<p>It is the same one as the movie but it is quite a ways from the Grand Canyon. You should go to the Black Hills in South Dakota sometime and swing up to Wyoming and see Devils Tower. That is a great vacation area too.</p>
<p>How embarrassing. I told you guys I was bad at geography. Maybe a Yellowstone National Park trip could include the Devils Tower. Well, that’s another thread.</p>
<p>I really would love to stay in the Canyon. It’s a once in a lifetime trip, and I don’t mind spending more for the location. Any recommendations for hotels would be appreciated. I’m just not having any luck searching the internet in that area.</p>
<p>As for side trips, do you think three to five days would be long enough to enjoy the Canyon? I don’t want to pack too much into the trip, as we are really going there to see the Canyon, so I can do the observatory, Sedona, another time. </p>
<p>As many are suggesting the South Rim, would we be able to fit in the North Rim in a five day time period? And are there other areas of the canyon we should check out as well?</p>
<p>Montegut - if you google Grand Canyon Lodging and look for Xanterra - that’s the company that has the contract to handle all lodging within the National Park. Other hotel chains can’t operate within National Park boundaries. You’ll see 6 or 8 types of lodging listed with descriptions, prices, etc. provided there. Best of luck for a great trip - it sounds wonderful!</p>
<p>I found a residence inn in Prescott with a skyline view. Any opinions on Prescott for location proximity to GC?</p>
<p>Prescott would be sort of on the way to the GC from Phoenix but I wouldn’t pick it as a place to stay - it’s further from the GC than Williams or Flagstaff and there’s not all that much to do while there unlike the GC which has things to do right there at the hotel. Again, I think you should try to stay at the GC. Click the link I included on one of my previous posts - it lists the hotels there. Don’t expect the big name regular hotels - it’s a National Park - not a city. But there are some good hotels there. the biggest problem might be geting a res when you want one so don’t wait too long to make it. </p>
<p>If you’re not going to hike, do the mule trip, etc. then I think you might find 3 days to be longer than you’d want to stay there. It all depends on what you want to do and how you like to do your vacations. I like to keep active so if I had few activities to do there then I’d want to shorten the stay and go see other things while in the area. </p>
<p>Sedona isn’t all that far to go see and many of the other places in the posts on this thread are good too.</p>
<p>Bring up your browser, bring up Google Maps, find the Grand Canyon, then find some of the other locations from there so you can get an idea of where they are and how far they are. If you use the ‘directions’ function on google maps it’ll tell you the mileage and time between the points along with how to get there. Get your bearings so you can see where Phoenix, Flagstaff, Williams, and the GC are relative to each other.</p>
<p>I did a little trip there with some foreign students last fall. Easy to do in 3 nights, and we hiked everyplace we went, which takes more time. What we did was:</p>
<p>Fly into Phoenix. Find a place in Scottsdale or Tempe to stay for the night. Your easiest bet would be to find a place to stay with an airport shuttle, and car rental nearby, as the Phoenix airport charges a mint for on site rentals. You can return car to the airport for a nominal fee. Look around old Town Scottsdale. The West’s most Western Town, filled with art galleries, shopping, outdoor mall, etc. Tour ASU, and be sure to see Grady Gammage auditorium. Go to the zoo, if interested to see low desert animals and plants. The zoo is close to Tempe and Scottsdale. </p>
<p>Next morning, start the drive north on I 17, avoiding rush hour. Mid day, I find Phoenix traffic not bad compared to other big cities. You can get to the canyon that day, but would recommend a detour through Sedona. Go to Red Rock Crossing state park if time. Otherwise, drive through Sedona and Oak Creek canyon, a beautiful winding road toward Flagstaff. This is a freeway alternative. You can stop at various state parks in Oak Creek Canyon. </p>
