Astonishing viewpoints and expansive plateaus make the Grand Canyon one of the world’s most impressive natural wonders. Millions of people travel to see the 6,000-foot, 277-mile-long mountain range in the northwest corner of Arizona. In fact, it’s so epic that it’s been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

If you want to explore the terrain by jeep, Pink Adventure Tours and Buck Wild Hummer Tours stand out as two of the top-rated jeep tour companies operating in the Grand Canyon. But which is the right choice for you? Discover your best Grand Canyon jeep tour with the lowest price and an unforgettable experience.

Pink Adventure Grand Canyon Jeep Tours At-A-Glance

Since 1960, Pink Adventure Tours has offered off-road experiences through some of America’s most breathtaking natural wonders. Excursions operate in the Grand Canyon as well as Sedona, Nevada, and the Smoky Mountains. With twenty years of experience, Pink Adventure continues to accrue consistently high customer satisfaction ratings. 

During your adventure, you’ll explore the natural wonders of the Grand Canyon National Park from the comfort of a heated Pink Jeep Wrangler. More relaxed tours take guests to the best viewpoints of the canyon and Colorado River. Active travelers can go for hikes while exploring fossil beds, geology, and plant life in the canyon.

The Grand Canyon hides a substantial number of fossils, and you can explore the wonders within the earth during a Pink Adventure tour. Specialized adventures like the Trail of Time or Hermits Rest Tour teach about the canyon’s ancient history and where to find fossils. 

Can you believe the Grand Canyon used to be an ocean? Pink Adventures provides an IMAX movie that brings to life what the region looked like 550 million years ago. You’ll see 3D reconstructions of prehistoric marine life based on fossil beds found in the Grand Canyon.

Pink Adventure Grand Canyon Tours pricing starts at $99 for adults and $90 for children and goes up to $155 for adults or $140 for children. Tours depart throughout the day, including at sunrise and sunset as well as in the afternoon. Tickets including admission to the park. Prices are based on the best discounted tickets when purchased through Grand Canyon Deals.

Buck Wild Hummer Tours

You can explore the Grand Canyon by land, sea, or air withBuck Wild Hummer Tours. Owned by Papillon Grand Canyon Tours, his top-rated tour company operates helicopter tours, Colorado River rafting through the canyon, and hummer rides throughout the national park. 

Buck Wild Tours ride through the park in open-air Hummers, making stops along the way at famous lookout points. Their two-hour signature tour departs from the Grand Canyon South Rim. Knowledgeable tour guides share facts about the landscape. Tours stop at famous viewpoints, ideal for photos, like Duck on a Rock, Yavapai Point, and Moran Point.

Buck Wild Hummer Tours start at $107 per person. The company also has upgrades available like the Signature Private Tour which reserves an entire hummer for a party and a personalized excursion. Papillon also hosts its upgraded Signature Sunset Tours which run along the canyon rim at dusk. 

So which Grand Canyon Jeep Tours are best for you? Both the Pink Adventure andBuck Wild Hummer Tours offer tours starting around $100. Pink Adventure takes guests in stylish Pink Jeep Wranglers while Papillon tours travel by open-air hummers. Both tour companies offer packaged tours, with Pink Adventure providing seven tour choices and Papillon offering two, plus their combination tours. Most tours for both are along the South Rim.

Archaeology enthusiasts may prefer Pink Adventure’s specialized fossil tours complete with an IMAX movie experience depicting prehistoric marine life that once thrived in the region. Their Hermits Rest Tour also includes a below-the-rim hike for adventurers who want to hike into the canyon. They also provide jeep tours that leave from Las Vegas.

If you want a private tour, Papillon runs signature tours for a more personalized touch, or you can pair Grand Canyon hummer tours with helicopter or canyon river rafting tours. Some Papillon combination tours are available from Las Vegas. One combo tour offers a helicopter ride from the South Rim to the North Rim with the only hummer tour of the North Rim.

Both Pink Adventures and Papillon have sunset tours for an ethereal Grand Canyon experience.

Whichever Grand Canyon Jeep Tour you choose, both companies offer highly rated experiences of this incredible natural wonder.

*Note that jeep tours do not go into the Grand Canyon, as vehicles are not allowed below the rim.

If it’s your first visit to the Grand Canyon South Rim, you can easily be overwhelmed by the choice of trails. Many first timers are itching to hike below the rim, but if that isn’t you, the best trail is the South Rim Trail. It’s flat and offers great views all along the Canyon’s southern rim. The drawback, of course, is that it’s heavily traversed nearly all year. But the big upside is that it’s paved and can accommodate wheelchairs, strollers, and the like. Plus, if you overshoot your ability, you can hop on the shuttle for your return.

