Grand Canyon South Rim
Photo: Vulturesong, CC0 (cropped)
This tour follows the South Rim of the Grand Canyon from end to end and takes about six hours, longer if you linger for sunset. You will read the canyon's rock layers like pages in a book, walk a timeline where every step is a million years, and meet the people who shaped the rim: the Havasupai, Hopi, Navajo, Hualapai and other tribes who call this canyon home, the prospectors and photographers who came next, and architect Mary Colter, whose buildings still define the place.
Start at the Grand Canyon Visitor Center and walk to Mather Point. The first seven stops are linked by the paved Rim Trail. Hermit Road is open only to the free shuttle for most of the year, and Yaki Point is shuttle-only as well. The last three stops are along Desert View Drive, best reached by car.
Rules, entry requirements, shuttle schedules and closures change, so check nps.gov before you go. Carry water, stay behind railings and on trails, and give wildlife plenty of room.
14 stops on this tour:
Mather Point - Your First Big Look
Yavapai Geology Museum - A Window on the Layers
Trail of Time - A Million Years per Step
El Tovar - A Grand Hotel on the Edge
Hopi House - Mary Colter's Pueblo
Kolb Studio - Brothers on the Brink
Bright Angel Trailhead - The Old Path Down
Hopi Point - The Sunset Stage
Mohave Point - Listen for the Rapids
Hermits Rest - Colter's Cabin at Road's End
Yaki Point - Where the South Kaibab Begins
Grandview Point - Copper, Mules and a Lost Hotel
Lipan Point - The Canyon's Hidden Basement
Desert View Watchtower - Colter's Tower and a Tribal Welcome
Plan your visit
- Route: 14 stops · about 39 miles · walking, plus a ride for the longer legs
- Time: about 6 hours at an easy pace, with stops
- Start: Mather Point (directions)
- Cost: free tour; the site itself charges an entrance fee
Stops on this tour
- Mather Point - Your First Big Look
- Yavapai Geology Museum - A Window on the Layers
- Trail of Time - A Million Years per Step
- El Tovar - A Grand Hotel on the Edge
- Hopi House - Mary Colter's Pueblo
- Kolb Studio - Brothers on the Brink
- Bright Angel Trailhead - The Old Path Down
- Hopi Point - The Sunset Stage
- Mohave Point - Listen for the Rapids
- Hermits Rest - Colter's Cabin at Road's End
- Yaki Point - Where the South Kaibab Begins
- Grandview Point - Copper, Mules and a Lost Hotel
- Lipan Point - The Canyon's Hidden Basement
- Desert View Watchtower - Colter's Tower and a Tribal Welcome
More tours nearby
- Zion Canyon (93 mi) - Ride the shuttle up Zion Canyon past sandstone giants, hanging gardens and the stories of the Southern Paiute, pioneers and park builders.
- Area 51 (170 mi) - A day-long desert loop from Las Vegas past secret bases, ghost towns, and the Extraterrestrial Highway.
- Mesa Verde Cliff Dwellings (223 mi) - Drive the green table from the visitor center to Cliff Palace, reading 700 years of Ancestral Puebloan life in pithouses, towers and cliff alcoves.