A thousand shades of gold

The South Rim Village, with its plethora of hotels, restaurants, gift shops, museums, crowded sidewalks, and traffic jams is far from the wilderness experience many seek in our national parks. But don’t despair. When you’re ready to commune with nature, the canyon awaits. Just visit a viewpoint at sunrise, or hike one of the many secondary trails, often for only a few hundred yards, to find solitude.

Plan your time

The best way to explore is to:

• Spend one day on the South Rim visiting the viewpoints around the Village Rim Trail for a quick overview.

• Then spend two days going east on Desert View Drive and west on the Hermit Road along the rim for a more intensive thrill. Follow the South Rim: Hermit Road In-A-Day and South Rim: Desert View In-A-Day itineraries for this.