Grand Canyon - best time to visit?

[Hudson]

My wife and I intend visiting the Grand Canyon in 2006 on an escorted coach tour to include San Francisco, LA and the Grand Canyon. When is the best time to go to avoid extremes of heat, cold, humidity and crowds?

Our favoured tour at the moment is the  Kuoni "Western Discovery" tour which only stays a night at each place, but means that the miles travelled each day are modest. How does this compare with other tours which stay up to 3 days in several locations, but which have to do many more miles on travelling days? (Most tours cover the same mileage in their 14 days).

We would like to take a fixed-wing or helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon. Is this best pre-booked in the UK before going, on the coach with the tour rep, or direct with flight operators when we get to the Grand Canyon? It is probable that we won't be able to fit in a flight on the afternoon of arrival as it will get dark shortly after we get there. Could a flight be arranged from the next stop in Monument Valley? 

What experiences have you had with escorted coach tours on the West Coast of the US?

[mystress]

Hi there,I have never been on an Escorted Coach Trip to the US,but HAVE done a fly drive to the area you are going to.

A few pointers then:~

The Desert(Grand Canyon) has very dry heat,no humidity,and even SF is low in the humidity stakes if you go in the right months.The best months are(for GC & SF etc) April,May and June,or September October.Avoid July and August,you will fry in the Desert,and SF will not be tolerably comfortable.The Grand Canyon will be crowded(unavoidably really) at all times,but less people in the very hot season.Try to ensure that the coaches used are air conditioned.Now as regards itinerary,it's really amatter of persoanl choice.In the US most roads that you will travel on are good,smooth and enable long distances to be travelled in relatively short times.You have to bear in mind that staying more than one night in each place, means that either you are "stranded" in maybe an uninteresting place,OR you have more time in an area(like the GC) that has lots to see/do.It really depends on what you want to see, and for how long?

If you want to book a flight over the GC do it in the UK(via Kuoni?) as this will give you a guaranteed place.Do not do it through a Tour Rep,they will just shove you onto the flight that gives them the best comission.As far a booking it there,I wouldn't.GC gets incredibly busy,and you wouldn't want to go all that way and not get a flight.

As regards booking a flight from Monument Valley,check with Kuoni (one of the Best Tour Operators by the way)they should be able to advise you.If you cannot go from Monument Valley,then it might be worth looking for a tour that stays more than one night in GC?

[mystress]

Part 2:~LOL

To finish off(you will be fed up with me!)

Check any Coach Itinerary carefully,especially the distances covered.Does it give you any idea of what time you arrive/leave each stopover?

You will enjoy SF (everybody does) a friendly,cosmopolitan,reasonably priced city.It has good transport(Trams and BART,their underground)

Above all "culitivate" your Tour Guide,you can find out all sorts of "secrets" if you are nice to them!LOL

Above all,Have Fun.

Want any more(is there more!LOL)information,just post.

[Clanad]

mystress has given you good advice, but I would add:  The summer vacation season for US citizens generally doesn't begin until after Memorial Day, which is sometime the last few days of May.  The kids aren't out of school until then so, if one takes the trip in May you at least avoid the added hassle of families adding to the crowds. June can even be quite warm in the desert.  May is an excellent month in San Francisco and LA as well.  Be prepared for endless distances travelled by coach from LA to Grand Canyon.  Not much to see across the southern Nevada desert.  My assumption is the tour will go through Las Vegas to get to the Canyon. If possibile and you really insist on a flying tour, I would recommend Scenic Airlines (check here http://www.scenic.com/ ).  They are one of the oldest and most dependable sight seeing airlines.  Keep in mind the aircraft are unpressurized (comfortable otherwise), somewhat noisy and if you can't get an early morning flight it's probably going to be bumpy.  Be prepared for sticker shock on the difference between costs of an airplane tour versus a helicopter flight.  The helicopter is going to be substantially more expensive for a shorter tour.  Additionally, you can depart out of Vegas on the airlines, but it's to far for the helicopter so they depart from Grand Canyon airport on the south rim (here's one: http://www.papillon.com/index.php?cPath=21 . )  I'd recommend checking with Scenic or any other carrier on line to inquire about booking.  The airlines and helicopter tour operators are liscensed by the US government.  Enjoy!

[jno]

I don't recall that there's anything much in Monument Valley (not much of a settlement I mean; scenery is great, see a John Ford film) but you can phone up from anywhere, including the UK. My guess is that you could get a flight cheaper than Kuoni, say, sell it but you'll have to get to it yourself rather than be taken there; you pay for the convenience of a package tour. I did SF-canyon by car, in March (years ago, though), and it was fine, but it's 2+ days' drive from the coast to the canyon.

Kuoni are a very good operator, I've been other places with them.

[spangle111]

I did a tour of this area with Cosmos, can't remember all the places not but they included LA, Vegas, Palm Springs, Lake Tahoe, Grand Canyon, Yosemite Park and San Fransisco. All I can say is it was absolutely fantastic, there was a fixed wing flight organised through them from the Grand Canyon to Vegas which was very inexpensive and worth every penny. The service we got throughout the tour was excellent as was the accomodation with the exception of the Grand Canyon - the hotel on the Canyon rim is not pleasant but the location makes up for it (don't know how I would have felt it we'd have stayed more than one night. There is a fantastic restaurant on the Canyon rim (DON'T eat the hotel food!) and to watch sunset from there was just incredible. I would advise opting for a tour which is a different place each night with a couple of longer stays thrown in to let you catch your breath (2,1,1,1,1, 2,1,1,1,3). Whichever tour you decide on - have a fabulous holiday!

[DonKiddick]

My wife and I have just returned from a fly-drive holiday taking in San Francisco, Yosemite and Monterey (2 nights each).  We then flew to Las Vegas and picked up a second hire car to do Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon (2 nights), Lake Powell (2 nights), Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park and back to LV. (1 night each).  The pace was just about right; we had plenty of time to do everything we wanted and the driving was completely hassle free.  We didn't do any more than 200 miles a day - which I am sure cannot be said of any coach trip.  We decided not to do Monument Valley - a bit out of the way and although the scenery looks fantastic the other places we visited had it all.  Simlarly, Death Valley would have been fascinating but that would have made for 2 longish days in pretty high temperatures.  The flight from SFO to LAS was definitely worth its �45 each (America West Airlines).  We didn't do the Grand Canyon flight; I had investigated options on the internet before we went and almost booked with Papillon and we actually called in at the airport on our way to South Rim.  We decided to go and have a look at the Canyon first and then decide later about a flight.  In the event, the weather was absolutely perfect and we viewed the canyon from just about all the "overlooks" (very efficiently served by shuttle bus).  We only saw a couple of helicopters the whole time we were there and they seemed to by flying very high and we honestly thought that we had had unsurpassable views of the canyon and could not really justify the �100 each that the helicopter would have cost us.

I would heartily recommend a fly-drive for the freedom it gives you.  The prospect of being cooped up on a coach for hours on end in baking temperatures (Yes, it was over 100�F around Lake Powell / Bryce / Zion and LV) and only being able to stop when the driver / courier says so, just does not appeal.

[Monicash]

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