For visiting the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, we recommend staying at the South Rim, Tusayan, or Williams, AZ.

For the North Rim, you can stay in Jacob Lake, AZ.

Page is a great location for Grand Canyon East and has plenty of lodging options.

Kanab, UT is a great home base for visiting the North Rim, Page, Zion, and Bryce Canyon.

We recommend switching locations if you want to go to the North and South rims.

You can do the days in the itinerary in any order you wish.

For the South Rim and East Area & Page, March through November works well. We love to visit the 3rd week of April- not to put too fine a point on it! It’s nice and cool and crowds are at a minimum; this is especially important if you plan to visit Grand Canyon West (Skywalk). 

For the North Rim, anytime in the mid-May through mid-October window is great. The North Rim gets very few visitors and is closed the rest of the year.

We have spent a lot of time at all 4 areas of the Grand Canyon, checking out the viewpoints, hiking, and doing almost all of the activities.

We travel with both sets of our retired parents and our 4 kids (who are now teens), so we have a pretty good radar on the interests of most types of travelers.

We recommend what we believe are the absolute best spots inside and outside the park and give backup options for longer hikes or things that cost. 

We give star ratings and approximate prices to help you decide which activities are the best value for you!

We are of the mindset that you have a plan, so you can be flexible.  

We lay out what we believe are the best activities for your time and money, but we all have different preferences. 

Because each activity listed has a star rating, approximate time frame, and cost, you’ll easily be able to adjust to best suit your group’s interests. 

We surveyed our customers and they reported that our guides saved them 10-20 hours of trip planning research, on average. 

Although much of the information included in these guides can be found with significant research, these guides combine what you need to know into one place and it is from a source committed to giving you the best information.

These guides cost us over $11,433 to create when you combine travel expenses, map creation, and formatting.  In addition, we have spent hundreds of hours visiting this park and doing additional research. The audio guide alone was over 100 hours of labor (but of course, a labor of love!)

Many of our travelers enjoy the confirmation that they have already created a good plan and may even find a thing or two to add to it.

Other travelers may find that our plan is similar to what they had already pieced together on their own.  

If you’ve already spent hours planning, you may not find maximum value in this guide.

Yes! We travel with our 4 children and both sets of our parents.  Although not every activity is for everyone, there are always backup suggestions.

We write these guides so all the work you should need to do is obtain your lodging and reservations.  We include maps, the time needed to complete drives and activities, and lodging recommendations. We put boxes throughout the guide indicating it’s an item that you will need to take care of before you leave. We also give links to websites we think you should check before you leave.

Maybe. You can get around the South Rim very well without a car using the shuttle system, but you do need your own vehicle to get to Desert View. If you choose to visit Grand Canyon West, you are not allowed to drive your own vehicle and must use the provided park shuttles.

You NEED your own vehicle for the Grand Canyon North guide as well as the Grand Canyon East & Page guides. Most roads are passable in a regular car.

The South Rim guide includes a couple of hikes to the bottom of the canyon, but no way to drive down there.

However, the Grand Canyon East & Page guide does take you down to the Vermilion Cliffs and the Colorado River.

The Grand Canyon Overview Guide (included in the Grand Canyon Bundle) also has some ideas to get down to the bottom of the canyon.

Yes. We give approximate time frames that are needed to complete an activity.  The schedule is generally not so packed that you have to be a quick traveler.  But if you know you generally need more time, you can make adjustments. If you are quick, there are suggestions for additional activities

This is a digital download, so it will be EMAILED to you. That way, you can have access immediately and have the option to download it to any device you want. 

Many travelers, including us, prefer to print the itinerary and take it with us as we travel.

The itinerary and audio guide are available immediately upon purchase, right on this webpage. You will also receive an email within 30 minutes with download links in case you need to revisit the links and download the items later. If you don’t receive your email, check your junk mail folder. If it’s not there, contact mattandcheryl@wereintherockies.com, and we’ll be in touch with you within 1 business day. Also, the guides will be available in your account if you choose to establish one (we highly encourage it). 

You need cell reception to download the audio guides. Once they are downloaded, no cell reception is needed.

Most people download the audio guides to their phone before they leave.

Just in case you are wondering, an average audio guide takes 150 MB of storage space.

We believe that the South Rim of the Grand Canyon is the best spot to visit if you are short on time and can only visit one place.

However, the North Rim guide pairs very well with Zion and Bryce Canyon.

Grand Canyon East & Page is between the North and South Rim and has beautiful sites and fun recreational activities. 

If you want to see it all or are unsure about which area you want to visit, we recommend the Grand Canyon Bundle. It’s deeply discounted and includes 2 bonus guides: Grand Canyon Overview (3 road trip ideas) and Grand Canyon West (Hoover Dam & more).

The North Rim Guide has tons of great activities outside the national park in Kanab, UT and Page, AZ that we love to do, like hiking in slot canyons, going on Jeep rides, and exploring Lake Powell by boat.

If you aren’t sure which guides to get, email us at mattandcheryl@wereintherockies.com and tell us where you want to go. A real human will get back to you within one business day.

National parks constantly change, including timed-entry requirements, construction, fires, and closures. To keep you updated on the most current things going on, we have a Parks Updates page that we update every week with important information. We recommend you look at this as soon as you begin planning your trip, as well as a few days before you leave.

Guides are automatically updated to the latest version when you create an account. 

In addition to that, we also send an email notification out when a guide is updated. Just make sure to stay subscribed to our email list so we can reach you. 

Because the download is a PDF file, you can do it on any device: computer, iPhone, Android, tablet, etc.

Stuff like this happens. We get it. 

If you created an account, just log in again and download your guides.

If you didn’t create an account or forgot your password, just email us and we can resend your links. 

For step-by-step instructions (including pictures), check out our Help With Downloads page.

If you still need help, reach out to us at mattandcheryl@wereintherockies.com. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible to help. We’re even happy to jump on a phone call with you if needed. 

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is only open mid-May through mid-October. 

The rest of the guides can be used year-round, but there will be some hotels and services not available in the winter. Plus, the Grand Canyon gets snow, so be prepared with spikes for your shoes.

Yes!! We update our guides as needed, but write the concepts to intentionally be as timeless as possible. We encourage you to purchase the guide as soon as you know you will be traveling. It will help you determine which areas to stay and how many days to obtain lodging. Upon purchase, you’ll be guided to create an account on our website. If we update the guide, it will automatically show in your account. Your purchase includes free updates for life.

It is not required, but is HIGHLY recommended. We encourage you to create an account when purchasing the guides because you’ll have access to the links at any time.

You will have access to the updated guide through your account (another reason to create an account) for life. We generally send an email announcement when we do an update as well.

We believe that once you buy a guide from us, you should be able to use it to visit a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th time. 

If you created an account, just log in and download your guide again.

If you didn’t create an account, just email mattandcheryl@wereintherockies.com and let us know you want us to resend your guide links.

We put approximate price ranges on all our activities so you know what to expect. The good news is that many things in this guide are free once you pay for entrance into the national park! 

Although we do suggest some hikes, we offer plenty of alternatives if hiking is not desirable including, viewpoints and drives.

When the audio guide is available, here’s what you’ll need: 

• You will need to save the .mp3 files to your phone or tablet.  When you purchase the guide, it will come with instructions showing you how to save the files to your device.
• You will need a way to listen to them while driving, such as:
  
  • bluetooth connection
  • cable connection
  • earbuds or wireless ear buds

If you need technical support, check out our help with downloads page.  If you are still struggling, you can email us at mattandcheryl@wereintherockies.com