Grand Canyon South Rim: 3 Days of Rim Sunsets and First Steps Below

Grand Canyon's South Entrance station near Tusayan takes most of the traffic, and waits of up to two hours are possible between about 9:30 am and 4 pm. Being through the gate before 9:30 am saves real time; the East Entrance at Desert View has shorter lines if you are coming from Cameron/US 89. Payment is card only. Fees are $35 per private vehicle (valid 7 days), $30 per motorcycle and $20 per person 16 and older on foot or bike; America the Beautiful passes are accepted. Parking inside the park is free with the entrance fee, so park once at the Visitor Center lots and ride the free shuttles.

Start here for current trail conditions, the shuttle map, and ranger talks. The Kaibab Rim (Orange) shuttle you will use on Day 2 also begins at the Visitor Center plaza. Hours are seasonal; the listed hours are 8 am to 4 pm.

Walk 0.7 miles along the Rim Trail from the Visitor Center to Yavapai Geology Museum, which sits on the rim with big picture windows and exhibits on the canyon's geology. The museum marks the young end of the Trail of Time, a 2.8-mile rim-side timeline where every meter equals one million years of Earth history, running west to Maricopa Point. Walk as much of it as you like. The Kaibab Rim (Orange) shuttle also stops at the museum if you would rather ride back. Museum hours are seasonal, so check before you go.

A small cafe on the Visitor Center plaza, run by the bike-tour and rental outfit that shares the building, which makes it the easiest lunch stop in this part of the park. The operations page lists it as open daily 10 am to 5 pm, and the place page says it sells snacks and drinks. Menu details are not published, so treat it as a light-lunch stop and carry snacks as a backup.

In the afternoon wander the Village Historic District at the west end. Kolb Studio, the home and photo business of the brothers who photographed and filmed the canyon and now a gallery and bookstore run by the Grand Canyon Conservancy, sits beside the Bright Angel Trailhead and is a fine place to watch hikers disappear over the edge. From there stroll east along the Rim Trail past Lookout Studio, Hopi House and El Tovar, all worth peeking into. Hours are seasonal, so check before you go.

One of the few restaurants in the park with canyon views from the dining room, on the east side of Bright Angel Lodge just south of the Rim Trail. Southwestern flavors, aged steaks and ribs, and Arizona beer and wine. Dine-in only; reservations are recommended and open online 45 days ahead. Hours vary by season (the operations page lists dinner 5:00 to 8:30 pm), so aim to be seated by about 6:45 pm; you can walk straight over from the Hermit Road shuttle transfer station.

Use the afternoon for the far end of Hermit Road. Pima Point is a less-visited overlook where trip reports say you can hear the rapids far below. The road ends at Hermits Rest, a 1914 Mary Colter building designed to look like a miner's cabin, with a giant alcove fireplace, a gift shop (listed 9 am to 5 pm), restrooms and a water bottle-filling station. Ride the bus out (about 40 minutes one way), hop off at Pima Point and Hermits Rest, and ride back. Snack-bar service varies, so carry snacks.

Tomorrow's Desert View Drive has picnic areas but few places to buy food, so pick up sandwich fixings, fruit, snacks and drinking water at the general store at Market Plaza on your way out of the Village. The operations page lists it as open daily 7 am to 7 pm, but hours are seasonal.

Head east on Desert View Drive early to the unsigned dirt parking area for Shoshone Point. An easy old road runs 1 mile each way from ponderosa forest to pinyon-juniper woodland and ends at a rim viewpoint facing north-northeast that trip reports single out as a peaceful sunrise alternative. There is a vault toilet but no water. It is the only place in the park that can be reserved for private events; if the road gate is closed or an event is set up, choose another viewpoint. Mud is common in spring thaw.

The 23-mile drive between the Village and Desert View is the park's other classic scenic route, and each viewpoint is marked by highway mile. Allow 2 to 3 hours with stops (a range trip reports give). First stops: Duck on a Rock (mile 246), a small viewpoint photographers call underrated, and Grandview Point (mile 251), a high overlook that sees fewer visitors than the Village stops.

Use what you bought at Canyon Village Market. Buggeln Picnic Area, on Desert View Drive between Grandview and Moran points, has picnic tables, vault toilets and shade from gambel oaks, and it is one of the few stops on the drive with both a restroom and tables. There is no water, so bring your own. The land was once part of Martin Buggeln's cattle operation.

Named for Thomas Moran, the painter who joined John Wesley Powell's 1873 expedition and whose canvases helped make the case for protecting the West's landscapes. Watch the shadows shift across the buttes as the day goes on, just as he did.

Three miles west of Desert View, this small Ancestral Pueblo village site gives the canyon a human story. When it is staffed the site hosts a Native American artisan market. Access is seasonal and days of the week are limited, so check the park page before counting on it, and skip it if it is closed.

Finish at Desert View Point, a quarter-mile walk from the tower area, and stop at Navajo Point on the way back west for one last long view of the east canyon. Trip reports note the Watchtower glows in golden-hour light, so linger if you are not in a hurry. Plan about an hour to drive back to Tusayan.