We will be touring USA next month (myself, DW and our 23 yr old son), and will be visiting Las Vegas on 4th & 5th June. We plan to visit the Grand Canyon from there (South Rim) on 6th June (Sunday), and spend the night there. Have made bookings at Bright Angel Lodge for stay. Plan to drive back on 7th to Las Vegas, to catch an evening flight to San Jose.

We need expert advice on what to do once we reach the Grand Canyon Park. Hope to leave Vegas early morning on 6th by car, so as to reach GC by 2-3 pm. Should leave GC by 9 am next morning for the drive back. Please advise us on what walks to take, where to go, etc while at the GC. We are game for easy hikes, but not into strenuous walks or difficult hikes. Also, is the helicopter ride worth taking ?

Look forward to your valuable inputs. Thanks in advance.

There are four things I would do:

1) From the Bright Angel Lodge take the shuttle to Hopi Point about 45 minutes before sunset. It was a great spot.

2) Bright Angel Lodge is right at the Rim. Get up early and walk along the Rim to see the sun come up and shine on the Canyon.

3) Drive to several of the viewpoints to see the view. Don't do that within a couple of hours of sunset since many of the viewpoints point west and the sun will be in you eyes.

4) Hike down the Bright Angel trail for at least an hour going down. Without getting down into the Canyon at list a little, all it looks like is a big bowl.

I made the mistake of not hiking down and GC turned out to be my least favorite sight on a trip of spectacular sights. I really wasn't that interested in GC and just used it as an overnight stop. Once there I should have given it a better chance.

Looking at you schedule I would do the hike when you get to GC. Then the sunset view and obviously the other two the next morning.

1) afternoon of day 1 maybe drive the 23 miles on the east rim to Desert View, stopping at least at Grandview and maybe Lipan Points, plus Desert View. Views are more open in this stretch than near the visitor center, before the canyon digs into the steep granite gorge near Grandview.

2) sunset day 1 ... either Hopi Point (shuttle bus on west rim drive) or Mather Point. Both are spectacular at sunset.

3) that night maybe drive 7 miles to Tusayan and watch the IMAX movie of the Grand Canyon, which features great white water rafting scenes. Or skip this if too late after dinner or if you're tired of sitting after the drive from Vegas.

3) sunrise day 2 ... either Mather Point for viewing or, if you are up to it, take the free shuttle to Kaibab trailhead (before sunrise) and hike about 3/4 mile down to OhMyGosh Point for an incredible view of sunrise. Probably hard to hike further and meet the 9 AM departure time (why so early?) but going to Cedar Ridge (mile 1.5) and back is a very scenic short hike.

Also, is the helicopter ride worth taking ?

I don't think you have enough time unless you delay leaving a couple hours. Maybe could do this the first afternoon instead of the east rim drive.

On Day 1, I would take the shuttle to the viewpoints west of the Village. For a short hike, look at the road map and pick out a hike along the rim trail from one viewpoint to another. But I would avoid Hopi point at sunset. That is where " everyone" goes, so there will be well over 100 people there. Very crowded. Same for Mather Point at sunrise.

For sunset, I like to stroll along the rim trail east from the Village. Still wonderful sunset views and less crowded. We like to bring along a bottle of wine.

For sunrise, I like Yaki Point. The shuttle is the only way to get right to the viewpoint without a lot of walking, because cars are not allowed there. If you drive, park along the est rim drive and walk to the point. It is over 1/2 mile, maybe close to a mile from the road to the point. But it will not have any crowds. There were 4 other people there when we went, and we saw some elk along the road.

If you drive to Yaki for sunrise, I would continue along the east rim drive, stopping at least at Grandview and Desert View before exiting the park through the eat entrance. Maybe get a quick breakfast at the Cameron Trading Post before heading to Las Vegas. But exiting through the east entrance will add close to 2 hours to your trip back to Vegas.

Thanks everyone for truly great inputs. I have read a lot of recommendations about the South Kaibab trail. Bill H above has referred to it also. How difficult is the hike, and how far should we go ? How much time should we budget on going that far, and coming back ?

How long would it take to drive the 23 miles to Desert View and back ?

