rayandbelle Posted August 22, 2005 #1 Share Posted August 22, 2005 Hoping someone can help us we are a group of 4 Aussie's who are doing a B2B cruise on the insigia from barcelona to Buenos Aries and will be going to las vegas after the cruise and we want to know is it best to get a tour to see the grand Canyon or can we do it by ourselves,by renting a car and driving,thank you for any help you can give us ray Annabelle Lynn and Robb:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaseyoz Posted August 22, 2005 #2 Share Posted August 22, 2005 strange the first person to answer is another aussie!!lol. we drove from LA to Las vegas and then onto the grand canyon via hoover dam. We stopped at a place about an hour drive from the canyon on route 66. this turned out to be the best place. "Very western"I felt i was on a movie set complete with diner that also looked like a movie set. Anyway we stayed here 2 nights so we had a full day at the canyon.grand canyon is very well set up for tourists. you park outside and they have a little mini bus that stops all around the canyon at all the main views. You just hop off take your pics and look around and get on the next bus. we didnt go down the mountain. I woudnt like to do it in a day though unless you fly. That would be the ultimate though great way to view. any more questions feel free to email me. kaseyoz@hotmail.com karon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomeBeach Posted August 22, 2005 #3 Share Posted August 22, 2005 I'm not a TA but I'll try and help you. The information will be based on going to what I concider to be the main entrance to the Canyon, not the rim that borders AZ and NV. You could rent a car, it's about 275 miles from LV to the Grand Canyon. It would probably take you 5 hrs, more or less, depending on road conditions and how often you stop. The drive would take you though the Hoover Dam area, something you might enjoy seeing. That's something that could be a 10 minute stop, look, and leave to stop, spend an hour or 2 "touring" and going on. I don't know if you've checked on any tours from LV but if you type in Las Vegas to Grand Canyon Tours in your search bar you can check various tours and prices. They would probably include Hoover Dam and Lake Meade in the tour. You could decide from a bus, helicopter, or small plane tour, with the later two being day trips (I would also think they might be expensive.) If you decide you would rather drive, you can check grand-canyon.com, they have a great site with plenty of information as to the best way to see the Canyon when you are there. I wouldn't suggest that you think of this as a day trip, probably a minimum of 2 days and with 3 being a better choice. As far as which is best, that's more of a personal decision. It depends on how adventurous you want to be. Not knowing how long you will be in Vegas (and there is certainly a lot to see and do there) or how much time you want to devote to seeing the Canyon makes it difficult to help in your decision. I do know that at times various roads in the Canyon can be closed. You didn't mention when you were going to be in Vegas so I can't tell you if you could have that possibity. I can tell you it is a beautiful area to see. I hope there is something in here that has given you some help. If I've only confused you more, I'm sorry........ I didn't mean to do that. Hopefully some others will post in with more advice. Enjoy your cruise and your tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniela Posted August 22, 2005 #4 Share Posted August 22, 2005 If you don't have much time to spend on seeing the Grand Canyon you can just take a tour (every hotel in Las Vegas has it) of the Hoover Dam. They have a nice one where they take you by "boat" on Lake Meade (man made lake) and from there you can see part of the Grand Canyon where it was blocked off to make the Dam. It's a must see in LV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruin Steve Posted August 22, 2005 #5 Share Posted August 22, 2005 First off, the name of the lake is spelled "Mead", not "Meade"... Hoover Dam is interesting, but Lake Mead is more "recreational" than scenic...You won't see anything there that remotely resembles the "Grand Canyon"... The real question is how much time you are allotting... As others have said, it's not exactly a "day trip"...It's about two hours south of Vegas to Kingman, Arizona, then another hour over to Williams and a good hour north from there to the South Rim...It's 275 miles total...Five hours' drive is a good estimate... There is also a road which leads south from Utah to the North Rim, but this is pretty much only a viewpoint and there are no tourist services to speak of there... Another site you might consider is Zion National Park in Southwestern Utah, just past St George--about 155 miles and less than 3 hour drive from Vegas...It's a fairly striking canyon with red rock formations... If you have several days, an interesting tour would be to drive to the Grand Canyon, leave the park to the East rather than the way you came...then, north through Page, AZ to Zion...about 5 hours (and there are some very interesting Anastazi Indian ruins not far off that road...Then head back to Vegas from Zion...Your round trip would be about 13 total hours driving, rather than the 10 back and forth Vegas to the Canyon, but you take in two National Parks and not retrace any road...Of course, to do that trip, you really need to count on taking about three days, two nights minimum...You want SOME time to enjoy the parks... Good luck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liat Posted August 22, 2005 #6 Share Posted August 22, 2005 I agree with Steve - except that there is no "t" in Anasazi. Also, the dates of this trip were not posted; but the North Rim lodging closes in late October, and the Rim itself when the snow arrives. If it is open, it is far less crowded than the South Rim, and from many points of view, more beautiful. Thwe southern route can be very slow at times crossing Hoover Dam, and the tours have pretty much stopped, I hear, since 9/11. I would stay on the north side and enjoy the Virgin River, St. George, through Zion Park, then down to the North Rim, and the east via Marble Canyon, Vermillion Cliffs, Page and back west, with a side trip to Bryce Canyon if possible. Been there, done that - and loved it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayandbelle Posted August 23, 2005 Author #7 Share Posted August 23, 2005 thanks everyone for your help,sorry i forgot to mention the dates.We will be there for 4 days from the 25th dec to the 29th dec,you have been very informative and have given me some things to think about. again i thank you for your help ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomeBeach Posted August 23, 2005 #8 Share Posted August 23, 2005 Hi Again........ Those dates could be a problem in regards to the weather. Several roads in that area could be closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomeBeach Posted August 23, 2005 #9 Share Posted August 23, 2005 Note to Steve.... Because of a death in the family, I could not sleep. PLEASE forgive me for the extra E..... it wasn't intentional and certainly wasn't put there to offend you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniela Posted August 23, 2005 #10 Share Posted August 23, 2005 BRUIN STEVE......how scholarly of you to point out the extra "e".... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord of the seas Posted August 23, 2005 #11 Share Posted August 23, 2005 BRUIN STEVE......how scholarly of you to point out the extra "e".... Especially when all INM&M wanted was ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruin Steve Posted August 23, 2005 #12 Share Posted August 23, 2005 Okay, folks...I wasn't really trying to get on anyone's case about the spelling...I only wanted to point it out in case the OP tried to get info on Lake Mead by doing a google search... Googling "Lake Mead" will get you 602,000 websites... Googling "Lake Meade" will get you 24,000--but most of them are for a "Lake Meade" somewhere in Pennsylvania... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OBX Cruisers Posted August 23, 2005 #13 Share Posted August 23, 2005 We'd like to highly recommend a helicopter tour from Las Vegas over Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon. We took our tour through Papillon (www.papillon.com) last January 2 - their Golden Eagle Airtour. It was a bit pricey - $239 per person, but one of the most awesome things we've ever done! We took the afternoon tour and coming back in at sunset we came right up the Strip with the lights of all the hotels coming on. I'm not a good flyer, but the helicopter trip was like floating on a cloud! Hope you have a wonderful trip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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