Viewpoints on the South Rim

6 min read Updated November 2026 Compare all tours

Most of the South Rim viewpoints sit on three stretches of road. Around the Grand Canyon Visitor Center and Grand Canyon Village are Mather Point and Yavapai Point. To the west, Hermit Road runs 7 miles (11 km) along the rim to Hermits Rest, past nine marked overlooks. To the east, Desert View Drive covers 23 miles (37 km) to Desert View and its Watchtower. The National Park Service describes Desert View Drive as the only scenic road on the South Rim that is open to private vehicles all year.

Mather Point and Yavapai Point

Mather Point is the overlook closest to the Grand Canyon Visitor Center: parking lots 1 to 4 around the visitor centre plaza are a short walk from it. In busy periods those lots often fill by late morning, so many visitors arrive early or leave the car further away and use the free shuttle. The Kaibab Rim Route (orange) stops at Mather Point and at the Yavapai Geology Museum on its westbound leg.

Yavapai Point is 0.7 miles (about 1 km) west along the Rim Trail. The Yavapai Geology Museum, built in 1928, stands on the rim with large picture windows and displays on the rock layers you see below, and the park lists it as open daily from 8 am to 6 pm. The Trail of Time, a timeline walk in which each metre stands for a million years, starts here; our Rim Trail page has the details.

The Hermit Road overlooks

Hermit Road is the western scenic drive, with nine designated overlooks between the Village and Hermits Rest. From 1 March to 30 November 2026 it is closed to private vehicles, and the free Hermit Road (red) shuttle stops at each overlook instead. Several of these points look down to the river: the park calls Pima Point one of the best places on the rim to see, and sometimes hear, the Colorado, and Mohave Point also has views of the river deep below. Hopi Point is one of the most popular places for sunset and sunrise. The Hermit Road page lists every stop with distances and the shuttle times.

Along Desert View Drive

East of the Village the viewpoints are further apart, and in a car you can stop at each one. Going east from the junction with the South Entrance road:

• Shoshone Point is reached on foot along an old dirt road, about a mile each way. It has a covered pavilion, picnic tables and a vault toilet. It is the only place in the park that can be reserved for private events, and the park advises avoiding it without a reservation when the gate is open.
• Yaki Point is closed to private cars all year. You get there on the orange shuttle, on foot or by bike, and the park names it, with Mather Point, for sunrise.
• Grandview Point looks east over several bends of the Colorado River. The steep, unmaintained Grandview Trail starts here and is meant for experienced desert hikers.
• Moran Point is named after the painter Thomas Moran. The park points out three groups of rock visible from here: the layered Paleozoic rocks, the Grand Canyon Supergroup and the basement rocks.
• Lipan Point is closed to all visitor use, together with its access road, from 22 June to 23 December 2026.
• Navajo Point is the highest overlook on the South Rim and looks across to the Watchtower. The river is visible to the north, and a plaque remembers the collision of two airliners over the canyon in 1956.
• Desert View, at the end of the road, is a quarter-mile walk from the car park. The park says it has some of the best views of the Colorado River, where it makes a big bend to the west.

The National Park Service notes that you need your own vehicle or a motorcoach tour to see Desert View Drive. Several tours from Tusayan follow the road; one runs the full 23 miles in an open-air Jeep, with stops including Navajo Point. Read more on our Desert View Watchtower page.

Sunrise and sunset

For sunrise, the park suggests Mather Point or Yaki Point, and recommends arriving 30 minutes before the sun clears the horizon and staying an hour or longer. For sunset, it calls Hopi Point “unquestionably a desirable viewpoint” and names Mohave and Pima Points as alternatives; plan to be there as much as 90 minutes before sunset. Yaki, Navajo and Desert View give wide views both east and west. The orange shuttle starts at 6 am, and the last red and orange buses leave an hour after sunset (autumn 2026 timetable, 12 September to 30 November). The park publishes sunrise and sunset times for each season on its sunrise and sunset page.

Tours or your own car

All the viewpoints on this page can be reached without a guide, by car, shuttle or on foot. Several reviewers of Jeep and Hummer tours from Tusayan point this out after the tour, saying they could have driven to the same stops. Others valued the guide’s explanations and the quieter photo spots away from the crowds. A guide makes most sense if you have no car or want the geology and history explained. Park entry is included on some tours and not on others. Non-US residents aged 16 and older also pay a 100-dollar nonresident fee on top of the entrance fee, even when travelling with a tour group; children aged 15 and younger pay neither (National Park Service, as of November 2026). On the Pink Jeep tours the operator contacts non-US residents to collect it, and on the Hummer tours it is paid on or before check-in. Details are on our entrance fees page.

At the edge

Not every stretch of the rim has a railing. The National Park Service asks visitors to stay on designated trails and walkways, to keep at least six feet (2 m) from the edge and not to climb over barriers where there are any. In winter, walkways at the viewpoints can be icy.