Four years ago, when my husband and I were in Vegas for his convention, we took a trip out to the Grand Canyon National Park. It was a little over 4.5 hours from our Vegas hotel (Caesars Palace). We took a tour with eight other people. We left around 6am and returned after 9pm. It was a great experience, but a very long day. This year, with my mom in tow, we opted to rent a car and drive to Grand Canyon West. This is a different section of the Canyon, but only 2.5 hours from Vegas. I am going to include photos of my National Park experience first and then go in to my review of Grand Canyon West after.
2011- Grand Canyon National Park
2015- Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon West & the Skywalk
The Grand Canyon West is the western rim of the Canyon, within an area designated as Hualapai tribal lands. The Hualapai people run the entire operation out there! It's quite impressive. I will be honest and say that I had heard a lot of negative feedback about the area, specifically that the tribe is taking advantage of their situation to make money off of tourists. You can't drive yourself between the different areas, once you arrive at the welcome center you must use their bus service throughout the premises. I actually found it to be nicer this way, as I didn't have to worry about parking or missing any of the sights along the way. I kinda laugh now, because we were staying in Vegas. Everyone is getting raked over the coals there, the West Rim is nothing!
Our game plan started like this, wake up early and get the rental car from Hertz, conveniently located in Caesars by the parking garage. So by 7:30am we were on the road. We googled a Dunkin Donuts and grabbed some coffee and breakfast, then headed to the Hoover Dam. Tours of the Dam are given, but there is a minimum age of 12, my son is about 10 years too young so we opted to just snap some photos and sightsee.
Our game plan started like this, wake up early and get the rental car from Hertz, conveniently located in Caesars by the parking garage. So by 7:30am we were on the road. We googled a Dunkin Donuts and grabbed some coffee and breakfast, then headed to the Hoover Dam. Tours of the Dam are given, but there is a minimum age of 12, my son is about 10 years too young so we opted to just snap some photos and sightsee.
We spent about an hour there and then proceeded along to the Grand Canyon West. My phone's GPS stopped working by the Hoover Dam Lodge, so I called GCW and asked for directions. It's a good thing I did because they notified me that GPS will often send you in the wrong direction! It was a much more scenic drive than my trip out to the National Park. We drove through small towns, tall cliffs, and up & down rolling hills. It was a nice experience for these Florida girls (and little boy).
| | At the Grand Canyon West, you arrive at the Welcome Center, which has a gift shop, restrooms, and a few other little buildings. You are surrounded, on both sides, with helicopter pads for the flight seeing options. |
Once you purchase tickets, you get in line to board a bus. The line is pretty long, but it is covered with canopies and a new bus comes every 5 minutes. There are three stops on the bus. Stop one is Hualapai Ranch. It looks like an old western town. They have a small restaurant, nothing fancy, where we had lunch(pictured below), a gift shop, attractions to stay busy, and I also hear that there is a place to stay overnight as well. Our lunch was decent, bbq ribs, two sides, a cookie, and a drink.
Stop Two: Eagle Point!
This is where the glass skywalk is located. There are edges that you can walk out to and peer down the side of the canyon. Be aware that there are NO fences, so you need to be careful. As you see, my 2.5 year old rode on my back in a carrier because I don't trust that he understands the consequences of the edge!
This is where the glass skywalk is located. There are edges that you can walk out to and peer down the side of the canyon. Be aware that there are NO fences, so you need to be careful. As you see, my 2.5 year old rode on my back in a carrier because I don't trust that he understands the consequences of the edge!
SkyWalk.
The Grand Canyon Skywalk is neat and terrifying! You are given a group number so that there aren't too many people out on it at one time. There are free lockers and you must put all your belongings in there. They do not allow bags of any kind, cameras, or cell phones. I asked for permission to wear my son and they said yes. If you have a longish wait, they do have some food carts with drinks, snacks, and hot dogs.
The Grand Canyon Skywalk is neat and terrifying! You are given a group number so that there aren't too many people out on it at one time. There are free lockers and you must put all your belongings in there. They do not allow bags of any kind, cameras, or cell phones. I asked for permission to wear my son and they said yes. If you have a longish wait, they do have some food carts with drinks, snacks, and hot dogs.
Once you number is called, you proceed through metal detectors and up in to the building (which is still under construction at the moment). Then you are led out on to the SkyWalk. The good news is that the outer edge is opaque, so if you're chicken like we were it helps a little. I said a little. You are staring down to the river bed, which is 4,000 feet below. We were still terrified to go out on the glass. As you can see, the portion we were standing on is opaque. The center peach/tan looking part is actually clear glass, but you're seeing the support of the walkway in our photos. We forced ourselves to do it though! The photographers take a lot of pictures in different poses. We chose one, but the lady accidentally printed two for us. Oh darn!
Stop Three: Guano Point.
This spot has some of the best views at Grand Canyon West. It is a horse shoe shaped section. There isn't much at this stop other than the view and a lot of picnic tables. Sadly we didn't get off the bus here because it was getting later in the afternoon and we needed to get back to Vegas to meet up with my husband. I wish we had an extra hour because from the bus, this looked beautiful. My photos aren't great because they were taken from in the bus.
This spot has some of the best views at Grand Canyon West. It is a horse shoe shaped section. There isn't much at this stop other than the view and a lot of picnic tables. Sadly we didn't get off the bus here because it was getting later in the afternoon and we needed to get back to Vegas to meet up with my husband. I wish we had an extra hour because from the bus, this looked beautiful. My photos aren't great because they were taken from in the bus.
I want to say this. I have read many things on the internet that call Grand Canyon West a tourist trap, rip off, etc. I can confidently say that it was an enjoyable day and worth the money we spent. Having been to both the West Rim and South Rim I can assure you that you can't go wrong with either one. If you can't do the 4.5+ hour drive from Vegas to the National Park, the West rim, at 2.5 hours, will work just fine!
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