South Kaibab Trail to Ooh Ahh Point

If you are a moderately skilled hiker with good fitness and really want to tell your friends you hiked into the Grand Canyon, South Kaibab Trail is one of the best options. Your hike begins on Yaki Point Road where you’ll find the South Kaibab trailhead. You’ll want to take the Orange shuttle from Grand Canyon Village, since there is no parking on Yaki Point Road near the trailhead.

The descent to Ooh Ahh Point offers exhilarating vistas and beautiful wildflowers along the trail. It starts with several steep switchbacks that are doable even for kids. It’s also where most of the shade is (mornings only). The total distance to the point is .9 miles, which should take you about 40 minutes. When you reach Ooh Ahh Point, you’re rewarded with dramatic panoramic views that show off the splendor of Grand Canyon east.

Bear in mind that you’ll need to bring plenty of your own water on this moderate hike, although it’s also seasonally available at the trailhead. Hats, good hiking shoes or boots, high protein snacks, and sunblock are also recommended. Depending on your endurance, the hike back is only about ten minutes longer than the hike down, for others it takes double the time to ascend as it did to descend. Expect a 90-minute to two-hour roundtrip hike.

Stretching Your Hike to Include Cedar Ridge

Nearly anyone who hikes South Kaibab Trail will tell you that the extra .6 mile from Ooh Ahh Point to Cedar Ridge is well worth adding onto your hike. It follows the ridge line in full sun as you descend into the canyon. When you reach Cedar Ridge, you’ll discover phenomenal 360-degree views from nearly the center of the Grand Canyon where spectacular cliffs and crevasses seem nearly endless.

There is an outhouse style bathroom at Cedar Ridge with no running water, and a hitching post for mules since this is one of their rest stops into and out of the Canyon. Take your time here and fully immerse yourself in the enormity of the Canyon, maybe even have your lunch here before beginning your ascent back to the rim.

Lots of people underestimate the difficulty of the return trail, or maybe overestimate their fitness and endurance. Either way, plan for your return trek to the rim to take a lot longer from here than your descent. Be smart and make frequent stops. After all, each stop is another opportunity to admire the natural beauty all around you. The three-mile roundtrip may not sound like a lot, but when you get to those challenging switchbacks at the top right as you’re your most tired, you’ll get it. So, take it easy on the way back up to the rim.

Back at Grand Canyon Village

After an arduous hike below the rim and back, you won’t want to go far for comfort. Enjoy a meal at one of eight Grand Canyon South Rim restaurants. There’s a variety of choices from casual budget-minded establishments to higher end fine dining. If you plan ahead, you could even stay the night at one of six Grand Canyon Village hotels where an afternoon nap before dinner may be in order!

When you’ve reached sensory overload from the high energy lights, sounds, and thrills of Las Vegas, Papillon Aerial Sightseeing Company has an adventure of a different sort waiting for you. As the largest and oldest sightseeing company in the world, they’ve taken more than 600,000 passengers a year on daily trips to Grand Canyon and the surrounding area. And lucky for you, four of those trips leave from Las Vegas – Grand Celebration Tour, Highlights Air Tour, Golden Eagle Air Tour, and Grand Voyager. There’s a Grand Canyon tour for you that will fit with both your budget and your schedule.

Let’s take a closer look at these four in-demand tours.

Golden Eagle Air Tour

Golden Eagle Air Tour is one of the most popular Grand Canyon tour choices, because all-in you’re away and back in 3.5 to four hours tops. Papillon will pick you up at your major Las Vegas hotel and whisk you away to their private Boulder City heliport to begin your adventure. You’ll board a state-of-the-art helicopter that has been specifically designed for sightseeing.

Perks of these high-tech birds include luxurious seating, wide-angle windows with a field of view that spans 180-degrees, and a passenger-to-pilot communication system. Choreographed music syncs to the visually stunning landscape through noise-cancelling headphones. You’ll gain an even deeper appreciation for what you’re seeing with multilingual narration during your flight.

On this out-and-back Grand Canyon helicopter tour, there are no stops. What you’ll see is 70 minutes of astonishing geological vistas of Grand Canyon from your theater-style seat. You’ll soar over Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Grand Canyon West Rim, and close-up views of cliff faces, Guano Point and Eagle Point rock formations.

Reserve a tour online through March 2020 and save big – up to $150. These prices aren’t even visible on the Papillon website, but are offered through Grand Canyon Deals where you can even book now, fly later.

Grand Celebration Tour

If not landing in the Grand Canyon seems like a disappointment to you, then the Grand Celebration Tour will fix that for you. This upgrade of the Golden Eagle Tour uses the same state-of-the-art, luxury helicopter. You’ll still see Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, and Grand Canyon West Rim. But on this tour, you’ll also have the thrilling experience of landing below the rim in Grand Canyon! This signature helicopter tour is Papillon’s best-seller.

