Our trip to Antelope Canyon in Arizona was one of our more challenging vacations to plan since Antelope Canyon is in a small city called Page, Arizona. Since Antelope Canyon is not near any airports like you would see in a major city, we had to get creative with how we would plan to visit this epic sandstone slot canyon.
We decided that it would make the most sense to turn this into a multi-destination road trip! We would fly to Las Vegas, drive through Utah and Arizona, loop back up towards the Grand Canyon, and back to Las Vegas to catch a flight home (after we gamble a little and get lost in the casinos).
On the blog today, you’ll learn about why I recommend turning this into a road trip, the amount of time you need at each place in Page (Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and Lake Powell), and what I would do differently if I were to visit again and my recommendation to people visiting Antelope Canyon for the first time.
Location and Size
When planning your trip to Arizona to see Antelope Canyon, you’ll be able to see much more than just Antelope Canyon in the small town of Page. You’ll also get to explore Horseshoe Bend, Lake Powell, and Glen Canyon Dam. Page is four and a half hours away from two different major airports: Phoenix and Las Vegas. For this trip, we decided to fly in to Las Vegas (because it’s Vegas!!) and then we could also rent a campervan from Las Vegas.
In Page, you’ll find a handful of restaurants, a grocery store, gas station, and hotels.
I was definitely taken aback by the small size of Page. With how small it is, we were able to see all four of the hot spots in just a day and a half. If we were to plan this again, easily one day to see it all. There really is not much to do and see in Page that would take days to do.
Antelope Canyon Tour and Tickets
I know it can be hard to plan road trips sometimes because for the most part they can be spontaneous and leisurely, but it’s important to find out which day you’ll be visiting Antelope Canyon early on in in your trip planning because Antelope Canyon is not a do-it-yourself canyon. You have to pay and reserve a time slot for a group tour.
Tours through Antelope Canyon from pick up to drop off require about 90 minutes. Tours start as early as 7:00 a.m. and run as late as 3:30 p.m. Since we waited too long to reserve our tour, we were stuck with a 3:30 p.m. slot, which means we weren’t on our way to the Grand Canyon until almost 6:00 p.m.
What would I do over with reserving our Antelope Canyon tour and tickets? I would reserve our spot for either 9:30 a.m. Here is the pricing and hours for Antelope Canyon Tours.
Tour: What to Expect
- Antelope Canyon Tours are guided and you can’t go alone
- You are with a group of 10-15 people
- Antelope Canyon is a 15 minute group bus ride from the store front
- Bumpy ride to Upper Antelope Canyon
- The tour guides are experienced and make sure everyone can get their picture in the canyons. They recommend poses, angles, and all that jazz!
You see.. the reason I was bummed with the 3:30 tour start time is because when you’re on vacation, every minute counts and the Grand Canyon (*EXCITEMENT*) was the next stop on our road trip! Since Page was so small, I felt like there was some time wasted since we already saw everything and just had to wait until the tour. It also meant driving on curvy roads with a lot of wildlife in the dark with an ETA to Grand Canyon at 8:30 p.m.
Horseshoe Bend
We feel so lucky to have seen Horseshoe Bend! A massive horseshoe shaped incision to the Colorado River… it’s a 1,000 foot drop!
Visiting Horseshoe Bend early in the morning and before Antelope Canyon is a must! The ideal time to see Horseshoe Bend would be at 7:00 a.m. (or earlier for sunrise and solitude), the reason I say 7:00 a.m. is because you want to beat the enormous crowds that are going to be showing up shortly after. We were there at 7:15 and bus tour groups were being dropped off at the same time.
Horseshoe Bend is a 1.5 mile round trip walk from the parking lot.
Lake Powell
Lake Powell was exciting to see! We probably spent the shortest amount of time here at Lake Powell and at Glen Canyon Dam. For us personally, we probably spent a half hour to 45 minutes at Lake Powell.
