How far is las vegas to grand canyon national park

Las Vegas to South Rim

There are two popular Grand Canyon destinations that visitors can take a day trip to. The South Rim is the most popular place on the canyon that people choose to go to. The South Rim is the farther of the two locations, while the West Rim is closer to Las Vegas. 

The Las Vegas to Grand Canyon South Rim travel time is four and a half hours. Although it is the farther destination, the South Rim attracts more tourists each year. The South Rim is where Grand Canyon National Park is located, and therefore it has many visitor centers and things for visitors to do.

Las Vegas to West Rim

The alternative location to choose is the Grand Canyon West Rim. Some Las Vegas visitors prefer to visit the West Rim of the canyon for a couple of different reasons. One reason is its closer location to Las Vegas. The drive from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon West Rim is only two and a half hours, compared to the drive to the South Rim that is nearly twice as long.

The second major reason visitors choose to visit the West Rim is because the famous Skywalk bridge is there. The Skywalk bridge is a glass bottomed, horseshoe shaped bridge that extends out over the canyon floor. Those who purchase tickets for the Skywalk are able to walk out onto the bridge for a view of the Grand Canyon unlike any other. With the Las Vegas to Grand Canyon West Rim being so short and convenient from Vegas, many people prefer this option.

Entertainment Along The Way

We value not only your comfort, but your enjoyment of your Las Vegas to Grand Canyon journey from start to finish. That is why we aim to keep you entertained and informed during your travel to and from the canyon. 

The standard Grand Canyon tour companies use a driver and tour guide in one. This person then has to check guests in, narrate the tour, pass out lunches, answer questions, and drive a 40,000 pound vehicle safely. At Grand Canyon Destinations, we value safety and customer service. That is why we have a separate driver and tour guide on every tour bus. Your dedicated tour guide will be there to guide you, share facts and stories, answer your questions, and help you with any needs throughout the tour.

Professional Guide Commentary

As soon as you board your ride to the canyon, you will be greeted by your tour guide. On all Grand Canyon tours, there is a water and breakfast snack to get your morning started. Then, on the way out of town, your guide will share entertaining facts, history, and stories about Las Vegas and the surrounding landscapes as you travel through it. All of our guides are professional, friendly, and of course, knowledgeable, so you know they will give a great tour.

Stop Off At The Grand Canyon Caverns On Route 66

Not too long after you leave Las Vegas, you will make your first stop at the Grand Canyon Caverns. This landmark is along the Las Vegas to Grand Canyon route and directly off of Route 66, so it makes sense to stop and enjoy it. You will get to travel over 50 miles along historic Route 66 on your way to the Grand Canyon. Once you reach the Grand Canyon Caverns, you will have an hour break to stretch, explore the grounds, and take an optional Grand Canyon Caverns tour. This halfway point stop is well worth it as the Grand Canyon Caverns are a one-of-a-kind attraction.

Spotting Wildlife On The Way From Las Vegas To Grand Canyon

Once everyone has boarded the bus, the journey will continue. The landscape along the drive will leave you impressed. As you travel upward in elevation, you will witness a change in scenery from red and orange desert to lush green pine forests. Along the way, there is a chance to spot wildlife as well. The best way to see something is to keep your eyes open. You may spot species such as coyote, desert bighorn sheep, cows, and horses on the drive out of Las Vegas. As you approach the Grand Canyon, your chance of seeing wildlife gets even greater due to the remote location of the canyon’s rims. Closer to the canyon you may see mountain lion, elk, and deer outside your window as well. The travel from Grand Canyon to Las Vegas is also a great time to spot wildlife as it will be later in the day.

Transportation From Las Vegas To Grand Canyon Destinations

Driving non-stop from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon National Park

How far is Grand Canyon National Park from Las Vegas? Here's the quick answer if you are able to make this entire trip by car without stopping.

Nonstop drive: 275 miles or 443 km

Driving time: 4 hours, 14 minutes

Realistically, you'll probably want to add a buffer for rest stops, gas, or food along the way. To get a better idea of how long this trip would really be, scroll down to calculate how many hours it would take if you drive with stops.

