Grand Canyon Site Features

The South Rim is open year-round and accounts for the large majority of visits -- more accessible, with more developed infrastructure, viewpoints, and lodging than the North Rim. The North Rim, roughly 1,000 feet higher in elevation, is cooler, more forested, and closed for the winter, drawing a much smaller share of visitors who prefer its quieter atmosphere.

Key South Rim viewpoints include Mather Point, often a visitor's first view of the canyon, Yavapai Point, and the Desert View Watchtower at the park's eastern edge. The canyon's exposed rock layers -- visible in bands of color down the walls -- record close to two billion years of geological history, among the most complete such sequences visible anywhere on Earth.

The Colorado River itself is a destination in its own right -- multi-day rafting trips through the canyon's rapids are a genuinely different way to experience it than any rim-based visit, though they require advance booking, often years ahead for the most popular commercial trips.