“Gas prices jump 15% last week” – and so it begins (MSNBC).
Gas prices have begun their uphill climb in anticipation of summer travel season. Statistically, a perfectly normal occurrence. With gas prices at record highs to begin with, though, it certainly makes a bigger impact psychologically, and with your Grand Canyon summer vacation just around the corner, you may be wondering what you can do to get the most out of your travel budget.
Here at the Grand Canyon, we have a saying: “before you get somewhere, you have to get through a whole lot of nowhere.” Probably the thing that’s most shocking about this part of the country to folks from, say the East Coast or Midwest is how big and open and spread out everything is. For example, it’s a 5 hour drive to the Grand Canyon from the two nearest major metropolitan areas, which would be Phoenix, or Las Vegas. Yeah. 5 hours – one way. Which means you’re going to spend a lot of time behind the wheel just to get here, but you’re on vacation, that’s part of the fun!
If you’re saying “do I have to do all that driving?,” well, no, but there’s some ”trade-offs.” I’ll explain:
You could opt to fly into one of a few smaller regional/municipal airports located within closer driving distance of the park. These would be:
- Flagstaff, Arizona (FLG), which is served through Phoenix by America West Express (dba Mesa Airlines). Flagstaff is about 1.5 hours away from Grand Canyon South Rim.
- Page/Lake Powell, Arizona (PGA), served by Great Lakes Airlines through Phoenix and Denver. They codeshare with United and Frontier. Page is located 2.5 hours from both the South Rim AND Grand Canyon North Rim.
- St. George, UT (SGU), served through Salt Lake City by Skywest Airlines, a Delta codeshare. St. George is 3 hours from Grand Canyon North Rim.
All these airports have car rental outlets on-site.
PROS: Don’t have to do so much driving; these airports are also situated in close proximity to other scenic attractions, so you might get to do even more than you planned; smaller airport means more personalized service, easier to find your way around
CONS: It does cost more to fly directly into these airports, anywhere from $200-$300 more per person than if you flew into Las Vegas or Phoenix; smaller airports mean smaller planes: these “puddle jumpers” only have anywhere from 9-32 passenger capacity, which could mean a bumpy ride on windy afternoons (which we have a LOT of); smaller airports mean smaller budgets, which mean less in the way of niceties (coffee shops, wi-fi, ATM’s can be hard to find).
Can one fly directly into Grand Canyon National Park Airport? Yes, from Las Vegas, but, it’s expensive, and you’ll have to be prepared to do without a car during your stay. There are no car rental outlets in the immediate vicinity of Grand Canyon at all. That means you’ll have to rely on taxis and shuttles to get around, which isn’t so bad in principle, but if you’re staying inside the park, you’ll have to pay $5/person each way just to go in, then the same amount to go back out in case you want to see IMAX or go bowling at the Squire, then you’ll have to fork over another $5/person to get back into the park. Inside the park, it’s a bit easier, you can take the shuttles out to Hermit’s Rest, and then get on a tour to the East Rim. But, folks who have opted for this in the past have said it was a bit of a pain, so…
Where can you find the best gas prices in the area? Well, here’s a little “insider tip:” not necessarily where you would expect to find them. For information on where you can find gas prices listed by city for both Arizona and Utah, order your copy of GrandCanyon.com’s First Annual Summer Travel Guide.
Got a tip for saving money on gas while on vacation? Share it with us!
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