<p>Stay in Flagstaff that night, where there are motels of all stripes. Drive to the Grand Canyon the next day, where you’ll stay at your previously reserved Xanterra hotel in the park. One or two nights, as noted by UCSD/UCLA dad above, 3 is too many, unless you plan to hike, or are happy to sit and gaze for many hours, which can be pleasant. Realize that many folks see the canyon for just a few hours. Go see one of the national monuments en route, or Cameron trading post, or Meteor crater. </p>
<p>You can circle back through Prescott, which (as my old home) is a mighty pleasant mountain town and will give you some different territory to view. However not as spectacular as some of the stuff near Flagstaff and Sedona, and is a few hours from the Canyon. Not a gateway at all, but more a halfway point between Phx. and the Canyon, if out of the way. </p>
<p>Driving to the North Rim can be done, but is a major drive time commitment, if interesting.</p>
<p>Montegut, yes, I did mean a hotel in the park. They’re operated by Xanterra, as someone else mentioned, but you can get to that site via the Park Service website</p>
<p>(Sorry, can’t edit on the cc mobile site.) We stayed in Thunderbird Lodge–see my post back toward the beginning of this thread.</p>
<p>Be sure to eat at a Mexican food restaurant (or a few) while you’re in Arizona.</p>
<p>I stayed at Bright Angel Lodge-right on the rim. Watch out, some rooms have shared bathrooms.</p>
<p>Revisiting this thread, as we have only a couple of weeks between end of spring semester and start of summer semester, but have almost a month between end of summer semester and start of fall.</p>
<p>Thinking of maybe doing the Arizona trip then.</p>
<p>So, is early August too brutal for Arizona?</p>
<p>Also, wondering about Flagstaff. Found a Residence Inn in eastern Flagstaff, and a Spring Hill Suites, new, in downtown Flagstaff. Not a fan of traffic or city life, wonder if the Residence Inn is better choice, but will there be options for dinner nearby? Also, being in East Flagstaff, will it be even further from the Grand Canyon or Sedona? Would welcome a nice view out the hotel room, though, rather than downtown skyscrapers or the like.</p>
<p>Also, if we were to use Flagstaff as our base, where to fly into, Phoenix or Tucson?</p>
<p>Would Prescott be a better alternative to Flagstaff? Cheaper rates, but don’t know if it’s further to Grand Canyon and Sedona and the Lowell Observatory.</p>
<p>Also on the list is Phoenix North and Scottsdale North. Just finding Marriott properties that have the kind of accomodations we’re looking for.</p>
<p>^ That’s the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff–well worth the trip. Percival Lowell observed Mars from a still-operational telescope there and first noted the ‘canals’. Pluto was discovered from this observatory in 1930, as were the rings of Uranus in 1977 (no wisecracks, please). </p>
<p>Sedona is a beautiful place, the stereotypical red-rock country, and Meteor Crater is interesting (I got to visit it with Gene Shoemaker who was the world expert on impact craters so it was made orders of magnitude more interesting by including his perspective). Sunset Crater National Park is another geologic place of interest east of Flagstaff–these are volcanic cinder cones and lava flows. There are remnants of ancient Anasazi dwellings in the canyons there. We did the half-day float trip on the Colorado River from Page to Lee’s Ferry when our twins were 10–fantastic! Museum of Northern Arizona just north of Flagstaff is high quality–anthropology, geology, biology, botany, archaeology, cultural development, etc. </p>
<p>South Rim of Grand Canyon will have plenty to see and do. Lots more people and you must take shuttle buses, cannot drive your own vehicle. North Rim is more remote, more driving, less people. The views are great but I think you can see more from the South Rim and there are more flat, paved trails right along the rim. North Rim is higher elevation than South Rim and usually cooler temperatures. Snow lasts longer there and some roads are impassable at certain times of the year.</p>
<p>Can you guess I’m a former resident and big fan of northern Arizona? 
