Grand Canyon National Park Travel Forum

We are planing around Oct 16, 06 or so on flying into phoenix, from philly ( 5.5 hours )and would like to do some site seeing on the way to Williams. trying to plan for weekdays for train and GC stay to avoid weekend @ GC.
* flying into PHX to use airmiles, phx has more mile avalable then flagstraff.

1 can we rent a car in phoenix and drop it off in Williams near the train station. then rent agin for return trip ? if not park it @ train or train hotel. or open to suggestions
2 if we have a couple days to see the sites, maybe one full day before train, and 2 days after train,(weekend) what should we go see.. no long hikes, we are mid 50's and I have heart & blood presure problems.
3 is taking the train a good way to see the GC? will be staying over 1 nite at the railroad hotel, would 2 nites be better. Want to see GC but also want to relax a little too. want to see sunrise and sunset too and take shuttles to other stuff in GC. need best places to see rise and set, and where to go on shuttle
4 place to stay near PHX airport, mostly likey landing in phx 8 to 9 pm, hotel with shuttle from airport and near rental car place off site of airport to save to airport car rental surcharges. may return car to airport on return trip around 2 pm

Hi,

If you check out my travel page on GC, you will see a detailed report and pictures from the Grand Canyon Railroad trip.

1. I don't think there is a car rental office in Williams. But from what I understand, Smitty's Taxi in Williams will drive you pretty much anywhere in Arizona, so maybe they would pick you up from Flagstaff if you drop your rental car there?

2. I would spend some time in Sedona, if you have time. This is a beautiful town. the Pink Jeep tours are highly rated and recommended. Montezuma's Castle and well are just a little south of Sedona. I found the castle absolutely fascinating. You might want to consider a plane or helicopter tour of the canyon.

3. One thing I would strongly recommend if you are taking the train is to stay overnight at the Canyon and take a train back to Williams the following afternoon. We went down and back the same day, and you only have 3 hours at the Grand Canyon - we never ate, checked out the gift stores or hotels. We had just enough time to take a shuttle along the west route to Hermits Rest and back. We got back 5 minutes before the train left for Williams. We were disappointed that we didn't have more time at the canyon. This is the only way you would see sunrise and/or sunset at the GC. The GCR will arrange an overnight stay for you in GC, if you ask when you reserve your tickets on the train.

If you want to email me, I can hook you up with another spot where you can get some great advise on GC.

Cheers,

- CG

The Train does no go near the rim of the Grand Canyon. You get off and take shuttles to get to sites around the rim.

I'm not sure where the railroad hotel is located but if you can get reservations at the Hotels managed by Xanterra (El Tovar, Bright Angel Lodge on the rim or even the lodges a little away from the rim like Maswik), you can get up early in the morning and see the sun rise. http://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/

yes thank you, I know I need to get off the train and take the shuttle bus around and do some wilking to the edges, I just thought the train would be something different and easyer then driving and looking for parking spots.. the cost of the train is not more then the cost of staying in the hotels themself, with meals.. and I think i'll do enought driving and siteseeing from phonex to williams.

thanks Bob