Grand Canyon- Which airport?
 

Hello,

I was wondering which airport is the closet to the Grand Canyon coming from New York.

Should I fly into Phoenix or Las Vegas for the drive to the South Rim (or is North Rim better)? I would also like to see the parks..Zion, Brice etc.

Trip will be taken at the end of October.

Thanks Valerie

Driving time to the South Rim is comparable for both. Las Vegas would be more convenient for the North Rim and Southern Utah. However, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon might not be open in late October if there is an early snowfall. (The North Rim closes for the winter.)

The offician NPS website for GCNP states the following:
"Visitor services and facilities inside the national park on the North Rim are only open from mid May to mid October. They are currently closed and will reopen mid-May 2005."

We did an 'open jaw' which cost no more than a round trip. We flew into Phoenix, stayed in Sedona (fabulous!), drove up to the South Rim for 2 nights, then on to Lake Powell 1 night, Bryce 1 night, Zion 2 nights. We then drove to Vegas, stayed there 2 nights and flew back from there. This worked out great.

I agree with above post, I would fly into Phoenix, and drive to Sedona (it's really a very nice drive up) on way to Grand Canyon and fly home from Las Vegas. Have a nice time...

For the end of October, I wouldn't plan on the N. Rim as drsawyer pointed out. The south rim has a vaster view and more overlooks and there are NO crowds in October!

Round trip from Las Vegas, Sedona, Grand Canyon, Page, Bryce, Zion & back to Las Vegas is 880 miles. Same trip from Phoenix is 940 miles and an open jaw flying into one and flying out of the other would be 710 miles. Las Vegas over Phonenix will save you about 2 hours of driving time and the open jaw would save you about 2 more hours.

Utahtea

We're flying into Phoenix and out of LV in early August. We didn't realize when we booked it this way that it's more expensive to rent cars for "one way." Also, there are some cars that rental agencies won't send one way, such as larger SUVs. We rented a minivan. I'm hoping prices will come down before our trip, but I know we'll still have the one way charge.