­i­ties includ­ing show­ers and water – but we’d advise to bring you own food to the camp­ground and if you’re lucky and you get there before night­fall you’ll be treat­ed to a stun­ning sun­set and incred­i­ble views of the milky way and stars above as you look up into the night sky from the floor of this stun­ning won­der.  

While you also have the option to extend your trip by head­ing to Indi­an Gar­den – giv­ing you the chance to walk along the base of the canyon, you will despite the beau­ty of the val­ley floor have to slow­ly make you way back up the bright angel trail­head – for which we’d advise bud­get­ing 10 hours at least.  

While the hike is not some­thing to be tack­led in a day and does require good sta­mi­na – the incred­i­ble view spots, night sky, sun­set and the beau­ty and achieve­ment of track­ing to the val­ley floor is some­thing that will stay with you for­ev­er and helps make the Bright Angel trail­head one of the best and accom­plished things to do at the Grand Canyon.    

Hike Rim to Rim

The big one, the Rim-to-Rim hike gives you the absolute best of all the Grand Canyon sights as you trav­el from a start­ing rim down to the val­ley floor and back up to the rim on the fol­low­ing side – tra­vers­ing the whole of the incred­i­ble Grand Canyon.  

Upon tak­ing on the hike, you’ll find your­self with a choice of going the 21 miles from the South Kaibab down the Bright angel trail to the val­ley floor below and up the North rim via the North Kaibab Route – a route that we’d rec­om­mend — or in the reverse trail going 24 miles from the north Kaibab route to the val­ley floor and up the bright angel trail to the south­ern rim – pass­ing through mul­ti­ple incred­i­ble van­tage points, the incred­i­ble Col­orado riv­er and wit­ness­ing both sun­rise and sun­set in this immense won­der.  

While doable but not advis­able to trek in a day the hike takes at least 13 hours – with and our strong advice being to break the trek into a 2 day trip with a camp at either the Indi­an gar­den camp­site or the bright angel camp­site both of which require book­ings in advance – as break­ing this trek into two days will not only take the pres­sure off your hik­ing pace, but give you enough time to enjoy the sights and unique­ness of the incred­i­ble expe­ri­ence and sights. 

Tak­ing on this trek – which is not for the light-heart­ed and which requires immense sta­mi­na will also see you take on an ele­va­tion gain of at least 4,000 feet regard­less of your route and will also require decent plan­ning and the right equip­ment – as you’ll be on your own in this immense nat­ur­al wan­der, and any res­cue like­ly requir­ing heli­copters and a hefty bill. 

Yet the hike – which is only avail­able between May and Novem­ber when the North rim is open is unques­tion­ably immense and poten­tial­ly life chang­ing as you get to expe­ri­ence some­thing few oth­ers do, as regard­less of the route you take you’ll trav­el over steep and nar­row trails, along with gen­tle path­ways as you cross zig zagged routes to climb to stun­ning van­tage points and jour­ney over riv­er bridges allow­ing you to go deep into the heart of the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is the grand canyon for an expe­ri­ence you will nev­er for­get.  

Along­side the amaz­ing hik­ing trails, there’s also a vari­ety of oth­er way to expe­ri­ence, view and explore the incred­i­ble Grand Canyon, with the below being some of our absolute top picks to give you the best expe­ri­ence at this incred­i­ble won­der: 

Skywalk: 

Found on the West rim in the Huala­pai Indi­an Reser­va­tion, the Grand Canyon Sky­walk is as close as you can get (at time of writ­ing) to soar­ing over the great won­der, with an incred­i­ble $30 mil­lion glass horse­shoe walk­way allow­ing you to walk 4,000 feet above the great Col­orado Riv­er and the canyon below for sim­ply immense views.  

Although some­what con­tro­ver­sial as the horse­shoe sky­walk pro­trudes out over the Canyon and can be some­thing of an eye­sore if viewed from neigh­bour­ing van­tage points, the sky­walk unques­tion­ably pro­vides stun­ning views – but be warned you’re not allowed cam­eras out on the sky­walk so you’ll have to set­tle for tak­ing in the views your­self and then grab­bing a shot of you against the indoor green screen for your pho­to albums.  