Have a wonderful trip!</p>
<p>“So, is early August too brutal for Arizona?”</p>
<p>It will be hot as Hades in Phoenix but Flagstaff and GC should be ok – still summertime, though! You will appreciate air conditioning and ice water more than you ever thought possible! It will be monsoon season in the Phoenix area (July-Sept) which means impressive afternoon and evening thunderstorms and sunny, muggy, mornings.</p>
<p>“Also, wondering about Flagstaff. Found a Residence Inn in eastern Flagstaff, and a Spring Hill Suites, new, in downtown Flagstaff. Not a fan of traffic or city life, wonder if the Residence Inn is better choice, but will there be options for dinner nearby? Also, being in East Flagstaff, will it be even further from the Grand Canyon or Sedona? Would welcome a nice view out the hotel room, though, rather than downtown skyscrapers or the like.”</p>
<p>Flagstaff is not that big (and definitely no skyscrapers) so it won’t add a lot of time to travels no matter where you stay. It’s a tourist and college town so there should be a variety of dining options. The downtown area is not like a big city. See if the hotels have some photos online so you can get an idea of the surroundings before choosing.</p>
<p>“Also, if we were to use Flagstaff as our base, where to fly into, Phoenix or Tucson?”</p>
<p>Phoenix. Tucson is another 2 hours south, the opposite direction of Flagstaff. Tucson (and Kitt Peak Observatory and Sonoran Desert and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and Museum and Pima Air and Space Museum) should be your next trip though!! ;-)</p>
<p>“Would Prescott be a better alternative to Flagstaff? Cheaper rates, but don’t know if it’s further to Grand Canyon and Sedona and the Lowell Observatory.”</p>
<p>Prescott is a smaller community definitely off the beaten path and further from GC, Lowell Observatory, and Flagstaff. It’s 2.75 hours from Prescott to GC and 1.6 hours from Flagstaff to GC. </p>
<p>Good luck and have fun planning your trip!</p>
<p>If you’re in Flagstaff and need a quick meal, the best fast food is Del Taco, quite decent fast Mexican food ;)</p>
<p>Early August would run 90-100 F in the GC area, Flagstaff probably 80-90F</p>
<p>This isn’t really for the OP, but for others reading the thread–hiking down to the Colorado River is a great experience if you are up for it. My H was in Arizona a couple of weeks ago and to his surprise, they had a room available at Phantom Ranch. He hiked in, spent the night there, and hiked out the next day. A few years ago, he did in and out in the same (long) day–on the NPS web site and they tell you not to attempt this, but it can be done.</p>
<p>We visited the South Rim as a day trip from Prescott last year. Of course, it was Feb so there was little traffic on the way and virtually no visitors at the GC itself. As I recall the trip took well under the 2.75 hours cited above, but we did stop for breakfast on the way and my memory is fading. Not sure if I’d recommend it for the summer season tho, due to the increase in tourist traffic.</p>
<p>We also visited Sedona for the day from Prescott and will do that trip again this May. We’ve stayed at the Springhill Suites in Prescott twice now and have reservations again for May. I’d recommend it for the Prescott area; it’s right on the edge of downtown, so easy walking to restaurants, shopping and the historic Whiskey Row. The Residence Inn is outside of the downtown area in a typical strip mall shopping area, but a little closer to the highways to Sedona and Flagstaff.</p>
<p>As for weather in August…while Prescott is not in the desert heat of Phoenix, the August I helped my son move into his dorm, it was plenty hot: 90s, tho dry. But still much hotter than home in New England.</p>
<p>How many days should we plan on? Don’t think we can afford more than 5, but will have two days in the plane from NOLA to Phoenix on each end, so we may have to stretch it to seven. Trying to get hotels for less than 150/night if possible.</p>
<p>Spring Hill Suites in Prescott is totally booked up, but able to get to the Residence Inn Prescott. Got a room with a skyline view. What does this mean? Is it mountains or skyscrapers?</p>
<p>Would really love to see some open sky with stars while there, and maybe do the rail trip to the rim, been recommended by many.</p>
<p>Keep the suggestions coming.</p>
<p>Any recommendation for tour book, Fodors or the other one, can’t remember now?</p>
<p>You might try priceline or hot wire and bid on hotels, I have gotten some good deals.</p>