How does this sound:
Day 1 afternoon: Drive on the east rim to Desert View, stopping at Grandview and Lipan Points on the way.
Day 1 : late afternoon : Take shuttle to some of the points on the west rim drive, culminating in watching sunset at Hopi Point.
Day 2: Take early morning shuttle to Yaki Point to watch the sunrise and return. Then take a hike down South Kaibab trail till as far as our legs permit, and return.

South Kaibab trail ... How difficult is the hike, and how far should we go ?

You would need to hike to Ooh-aah point to see the sun rising in the east, until you reach this spot the rock cliff that forms Yaki Point blocks the east view. It's pretty steep but not very far, probably a 500 ft elevation drop in about 1/2 mile with 7 switchbacks near the top and a long traverse to below Yaki Pt. Most hikers take about 30-40 minutes to hike down and about 2x-3x as long to hike back up (or 1-2 hours). Really fit people can do it in about half this time.

Here's a 360 degree panoramic view from the point:
http://www.panoramicearth.com/1995/G...h_Kaibab_Trail

How long would it take to drive the 23 miles to Desert View and back ?

About 45 minutes each way plus time spent at the overlooks and at Desert View.

How does this sound:

Day 1 sounds good.

Day 2: Take early morning shuttle to Yaki Point to watch the sunrise and return. Then take a hike down South Kaibab trail till as far as our legs permit, and return

I would pick just one, either the hike, catching the earliest bus (which in the past was running one hour before sunrise), or the Yaki Point sunrise. But it's rushed to try to do both, especially if you are leaving at 9 AM. If you're in good shape (work out 3x a week or are young and thin) then for sure do the hike. If you think you'll struggle with the hike then probably just do the viewpoint?

I think your Day 1 which as I understand it includes driving from LV to the Grand Canyon is too ambitious. The Desert View drive and the shuttle along the rim are both well worth doing but I would pick just one. Probably the shuttle, exploring the south rim. You could walk part(s) of the trail there.

Vttraveler, we hope to get an early start from Vegas (probably by 8:30am), so as to reach GC by 2pm or so. We could think of doing the Desert view drive from 3 pm to 5:30 pm, and thereafter go by shuttle to Hopi Point, and maybe a couple of other points on the west rim drive. It would be early June, so sunset is around 7:45 pm. Why is this not doable ?

I was there at the start of June and arrived at the east entrance around 5PM. I stopped at several viewpoints before reaching Bright Angel Lodge and by that time of day the sun was in my eyes at most of my stops. That's why I would do this either earlier in the day or the next morning.

I stayed at bright Angel. it's right at the rim. I got up early, walked a few yards over to the rim, and walked along as the sun came up. Beutiful views as the sun came up above the horizon. Then more great views as the sun began to light up the canyon.

Why is this not doable ?

Definitely 'doable' time-wise, but it's a LOT of time spent in the car and on the shuttle. Plus you'll want to fit in dinner.

Of course if you feel you've had enough you can cut short either the east rim drive (go at least to Grandview Point, about 1/3 the way) or the west rim shuttle since Hopi Point is about 1/4 the way and you don't have to go the full 8 miles to Hermit's Rest.

I think your plan for Day 1 is technically doable but as Bill_H points out it is a lot of driving time and doesn't seem to fit in any break time for dinner. I don't think you can really appreciate the canyon from a car or shuttle bus. At best you will have only about 2 1/2 hours of daylight in Grand Canyon Village and along that part of the rim.

We just returned from Grand Canyon. We stayed 2 nights at El Tovar. We arrived in a blizzard and couldn't see anything over the rim. The next morning the sun was out and the snow on the trees and rocks was amazing. We hiked part of the rim, drove to several view points, hiked down Bright Angel for about 45 minutes, attended 3 ranger talks, and saw the sunset at Mather Point. We had dinner and 2 breakfasts at El Tovar. (Dinner was expensive, but having reservations was nice.) The second night we didn't have reservations and there were long waits at Bright Angel. We decided to wait in the bar. There was an amazing singer performing. We decided to just eat pub food and we stayed there the whole night. Quite a find!

Our friends went on the helicopter ride and thought it was worth every penny.

Thanks everyone for your great inputs. Very useful, and with all the good advice above, I am sure we will have a great time at GC. Thanks everyone.