Driving Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon - easy drive? Doable in a day?

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I have a trip to Las Vegas booked with my young adult DD. We are looking at a trip to the Grand Canyon, having heard a couple of pretty poor reviews of helicopter trips I've been looking into hiring a car and driving.

Has anyone made the trip, it looks like it's about 2.5 hour drive to the west rim with the skywalk and 4.5 hrs to the south rim.

I was thinking of making a mini trip out of it, stopping off at the hoover dam and the Colorado river too, maybe having an overnight somewhere near the Grand Canyon. Although I'm wondering if I'm adding unnecessary expense to an already expensive trip and if we set off early morning could we do it in a day? Anyone any experiences?

I'm thinking in the uk I would probably make a 3 hr each way journey so why not? Although unfamiliar route, desert, 40+ degree heat, different car etc is also making me think maybe an overnight would be more relaxing.

Interested to hear from anyone who has done the drive. Or any tips

We stayed at Holiday Inn Express at Tusayen.

LV , not our scene tbh but was convenient to fly into.
We took a very early trip 25 mins west of LV to the Red Rock Canyon to see the sunrise. We don’t think have.a thing about sunrises we’re just early rises ourselves!

You do realise your DD isn’t allowed in the hotel casinos?
Apologies if you already know that.

Children/young adults can walk through the casinos. They just can't stop/play. I stayed in The Bellagio with my kids and it was fine. We walked through all the major casinos to have a look (weren't interested in playing)

We drove from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas, it was a long day. We were there in September and it was brutally hot (40C) so much so we didn't make it across the bridge to see the Hoover Dam properly. We did go in to the visitor centre and wandered around for about an hour.

If you can, I would recommend staying at the Grand Canyon, I didn't book a year in advance, I checked regularly and got a cancellation about 4 months before we went. It was amazing to wake up early and wander to the rim to see the sunrise.

Drive is about 5 hrs - leave after lunch with quick stop at Hoover Dam. Stay in the park itself at the South Rim Village. Watch the sunset over the canyon and have dinner/ drinks at El Tovar hotel. Get up early ( jet lag will help with this) and hike down one of the trails- Bright Angel is the classic - 1 hr down is 2 hrs up so if you leave at 6/7 it's not too hot on the way up. You must also take the free shuttle bus west to some of the view points - the views are truly spectacular - much better than in the village which is in a bend of the canyon. Leave mid afternoon and you are back in LV for night. I've been 3 times - love it!

This is what awaits at the viewpoints!

maps.app.goo.gl/JiRskVibT7kAV5Uz7

The South Rim is brilliant. We stayed in Flagstaff , which is lovely, and spent two days driving along the South Rim. It's quite a way from Las Vegas - about 4 1/2 hours but only 1/2 hours from Flagstaff.

Let's not underestimate the GC...it's c.200 miles long...up to a mile wide!
Image it in the UK; London to Manchester..! (Almost)
We had a lovely trip with papillon helicopters - we enjoyed landing on the side of the canyon and looking up...enjoy!

I can recommend the Valley of Fire state park which is about 40 mins from Las Vegas. Red rock, big lizards and little squirrely creatures all over the place.

Also, Death Valley is about 2.5 hours away. You could see Badwater and the Furnace Creek visitor area in one day.

If you go, take an immense quantity of water and a massive sun hat with you because it’s very, very hot and there are few opportunities to buy drinks.

Have a look at vegas.com all of the shows, hotels and tours are on there. Also check out vegas city pass. They sell a ticket that gives you discounts on all of the attractions in the hotels on the strip. You need to do a fair bit of research to get the most out of it.

As others say, go to Hoover Dam and South Rim, stay overnight so you are not rushed

BTW I did the helicopter trip and through it was amazing, much better than going by car