Grand Canyon travel guide
The Grand Canyon is truly grand – whether you raft through it, trek down it or just gaze out from the rim
The Grand Canyon is possibly the world’s most gorgeous gorge. Plunging more than a mile down into the sun-baked Arizona desert, the Grand Canyon has been carved out by the Colorado River for the past six million years – and that carving continues today, with the 445km waterway still nibbling away at all that wonderful red-orange-pink rock.
The scale of the Grand Canyon is vast, and difficult to comprehend. The Grand Canyon National Park protects 1.2 million acres of gorge, riverbed, side valleys, rim forests and more. You would need decades to do the park justice.
Few have that long to spend, but do allow as much time as you can to explore the varied terrain of the Grand Canyon area.
Most head first to the South Rim; this is the most touristy part of the Grand Canyon National Park, and people flock to easily accessible Grand Canyon Village for classic views and to head off on mule treks down to the canyon floor.
North Rim is far less visited. The entrance station is practically visible from Grand Canyon Village, but it’s a 350km drive around the chasm to get there. The landscape here is quite different too, with crisper air (North Rim is at a higher altitude) and impressive forest.
There are various ways of experiencing the Grand Canyon – though the USA is a nation of car-lovers, there’s so much more to the national park than simply driving up to a lookout point to take a quick photo.
To really get to grips with the enormity of the Grand Canyon, hop in a raft for a wild float down the Colorado River, hike out on a backcountry trail away from the crowds, strap on cross-country skis for an off-season adventure or look out for condors with an eagle-eyed park ranger – if you do you’ll discover an even Grander Canyon.