From Zion, the Grand Canyon’s North Rim is the close one, and this fall it is a rim with no services. It is about 122 miles from the Zion Canyon Visitor Center through the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel, three hours each way, and open to cars until 30 November 2026, with no fuel, food or drinking water: the Dragon Bravo Fire burned its lodge in 2025. The South Rim, the one with the famous viewpoints and the park’s hotels, is about 250 miles away, and those hotels are taking no overnight guests until mid-November. The West Rim, Grand Canyon West, belongs to the Hualapai Tribe, outside the national park, and is a day trip from Las Vegas rather than from Zion.
The three rims from Zion, compared
As of 20 October 2026. Distances and drive times are from the Zion Canyon Visitor Center and from the Las Vegas Strip, by two OpenStreetMap routers, OSRM and Valhalla, without stops; where the Park Service gives a figure of its own, it is beside theirs.
| Rim | From Zion Canyon | From the Las Vegas Strip | Open | Entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Rim | 122 miles through the tunnel and Kanab; 2 hours 47 minutes to 3 hours 14 minutes | 269 miles; 275 by the Park Service | To cars until 30 November 2026, or the first major snowstorm, with no fuel, food or water. Closed to all vehicles from 1 December to 14 May | Grand Canyon National Park: $35 a car for seven days, plus $100 for each non-US resident aged 16 or over |
| South Rim | 250 miles by Kanab, Page and Cameron; 4 hours 40 minutes to 5 hours 38 minutes | 275 to 282 miles; 278 by the Park Service | All year, but no overnight stays inside the park until mid-November | The same park and the same fees |
| West Rim (Grand Canyon West) | 284 to 287 miles to its parking area, by Las Vegas; 5 hours 15 minutes to 6 hours 5 minutes | 121 to 128 miles; 2 hours 44 minutes to 3 hours 3 minutes, or two to two and a half hours by the Hualapai Tribe’s figures | Every day of the year | The Hualapai Tribe’s own ticket. No park pass, no park fee |
Which one, then. With a car and a free day before 30 November, the North Rim is the only rim that fits a day from Zion, and it costs about six hours of driving. The South Rim needs a night on the way, and the West Rim is a Las Vegas day. If your trip starts or ends in Las Vegas, the coach tours from the Strip are the other way in: the West Rim in 10 to 11 hours, the South Rim in 13.
The tours, compared
As listed on Viator on 1 November 2026. No Grand Canyon day tour starts in Springdale or St. George; the nearest start to Zion is Kanab, 42 miles east through the tunnel.
| Tour | Where it starts | At the canyon | The day | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jupiter Legend, Grand Canyon West | Las Vegas hotels, 6:20 a.m. to 7 a.m. | About three and a half hours at Eagle Point and Guano Point; the Skywalk is an option | 10 to 11 hours, every day | $129 for the tour alone, $119 on Sundays; $178 with lunch and the Skywalk, $165 on Sundays. From 1 March 2027 the tour alone is $94 on Sundays |
| National Park Express, South Rim | Las Vegas hotels, 4:35 a.m. to 5 a.m. | Three hours, at Mather Point and along the rim by Bright Angel Lodge | 13 hours; dates on sale to 30 December 2026 | $124, or $94 on Saturdays, park entry included. Non-US residents pay $100 more on the day |
| Kanab Tour Company, North Rim by UTV | Its office in Kanab, 8 a.m. (7 a.m. from May to mid-October) | Viewpoints over the canyon from the Kaibab National Forest, outside the park | 8 hours, Monday to Saturday, until 30 November, then from 1 May 2027 | $289 each for two, $269 for three, $249 for four, in one UTV you drive |
| Maverick Helicopter Tours, flight with a landing | Its terminal in Las Vegas; check in 45 minutes before | 30 minutes on the ground more than 3,000 feet below the rim of Grand Canyon West | 2 hours 30 minutes | By date and time of day: to 30 November 2026, $552.12 for the 7 a.m. flight on most dates and $598.99 to $814.59 for the others; from 1 December, $598.99 for almost every daytime flight; the sunset flight $673.98 to $1,011.13 |
From Las Vegas, we would book Jupiter Legend’s West Rim day. It is the shorter day, 10 to 11 hours with about three and a half at the canyon, it runs every day of the week, and it is rated 4.9 from 26,502 reviews. No national park fee applies, which saves a non-US resident the $100 the South Rim charges. Book the option with lunch and the Skywalk, $178 or $165 on Sundays, if you want to walk out over the canyon: the tour alone does not include it. What you see is Grand Canyon West, the Hualapai Tribe’s, not the national park.