While not rec­om­mend­ed for those with a fear of heights, there’s no doubt that a trip to this archi­tec­tur­al feat pro­vides a tru­ly incred­i­ble view and a unique and fan­tas­tic way to see one of the great won­der of the world.  

Horseshoe bend:

Arguably the most famous of all the view­points the incred­i­ble Horse­shoe bend found on the East Rim is a tru­ly stun­ning spot offer­ing vast views of not only the immense canyon but a stun­ning and scenic bend in the Col­orado Riv­er some thou­sand metre below – that make for immense and stun­ning pho­tos.  

Best viewed at sun­set for tru­ly incred­i­ble pic­tures, we’d advise get­ting here late in the day as the bend has become a real­ly pop­u­lar spot for bus­loads of tour coach­es who can over­crowd the area and take the edge off its beau­ty – plus pro­vide you with long queues to get the famous and incred­i­ble shot of the stun­ning bend.  

Once you arrive at the horse­shoe bend car park, you’ll need to hike for 2 miles or so after arriv­ing at the appro­pri­ate­ly named Horse­shoe bend car, but once you’ve make it over the rel­a­tive­ly gen­tly path you’ll find your­self in of the absolute­ly stun­ning spots of the whole of the Canyon as you sit on the edge of the Canyon and watch the riv­er flow on below against the back­drop of an incred­i­ble sun­set that clos­es anoth­er day at the won­der that is the Great Canyon.  

Drives & Viewpoints: 

There’s no doubt that the Grand Canyon is one of the great road trip won­ders, whether you’re com­ing from the lights of Vegas or the seren­i­ty of Phoenix it makes a great place to include in any road trip – the same can be said for explor­ing the Grand Canyon, with their being mul­ti­ple scenic dri­ves that you can take to tra­verse the cir­cum­fer­ence of the rim and stop off along mul­ti­ple scenic view­points.  

Hermit Road Drive:

The first of these is found at the South­ern Rim, with the nice­ly named Her­mit Road Dri­ve – that takes you along the south­ern rim over the course of sev­en miles by either your own car or by shut­tle bus to the main view­points of the south­ern rim includ­ing the famous Grand­view Point and Math­er view­point mak­ing for a great alter­na­tive for those who want to take in all the view­points of the Canyon but don’t fan­cy a long walk or on days when the weath­er seems too much – with the Her­mit road dri­ve tak­ing you to all the major view­points of the Canyon for a series of absolute­ly stun­ning and spec­tac­u­lar views in an easy and incred­i­bly scenic mini road trip.  

Desert view Drive 

Kick­ing things up a notch and the Desert view dri­ve is an equal­ly spec­tac­u­lar dri­ve – last­ing 3 times as long as the Her­mit dri­ve and clock­ing in at 22 miles, the desert view dri­ve is unsur­pris­ing­ly a dri­ve that gives you views of the desert – stop­ping off at some absolute­ly spec­tac­u­lar view­ing points – includ­ing most of those list­ed below and giv­ing you incred­i­ble views of the rapids and Col­orado Riv­er below where you are able to stop at the many view points and watch the riv­er rush on.  

While only avail­able as a self-dri­ve in the win­ter months and as a shut­tle bus dur­ing the rest of the year the Desert view dri­ve is an incred­i­ble jour­ney along the rim of the Great Canyon giv­ing you some stun­ning views for a tru­ly unique expe­ri­ence.  

Viewpoints:

On both of these dri­ves – or for those who chose to take the long way round with the rim walk from the south­ern rim you’ll come upon a series of stun­ning view­points of the incred­i­ble canyon. While the view­points are all incred­i­ble, the below are our four favourites from these dri­ves and walks to give you the lush­est and incred­i­ble snaps: 

The Grand­view Point —  Per­haps the most famous of the view­points the Grand­view point found close to the south­ern rim, gives you immense panoram­ic shots of the incred­i­ble Canyon and Col­orado riv­er below and is a great place to take in sun­rise – it’ll fill up with tourists as the day goes on so get there ear­ly !. 

