GRAND CANYON · ARIZONA
A mile down, two billion years deep, and a day’s drive from anywhere.
South Rim viewpoints, West Rim helicopter days, the Skywalk, the Railway, river rafting and the day trips out of Vegas, Sedona and Flagstaff that get you to the edge.
Only at the Grand Canyon
Three days you cannot have anywhere else.
Big-rim viewpoints, scenic flights and bus tours run at every canyon and national park in the western US. These three do not. A glass platform 4,000 ft over the floor. A helicopter that touches down at the bottom. The vintage railway that has been bringing travellers in since 1901. Each one is specific to this canyon.
On glass
The Skywalk, 4,000 ft Above the Floor
The only horseshoe-shaped glass cantilever in the world hangs out from the West Rim, with nothing below your boots but Hualapai land and the Colorado a vertical mile down. The walk is short. The drop is real. The structural engineering took 70 years of computer modelling and you do not get to bring a camera onto the deck.
- 1 Grand Canyon West, Hoover Dam Stop, Breakfast, Lunch & Skywalk
- 2 Vegas: Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Lunch/Skywalk Options, WiFi
- 3 Grand Canyon + Hoover Dam View + WiFi (Skywalk/lunch options)
Below the rim
Helicopter Landing on the Canyon Floor
South Rim helicopters were banned from descending into the canyon decades ago. The Hualapai West Rim still allows it. Tours lift off Boulder City, drop nearly 4,000 vertical feet through the limestone walls, set down beside the Colorado for champagne and a pontoon float. Nowhere else on earth lets a tourist helicopter touch the bottom of a canyon this size.
- 1 Las Vegas: Grand Canyon Helicopter Landing Tour
- 2 From Las Vegas: Grand Canyon Helicopter Tour with Champagne
- 3 Grand Canyon Helicopter and Western Ranch Adventure Landing Tour
On rails since 1901
The Williams to South Rim Steam Train
The Grand Canyon Railway has been running between Williams and the South Rim since 1901, with strolling musicians, restored Pullman carriages and a staged train robbery somewhere outside Ash Fork. It is the only historic working railway in the canyon system, and one of the last in the American west. The drive into the South Rim is fine. The train is the trip.
- 1 From Williams: Grand Canyon Railway Round-Trip Train Ticket
- 2 Grand Canyon Railroad Excursion from Sedona
- 3 Sedona, AZ: Grand Canyon Guided Tour and Historic Railway
Pick your rim
Two rims, two completely different trips.
The South Rim is the national-park view, viewpoint hopping, ranger talks. The West Rim is Hualapai land, the Skywalk and helicopters that land on the floor. They are 250 driving miles apart, accessed from different cities, and answer to different agencies. Most travellers pick one. Here is what each one is.
- Elevation ~7,000 ft
- Access NPS, year-round
- From Vegas ~4 hr 30
- From Flagstaff ~1 hr 30
Mather, Yavapai, Hopi, Desert View, Bright Angel trailhead. The classic Grand Canyon postcards were all shot here. Best for travellers who want viewpoints, ranger context and the famous rim walk; happy to budget a longer drive in.
Browse 29 South Rim tours →- Elevation ~4,800 ft
- Access Hualapai entry fee
- From Vegas ~2 hr 15
- Headline Skywalk + floor landings
The glass cantilever, Eagle Point, Guano Point and the only helicopters that can land at the bottom of the canyon. Best for first-timers flying into Vegas who want the iconic shots in a single day, plus anyone after the Skywalk specifically.
Browse 42 West Rim tours →North Rim is the third rim and is closed in winter. Quiet, high (8,000 ft+), much less developed. If you want the rim with the fewest tour operators on it, that is the one.
The first-time pick
If you only do one day on the rim.
When a thousand traveller reviews stack up on the same tour, the day is doing something right. This is the one most first-time visitors book, and the one we would put any out-of-state friend on without hesitating.
The most-booked days
The Grand Canyon’s Most-Booked Tours
West Rim Skywalk combos, Hoover Dam pairings, South Rim from Vegas, the helicopter that drops to the floor. The days every first-time visitor ends up considering, and the ones with thousands of traveller reviews behind them.
By point on the map
Start where your day starts.
The Grand Canyon is half a day driving in and half a day on the rim. South Rim for the national-park viewpoints. West Rim for the Skywalk. Vegas for the easiest launch. Sedona and Flagstaff for the scenic drive north. Pick the corner that matches your week.
By the way in
Or pick how you want to see it.
Helicopter if you want the canyon from above. ATV if you want the rim from the dirt road. Vintage railway if the journey is half the trip. Hoover Dam combos if you want two American superlatives in one day. River raft if you want a week.
The viewpoints everyone comes for
South Rim, the long way around.
Mather Point at first light, Yavapai for the geology museum, Hopi for the wide panorama, Desert View for the watchtower. Three South Rim days that hit the viewpoints in the right order, with a guide who knows the rim well enough to tell you which photos to take.
The Vegas double-headliner
Two American giants, one day.
Photo stop on the Hoover Dam in the morning, the canyon walls in the afternoon, breakfast and lunch booked in, back to the Strip before sundown. The most popular shape of day for first-time visitors flying into Vegas. Three combos we would book.
When the canyon lights up
The hour the rock turns red.
Twenty minutes before sunset the canyon walls flash through ochre, scarlet and deep purple as the angle of light bends. Sunrise does the same in reverse. Three tours timed for the only hour of the day the canyon looks the way it does in postcards.
If the canyon is one stop, not the whole trip
The Grand Circle, beyond the rim.
Most travellers driving the Southwest pair the canyon with at least one of: Antelope Canyon’s slot walls, Horseshoe Bend, Sedona’s red rocks, Bryce, Zion. Three pairings that build a proper road-trip out of a single rim day.
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