For the national park itself, National Park Express’s South Rim day. Three hours in the park, with an hour at Mather Point and an hour and a half along the rim by Bright Angel Lodge, in a 13-hour day with pickups from 4:35 a.m.: $124, or $94 on Saturdays, rated 4.8 from 2,187 reviews. Park entry and a deli lunch are included; a non-US resident aged 16 or over pays the $100 nonresident fee on the day. Its dates on sale run to 30 December 2026, and the coach drops off only at Treasure Island, Park MGM or Excalibur. The lodging closure below does not touch it: it never stays the night.
From Kanab, Kanab Tour Company’s North Rim day is one of two Grand Canyon days that start in Kanab, an hour and a quarter from Zion Canyon through the tunnel, and the one with reviews: the company’s guided 4WD day, from the same office, has none. On a guided day of eight hours you drive a four-seat UTV through the Kaibab National Forest to viewpoints over the canyon from the forest beside the North Rim, outside the park, so no park fee applies. It is $289 each for two, $269 for three and $249 for four, with drivers 21 and over and riders at least 5, and it has four reviews, all five stars. It runs Monday to Saturday until 30 November 2026, then from 1 May 2027.
By air, Maverick’s helicopter flies from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon West in about 45 minutes each way, over Lake Mead and Hoover Dam, and lands for 30 minutes on a bluff more than 3,000 feet below the rim, two and a half hours in all; it is rated 4.9 from 2,778 reviews. Until 30 November 2026 its price changes with the date and the time of day: the 7 a.m. flight is $552.12 on most dates in November, though not 12, 19 to 21 or 25 to 29 November, and the later daytime flights are $598.99 to $814.59, the most expensive on 20 and 21 November. From 1 December almost every daytime flight is $598.99, through October 2027; a few on 2 April, 2 July and 2 September 2027 are $748.66. The sunset flight costs more, $673.98 to $1,011.13, the top of that on 28 December. It refunds nothing within three days of the flight.
Zion’s own helicopter flights are shorter and start much nearer: 20 to 50 minutes from Virgin, 9 miles west of Springdale, around the park’s edges rather than to the Grand Canyon. They are compared on the Zion helicopter page.
The North Rim: the close one, open to 30 November
The route is Highway 9 east through the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel to Mount Carmel Junction, US-89 south to Kanab, US-89A by Fredonia to Jacob Lake, then Arizona 67 south: 30 miles to the park’s entrance station and 14 more to the rim. From the Zion Canyon Visitor Center that is about 122 miles, 2 hours 47 minutes to 3 hours 14 minutes by the two routers; the Park Service’s North Rim map puts Zion 109 miles from the entrance station. Plan on three hours each way. From Kanab it is about 80 miles to the rim, 1 hour 50 minutes to 2 hours 3 minutes.
What is open, as of 1 November 2026. The Park Service lists the North Rim open to vehicles through 30 November 2026, or until the first major snowstorm. The Dragon Bravo Fire, started by lightning on 4 July 2025, destroyed the Grand Canyon Lodge, the North Rim Visitor Center and many of the historic cabins, and this fall the rim is a day-use area with nothing for sale: the campground, gas station, general store and backcountry office closed for the season on 15 October, and no drinking water or food is available from 16 October to 30 November. The Park Service sends drivers to the North Rim Country Store and Jacob Lake for fuel, and asks everyone to carry enough food, water, fuel and emergency supplies as winter weather arrives. The beds are outside the park.
The scenic roads: repairs from 15 October, with a reopening set for 3 November. The Park Service closed the roads to Point Imperial and Cape Royal, the North Rim’s two great viewpoints, at sunset on 15 October 2026 for road repairs, and set them to reopen at sunrise on 3 November, the date its North Rim status page (last updated 25 October) and its alert of 26 October both gave. On 1 November it listed the trails at both, and Bright Angel Point’s by the old lodge, as closed, with no date for them. Of the rim’s trails, the Bridle Path, from the North Kaibab Trailhead to the old lodge’s parking area, and part of the Arizona Trail are open. Read the Park Service’s North Rim status page the day before you go: it says whether the scenic roads are open. Cape Royal is 29 miles past the entrance station, about 50 minutes each way, and nothing over 22 feet long may use its road.