Math­er Point Over­look – Close to the vis­i­tor cen­tre, the Math­er point is nor­mal­ly the first view­point that vis­i­tors come upon who vis­it from the South­ern Rim, with the Math­er point offer­ing tru­ly stun­ning shots of the canyon walls and on a clear day you can see the full stretch of the canyon to the North­ern rim for those who come who long eyed cam­eras.  

Moran Point – A view­ing point that you’ll need to dri­ve or walk to, the Moran point is known for the stun­ning views of the Col­orado riv­er – where you can watch peo­ple raft­ing on the stun­ning riv­er below – and as dusk approach­es watch the canyon walls change colour with the sink­ing of the sun for tru­ly incred­i­ble pho­to views.  

Nava­jo Point – Found along the Desert view dri­ve, the Nava­jo point is a great stop for those inter­est­ed in the his­to­ry of the ground canyon, giv­ing not just sweep­ing views of the incred­i­ble canyon but also a series of his­toric watch­tow­ers and cas­tles that once housed the canyons res­i­dents.   

Desert View – the last stop on the desert view dri­ve the desert view gives you a chance to pho­to­graph both the canyon and the Col­orado riv­er from an incred­i­ble van­tage point as well as giv­ing you a shot to look back at the stun­ning entry to the south rim and grab a tru­ly incred­i­ble panoram­ic shot – well worth mak­ing the 22 mile trip out to the view point for !. 

Vis­i­tor Cen­tre – A key stop off for vis­i­tors enter­ing the south­ern rim, the vis­i­tor cen­tre pro­vides a his­tor­i­cal overview of the Grand Canyon as well as a great spot to stock up on gear for those tak­ing a hike and sou­venirs for those on their way out and acts as a gate­way to the south­ern rim view points and trail heads.  

It’s also incred­i­bly close to the Grand Canyon vil­lage – which can serve as a great place to stop and grab some food after com­plet­ing the trails and where after a long day explor­ing the canyon you can find numer­ous lodges to grab a good nights rest.  

Sunrise and Sunset at the Grand Canyon:

Anoth­er absolute­ly incred­i­ble expe­ri­ence is wit­ness­ing the sun both ris­ing and set­ting over the won­der of the Grand Canyon. View­able from all of the rims and down on the trails or the val­ley floors – you’ll find the incred­i­ble canyon light up in a kalei­do­scope of colours, going from brown to red to lime­stone yel­low as the sun ris­es and glow­ing in the sun­set – which makes for fur­ther incred­i­ble views of the great canyon.  

With sun­set best viewed from either the Yava­pai Point or the Grand­view Point and sun­rise from Mather’s point – it’s advised to get there ear­ly for each of the stun­ning spec­ta­cle, as while you won’t face the hordes of tourists bussed in – you’ll get a chance to wit­ness a tru­ly glit­ter­ing sight with the full beau­ty of the canyon on dis­play.  

Rafting / Boat ride on the Colorado River

One for the adven­ture seek­ers glid­ing down the great Col­orado riv­er beneath the great pil­lars of the canyon is a tru­ly awe-inspir­ing and mem­o­rable expe­ri­ence – with there being a range of option to suit explor­ers needs.  

The most com­mon, pop­u­lar and eas­i­est ver­sion is to jump on a tour that on a motorised boat that will see you drift beneath the incred­i­ble waters down the great riv­er giv­ing you plen­ty of pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties and let­ting you appre­ci­ate the true beau­ty of the great riv­er and canyon from the ground lev­el.  

While these boat trips are often includ­ed in grand canyon pack­ages and start from around $200 usd – they often last between an hour to 90 min­utes – giv­ing you but a taste of the true pow­er and adven­ture on the great riv­er.  

