Sunset and sunrise at the South Rim

7 min read Updated November 2026 Compare all tours

The National Park Service names its favourite viewpoints for the first and last light: Hopi Point on Hermit Road for sunset, with Mohave and Pima Points as quieter alternatives, and Mather Point or Yaki Point for sunrise. Along Desert View Drive, Yaki, Navajo and Desert View look both east and west. Lipan Point, another well-known spot near Desert View, is closed to all visitors from 22 June to 23 December 2026.

Arrive at a sunset viewpoint as much as 90 minutes beforehand, the Park Service advises, and for sunrise 30 minutes before the sun clears the horizon, then stay an hour or longer. The exact times change through the year; the Park Service publishes seasonal tables. Arizona does not use daylight saving time, so the park stays on Mountain Standard Time all year, while the Navajo Nation to the east, including Cameron, moves its clocks forward in summer. That matters on tours from Sedona that pass through Cameron.

Getting to the viewpoints at dusk

Hermit Road, with Hopi, Mohave and Pima Points, is closed to private vehicles from 1 March to 30 November 2026. The free red shuttle runs every 12 minutes from 8 am until sunset, and the last bus leaves an hour after sunset (autumn 2026 timetable). In December, January and February, cars under 22 feet may drive the road. Yaki Point is closed to private vehicles all year; the orange Kaibab Rim shuttle serves it from 6 am until an hour after sunset. Desert View Drive is open to cars all year, but you need your own vehicle or a tour to get there. More on Hermit Road and the viewpoints.

Evenings at 7,000 feet are cold for much of the year. The average low at the South Rim is 27°F (−3°C) in November and 20°F (−7°C) in December. Keep at least six feet (2 m) from the edge, and do not climb over barriers to get a better angle. From July to early September, afternoon thunderstorms are common; lightning can strike across the canyon, so leave the rim when a storm approaches.

Evening tours from Tusayan

Tusayan, the town just outside the South Entrance, is where most short evening tours start. Buck Wild Hummer Tours runs a three-hour sunset tour in a customised Humvee, visiting several viewpoints in the late afternoon and choosing the last stop for the sunset. It picks up at hotels in Tusayan and in the park, though not in the Village in the busier seasons. Park entry is included for US residents. Reviewers praise guides who walked them to a good spot and came prepared for wind and rain. The criticism is that the viewpoints are ones you could drive to yourself: a Japanese guest’s sunset stop was Yavapai Point, and several European reviewers felt the same about the price.

Pink Jeep’s Desert View sunset tour leaves from the IMAX building in Tusayan and takes three hours. The open Jeep goes to quieter viewpoints and Navajo Point, the highest overlook on the South Rim, and stays at the rim for sunset; park entry and an IMAX ticket are included. A reviewer from a group of eight wrote that they saw views they would not have found at the usual scenic stops.

The sunset safari of Grand Canyon Jeep Tours & Safaris departs two hours before sunset from the car park by the Tusayan Fire Department, takes a back road past the entrance queue to Yavapai Point, Pipe Creek and Duck on a Rock, and ends at Grandview Point on Desert View Drive. It needs at least two guests. Papillon sells a 30-minute helicopter flight followed by a sunset Hummer tour, about three and a half hours in all; see helicopter tours.

Sunset with dinner from Grand Canyon Village

Grand Canyon Explorer Tours picks up in Grand Canyon Village for a four-hour evening tour to four or five viewpoints over the Colorado River, the Unkar Delta and Hance Rapids, with binoculars, snacks, hot drinks and blankets on board and dinner afterwards. Reviewers recommend it for the evening you arrive, when the guide also suggests plans for the next morning. As of November 2026, the operator collects guests at Parking Lot D and serves dinner at a restaurant about a mile outside the South Entrance, because of the water repairs in the Village; one reviewer found the food average. Park entry is not included.

Sunset days from Sedona and Flagstaff

From Sedona, the classic sunset day leaves late in the morning, usually between 11 and 11.30 am, and returns at about 9.30 to 10 pm, some 10 1/2 hours later; departure times shift through the year to follow the sunset. Most of these tours enter the park from the east via Cameron Trading Post and the Little Colorado River Gorge, stop at Desert View and then work west along the rim, leaving time for dinner on your own before sunset. Hotel details are needed 72 hours before the tour.

Arizona Tour & Travel runs the same day from Flagstaff, about two hours shorter, in vehicles with up to 14 seats. Its listing includes the standard park entrance fee. Reviewers praise the choice of sunset spot, but some felt they spent much of the day in the car, and one couple expected a restaurant dinner and got a sandwich. Other operators from Sedona include Angels Gate Tours, Great West Tours, which stops first at the Desert View Watchtower, and Great Venture Tours.

Arizona law requires children aged eight and under to ride in a car seat or booster, and the Sedona operators ask you to bring your own. More day tours are on our page about tours from Sedona and Flagstaff.

Sunrise from Las Vegas

A few operators drive overnight from Las Vegas to reach the South Rim for sunrise and continue to Antelope Canyon on the Navajo Nation, Horseshoe Bend and Lake Powell, for days of 18 to 19 hours. One collects guests between 10 pm and 1 am, depending on the season; the other adds stargazing near Black Canyon and, on some departures, Zion. Both list Lipan Point among the stops after sunrise, and the Park Service has closed it until 23 December 2026. Antelope Canyon is Navajo land with its own rules; see Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend.

The nonresident fee

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 commercial tours as well. Children aged 15 and under pay neither. Buck Wild asks for the fee on or before check-in unless you hold the $250 non-resident annual pass; Pink Jeep contacts non-US residents after booking; the Sedona and Flagstaff operators ask you to contact them before the tour date and give a credit card, and to bring photo ID. Our page on entrance fees and passes has the full rules.