Winter, and next year. From 1 December to 14 May the North Rim and Arizona 67 are closed to all vehicles, every year. The campground’s tentative reopening is 15 May 2027, and the Park Service expects services to come back gradually over the 2027 and 2028 seasons and beyond. Planning for the lodge’s future will go through a separate, full NEPA process, with its own analysis and chances for the public to take part. The Park Service set a 30-day public involvement period on the North Rim’s long-term recovery and redevelopment, from 6 October to 6 November 2026.
Where to sleep. Kanab is the base on this side: about 80 miles from the rim and 42 from Zion Canyon through the tunnel, and its list is below.
The South Rim: about five hours, and no beds in the park until mid-November
From Zion the route is the tunnel, Kanab and Page, then US-89 south through the Navajo Nation to Cameron, and Arizona 64 west into the park at Desert View, the East Entrance, 25 miles from Cameron; Grand Canyon Village is 23 miles on. It is about 250 miles, 4 hours 40 minutes to 5 hours 38 minutes by the two routers. That is not a day trip from Zion: it needs a night.
From Las Vegas the Park Service puts the South Rim 278 miles away, by US-93 to Kingman, I-40 to Williams and Arizona 64 north; the routers give 275 to 282 miles and 4 hours 39 minutes to 5 hours 23 minutes.
The lodging closure, with its dates. The Park Service’s alert, “Overnight Lodging Suspended and Parkwide Stage 4 Water Restrictions”, runs from 30 August to 16 November 2026, and was last changed on 30 September. A flash flood in Bright Angel Canyon on 29 August 2026 damaged the Transcanyon Waterline, which supplies the park’s water from the canyon, and the park went to Stage 4 water restrictions. From 31 August every hotel in the park stopped taking overnight guests: El Tovar, Bright Angel Lodge, Kachina Lodge, Thunderbird Lodge, Maswik Lodge and Phantom Ranch, run by Xanterra, and Delaware North’s Yavapai Lodge and Trailer Village. Mather Campground is open for dry camping only. The park stays open for day visits, with food service, the clinic and the post office open, though on the Park Service’s operations page of 19 October several of the restaurants were closed or on short hours; it asks visitors to bring their own water.
The two end dates disagree. The Park Service’s alert ends on 16 November. Xanterra, which runs most of the park’s hotels, said on 28 October that its hotel closure runs through 19 November 2026 and that reservations arriving on 20 November and later are going ahead as planned; in September it had said 31 October, and on 13 October it moved to 19 November. Phantom Ranch is the exception: in the same notice Xanterra extended its closure through at least 31 January 2027. Delaware North has announced no reopening date for Yavapai Lodge. So:
- Before 16 November — 19 November at Xanterra’s hotels — there is no bed inside the park. Sleep in Tusayan, 7 miles south of Grand Canyon Village on Arizona 64, where the Park Service lists five hotels open, and drive in.
- After that, Xanterra’s reservations from 20 November stand for now, but its date has moved before, and the Park Service’s release of 30 August said the measures would last “for the foreseeable future”. Book a room in the park you can cancel, or one in Tusayan, and read the park’s alerts the week you go.
Below the rim there is no drinking water anywhere, and Phantom Ranch, the North Kaibab Trail and the river bridges are closed. The Park Service gives no reopening date for them, and Xanterra has Phantom Ranch closed through at least 31 January 2027; the Park Service’s hiking page lists the trail closures. A day on the rim is unaffected.
The West Rim: Grand Canyon West and the Skywalk
Grand Canyon West is not part of Grand Canyon National Park. It is on the Hualapai Reservation, owned and operated by the Hualapai Tribe, and the Park Service lists the Skywalk among the places on tribal land outside the park. A park pass is not accepted, no national park fee applies, and neither does the $100 nonresident fee.
The Skywalk is a horseshoe of glass 10 feet wide that reaches 70 feet out from the rim at Eagle Point, 4,000 feet above the canyon floor. Cameras, purses and backpacks are not allowed on it, and free lockers hold them; phones are allowed, at your own risk. You walk it with covers over your shoes, and no strollers go out.
Driving yourself. From the Strip it is 121 to 128 miles by US-93 past Hoover Dam, then Pierce Ferry Road and Diamond Bar Road, 2 hours 44 minutes to 3 hours 3 minutes to the parking area by the two routers; the Hualapai Tribe puts it at two to two and a half hours. From Zion it is 284 to 287 miles, by way of Las Vegas. You leave the car at the parking area: private cars are not allowed beyond it, and a free hop-on, hop-off shuttle runs between the viewpoints. Grand Canyon West is open every day of the year, on Arizona time.
