what is the best way to visit the grand canyon from Las Vegas when having 1 full day available??
Dear all,
hi!! I am new to the forum, but i am sure i am going to be using it all over the few coming months, as i am arranging for my wedding trip to the states and i have many many questions...
i am arriving to Las Vegas on 4th of august after a loooong trip from Athens Greece (nearly 17 hours of travel time!!!). I believe we are going to be so tired and jet lagged after that. We will be staying to Las Vegas for 4 nights, and planning to visit the grand canyon during this time. As we will be renting a car to drive from Las vegas to Los angeles, after the first days in vegas, i am wondering what will be the best way to visit the Grand canyon: should we book a seat with a tour operator bus, or should we drive to the grand canyon by ourselves??? Is it easy to drive, will we see everything that is to see? tour operator prices are quite high...
Reply to this Welcome to the forums Irene and congrats on your upcoming wedding!
From Vegas, you have two options when visiting the canyon - North Rim or South Rim. The south rim is where the majority of visitors go, so there is a lot more infrastructure, services, and of course, people. North rim is a bit more remote. Either make a great trip.
I would drive - if you're already set up to rent a car there is no reason to take a tour bus. You'll have more freedom and flexibility to explore what you want. To get to the south Rim from Vegas head south on Hwy 93, travel east on I-40 and the head north on state route 64. It's a bit of a long drive, so start early in the morning! The drive is easy, just long, and you will pass through lots of desert scenery.
What is it you are looking to see? If you just want to see the Grand Canyon as you see it in most photographs then there are viewpoints all along the main roads. If you want to see the Columbia River rushing down between the canyon walls ... that's a bit of a hike. Whether you can see the California Condors that now reside in the canyon is all a matter of luck and timing.
Reply to this Hi,
To my understanding, the drive is at least 4 hours each day..so if you are already jetlag, it's going to be a very long day.
It all depends on your budget....ah....always the same thing.
You could also take a flight out of Las Vegas, sceninc flight, around 90 minutes cost...if I remember well, around 100usd per person.
The top option is flying from Las Vegas to the South Rim airport by small plane, than spend the day there and have a 15 minutes helicopter ride. Ok, you speak of around 350usd per person...so far away from cheap.
If you are jetlag, you can book all this last minute, and you may even have solid discounts due to the economic crisis. If you are too tired, just do the flight in a morning, great way to do it.
Don't forget to go to see a show of Cirque du Soleil...and they have some amazing restaurants around town.
Have fun....but more important, congratulations for your wedding!!
Peter
Reply to this thank you all for your replies!!!
what i do not know is which side of the grand canyon is worth visiting as far as scenery is converned... the north or south rim of the canyon? and of course which one is most accessible by car...?
Reply to this I would probably suggest visiting the South Rim for that "Grand Canyon experience." Many of the photo's you've likely seen have been taken from the south rim and I believe the drive should be easier and more convenient from Vegas.
The north rim is more wooded, and from my understanding it draws mostly individuals who have already been the south rim, hikers doing a rim-to-rim, or those looking for an off-the-beaten-path approach.
Reply to this Another newbie here. I have visited this forum as a guest several times and thinking that this forum will help me. I am glad that I have decided to join your community and I know that you guys will be a lot of help to me as I learn more about grand canyon. I hope that I will be able to help you guys here as well with a bit of knowledge. Have a good one.
Reply to this I am new at here and I heard more about Las Vegas Locals and I want to go on trip.
Reply to this Jim,
When are you going and what type of information would you like?
Reply to this
In response to: Msg #129910
Hi, Just joined and from Ireland. Myself and my wife are visiting vegas in September for 7 days, we intend to stay in vegas for four days and then maybe hire a car and head up to see the grand canyon for the last three days. We are both in our fifties, is this a good idea or should we pay the tour companies to bring us? Any good hotels near the Canyon?
Thanks
Teddy
Reply to this Ted,
Renting a car is the better way to go. It will give you freedom to stop along the way and take pictures. It is about 325 miles and will take over 6 hours to drive. There is a lot of nothing out there but it sure is pretty. You may want to see Hoover Dam while you are near Vegas.
Reply to this heya, we hired a car and drove to the west side of the grand canyon which took about 3 hours. It was really good to do things at our own pace, visit the hoover dam museum, look at joshua trees along the way then go where we wanted along the canyon. There is a bit of road that is not paved though so make sure you get a semi-decent car...we had hired a 2 door mustang and it wasnt quite built for off road lol! When you get there their will eb heaps of people trying to sell you helicopter trips to the canyon. Some friends of ours did this and absolutly loved it...probably worht it if you can afford it 😊
Reply to this We spent 3 days just outside at Grand Canyon Village
after getting off train at Flagstaff then grabbing the shuttle
There were several hotel options & RV park
To enter park we got taxi/shuttle
It was last wk in April 2010 but believe in season there is a bus service from GC Village
Which ever way its done its worth any effort
Reply to this yosmith, hey rentin a car is the very good way to travalling .so we offer yellow cab taxi service to the passanger. we offer very low cost price to the passanger. we offer very good and comfortable taxi cab .we filled up in the comfortable back seat in the cab .we offer airconditional enviournment in the cab . we provide tv in the cab for the ertertainment. we offer very fast way service to the passanger.our service will provide freedom to stop along the way. we offer 24 hour service to the passanger. if you want to know more about our services then u can follow this site
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