Question : Grand canyon west rim tour from vegas?
Hi, I want to make trip to Las Vegas and Grand canyon west rim (including skywalk) for 2 days. Not a gambler, so only some sight seeing in LV.How shud i plan this tour without renting car, which includes travel to n back from grand canyon, sight seeing on west rim, skywalk tickets.I am looking for affordable options and with 1 day for vegas and 1 day for grandcanyonIf i rent a car for grand canyon , can i manage without guided tour ?
- asked by Tourist
All Answers:
Answer #1
There are a lot of options for you. Just email me and I can work out a trip for you. Just need to know when you are leaving, from where, and if you will be flying. Just email me if you would like me to help you plan something out.
- answered by customtravelgroup
Answer #2
There are several tours you can take. I recommend that..we found one at our hotel and it was a 6 passenger van. The driver was wonderful and pointed out things we would not have seen if we had driven ourselves. Lunch on the Hualapei reservation was included in the tour. Simple food..not gourmet but palatable. Corn, beans, chicken etc. The skywalk wasn't built yet. I think the tour was Cactus Jack...not 100% sure of the name.
- answered by bjbtfb65
Answer #3
Grand Canyon West was established largely to attract Las Vegas visitors and there are a number of tours that offer both bus and aircraft transportation there along with various tour packages - none of which is cheap.Personally, I would recommend renting a car. It will certainly not be any more expensive and you will have the freedom to go where you want and see what you want. It is pretty easy to find your way to GC West (see link below), just make sure that your rental car does not have really low clearance as there is one stretch of about 14 miles that is still unpaved and washboardy (there were plenty of passenger cars when I went there).All that being said, as a person who was at Grand Canyon West two weeks ago, I do feel obligated to say that as a person who has visited most areas of the canyon, GC West and esspecially the glass Sky Walk is - in my opinion - a bit of a tourist trap and not the best way to experience the canyon. First off, the promotions and 'artist renditions' of the Sky Walk are very misleading. The platform is NOT over the Colorado River on the main gorge, but rather located on the edge of a side canyon about a half mile from the river (you see a little stretch of it off in the distance). Also it is NOT a 4000 foot straight drop below to the bottom of the side canyon. Like most places in the canyon, the walls are stair-stepped into a series of ledges and talus slopes rather than a sheer drop. Another thing is that the floor of the walkway is not completely see-through glass - about half of it is blocked by the large support beams which disrupt any sense of walking completely on air. It definitely is a little bit freaky when you first go out on the Sky Walk, but all you see through the bottom is a pile of rocks on a ledge less than a thousand feet down. Because the support beams block in the view (it is more like looking down through a glass-covered trough or trap door), you don't get a sense of the larger canyon - just a little narrow view of some unmoving rocks. The view looking out over the edge of the walk way to the larger canyon is very scenic, but not really much different than the same view from standing on the rim, 50 feet away. Considering that you have to pay $75 per person ($50 to access the area, $25 to go on the Sky Walk), I found it to be a bit of a let down.Also note that the Sky Walk is NOT located anywhere near the famous Grand Canyon National Park that most people are familiar with from pictures and movies. The National Park is over a hundred miles to the east where the canyon is deeper, wider and more dramatic (more rock formations) than at GC West which is nearly at the end of the canyon before it empties into Lake Mead. Don't get me wrong, the canyon scenery around GC West is dramatic and impressive, but not as much so as in the National Park (the located the National Park where they did for a reason).Grand Canyon West is located on the Hualapai Indian Reservation. They have been struggling with poverty (they are too close to Las Vegas to compete with a casino) and the GC West development is intended as a money making venture (much of it is funded and designed by Vegas promoters). While I very much agree with the Hualapai decision to leverage the natural beauty of their land to help their people, the consultants and promoters they have hired have choosen often cheesy, over-priced and over-hyped ways to do it. If you are visiting after mid-May, than I strongly recommend that you drive the North Rim of the National Park. It is an only slightly further drive than GC West (and a much more scenic drive). The North Rim of the National Park is a beautiful place with pine trees and sweeping views of the prime central canyon. There is a great historic lodge right on the rim and nearby excellent overlooks at Cape Royale (the famous view of Wotan's Throne). You also pass Zion National Park on the way, which is also an excellent spot.The North Rim is closed during the winter (until mid-May), but even if you are going before then, I would still have to recommend the somewhat longer drive to the National Park South Rim (north of Williams, AZ) over GC West if you want to see the 'real' Grand Canyon.
- answered by sascoaz
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