Which Airport is Best for Grand Canyon North Rim & Zion?

I am organizing a September rim-to-rim hike for a group of friends, some of whom will fly in from the UK. Lodging (including Phantom) is all arranged; we will meet at the North Rim, hike to the South, take the shuttle back to the North Rim for another night, and then drive to Zion for a few days.

I am trying to figure out what to advise the Brits on which airport to use, and approximate driving times. They can fly direct to Phoenix; Las Vegas would be another plane hop.

Questions:

1. If they choose Vegas, what are the approximate driving times from LV to the North Rim, from the North Rim to Zion (Springdale); and from Springdale/Zion back to Las Vegas airport? (I know I could figure this out but I can%26#39;t get Mapquest to accept ';North Rim'; as a destination, and I know some of you know the answers without looking!) I have been to the South Rim several times but do not have any experience with the North Rim.

2. If some of them wanted to avoid the extra flight and start driving from Phoenix, what is the driving time from there to the North Rim? Is it long enough that it should be broken into 2 days? I know there must be worthwhile stops along the way; what should I suggest if they only have 1 extra night before meeting us at the North Rim?

3. Now----supposing some of them want to make the most of their trip to the US and have 4 or 5 extra days after Zion before returning to Phoenix or Vegas. What should I suggest? These are serious hikers, but will not be equipped for overnight hikes. I%26#39;ve seen many scenic possibilities mentioned on this forum (Antelope Canyon, etc.), but (apart from GC South Rim) I haven%26#39;t been to the area so don%26#39;t know what to suggest.

Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Which Airport is Best for Grand Canyon North Rim %26amp; Zion?

Hi Enzian

From LAS to GC north rim will be 5-6 hours, but better count on six with a stop and the drive on the ';wrong';side of the road with your English friends. Some places to visit on this route are Valley of Fire Sp in Nevada and Pipe Springs NM in Az

From Phoenix to GC North rim will be 6-7 hours but again better count on 7.

From North Rim to Zion is about 3 hours.

Between Phoenix and North rim there are places like Montezuma Castle and Well, Sedona, Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater Volcano, Wupatki, Cameron Trading post, Navajo Bridges, Lees Ferry and Marble Canyon.

I definitely want to suggest to see Sedona even it%26#39;s just for a short stay. Depends on the time they arriving Phoenix. Maybe drive to Sedona, visit, drive via Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff to stay for the night. Next day see as much as they can between Flagstaff and North Rim.

For those 4 to 5 extra day, it depends wether they go to Phoenix or Las Vegas. Suppose they%26#39;re flying back from Las Vegas.

This might be an idea:

Day 1: Drive from North Rim to Bryce. See Bryce

Day 2: Drive very scenic ut12 to Torrey and visit Capitol Reef.

Day 3: Drive from Torrey to Zion. First visit to Zion

Day 4: Visit to Zion

Day 5: Drive back to Las Vegas.

Great idea to bring your friends to GCNP. Have fun.

BTW, aren%26#39;t there direct flights to Las Vegas from UK? Best idea imo: Fly to Phoenix and leave from Las Vegas.

Tet

Which Airport is Best for Grand Canyon North Rim %26amp; Zion?

Forgot:

Another option for the 4-5 days is:

Day 1: Drive from North rim to Page. See Antelope Canyon and other places in Page. (North Rim to Page will be 2.5 hours)

Day 2: Drive from Page to Bryce and visit to Bryce.

Day 3: Second visit to Bryce (hiking!) and drive to Zion.

Day 4.Zion

Day 5: Back to Las Vegas.

Tet

Thanks, Tet. This is a huge help. Most of them have been here before (and driven here) so they are OK with driving on the wrong side. It sounds like starting at Phoenix isn%26#39;t significantly more driving than starting from Vegas.

There may well be flights into Vegas---I only checked flights from Heathrow on British, which go to Phoenix. They may well be able to get direct flights to Vegas from other airports, like Manchester, (and may prefer to avoid Heathrow anyway). I%26#39;m leaving that to them---just trying to give accurate advice on the driving times.

I%26#39;m very glad to hear it is only 3 hours from GC North Rim to Zion--that means we%26#39;ll have time for a short hike there that day.

We recently did the drive from Zion to Las Vegas, and I can confirm the 3 hours. Just remember that you actually ';save'; an hour because of the time zones!

Wait---save an hour? I thought that isn%26#39;t so when the rest of the world is on daylight saving time. In other words, in September, Las Vegas will be on PDT and the Grand Canyon on MST, which is the same.

Am I wrong?

Yes Enzian you are right but also is Caligirl. There (always) is one hour time difference between Nevada and Utah, and Zion is in Utah. There also will be an hour timedifference between north rim and Zion because Arizona (except the Navajo Reservation) does not observe daylight saving time. DST is from march 9 till november 2 2008 in the USA. So you%26#39;ll lose one hour between north rim and Zion and you%26#39;ll gain one hour between Zion and Las Vegas.

Tet

Right---I was confusing Zion and GCNR. Thanks for the clarification, Caligirl and Tet.