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If You Only Have One Day
With as little as one day, you can make the 190-mile loop from Flagstaff by heading north on U.S. Highway 89 to the Cameron area, turning left on Highway 64 to the East Entrance Station at Desert View, continuing west along Highway 64 with stops at viewpoints and other sights on Desert View Drive, stopping at Grand Canyon Village to see the historic buildings and rim views, then returning to Flagstaff on Highway 64 and U.S. Highway 180.
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2–3 Days
If you add another day or two, you could also take shuttle buses west from Grand Canyon Village to Hermits Rest and do some day hikes on or near the rim. Worthwhile detours include the 36-mile scenic loop to Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki National Monuments off U.S. Highway 89 north of Flagstaff, Cameron Trading post just north of the junction of U.S. Highway 89 and Highway 64, one or both Little Colorado River Gorge overlooks on the north side of Highway 64, and Grandview Lookout’s views and trails.
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1–2 Weeks
Extend your trip to a week, and you’ll have enough time to travel around to the North Rim as well, adding 318 miles round-trip. With two or more weeks, you could make a grand tour of about 800 miles completely around the Grand Canyon, taking in some of the Arizona Strip, Utah, and Nevada as well as both rims. The countless options on this loop include back-road drives to viewpoints on the Kaibab Plateau, the vertigo-inducing overlook at Toroweap, Grand Canyon West on the Hualapai Reservation, or even a drive all the way to the bottom of the Canyon at Diamond Creek, also on Hualapai lands. You’ll learn about the region’s history on detours to Lees Ferry, just upriver from the park, and Pipe Spring National Monument on the Arizona Strip. You could also make some longer hikes, perhaps to visit the famous waterfalls and blue-green water on the Havasupai Reservation.
Don’t miss the historic railroad towns of Flagstaff and Williams, both with many fine old buildings. Flagstaff’s Museum of Northern Arizona is highly recommended as a fine introduction to the lands and native peoples of the Grand Canyon area. The national forests surrounding Flagstaff and Williams offer outstanding hikes up volcanoes and down water-sculpted canyons.
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3–4 Weeks
Add another week, and you could make a 600-mile loop through the majestic landscapes of the Navajo and Hopi people in northeastern Arizona, seeing such unforgettable sights as Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, and the centuries-old Hopi villages.
For the ultimate Canyon journey, join a river expedition down the Colorado River. Advance planning and a commitment of 1–3 weeks are needed to go all the way through, but you’ll get a close-up look at the Inner Canyon that visitors on the viewpoints can only dream about.
And for big-city dazzle, what could be more exciting than a few days in Las Vegas?
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