There is nothing rugged about the drive to the South Rim. Just rent any car.------The West Rim is heavily promoted because it is much closer (has the skywalk). However, it is a well organized operation that charges huge amounts of money for literally everything you do. The indigenous tribe that owns the land makes sure you will be paying fees constantly. The South rim is parkland.-------It is too far to do comfortably in a day trip. Leave in the afternoon, and spend the night in an inexpensive motel on the interstate near Falstaff. Get up at the crack of dawn and drive to the South Rim. Explore during the day, and either return to the motel, or drive back to Vegas. You will probably need a two day rental on the vehicle.
Much better and cheaper to rent beside you can see much more.If you want to see the real Grand Canyon you need to go to the South Rim of the park. The part of the GC that is most advertised, is on an Indian Reservation at the extreme West of the canyon. There are really lots of places that you can see easily on way to the South Rim. Lake Mead http://vegasnature.com/LakeMead.htm Hoover Dam http://vegasnature.com/HooverDam.htm Colorado River http://vegasnature.com/ColoradoRiver.htm Oatman http://vegasnature.com/Oatman.htm Grand Canyon http://vegasnature.com/GrandCanyon.htm on the way back stop in Laughlin http://vegasnature.com/Laughlin.htm http://www.vegasnature.com/ has videos of each area followed by maps showing how to get there
Car rental companies in the USA don t charge per person. Rental charges are per day and the fee to add a second driver is typically $5 per day. I just checked the rates at http://www.thrifty.com/ and for Jan. 11-12 an SUV is $48.83 per day rented from McCarran (the Las Vegas airport).Liability insurance comes with the rental. Loss damage waiver is around $20 per day and covers accidental damage to the car but if you have a premium VISA or MC it may offer free LDW insurance on car rentals. Check your credit card s web site.I would definitely rather drive myself on my own schedule than sit on a tour bus which could be full of screaming kids and comply with their schedule.
If you do not want to go through all of that hassle, you can always take an SUV Grand Canyon tour from Las Vegas. They have all kinds of Grand Canyon tours to choose from. I will give you some links below you can check out.
With Advantage Rent A Car # Pick Up/Return Las Vegas McCarran Airport, 7135 Gillespie Street, Las Vegas, NV, US Open 24 Hours, 7 Days# Pick Up Date Fri, Dec 04, 2009 at 10:00 AM# Return date Sat, Dec 05, 2009 at 10:00 AMToyota Rav 4 or SimilarMidsize 4WD/AWD SUV $44.00 Per DayToyota Sienna 7 Psgr or SimilarMinivan $49.00 Per Dayhttps://www.advantage.comCheck with google maps or mapquest how to get to the grand canyon from vegas or take a GPS with you,,, its about a 300 mile drive from vegas about 5 hours.....
24 hours? You can find a better deal than that! They re ripping you off. Consider taking a Pink Jeep tour instead. Just google Pink Jeep tours Las Vegas . At the price the rental company is charging you, you could rent a comfortable RV and make a real adventure by staying.
You don t need SUV just a car but there is a great bus ride that takes you back and forth in same day, and you relax both ways (recommend)
READ THIS FLY HERE THEN GO WITH YOU OWN RENTAL CAR
Although I am in the minority, I have taken a couple trips to the grand canyon from Las Vegas on the Grey Line tours. Check em out, I am sure they have their own website for reservations and they often have discounts if you make the reservations a month or so in advance. I paid $160 for two of us for an all-day, round trip passage on a bus and had a WONDERFUL trip. We went to the western rim that trip, next time will be to the south rim.It is MUCH easier to take a bus. They pick you up outside your hotel, take you to the bus terminal they have just off the strip, put you on the bus, and off you go in comfort for the day s trip. I felt that they left us with enough time at each stop to take pictures and get in all our oooohs and aaahhhhs and everyone I talked to on the bus had a great time. One thing you get on a bus that you don t if you go yourself in a rental car is the bus driver filling you in about historical and interesting information about stuff you pass or stop and see. If you have any questions, there is also someone there to ask at all times.I usually like to drive myself when we go visit places on vacations (and we get to Vegas probably 4-5 times a year on average) but when I take day-long trips out of Vegas (especially after a night of partying) it is nice to just relax and let someone else do the driving and just enjoy.Sometime later I will rent a car and go back and take a couple days to fill in the gaps of the places along the way that we may want to see, but for a single day s trip out to the grand canyon, I don t think you can beat the tour buses.Keep in mind also that whoever is driving is not at ease to check out everything along the roadway (including the awesome Hoover dam you will go over), so that is something to consider also.
