Grand Canyon??

The town of Williams is wonderful. Nice RV Park and lovely town with great restaurants. You can park your RV and walk to the train and take the really cool train to Grand Canyon. We took the bus tour against my husbands wishes, but he loved it.

tropical36 wrote:

Tom/Barb wrote:
the day we took the train ride, the park was allowing 1 car in for every 1 out. the wait at 0900 was 3.5 hours. every parking place in the park was full.

Would most definitely like seeing the north rim one day, especially after seeing how commercialized the south wall has become. Soon it will require signal lights and traffic cops.
The west wall, although not as spectacular with the views and depth, could really make for a nice visit, is not for some apparent problems and since it isn't owned by the National Park System.

This thread is now old, I know, but just saw where the GC had over 6 million visitors in 2016 and most sure all or most were on the south rim, as they are saying the National Park....
GRAND CANYON

The North Rim is where we prefer to go now.

However, if it's your first visit, definitely go to the South Rim. It has a lot more to do and a bigger area to cover. Most tourists like the busy aspect of the South Rim - perhaps giving them an 'amusement park' type of experience. This is also where the tourist buses drop off hoards of people for a quick look-see. If you do go to the South Rim try to schedule it in Oct/Nov or April/May for a little less congestion. Even the winter months can be awesome and Trailer Village RV in the park will be open. Snow at the canyon is a beautiful experience.

The North Rim is so refreshingly quiet. It's a place to just relax and take in the beauty. There is one Lodge for fine dining and some cabins and a small campground - no hookups. It has some nice hiking but it's geared for a very quiet time. It also has a shorter season because of the higher elevation. It's nice and cool in the summer. It opens in May and closes in October.

DSDP Don wrote:
The South Rim has a campground within the park called Trailer Village. I'm guessing that if you haven't booked a spot already, you won't get one. There is also a campground (nothing special), called Camper's Village. It's right at the entrance to the park, in the town of Tusayan.

And if you like STEAK to eat...they cook the best steaks in the USA right in Tusayan at a place ( get this) called The Steak House.
Price is good...steak is GREAT. Short walk to the CG from there

naturist wrote:
I don't know about car rentals at the Grand Canyon, but the South Rim shuttle buses are THE way to get around in the park. They are free, and will take you anywhere you want to go inside the park. The Park Service discourages people driving themselves around in the park by having those buses free and ubiquitous as well as having a HUGE parking area in one spot and few parking places elsewhere in the park.

X3, this IS the way to go. You can't beat free and you can't beat the driver's knowledge of the park.

2gypsies wrote:
That's why it's best to stay in the park. You don't have to drive your car around.

That's why we took the early train up, and the late one back.

Tom/Barb wrote:
the day we took the train ride, the park was allowing 1 car in for every 1 out. the wait at 0900 was 3.5 hours. every parking place in the park was full.

Would most definitely like seeing the north rim one day, especially after seeing how commercialized the south wall has become. Soon it will require signal lights and traffic cops.
The west wall, although not as spectacular with the views and depth, could really make for a nice visit, is not for some apparent problems and since it isn't owned by the National Park System.

Tom/Barb wrote:
the day we took the train ride, the park was allowing 1 car in for every 1 out. the wait at 0900 was 3.5 hours. every parking place in the park was full.

That's why it's best to stay in the park. You don't have to drive your car around.

the day we took the train ride, the park was allowing 1 car in for every 1 out. the wait at 0900 was 3.5 hours. every parking place in the park was full.

I'll agree on the train ride.
In addition to it being uneventful and actually not very scenic, they stage a "train robbery" that is more real than you would think (for reasons that have nothing to do with the acting ability of the robbers). The robbers do almost no acting, are not pleasant, and don't even talk much. They just come through the train car and relieve you of whatever money you are supposed to give them as a "tip" for their rote "performance." I think they play on the fact that tourists will feel cheap if they don't give them money for literally doing nothing. We are always good tippers, but I clearly felt that our family and everyone else on that train was truly "held up" by the robbers.