What is the best way to see the Grand Canyon?
- Beverly LoReign
- Jun 2, 2018
- 2 min read
The Grand Canyon is one of the most sought after tourist attractions in the United States. This magnificent monument sits in the beautiful state of Arizona. It was named an official canyon in the United States in 1908. The canyon is about 21 miles wide and about 270 miles long. The Grand Canyon was formed by the Colorado River. It takes 5 hours by car to circle the entire structure.
With so many ways to travel to the Grand Canyon, you may be wondering which is the best option? Should you drive or go on a bus tour? Well that depends on what your specific tourism goals are. If you just want to “Go to the Canyon” take a few pics and call it a day, I would definitely suggest going on a bus tour. However, if you want more free time to explore then you should probably drive. With that being said, some of the bus tours do offer excursions, however, you will only have time to do one activity because the actual time spent at the canyon is very short.
If you are looking to get the most bang for your buck, I would recommend flying to Las Vegas and taking one of the bus tours from there. They range anywhere from $60.00 – 120.00 dollars.
With so many tours that are available let me give you a few quick tips on picking the right one for you. Although the Grand Canyon is only about 2.5 hours from Las Vegas, most of the tours you will see are an all-day commitment. So here are a few important questions you should ask.
1. How many hours do you actually spend in the canyon? A rule of thumb, from Las Vegas, the west rim of the Grand Canyon is MUCH closer than the south rim. Some tours for example may take 8 hours but only 2 of those hours are spent actually in the Canyon.
2. Find out all you get for the fee of the tour. For example, some tours include meals and snacks, free pick up and drop off from hotels. etc
3. Make sure you pay attention to the itinerary. Some tours go straight to the canyon, however some make stops at the Hoover Dam and a few other tourist attractions.
As for my experience I used a company called Canyon Tours. I traveled to the west rim of the canyon. My entire tour was about 8 hrs. It included a stop at the Hoover Dam as well as free lunch.
I spent about 4 hours in the Grand Canyon. When you visit the west rim there are about 4 tourist stops you can visit via a shuttle; Eagle point, Guano point, Hualapai Ranch
and the famous Sky walk. (the shuttle is free).There is horse back riding available at the ranch as well. My tour also provided a free shuttle for pick up and drop off to our hotel.
So like all things in visiting the Grand Canyon, you should pick the best option for your tourism needs. So do your research and have fun!
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