So for those who tru­ly fan­cy get­ting their adren­a­line run­ning you have the option of join­ing a guid­ed tour where you will jour­ney through the great riv­er across a series of grade 2–4 rapids as a fast paced adven­ture in one of the world’s most scenic and beau­ti­ful set­tings. Some­thing not for the faint heart­ed you can expect to be accom­pa­nied by some expe­ri­enced guides and be pro­vid­ed with full equip­ment includ­ing a stur­dy out­fit­ter — with these raft­ing trip usu­al­ly fill­ing up months in advance and com­ing in a steep $400 usd and last­ing between one – sev­en days – for a tru­ly incred­i­ble, unique and mem­o­rable expe­ri­ence.  

 Final­ly for those who are fans of the film into the wild, it’s pos­si­ble to recre­ate the expe­ri­ence of raft­ing solo down the riv­er on your own – with a raft­ing lot­tery sys­tem open for peo­ple to apply to grab one of 463 per­mits to float down the riv­er your­self. While appli­ca­tion nor­mal­ly reach the tens of thou­sands to raft the riv­er and are nor­mal­ly award­ed after years of appli­ca­tions, if suc­cess­ful you’ll be giv­en a win­dow and have to pay a fee up to $400 usd – there will then be the small mat­ter of arrang­ing your trip where after months of prepa­ra­tions you’ll get the chance to raft down the riv­er solo for a tru­ly mem­o­rable expe­ri­ence – just be sure to bring a life jack­et, come well pre­pared and expect to get wet. For those inter­est­ed in apply­ing for a solo raft jour­ney down the riv­er vis­it (www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/weightedlottery.html) to being the appli­ca­tion process.  

While you might not nec­es­sar­i­ly fan­cy the solo trip down the riv­er on account of the high chance of death – a trip down the Col­orado riv­er run­ning through mid­dle of the grand canyon gives you not just incred­i­ble pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties but a tru­ly unique and enthralling expe­ri­ence in this incred­i­ble won­der of the world.  

Mule rides

Anoth­er unique expe­ri­ence to the canyon is to take a mule ride around the rim – recre­at­ing the mode of trav­el used for cen­turies around the won­der and let­ting you trot from van­tage point to van­tage point with­out over­work­ing your feet! 

Found at the entrances to the south and north rim the mules occa­sion­al­ly ven­ture down the bright angel trail­head and offer a great and unique expe­ri­ence to explore the grand canyon in a tra­di­tion­al way – expect each mule ride to last an hour and cost around $30 usd.  

Helicopter Flight 

Giv­en the scale of the Grand Canyon, you sim­ply can’t see it all from the ground, riv­er or Mule – luck­i­ly though there’s a range of heli­copter flights avail­able to you that will take you from Rim to Rim – from the horse­shoe bend to the start of the Col­orado Riv­er for a tru­ly stun­ning expe­ri­ence.  

Begin­ning from a heli­pad either in Vegas or from the Grand Canyon vil­lage – you’ll take off and jour­ney over the stun­ning ridges deep into the canyon and over the Col­orado riv­er over the course of rough­ly three hours giv­ing you a series of absolute­ly spec­tac­u­lar panoram­ic views.  

Heli­copter tours also come with a knowl­edge­able guide and are the best way to expe­ri­ence the hard-to-reach points of the canyon with­out trekking or raft­ing deep into the won­der, with the chance to expe­ri­ence this incred­i­ble won­der from the air being a unique and thrilling expe­ri­ence and one that we’d strong­ly rec­om­mend bud­get­ing for if time and mon­ey allows. 

 .. 

There­fore giv­en the vast size and beau­ty of the great Grand Canyon there are mul­ti­ple options to explore this amaz­ing nat­ur­al won­der; with the var­i­ous hik­ing trips, heli­copter rides, mule trips, raft­ing trips and self-dri­ve tours pro­vid­ing not just a range of options to cap­ture stun­ning pho­tos, but pro­vid­ing an oppor­tu­ni­ty for every­one to explore this stun­ning sight at their own pace and with­in their own bud­get and to their own sched­ule – which com­bined with its awe-inspir­ing sights, rivers, canyons and views makes the Grand Canyon a tru­ly immense won­der of the world.  

