Jeep and Hummer tours

7 min read Updated November 2026 Compare all tours

Every ground tour on this page starts in Tusayan, the town just south of the park’s South Entrance. Buck Wild Hummer Tours drives customised former military Humvees, Pink Jeep Tours uses open Jeep Wranglers, and Grand Canyon Jeep Tours & Safaris runs safari vehicles for up to 12 guests. A guide drives and talks; you sit back, take photos and get out at the viewpoints.

What reviewers criticise

Read this before you book: the tours mostly use the same paved roads as everyone else. Several reviewers wrote that they had driven to the same viewpoints on their own the day before, or could have done so; one guest had expected to drive a Jeep herself, and another found the vehicle too crowded to turn round and see the views. Others found the commentary hard to hear at speed, or the back seats cold in the colder months.

The park itself makes the comparison easy. Desert View Drive is the only scenic road on the South Rim open to private vehicles all year, and the free shuttle buses, included in the entrance fee, run along the rim to Mather Point, Yavapai Point and Yaki Point. Hermit Road is closed to private cars from 1 March to 30 November, but the red shuttle route serves its viewpoints. Our page on getting around has the routes.

The tours make sense if you have no car, if you only have a few hours, or if you want a guide. Reviewers praise guides who knew the geology and history and took good photos, and one Buck Wild guest describes a Navajo guide who talked about his culture and way of life.

Hummer tours

Buck Wild Hummer Tours is based in Tusayan, about a mile from the park entrance and outside the park. The two-hour small-group tour drives on paved park roads to three or four South Rim viewpoints, with time for photos at each, and includes bottled water. The company picks up at hotels in Tusayan, about 5 to 15 minutes before the start, and inside the park, though not in Grand Canyon Village in the busier seasons; if you are collected in the park, the tour is shorter because the drive in and out is left out. Reconfirm at least 24 hours ahead to get the current check-in details. It does not pick up in Las Vegas, Williams or Flagstaff.

The sunset tour takes three hours and ends at a viewpoint chosen for the sunset; park entry is included for US residents. It is covered with the other evening options on our page about sunset and sunrise.

Pink Jeep tours

Pink Jeep Tours starts at the IMAX Grand Canyon Visitor Center, 450 AZ-64 in Tusayan. Departures run on the hour between 8.30 am and 4.30 pm; you enter the time you want in the booking notes, check in 30 minutes before and call the operator to reconfirm. Park entry and a ticket for the IMAX film are included. One Icelandic guest missed her tour because the start had been moved by an hour and the change was only sent by email weeks earlier, so check your messages the day before.

The two-hour tour drives along Desert View Drive to Grandview Point, with a short walk there, and makes two more stops on the South Rim. The three-hour tour covers the whole 23 miles of Desert View Drive, with stops including Navajo Point, the highest overlook on the South Rim, and views of the Desert View Watchtower. Our page on the Desert View Watchtower covers the tower itself.

The four-hour off-road journey is the one that leaves the tarmac. A heated Jeep follows mild dirt roads through the Kaibab National Forest to the Grandview Lookout Tower, then continues to Moran Point and the Desert View Watchtower, with up to three more stops on Desert View Drive. At the stops you walk on rocky, uneven ground; guests with limited mobility can stay in the vehicle. Children under two and pregnant guests cannot take part, and re-entry to the park later that day is not included.

Safari tours with the back road

Grand Canyon Jeep Tours & Safaris leaves from the car park in front of the Tusayan Fire Department, between the IMAX building and Wendy’s. The morning tour checks in at 9.15 am and departs at 9.30. It takes a forest back road past the queue at the entrance, which matters: the National Park Service warns of waits of up to two hours at the South Entrance between 9.30 am and 4 pm. Then you walk with the guide for about 90 minutes between Yavapai Point, Lookout Studio, Kolb Studio and the Bright Angel Trailhead. Bottled water is included, entrance fees are not.

The sunset safari departs two hours before sunset and runs to Yavapai Point, Pipe Creek and Duck on a Rock before sunset at Grandview Point. It needs at least two guests.

Combinations with a flight

Papillon sells its helicopter flights with a Hummer tour of about two hours to viewpoints such as Mather Point and Duck on a Rock, for about three hours in all, or three and a half with the longer flight. Grand Canyon Airlines adds a Hummer tour to its 40-minute airplane flight, for about 2 hours 45 minutes. The flights are described on our pages about helicopter tours and airplane tours.

The nonresident fee on ground tours

Each non-US resident aged 16 and older who visits Grand Canyon National Park pays a $100 nonresident fee on top of the entrance fee, and the National Park Service applies it to visitors on commercial tours too. Children aged 15 and under pay neither. The operators handle it differently. Buck Wild asks for the fee on or before check-in, unless you show the $250 non-resident annual pass, which covers up to four adults aged 16 and over. Pink Jeep contacts non-US residents after booking to collect it, and US residents show their ID at check-in. Papillon and Grand Canyon Airlines list it for the Hummer part of their combinations, but not for the flight alone. Our page on entrance fees and passes has the details.