PLANNING EARLY FALL TRIP TO SOUTHWEST. SUGGESTIONS AS TO WHICH TO VISIT, NORTH OR SOUTH RIM, WOULD BE APPRECIATED. ALSO, IDEAS OF SPOTS NOT TO MISS NEAR SCOTTSDALE, SANTA FE, CORTEZ AND SEDONA. NEED IDEAS OF PLACES TO STAY AND EAT. MANY THANKS.

North Rim is more isolated and less scenic,and thus much less visited. It takes several hours to get from one rim to the other, so it is best to chose one or the other.Since you'll be in Sedona, it makes sense to me to visit the South Rim, unless isolation is very important to you.

South rim is beautiful. see if you can get dinner reservations at the el tovar. i waited till the last minute and had a 2 hour wait so did not get to eat there. It is a beautiful old hotel to stay it. we enjoyed our stay there. get up early in the morning drive east and find a beautiful spot to sit and await the sunrise.(ask the hotel staff or park ranngerfor guidance the evening before) Oak creek canyon which is on the way bet. the canyon and sedona is a beautiful place to camp or picnic. Visit the grandcanyon website. Enjoy

In Sedona, we stayed at the Best Western of Sedona. You have a fantastic view outside your room. You can sit on the porch area to have breakfast and enjoy the mountains. Stop by the Chamber of Commerce to pick up a strip map of what to see in Sedona.There are a lot of State Parks where you can walk around and enjoy nature. Make sure you take the road to the airport and stop at the scenic views. You get a great view of various mountains. Red Rock State Park has some hiking areas and beautiful scenery. Montezuma's Castle was interesting.(where the Indians built into the rock) It is a self guided tour and you read about the history of that time frame. We found Sedona to be very picturesque. I wish we could have spent 2 days there instead of one. Hope you have a good time

I have been to both rims more than once and enjoyed both. The north rim is less developed, although there are very nice cabins there and a good place to eat. But there are far fewer viewpoints and trails.

The south rim is very, very busy. Getting reservations for a room must be done well in advance. There are many more viewpoints and walks along the rim of the canyon. The north rim is also much more time consuming to reach by car from Sedona.

Also, the angle of viewing into the canyon from the south is better. You can see deeper into the canyon from the south rim.

Both have their features, but for a first trip my suggestion is south rim and put up with the crowds.
If you take the West Rim Drive, you can get off of the tram bus and walk away from the standard viewpoints, and enjoy solitude relatively speaking and see the canyon at the same time.

I've been to both the North and South Rims and GREATLY preferred the North. The South Rim is very crowded--many tour buses and throngs of people. I spent last Halloween day on the North Rim (although it's usually snowed in by that time) and it was absolutely spectacular! Enjoyed many short hikes with only a handful of other tourists. There are great old rustic log cabins on the North Rim--some of them right on the edge of the canyon. If you want more facilities and touristy things to do, definitely go to the South Rim. But then, I've never met anyone else who didn't love Sedona, but it's not my cup of tea...

If you do decide to go to the South Rim, take a hike down to Angel Point Plateau. You end up looking down at the Colorado 1500 or so feet below. The scenery is breathtaking, both on the way down and on the way back up. It's a fairly lengthy hike, so start out early.