When our family visited the Grand Canyon earlier this year, I was quite surprised how things had changed since the last time I had seen the South Rim. One big change were the free shuttle buses which make it a whole lot easier to experience the Grand Canyon instead of driving from view point to view point. Are these free shuttle buses convenient? Absolutely! During our stay at the Grand Canyon, we decided to park our car at the Visitor’s Center and let someone else handle the driving for us.
Riding the free shuttle buses through out the Grand Canyon is very easy to do. Color coded buses run every 15-20 minutes throughout the day (less during early morning and late evening), bringing guests to four different areas of the park. Once your family has explored one section, the bus will return you to a transfer station where you’ll be able to take a different bus to a different part of the park.
What we especially like about the free shuttle system is that it make hiking the rim trails very easy since we could be dropped off at one end, and picked up at the other. It also made it possible to see parts of the park that are off limits to cars. Here is some additional information about the shuttles that can help you decide if this way of getting around the park is for you.
Can be crowded
During certain parts of the day, the bus can get crowded which means that you may have to wait half an hour or longer for a bus that has room. We noticed that the buses seemed to be the most crowded just before the dinner hour. During the rest of our stay, there seemed to be plenty of room.
No oversized strollers allowed
Families traveling with small children won’t be allowed to board the bus with an over sized stroller or a jobbing stroller. Smaller strollers will have to be collapsed before they can be brought on board.
No pets
While pets are allowed in certain areas of the park, they are not allowed on shuttle buses EXCEPT for a service dog.
The South Rim of the Grand Canyon is really quite beautiful with lots of great things to see. Riding the shuttle buses instead of driving gave us more time to hike and enjoy the gorgeous scenery instead of wasting time going back and forth from our car.
Additional Resources: Grand Canyon: South Rim Shuttle Routes
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