Grand Canyon

Nothing prepares your eyes or your sense of scale for the moment you walk from the flat ponderosa-pine forest of the Colorado Plateau to the edge of the Grand Canyon and the earth suddenly drops away for 1.6 kilometres (one vertical mile) beneath your feet. Winding for 446 kilometres (277 river miles) across northern Arizona and stretching up to 29 kilometres (18 miles) wide from rim to rim, this UNESCO World Heritage wonder was carved over the past five to six million years by the rushing Colorado River cutting down through nearly two billion years of uplift rock layers—from 270-million-year-old cream Kaibab Limestone at the rim down to 1.84-billion-year-old black Vishnu Schist in the Inner Gorge.

Ninety percent of visitors experience the park at the South Rim (2,134 metres / 7,000 feet elevation, open 365 days a year). Here, the car-free Rim Trail links dramatic Mather Point and Yavapai Geology Museum with historic Grand Canyon Village and Mary Colter's 1905 Hopi House. For hikers, the South Kaibab Trail to Ooh Aah Point and the shaded Bright Angel Trail descend below the rim, while the free Red Shuttle traces Hermit Road's nine sunset overlooks and Desert View Drive leads east to the 1932 Watchtower and Horseshoe Bend. Start with our before-you-go briefing and top things to do at the Grand Canyon.

The South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park sits 130 kilometres (80 miles / 90 minutes) north-west of Flagstaff, Arizona; 370 kilometres (3.5 hours via I-17 and I-40) north of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport (PHX); and 445 kilometres (4 hours 15 minutes via Hoover Dam, Kingman and Route 66) east of Las Vegas (LAS). Inside the South Rim, park your car once at the Visitor Center (or in Tusayan) and ride the 100% FREE National Park Shuttle Buses: the Orange Route (Kaibab/Rim), Blue Route (Village), Red Route (Hermit Road) and Purple Route (Tusayan). See getting to the Grand Canyon and how the free shuttle buses work.

To watch sunrise and stargaze right on the canyon edge without driving at night, book one of the historic lodges inside Grand Canyon Village (El Tovar, Bright Angel Lodge, Kachina/Thunderbird or Maswik Lodge via Xanterra, or Yavapai Lodge via Delaware North—reservations open 12–13 months ahead!). If park lodges are sold out, stay 10 minutes outside the South Entrance Gate in the town of Tusayan (connected by the free Purple Shuttle from spring to autumn), or save 50% by staying 60 minutes south in the nostalgic Route 66 town of Williams. Compare all options in where to stay at the Grand Canyon.

Catch your first glimpse of the chasm at Mather Point and walk the paved Rim Trail to Yavapai Geology Museum, hike 30 minutes below the rim on the South Kaibab Trail to Ooh Aah Point and Cedar Ridge, walk down through the rock tunnels of the Bright Angel Trail, explore architect Mary Colter's stone buildings in Grand Canyon Village, hop the free Red Shuttle along Hermit Road to Hopi Point and Powell Point, drive 40 kilometres east along Desert View Drive to the 1932 Watchtower, soar over the Dragon Corridor on a Tusayan helicopter flight, and visit Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon. Full list in things to do at the Grand Canyon.

Dining at the South Rim blends historic Southwestern lodge cuisine with trail-ready picnic stops: prime rib, elk medallions and Navajo tacos (frybread topped with chili, beans, cheddar and green chile) in the 1905 pine-log dining room of El Tovar, Arizona craft beers and burgers at Bright Angel Fountain and Yavapai Tavern, warm cinnamon rolls and hiker box-lunches at Maswik Food Court, and freshly baked cookies at Hermits Rest. Read more in our Grand Canyon dining and trail food guide.

For thousands of years, the Grand Canyon has been the sacred homeland and place of origin for eleven federally recognized Native American tribes—the Havasupai, Hualapai, Hopi, Navajo (Diné), Kaibab Band of Paiute, Zuni and Yavapai-Apache—honoured today at the Desert View Inter-Tribal Cultural Heritage Site.