Flying non-stop from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon National Park

Now let's assume you have a private jet and you can fly in the fastest possible straight line between Las Vegas, Nevada and Grand Canyon. Because of the curvature of the Earth, the shortest distance is actually the "great circle" distance, or "as the crow flies" which is calculated using an iterative Vincenty formula.

Flight distance: 169 miles or 272 km

Flight time: 50 minutes

The straight line flight distance is 106 miles less than driving on roads, which means the driving distance is roughly 1.6x of the flight distance.

Your plane flies much faster than a car, so the flight time is about 1/5th of the time it would take to drive.

This is a relatively short flight in a private plane, but you might be planning to book a commercial flight. In that case, your travel time would really need to include how many minutes to get to your local airport, wait for security, board and taxi on the runway, land at the other airport, and get to your destination. Scroll down to see a more realistic calculation that takes into account all these factors to get a more accurate estimate of your actual flight time.

Let's say you're actually planning a road trip to Grand Canyon National Park, and you want to stop along the way to rest. If it's a real road trip, you might want to check out interesting stops along the way, eat at great restaurants, and maybe even find a hotel to stay overnight. That's what Trippy is perfect for, helping you figure out travel plans in detail.

Based on the length of this trip, we think you could spread out this fun road trip over more than one day.

Road trip: 2 days of driving

With the full itinerary planned out, we can estimate your total travel time for this trip.

Travel time: 5 hours on the road with 1 overnight

Itinerary

Start in Las Vegas.

Drive for about 1 hour, then stop in White Hills (Arizona) and stay for about 1 hour. Next, drive for another 53 minutes then stop in Kingman. Stay overnight.

The next day, drive for about 1 hour, then stop in Seligman and stay for about 1 hour. Next, drive for another 41 minutes then stop in Williams and stay for 1 hour. Drive for 33 minutes then stop in Valle and stay for 1 hour.

Finally, drive for about 35 minutes and arrive at Grand Canyon National Park.

To see all the details on this itinerary, including recommended restaurants, hotels, and things to do along the way, check out the full road trip planner:

Las Vegas to Grand Canyon National Park airports and flights

In the quick calculation above, we assumed you had a private plane and just wanted to know the time in the air from city to city. But for most of us, we're going to be flying on a commercial airline (whether it's first class or coach). So that means we really need to account for all the extra travel time getting to the airport, waiting for our flight, and making it to the destination.

To give you a better estimate of real-life travel, we've put together a flight itinerary with actual airports. Eventually you'll be able to customize this plan, choosing your own airports and flights. But for now, here's an example we've selected to give you an idea of how traveling might work between airports.

Departure airport: McCarran International Airport (LAS)

Arrival airport: Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN)

With the airports selected, we can estimate the travel time to and from the airport, based on how far the airport is from downtown.

Getting to the airport: 20 minutes

Getting to your destination: 22 minutes

Now finally, let's look at an example flight from LAS to GCN and figure out how long it would take to fly including take-off and landing, and time to taxi on the runway.

Commercial flight time: 50 minutes

So now we can finally get an idea of the total travel time from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon National Park including time spent getting to/from the airports, an estimated wait time of 2 hours at the airport for TSA security lines and waiting at the gate, and the actual flight itself.

Total travel time: 4 hours

To see the details on this flight plan, including recommended airports, airline, and route, check out the flight planner:

Plan a trip to Grand Canyon National Park

Trippy has a ton of information that can help you plan your trip to Grand Canyon. Start by reading the Trippy page on where to stay in Grand Canyon National Park. Trippy has an entire Q&A community where you can post questions and get answers from expert travelers or locals who know the area. For instance, you might be interested in the answers to this question: Stop at Grand Canyon. Check out some of the questions people have asked about Grand Canyon National Park like Best way to explore Grand Canyon & must see scenic spots?. Click the button below to explore Grand Canyon National Park in detail.

How far is it the other way?

The distance is the same either way if you're flying a straight line (or driving the same roads back and forth). But for a real trip, there can be plenty of differences so go ahead and check the reverse directions to get the distance from Grand Canyon National Park to Las Vegas, or go to the main page to calculate the distance between cities.

If you happen to know Las Vegas, don't forget to help other travelers and answer some questions about Las Vegas!

Is it worth driving from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon?

Can you do a day trip from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon?

How difficult is the drive from Vegas to the Grand Canyon?

How long is the road trip from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon?