Best Things to Do in Arizona

How far apart are Arizona’s big sights, really?

Far enough that one base does not work. The clearest illustration is inside a single national park: the National Park Service states that the drive between the park’s South Rim Village and the North Rim Village is about 212 miles and takes about 4 1/2 hours to drive, while the average distance across the canyon is only 10 miles. Two rims of the same canyon are a half-day apart by road.

The rest of the state scales the same way. The NPS puts the South Rim at approximately a four-hour drive from Phoenix, approximately 90 minutes from Flagstaff on Interstate 40, and approximately 60 minutes from Williams. Page, the town nearest Antelope Canyon, and Monument Valley on the Utah border are further again, and Tucson with Saguaro National Park sits below Phoenix in the opposite direction.

The planning consequence is blunt. A week that tries to hold the Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, Sedona and Tucson spends most of itself in a car, and the sights that need a timed permit are exactly the ones a long drive makes you late for. Pick a northern loop or a southern one.

Once you are at the South Rim, the driving mostly stops. All five South Rim shuttle routes are free, and the NPS states that all shuttle service is free; the service is included with your park entrance fees. It also matters for one road in particular: from 1 March to 30 November, Hermit Road is closed to private vehicles, and the NPS states that the Hermit Road shuttle and commercial tours provide the only motorized access to this area.

Grand Canyon South Rim or North Rim: which one is even open?

The South Rim is open every day of the year. The North Rim is not, and in 2026 it is unusually restricted.

The ordinary pattern, as the NPS publishes it, is a full season from 15 May through 15 October, a shoulder season that begins 16 October and may last through November 30, and within that shoulder the NPS states that during the month of November, the North Rim is open for ‘dawn to dusk’ day use only (no overnight parking), then a winter closure that begins usually by December 1 when the Arizona Department of Transportation closes Highway 67. The NPS adds that it does not unlock the entrance station gate for public vehicle access until North Rim visitor facilities open up for the season in mid-May. That is a road closure imposed by weather on a rim that sits over a thousand feet higher than the south side, not a staffing decision.

Then there is the fire. The Dragon Bravo Fire, started by a lightning strike on the Kaibab Plateau on 4 July 2025, destroyed the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, the North Rim Visitor Center and other structures. The park’s own status page records the North Rim as open as of 15 May 2026 for scenic drives and day use, with all paved roads including Highway 67, Cape Royal Road and Point Imperial Road accessible, and viewpoints including Point Imperial, Cape Royal, Roosevelt Point, Walhalla Overlook and Angels Window available.

What is not available matters more. The NPS states that overnight lodging is not available on the North Rim during the 2026 season. The North Rim Campground runs 1 June to 15 October without water or RV hookups. The general store runs 15 May to 15 October, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gas station is 24-hour, pay at pump only. The entirety of the North Kaibab Trail is inaccessible, along with Phantom Ranch, Bright Angel Campground, and the Black and Silver bridges over the Colorado River, which is what closes the classic rim-to-rim crossing. Bright Angel Point, Widforss, Transept, Uncle Jim and the western section of Ken Patrick trails are closed, and Stage 2 fire restrictions prohibit all wood and charcoal fires. Park officials summarised the season as we will open what we can, where we can, when we can. The NPS status page carrying all of this was last updated 3 September 2026 and was read on 6 September 2026. It is the fastest-changing fact on this page, so re-check it before you drive up.

What does a national park in Arizona cost in 2026, and what changed?

The standard Grand Canyon entrance fee is $35 per private vehicle, $30 per motorcycle and $20 per person on foot or bicycle, each valid for seven days. The Grand Canyon annual pass is $70, and the pass the fees page now lists as the America the Beautiful Resident Annual Pass is $80. Entrance stations take credit and debit cards only; no cash.

The change that catches international visitors is new. The Department of the Interior announced on 25 November 2025 that a modernised fee system would launch on 1 January 2026, under which nonresidents without an annual pass pay a $100 per person fee at eleven of the most visited national parks. The Grand Canyon fees page now states that each non-US resident aged 16 and older visiting Grand Canyon National Park must pay a $100 nonresident fee (in addition to the standard entrance fee), unless admitted with an Annual or America the Beautiful Pass. The eleven parks are Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Zion.

There is a pass built for it. The America the Beautiful Non-Resident Annual Pass costs $250 and has been on sale since 1 January 2026. The NPS states it covers the nonresident fee for the holder plus three additional adults. For a party of four non-resident adults visiting the Grand Canyon once, that is $250 against $400 in surcharges alone, so the pass pays for itself on a single visit. Children aged 15 and under are not charged the nonresident fee. Proof of US residency, where it is asked for, is a US passport, a state or territory driver’s licence or ID, or a permanent residency card.

One consequence is easy to miss. The fee-free days are now for US citizens and residents only. The NPS entrance passes page states that beginning in 2026, free entrance on these days will be for US citizens and residents only. Nonresidents will pay the regular entrance fee and any applicable nonresident fees, so a non-resident arriving on a free entrance day at the Grand Canyon still pays $35 for the vehicle and $100 per adult. The 2026 dates are 16 February, 25 May, 14 June, 3 to 5 July, 25 August, 17 September, 27 October and 11 November.

Arizona’s other two national parks are not on the eleven-park list. Saguaro National Park is $25 per private vehicle, $20 per motorcycle and $15 per person for seven days, and its $45 annual pass covers both the Tucson Mountain District in the west and the Rincon Mountain District in the east. Petrified Forest National Park is also $25, $20 and $15 for seven days with a $45 annual pass, and removing petrified wood there is strictly prohibited and punishable by federal law. Both parks nevertheless sell the $250 Non-Resident Annual Pass, because it is a nationwide America the Beautiful product rather than a park one.

Why you cannot just drive to Antelope Canyon

Because it is not a national park and not public land. Antelope Canyon sits within the Lake Powell area of the Navajo Nation, and the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Department states plainly that tour guides are mandatory in Antelope Canyon. There is no self-guided option for Upper Antelope Canyon, Lower Antelope Canyon or Antelope Canyon X. You arrange a tour with an operator that works with Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation, and the guide is the access, not an upgrade.

The department lists an entry fee of $15 per person, per entry, and states that guided tour costs are additional. It also notes that as of May 1, 2011, there is a two-hour limit inside Upper Antelope Canyons. Backcountry permits, for the areas that have them, are $15 per person, per night, and the department is explicit that permits do not include Entry Fee. Two separate charges, in other words, and the federal pass in your glovebox is not one of them.

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park runs on the same logic and publishes its own numbers: $10 per person, per day, per location, and $15 per vehicle for the scenic drive. Opening is 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in winter with last entry at 2:30 p.m., and 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. in summer with last entry at 4:30 p.m. Motorcycles and RVs are prohibited on the loop drive, and the department warns the valley drive has very rough terrain and deep sand dunes. A backcountry permit is obtained from the visitor centre and hikers sign in and out.

Those last-entry times are the rule that ruins days. Arrive at 3 p.m. in January and Monument Valley is shut to you, whatever your booking says. Confirm hours and fees with Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation before travelling, since tribal parks set their own calendar and have closed at short notice before.

The clock problem in northern Arizona

Arizona does not observe daylight saving time. The Navajo Nation does. That single mismatch is behind more missed tours in Page and Monument Valley than any road.

Most of the state has sat on Mountain Standard Time all year since the Arizona legislature passed SB 1 on 21 March 1968. The Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President states that while most of Arizona does not observe Daylight Saving Time, the Navajo Nation does in order to remain on the same time as many of our Diné relatives, communities, and services in Utah and New Mexico, and it announces the clock change publicly each spring.

From the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November, therefore, the Navajo Nation runs one hour ahead of Phoenix, Flagstaff and Sedona. The Hopi Reservation, which sits surrounded by the Navajo Nation, keeps the same time as the rest of Arizona, which means a single drive across northeastern Arizona can cross the boundary more than once.

What to do about it is simple and worth doing. When you book anything on Navajo Nation land in summer, ask the operator to confirm the time zone the booking is written in, and do not rely on a phone that may have picked up either zone from the nearest mast. An Antelope Canyon slot is timed and a Monument Valley last entry is absolute, so an hour is the whole visit.

Havasupai: a permit lottery, not a hike you can decide on

Havasu Falls is on the Havasupai Reservation, reached from Hualapai Hilltop, and it is not part of Grand Canyon National Park. Access is by permit only, sold by the Havasupai Tribe through its own reservation site, and the structure is unusual enough that people get it wrong before they get near Arizona.

The single most important rule: permits are sold only as three nights and four days, no more and no less. The reservations site puts it flatly: all bookings are 4 days / 3 nights. There is no day hike to Havasu Falls, no single overnight and no walking in to look. For 2026 the site’s own FAQ gives the campground permit as $455 per person for three nights, a lodge permit as $2,277 per lodge room for three nights for up to four people, and pack mules at $400 round trip per mule. The tribe’s own site, theofficialhavasupaitribe.com, repeats the $455 and $2,277 figures.

The refund page also refers to an early access fee, which is charged on top of the reservation and is excluded from the partial refund given for cancellations made at least 90 days ahead. The tribe does not publish the amount on the FAQ, so budget for it as an unknown extra rather than a fixed number, and read the cancellation terms before you pay: prices and the release mechanism have both changed between seasons.

Two practical points. First, the cost is per person and non-trivial, so a family of four is looking at four separate permits before transport. Second, the permit is the whole gate: turning up at Hualapai Hilltop without one is a wasted drive down a long dead-end road, and there is no ticket window at the bottom.

The Wave: 64 places a day, decided by lottery

Coyote Buttes North, the formation known as The Wave, is managed by the Bureau of Land Management on the Arizona and Utah border, and the number that governs it is small. The BLM states that it allows up to 64 people per day and/or 16 groups per day (whichever comes first), with no more than six people per group. Permits cost $7 per person per day, and dogs are charged at $7 as well.

Those 64 places are split across two lotteries run on Recreation.gov, and the split is the part most people miss. The BLM’s advanced lottery FAQ states that a daily maximum of 48 people or 12 groups (whichever comes first) is awarded through the online lottery system, that you must apply four months in advance, and that there is a non-refundable $6 administrative fee to apply per application. That leaves the balance, 16 people or 4 groups, for the daily lottery, which since 15 March 2022 has run as a mobile geofence system requiring a location-enabled device inside a defined boundary. The BLM publishes a separate geofence perimeter map and a tips document for it.

The $6 is an application fee and buys nothing but an entry. The $7 per person per day is the permit itself, payable only if you win. Confirm the current application window on Recreation.gov on the day you apply, and note that everyone in the party, including children who are not walking, must be named on the permit.

The reason this matters for an Arizona itinerary is timing. The daily lottery has to be entered from inside the geofence, which means being physically in the Kanab or Page area with a spare day, and an advanced lottery result arrives four months before your other bookings. Neither fits an itinerary you are improvising.

Why midday hiking in Arizona is genuinely dangerous

Because the canyon is hotter at the bottom than at the rim, and the posted temperature understates what you are standing in. The National Park Service states that daytime summer temperatures in the inner canyon can exceed 110°F (43°C) and, separately, that sun temperatures are 15F to 20F (9C-11C) degrees hotter than posted shade temperatures. A 105 degree forecast at the rim can be a 130 degree experience on an exposed switchback below it.

The NPS advice is specific about the hours. Attempting corridor hikes during the heat of the day, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is strongly discouraged. The park tells hikers to carry plain water and some form of electrolyte replacement, to eat salty snacks such as pretzels, crackers and chips, and to consume twice as much as you normally would. It records that the park sees two to three cases of heatstroke a year and that rangers treat many cases of heat exhaustion each day in summer.

Water is the constraint people plan around badly. The NPS states that only the Bright Angel and North Kaibab Trails have potable water spigots, and in the 2026 season the whole of the North Kaibab Trail is closed, which leaves the Bright Angel as the corridor trail with taps. Spigots are also turned off for repairs, so the park’s own guidance is to check current water status before descending rather than to assume.

The rule that saves people is the one about going down. Descending is the easy half and the canyon has no shuttle at the bottom, so plan the climb out for early morning or late afternoon and treat any hike that puts you on an exposed slope at 2 p.m. in July as a plan that has already failed.

At a glance

Fees and rules as published by each managing authority and confirmed 6 September 2026. Tribal parks and the National Park Service set fees independently of one another.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Grand Canyon North Rim open right now?

The park’s status page records the North Rim as open as of 15 May 2026 for scenic drives and day use, after the Dragon Bravo Fire of July 2025. Overnight lodging is not available for the 2026 season, the North Rim Campground runs 1 June to 15 October without water or hookups, and the entirety of the North Kaibab Trail is closed. That status page was last updated 3 September 2026. In a normal year the North Rim closes to all vehicles from about 1 December, when the Arizona Department of Transportation closes Highway 67, and does not reopen until mid-May. Check the park’s North Rim status page before travelling.

How long does it take to drive from the South Rim to the North Rim?

The National Park Service gives it as about 212 miles and about four and a half hours, even though the average distance across the canyon is only 10 miles. There is no road across, so the drive runs east and around through Marble Canyon.

Do non-US residents pay more to enter the Grand Canyon?

Yes, since 1 January 2026. The Grand Canyon fees page states each non-US resident aged 16 and older pays a $100 nonresident fee on top of the standard entrance fee, unless admitted with an Annual or America the Beautiful pass. The America the Beautiful Non-Resident Annual Pass is $250 and covers the nonresident fee for the holder plus three additional adults. It applies at eleven parks, which does not include Saguaro or Petrified Forest. Note also that the NPS free entrance days are for US citizens and residents only from 2026, so a non-resident gains nothing by timing a visit to one.

Can you visit Antelope Canyon without a tour?

No. Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation states that tour guides are mandatory in Antelope Canyon, for Upper, Lower and Antelope Canyon X. There is a $15 per person entry fee on top of the tour price, and a two-hour limit has applied inside Upper Antelope Canyon since 1 May 2011. A federal park pass does not cover it, because it is not federal land.

How much is a Havasupai permit?

The Havasupai reservations FAQ gives the 2026 campground permit as $455 per person for three nights, a lodge permit at $2,277 per lodge room for three nights for up to four people, and pack mules at $400 round trip per mule. All bookings are four days and three nights, so there is no day-hike option and no single overnight. A separate early access fee exists and its amount is not published on that FAQ. Confirm pricing on havasupaireservations.com, since the figures and the release mechanism have both changed between seasons.

Is Arizona on a different time in summer?

Most of Arizona stays on Mountain Standard Time all year and does not change clocks. The Navajo Nation does observe daylight saving time, so from March to November it runs an hour ahead of Phoenix and Flagstaff. The Hopi Reservation, surrounded by the Navajo Nation, follows the rest of Arizona. Ask any operator on Navajo Nation land which time zone your booking is written in.

What time of day should you avoid hiking in the Grand Canyon?

The National Park Service strongly discourages attempting corridor routes between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. in the heat of the day. Inner canyon summer temperatures can exceed 110°F, and the NPS notes sun temperatures run 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than posted shade temperatures. Carry water and electrolytes, eat salty food, and plan the climb out for early morning or late afternoon.