The ticket. For a day you drive yourself, the All Access ticket is on Viator at $113.85 a person for everyone 3 and over, bookable every day. Besides admission and the shuttle, it includes the Skywalk at Eagle Point, one zipline ride and unlimited arcade play at Hualapai Point, and a $10 meal credit and a $10 merchandise credit, each only on a check of $20 or more. The zipline is not guaranteed: it runs by weather and availability, for riders of 90 to 275 lb and at least 4 feet tall, with no pregnant riders or anyone who has had a neck or back injury. The ticket includes no transport to Grand Canyon West, and it is rated 3.2 from 509 reviews, well below the tours on this page.
The tunnel, on the way east
The North and South Rims are both east of Zion, through the Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel, and that road is inside the park: you pay Zion’s entrance fee to drive it, even passing through — $35 a car for seven days, plus $100 for each non-US resident aged 16 or over unless someone in the car holds an annual or America the Beautiful pass. No vehicle over 11 ft 4 in tall, 7 ft 10 in wide, 35 ft 9 in long or 50,000 lb, and no combination over 50 ft, may use the highway between Canyon Junction and the East Entrance.
Over the limits, go round by Highway 59, through Hurricane, Hildale and Fredonia. The Park Service puts that route to the North Rim at about 128 miles and just over three hours, 23 miles and 10 minutes more than through the tunnel; the two routers put it at 152 miles from the Zion Canyon Visitor Center and 3 hours 10 minutes to 3 hours 38 minutes, about 30 miles and 23 to 24 minutes more. The rules, the measurements that count and the road’s current state are on the tunnel page.
Which clock: Arizona time
All three rims keep Arizona time, and Arizona does not change its clocks. The national park’s North and South Rims and Grand Canyon West are all in Arizona, which keeps standard time all year; the Navajo Nation, along the canyon’s eastern edge, and Utah and Nevada observe daylight saving time. Daylight time runs from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November, so:
| Clock | March to early November | Early November to March |
|---|---|---|
| The Grand Canyon, all three rims | Arizona time | Arizona time |
| Zion, Springdale and Kanab | An hour ahead of the canyon | The same as the canyon |
| The Navajo Nation, on US-89 south of Page | An hour ahead of the canyon | The same as the canyon |
| Las Vegas | The same as the canyon | An hour behind the canyon |
Daylight time ended at 2 a.m. on 1 November 2026 and runs again from 14 March to 7 November 2027.
Where it moves a start time:
- Kanab Tour Company’s 8 a.m. is Kanab’s clock, which is Zion’s, so there is no hour to gain or lose getting there. The viewpoints are in Arizona, an hour behind from March to early November.
- The Las Vegas tours’ pickup times are Las Vegas time, an hour behind Zion all year. The South Rim day’s 4:35 a.m. pickup is 5:35 a.m. on a Zion clock, and Springdale is 163 to 168 miles from the Strip: sleep in Las Vegas the night before.
- At the canyon, from early November to March, Grand Canyon West’s hours and the South Rim’s are an hour ahead of Las Vegas.
- Driving from Zion to the South Rim from March to early November, the clock changes three times: back an hour into Arizona, forward an hour on the Navajo Nation south of Page, and back again at the park. A phone can pick up the wrong zone near those lines, so set it to Phoenix time for the day.
The fees: two parks, and $100 at each
Driving yourself, you pay at both parks. Zion charges $35 a car for seven days to drive the tunnel road, and Grand Canyon National Park $35 a car for seven days at the North or South Rim, by card only: the Grand Canyon takes no cash. Each adds $100 for every non-US resident aged 16 or over, unless the car is admitted with an annual or America the Beautiful pass. Two non-US residents in one car pay $470 for Zion and the Grand Canyon at the gates; the $250 America the Beautiful Non-Resident Annual Pass covers the car’s entrance and nonresident fees at both. The arithmetic is on the fee page.
On a tour, the Park Service charges the nonresident fee to non-US residents entering the Grand Canyon with a commercial tour group too, so on the South Rim day it is $100 a person on the day, on top of the price. Grand Canyon West, the helicopter’s landing and Kanab Tour Company’s forest viewpoints are all outside the national park, and charge no park fee.
Booking
The four trips below, read on Viator on 1 November 2026, are the ones in the comparison above: three from Las Vegas, with pickup and flight times on Las Vegas time, and one from Kanab, on Kanab’s. After them comes Grand Canyon West’s All Access ticket, for a West Rim day you drive yourself, then Kanab’s places to stay, for a night on the North Rim side.
