Route 66 to the Grand Canyon: how to add it to your trip

The Grand Canyon is about 60 miles north of Route 66. It is the most popular side trip on the whole road, and the easiest to get wrong by rushing it.

I have taken groups to the canyon in every season, and the advice I give is always the same: give it at least one night, and be there for the last hour of light.

Williams or Flagstaff as your base?

Both are on Route 66 and both work as a base. Williams is smaller, has the most intact Route 66 main street in Arizona and is the home of the Grand Canyon Railway. Flagstaff is a real city with more restaurants and the Lowell Observatory, where Pluto was discovered. From either, the South Rim is about an hour and a half by road.

Riding the Grand Canyon Railway from Williams

The railway first reached the rim in 1901. Today trains leave Williams at 9:30 am and take about 2 hours 15 minutes to the historic depot at the rim, below El Tovar hotel, with musicians and a narrator on board. You get about three hours at the rim before the return train. It is relaxed and avoids the parking lots in season.

Give it at least one night, and be there for the last hour of light.

Sleeping near the South Rim

For sunset and sunrise you need to stay in or near the park, either in the historic lodges in Grand Canyon Village or in Tusayan just outside the south entrance. Rooms inside the park book up a year ahead, which is one reason to travel with a company that holds them.

Best Grand Canyon viewpoints for sunset

• Mather Point and Yavapai Point are close to the visitor center and busy, but wide.
• Hopi Point and Mohave Point on Hermit Road are the classic sunset spots, reached by free shuttle in most seasons.
• Desert View, 25 miles east, has the 1932 watchtower by Mary Colter and views of the Colorado River.

The Grand Canyon on our Route 66 trips

The Grand Canyon add-on is three days from Williams with the railway. The 15-day full route trip, the Arizona section trip, the photography road trip and the desert motorcycle ride all include the canyon, most with sunset at the rim.

Photo: Neon Motel Road. All photo credits.