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Original poster

Grand Canyon day trip from Vegas- drive or fly

12 replies

spotzone · 14/01/2025 22:29

Can't decide what to do...

Flying- I'll prob be sick (bad motion sickness-tried every remedy) but it's a short trip and I'll recover quick. More time at canyon but looks to cost a lot.

Driving- long drive for dh (three teens in the back but they travel well and can sleep anywhere) looks more cost effective. We can stop/eat whenever we want and can hopefully do some cool teen friendly sights on the road.

Anyone any tips or suggestions?

OP posts:
GreenSkyes · 14/01/2025 22:48

We did the grand canyon from Vegas a fair few years ago. Stopped at the hoover damn too. I don't recall the drive being that long but we had a tour guide who gave us info and facts. We stopped for a break once, then the damn and on to the grand canyon.

We booked a tour, but one of the smaller mini bus ones as I didn't want to wait for 50 people to get back on a coach, always someone late.

SpuytenDuyvil · 14/01/2025 22:48

Not sure why you say it's a long drive? It's 275 miles, which would take about 4 hours. We have driven that with DS and it was great. We drove back from Las Vegas to No. California which was 650 miles in one day.

Original poster
spotzone · 14/01/2025 23:11

SpuytenDuyvil · 14/01/2025 22:48

Not sure why you say it's a long drive? It's 275 miles, which would take about 4 hours. We have driven that with DS and it was great. We drove back from Las Vegas to No. California which was 650 miles in one day.

Edited

Four hours each way so eight hours driving in one day. Seems long to me.

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Original poster
spotzone · 14/01/2025 23:11

GreenSkyes · 14/01/2025 22:48

We did the grand canyon from Vegas a fair few years ago. Stopped at the hoover damn too. I don't recall the drive being that long but we had a tour guide who gave us info and facts. We stopped for a break once, then the damn and on to the grand canyon.

We booked a tour, but one of the smaller mini bus ones as I didn't want to wait for 50 people to get back on a coach, always someone late.

Thank you that might be an option.

OP posts:
Sebsaloysius · 14/01/2025 23:20

We drove it - there and back in one day which was a bad move on reflection! I wasn't insured to drive the hire car so DH had to do all the driving and he was almost a zombie by the time we made it back to the Vegas late at night. What didn't help was the fact that so many of the roads were long, straight and devoid of traffic - it made for a tough drive as not enough going on around the driver to keep them focused.

If we did it again, we said we would do a helicopter trip. We did a strip tour with Maverick and they were excellent. I know they do daily trips to the GC, so would definitely use them again.

Fr1day · 14/01/2025 23:24

We flew, a few years ago now. Tiny plane (about 8 people) and air pockets meant it was quite bouncy - that stomach dropping feeling like driving over a humpback bridge every 10 seconds. I didn't like it much but no-one was sick. The views from the flight were pretty cool though. We've also driven but that time we were staying at the Canyon so the journey was fine.

SpuytenDuyvil · 14/01/2025 23:25

@spotzone Sorry, I didn't realize you were going to go back to Las Vegas the same day. If you are traveling in the summer, it will be really hot. Can you stay in the Grand Canyon area for the day and the night?

Littletreefrog · 14/01/2025 23:32

We did it in a helicopter, spent the night at a ranch type thing (probably just for tourists rather than an actual ranch but it was still good) went horse riding then back by helicopter the next morning. It was great.

snowgirl1 · 14/01/2025 23:33

Stay overnight near the Grand Canyon and drive there or back via Route 66. There are quite a few small quirky little towns to stop in en-route, like Seligman (inspiration for Disney? Pixar? Cars film) - driving Route 66 and stopping at diners and the quirky places was one of the highlights of our trip.

Sonolanona · 15/01/2025 00:45

We flew. It was a small plane (around 10 seats) but the flight was fine! The views were amazing and it made it a lovely trip... see all the sights and back in Vegas for dinner!

Borris · 15/01/2025 23:31

We did helicopter with maverick as mentioned above. It was amazing. One of the best things I've ever done

Downtherefordancing · 16/01/2025 07:07

I would definitely drive it. I’ve done it twice. I know the roads are long and straight but if you from UK, the scenery is so different.

You can go see the Hoover Dam and if you can possibly stay overnight, go to Williams in Arizona. It is an old fashioned American town with lots of diners and a few hotels. Or stay closer to Grand Canyon. It’s an amazing trip 😊

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