I have done this trip three times. Once with a Ford Mustang and twice in Mini Vans. It is paved road all the way, mostly highway. No need for an SUV unless that is what you like to drive. We stoped at Hoover Dam as well. This trip is mostly highway driving through desert. Not a lot of rest stops along the way. We arrived in Vegas on Friday, rented the vehicle, stopped for the breakfast buffet at the Paris and ate well, (do not need lunch if you eat a large breakfast) bought a disposable styrofoam cooler, a bag of ice as well as soft drinks and some snacks at a minimart and off we went. It takes a good 5 hours to reach the Grand Canyon. We checked in to a hotel right outside the park and then drove into the park to watch the sunset. Amazing! Then we drove back to the hotel, had dinner and turned in early. We got up before dawn, had breakfast and drove back into the Park for sunrise. Spent the day exploring the Grand Canyon which has paved roadway around the rim with plenty of parking and overlook points. There are souvenir shops and a lookout tower as well. After having our fill of all this scenic beauty, we headed back to the hotel, stopping along the way at a steak house for dinner and stopped to check out a native American flea market. Sunday morning, we checked out and went back to Vegas to check into our Strip hotel. We drove back to the rental car place and swapped the mini van for a small car to serve us for the week. Saved money because the hotel at the Grand Canyon was much cheaper than the Strip hotel was for Friday and Saturday (weekends are much more expensive in Vegas hotels).The way to go! *
Ignoring the notion that I think that SUV s are the kind of death machines that the US goverment should have made illegal many years ago ,the fact of the matter is that in all of the times that I ve made that trip -100+ x and in all weather conditions -I ve never needed one nor have I ever needed a vehicle with 4wdSave your money and your life and rent a front wheel drive sedan w/a V-6 in it If you do the Mr Danger Great Circle Loop that looks like this Pop this into mapquest or whateverLAS GCN Cameron AZ Lees Ferry AZ Jacob Lake AZ Mount Carmel Junction UT St George UT LASYou may hit snow on the LAS GCN leg from Ashfork AZ to Williams AZ possibly thru the Park and then you will lose it as you leave the Kaibab National Forest /Navajo Reservation boundary on SR 64 from Desert View to Cameron AZbtw the Cameron Trading Post is a good place to spend a night before you do the other half of this circle..which has to be done in daylight until you reach Mesquite NVhttp://www.camerontradingpost.com/lodge.��From Cameron to Lees Ferry and then to the base of the switchbacks at House Rock Valley on US89A is snow -free or if it isn t there aren t any amounts to worry about From HRV up to Jacob Lake, then down to the end of the Ponderosa pines can get really snowyLose most of the snow coming into Fredonia AZ and it usually stays that way to Mount Carmel Junction/Rt 9 into Zion NPOnce you reach the crossbedded sandstones in Zion you will be snow free all the way back to LAS.What you have to remember is that in that part of the American West the snow line is 100% contigent upon your altitude ; Just as you can upclimb to get into it you can also downclimb to get out of itEnjoy the CanyonOne more thing :It s going to be COLD above 5000 in January.You could easily run into daytime highs that are just above 32F and nightime lows that are around 12F Update Wow 3 thumbs down for a 100% correct answerSince this is the Las Vegas section Q:If I see a vehicle upside down by the side of the road the odds that it is NOT an SUV area)excellentb) good c)fair d)hahahahahahaha What else could it be ?