On this four to 4.5-hour roundtrip tour, you’ll spend 70 minutes of flight time and 30 minutes of on-the-ground time in the canyon, 4,000 feet below the rim. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to do some exploring of your own and indulge in a light picnic with champagne.

Book your Grand Celebration Tour online through Grand Canyon Deals and save up to $100 per person when you book before March 2020 – fly anytime.

Highlights Air Tour

If you’re traveling with family to Las Vegas, this Grand Canyon side trip will provide the thrill of one of our greatest natural wonders without breaking the bank. The entire Highlights Air Tour is four hours hotel-to-hotel. You’ll be picked up at your major Las Vegas hotel and be taken to your plane. From there you’ll be on the Grand Canyon airplane tour 70 minutes, taking in the aerial views of Grand Canyon West, Skywalk, Colorado River, Lake Mead, and Hoover Dam. Get picture perfect views and take photos from your comfortable seat.

Book your flight online through Grand Canyon Deals now through March 2020, for unbeatable prices. Fly anytime.

Grand Voyager Tour

This all-day adventure is the ultimate Grand Canyon experience at 7 hours hotel-to-hotel. You’ll fly in an airplane from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon West where you’ll board a helicopter that takes you 4,000 feet below the rim, landing in the Canyon. There, you’ll hop on a pontoon boat to cruise the Colorado River before returning to the Rim for a hop on, hop off shuttle to Guano and Eagle Points. Then it’s back to Las Vegas via airplane. Your Grand Voyager Tour includes four hours at Grand Canyon.

Save more than $150 per person when you book your trip online in advance at Grand Canyon Deals.

Important: All passengers must have a government issued ID or passport.

There is only one structure for lodging beneath the rim of the Grand Canyon in the national park and it has been there for almost 100 years. It is Phantom Ranch, the brainchild of the National Park Service and the Fred Harvey Company, the handiwork of Mary Jane Colter and the welcome relief stop of the hardy hiker who opts to walk to the bottom of the canyon.

Fred Harvey

Frederick Henry Harvey sailed from England to New York City in 1853 when he was seventeen years old. He scrubbed pots in a restaurant before heading west to New Orleans and then St. Louis. Harvey eventually found work with the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad.

In 1873 Harvey began operating a small trio of restaurants along the tracks of the Kansas Pacific Railroad and three years later he closed a handshake deal with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad to open eating houses along the great railroad line of the Southwest. There would come to be 84 Harvey Houses where railroad passengers could get a meal and bed for the night. Fred Harvey was known far and wide as “the Civilizer of the West.”

Harvey died in 1901 (according to a biographer his last words were “Cut the ham thinner, boys.”) and his sons took over operation of the Fred Harvey Company. In the 1920s it was decided to open a lodge on the Grand Canyon floor.

Mary Jane Colter

Mary Jane Colter was the architect responsible for most of the structures in Grand Canyon National Park. The site selected for her to build the canyon floor lodge was one long popular with Colorado River travelers, shaded by cottonwoods and boasting a sandy beach. Theodore Roosevelt and his party had camped here.

All the building materials save stone had to be ferried to the bottom of the canyon on the backs of mules. The resulting melange of wood and native stones became known as “national park rustic” in shaping lodges in the park system’s future. Colter completed her initial series of sketches for the compound and all involved gave a hearty endorsement. But when Colter was informed that the lodge was to named after the President’s camp – Roosevelt’s Chalets – she stated that in no way would her work be associated with that project. She had a name picked out already: Phantom Ranch. Teddy’s honorarium was scuttled.

Phantom Ranch Today

Mary Jane Colter would still recognize Phantom Ranch 90-plus years later. There are dormitories for men and women and individual cabins available. The Phantom Ranch Canteen is open for breakfast and dinner seatings. All supplies still arrive by mule train.

The only way to get to Phantom Ranch is by foot or by raft. You can hike to the ranch from either the North Rim or the South Rim and nearby are the only two bridges across the Colorado River for scores of miles in either direction. From the South Rim the most popular route is 7.8 miles down the Kaibab Trail and 9.6 miles up the Bright Angel Trail. The Ranch is also the stopover point for ambitious Rim-to-Rim hikes.

Accommodations are not luxurious but neither are they primitive. You can expect a hot shower and a cold beer. There is no cell phone reception at the Phantom Ranch, however. 

Space is extremely limited and available on a reservation basis. On the first day of the month, 13 months in advance, reservations can be made. These sell out within hours which is why booking with a tour group is a favorite way to experience Phantom Ranch. Reservations are also required for the Canteen, although these are more easily acquired, especially when hiking during less popular seasons. Backcountry permits for camping at the nearby Bright Angel Campground can also be scored on shorter notice.