 How long to stay:

While reach­able and view­able in a day trip form either Vegas by heli­copter or as part of a tour of a self-dri­ve road trip – we’d rec­om­mend stay­ing for at least our days at the incred­i­ble Grand Canyon – and at least 10 days if you’re raft­ing. 

The four days will give you enough time to take a hik­ing trail to be one of the few indi­vid­u­als who ven­ture into the won­der and give you a chance to explore all the south­ern view­points as well as the Horse­shoe bend, Skyrim walk­way and take in the won­der from the both the Col­orado riv­er and the air at a decent pace – for a tru­ly incred­i­ble expe­ri­ence at this immense won­der.  

Top Tip:

The Grand Canyon is a rel­a­tive­ly safe des­ti­na­tion – so along­side being safe and keep­ing an eye of your valu­able we’d rec­om­mend as a top tip being one of the 1% of vis­i­tors who take on a trekking chal­lenge – even if it’s just for a few hours down the Skele­ton Rim Trail as being one of the few vis­i­tors who jour­ney into this incred­i­ble won­der not only gives you stun­ning views but a new appre­ci­a­tion for it’s beau­ty and it’s stun­ning scale.  

For those who do ven­ture onto a hik­ing trail – whether it be a short one of  mul­ti day hike, the stan­dard be safe advice for tak­ing on trekking chal­lenges applies – includ­ing stay on the paths, tell some­one you are going and be mind­ful of your sur­round­ing – being sure to car­ry enough food, water and sun­screen with you – as the Canyon can be unfor­giv­ing for inex­pe­ri­enced hik­ers.  

Along­side this – for those who have the time and the bud­get we’d advise mak­ing get­ting to the canyon part of your expe­ri­ence – with the chance to either ride the great Grand Canyon Train from Williams – or reach­ing the Grand Canyon by road trip being one of the great Amer­i­can Adven­tures – with the Grand Canyon being an incred­i­ble stop off for those who chose to go coast to coast along the USA or who take on Route 66 – which can real­ly add to the true adven­ture of your vis­it to the won­der.  

Final­ly as obvi­ous as it may sound it’s nec­es­sary to plan ahead a bit if you’re head­ing to the canyon – par­tic­u­lar­ly for those who wish to see and expe­ri­ence all of it, with heli­copter trip and raft­ing known to book up in advance and the per­mits for camps in the val­ley also known to be snapped up quick – and the North rim which can make or break the Rim to Rim trail known open sea­son­al­ly between May – Octo­ber.  

There­fore for a full expe­ri­ence of the won­der where you get to tru­ly explore it you’ll need to plan a cou­ple of months in advance – while the admin work may be a bit of a pain it real­ly does make a dif­fer­ence to your trip and allow you to explore the full beau­ty of the won­der at your own pace and achieve and see every­thing you wish for at the Grand Canyon.  

Cost:

The cost of a trip to the Grand Canyon vary based on which activ­i­ties you under­take when there and how you choose to see it.  

Hav­ing got your­self to the Nation­al Park every­one will have to pay an entrance which is $35 usd for a car, $30 Usd for motor­cy­cle and $20 Usd for an indi­vid­ual or cyclist, with the entrance fee avail­able for pay­ment and down­load online at Recreation.gov – from there though it’s real­ly down to your­self about how much a trip costs – with the cost for every­thing else down to your­self.  

For those who fan­cy tak­ing on the sky­walk on the west­ern rim and get­ting those incred­i­ble panoram­ic views of the great won­der while soar­ing above it – you can expect to pay $40 usd – with tick­ets avail­able either online or an the day and sky­walk tours often com­bined with Heli­copter tours from Las Vegas com­ing in at $200 Usd.  

For this hikes, we’d advise set­ting aside $100 usd for camp­ing gear and the per­mits you need to camp if you take on one of the mul­ti day hikes – with the hikes free to trek down but get­ting to one’s that don’t start off the south­ern rim like­ly requir­ing a lit­tle extra cash to get to.  

For those want to take in the Horse­shoe bend – you have the option of either self-dri­ving your­self there or jump­ing on a tour – with most tours com­ing in at $100 usd when start­ing from Vegas or as part of the shut­tle bus sys­tem from the Canyon Rim.  

