Are you one of the millions of people planning on visiting the Grand Canyon this year? If you are then there are several important things that you absolutely must understand and know before making your arrangements. First, you are going to have to make the decision to either drive yourself or book a tour on a bus offered by one of the tour companies that go to the Grand Canyon. There are many different types of tours depending on what you are looking for, and all of them are probably going to be easier on you than trying to make the drive yourself. Most people who fly into the nearest cities to the Grand Canyon (Las Vegas or Salt Lake City) do not realize that even though they are at the closest major city to the area, they are still more than a four hour trip away. When you also factor in that this is desert driving that most people are not used to, that four hour drive will seem much longer. Driving in the desert does not give you much change in the visuals, and because it all looks the same people will find that the trip through the desert seems longer than it really is. You are also going to be driving a car that you are not familiar with across an area that you are not familiar with. You will have to be sure that the car is going to make it without mechanical problems because there is no cell service during a large portion of the drive, and a breakdown could be horrible. You will have to prepare all of the things that would be necessary in case you broke down, like extra food and water and all of the items that would be needed in such a case. The alternative is simply leaving the process to professional companies that are in the business of touring the area.
Hopefully we have convinced you that it is better to book a professional tour of the Grand Canyon than trying to drive yourself. There are several tour companies that offer tours “to the Grand Canyon” that are not actually tours to the national park area. These go to a place that is controlled by Navajo Nation, and while it is part of the Grand Canyon it is not the area that you have seen in books and pictures. This can be very disappointing to many people who realize after the fact that they came all this way and didn’t actually get to see the famous part of the canyon. Make sure you ask your tour operator if you will be visiting the south rim, because this is where the national park area is located.
One of the best ways to see the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas is to book one of our private tours. If you have several people in your group, we can have the entire van be just the people in your group, and we can personalize the tour to fit the types of things you would like to do. If a private tour is not right for you, we also offer the Grand Canyon as part of several of our multi-park tours. Ask about them today.