For those want a Heli­copter tour from the South­ern Rim, you can eas­i­ly book online and expect to pay $150 Usd per per­son for a scenic ride over the Great Canyon, which should come with a tour guide and some pho­tos – it might be a lit­tle expen­sive for the dura­tion of the flight which is usu­al­ly 3 hours in total – but it real­ly is one of the best ways of see­ing the incred­i­ble won­der.  

Final­ly for those who want to tru­ly get their adren­a­line pump­ing you have sin­gle day and mul­ti day raft of boat­ing options for an incred­i­ble way to explore the canyon up close along the Col­orado Riv­er – while sin­gle day moto boats are the eas­i­est and safest options – for which you can expect to pay $150 — $300 Usd per trip based on length – for those who want an accom­pa­nied raft expe­ri­ence down the great rapids of the riv­er you can expect to pay $400 usd – $1500 usd based on the length of your trip – or for those thrill seek­ers who want to wait years to raft down the riv­er solo you must enter the raft lot­tery sys­tem through the process described above and vis­it ((www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/weightedlottery.html)) and expect to pay $400 usd for the per­mit and then an extra $2000 usd at least to make sure you have the prop­er gear for your trip.  

All told then the final price list for a trip to the Grand Canyon would be esti­mat­ed to look as fol­lowed: 

• View­ing from the Rim Only — $35 Usd + $50 Usd Expens­es.  
• Tak­ing on a one-day trekking Chal­lenge — $50 Usd (gear) 
• Tak­ing on a mul­ti-day trekking chal­lenge — $100 usd (Gear and Trans­port)
• Skyrim — $30 usd – plus expens­es to reach it (est $100 Usd) 
• Heli­copter Ride inc Horse­shoe bend or Scenic flight — $150 usd — $400 usd.  
• Boat­ing and Raft­ing — $150 Usd — $$1500 Usd based on trip length and method.  

With their being a range of explo­ration options and price ranges to suit everyone’s bud­get and time sched­ule – mak­ing the Grand Place an incred­i­ble flex­i­ble won­der for explor­ers.  

Fun Fact:

The actu­al process that led to the for­ma­tion of the Grand Canyon – remains unknown with archae­ol­o­gists divid­ed as to whether the Canyon was formed by the Col­orado Riv­er carv­ing through the lime­stone rock 6 mil­lion years ago or more than 80 mil­lion years ago – mak­ing it a nat­ur­al won­der that is still being explored.  

Yet what is known is the ani­mal pop­u­la­tion that inhibits the Canyon, with the rims known to be home to a series of Elk who sur­vive from both human food hand­outs and the shrub­bery and small trees found at the canyon which the Col­orado Riv­er gives life to – while these elk are impres­sive and are some­times a bit of a pest due to their grow­ing num­bers, those who ven­ture into the canyon may sight moun­tain lions,  sheep, deer and Squir­rel – with there also being uncon­firmed reports of land sharks occu­py­ing the cCol­orod riv­er – one to look our who those who go raft­ing.  

Best pho­to spot:

You’ll be absolute­ly spoilt for choice in terms of pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties with all of the Rims offer­ing incred­i­ble van­tage points of this immense and incred­i­ble won­der.  

 While it is hard to nail down a ‘best pho­to spot’ we’d real­ly rec­om­mend mak­ing time to take in the stun­ning views of Grand­view Point and Math­er Point on the south­ern Rim and mak­ing the trek down the bright angel trail to Ooh Aah Point for incred­i­ble shots – with the view­points real­ly com­ing to life at sun­set and sun­rise for tru­ly stun­ning land­scapes.  

 For those with a bit more time – or who have the bud­get to do a day trip by heli­copter from Vegas then you can’t miss out on the chance to take in not only the stun­ning Horse­shoe bend but also the view of the great canyon from above – where you can tru­ly appre­ci­ate the immense pow­er and scale of the incred­i­ble won­der of the world that is the Grand Canyon.