TIME VISITED: November 2016 BUSY ? NO
WEATHER: 80s☀️ REASON FOR VISIT: SW Roadtrip
WHERE TO STAY: Camp or Airbnb EXPENSIVE?: $$
My friend Amanda and I were on a road trip across the US to the SW and kept hearing about Antelope Canyon and how we had to go. Antelope Canyon is tucked away in the small town of Page, Arizona- if you were to walk near the entrance of Lower Antelope Canyon you’d never know what was hidden below the gorgeous red sand and rock. These canyons are less known so you might even drive by this time of year and think, “Huh wonder what those two trailers are for”, and continue on to a major tourist stop like Horseshoe Bend, Grand Canyon or Lake Powell. But I am here to tell you don’t just drive by this canyon, absolutely stop and take a tour of this gorgeous place! This canyon, formerly a sand dune then formed by wind and water, will blow you away with its beauty.
There are actually two difference canyons you can visit; Upper and Lower. We personally chose Lower Antelope Canyon, I am going to walk you through the canyon and show you our pictures and then explain why we chose lower over upper, what tour company we used, when the best time to go is and why if you have the time and money you should do both!
Like I said earlier when you are walking here you think where is the canyon!? You will walk about 15 minutes to a stair case where you will enter the canyon. This staircase/steep ladder sometimes turns others off to this canyon but it was only about 20 steep steps,and once you get down into the canyon it is so worth it!
I have looked at some many pictures of this places but seeing it in person takes it to a whole new level, I was in awe of how vibrant and smooth the red rock was.
You are going to want to take pictures the entire time you are in here, but definitely remind yourself to stop for a few minutes and really enjoy this unique place.
Although I wanted to walk through this on our own and I bitched about having a tour guide, it was pretty cool to learn about the canyon and its history. They have a few spots along the way that you can see shapes in the canyon, the chief was my personal favorite.
You can also book a photography in the canyon, the bonus to this is that you have twice as long in the canyon to get pictures without a bunch of people in them, so if you go during high season I would definitely recommend it. We got lucky and there wasn’t a tour behind us so we hung out in the back and got some pretty awesome pictures-more info on the photography tour at the end of the post.
Amanda snapped this awesome picture of me sitting, taking it all in, and scheming a way to live in here forever.
The canyon is awesome because depending on where you stand and where the lighting is coming through, you could get two completely different pictures in the same place- I love these two I got of Amanda.
TOUR INFO AND WHEN TO GO
The tour lasts about an hour and although we never wanted to leave, we felt it was the perfect amount of time. We were bummed at first, because we wanted to walk through the canyon on our own but they don’t allow that here, you must go with a guide. We were also bummed because there were 8 other people in our group and we selfishly wanted the place to ourselves of course. Well we took that back immediately once we learned during the summer months you would have have about 20-30 people in your group and way more people in the canyon in general. So if possible I definitely recommend going in October or November, we also went on a Tuesday so that always helps with less crowds. Not only are the crowds smaller the weather is much better as well, the summer months get extremely hot in Arizona usually rising over 100 degrees.
In the busy season April-September you will pay $34 ($26 for a park pass and $8 for the Navajo Nation permit fee. We paid a total of $28 ($20 for the canyon and $8 navajo nation permit fee) because we were in off season. The woman at the front desk told us in the summer months there are 5 times as many tour companies leading in and out of the canyons, waits are longer and it is more expensive so we were happy to be here this time of year!
WHAT TOUR COMPANY TO BOOK WITH
At this time of year there are only two tour companies to choose from, Dixie Ellis and Ken’s Tours. We didn’t know what day we’d get there and ended up booking online with Ken’s Tours the day before we went and had no problem doing so. We pulled up (just searched lower antelope canyon on our google maps) paid the $8 fee for the permit and waited in the “holding room” for about 20 minutes until it was time for our tour, it was very organized and easy to figure out where to go. We did the morning tour at 10 because I read it was a great time for lighting in the canyon. If you are a photographer you can also pay an extra $20 for a guided photography tour. I have seen some incredible pictures taken but we opted for saving money and using our phones for pictures, I think we got some pretty good shots still! *I did read recently they were changing the rules for photography tours so make sure you check this website before you go.
SHOULD I GO TO LOWER OR UPPER ANTELOPE CANYON?
You will hear that the lower antelope canyon is less beautiful because they don’t have the sun beams like upper antelope canyon. Being completely honest just from looking at pictures, yes the sun beams are beautiful but I was just fine with lower antelope canyon. The main differences between the two are the sun beams, crowd size and fee to get in. Upper Antelope Canyon has the sun beams that you can get amazing pictures of but it is more expensive to get into and it is busier because it is known to be “the prettier of the two.” Like I said though we were completely satisfied with lower but if I ever go back I would love to go to Upper and really compare the two.
If you are looking to do a trip out to the SW of the United States this should absolutely be on your list of things to see, comment below and let me know what canyon was your favorite and why!
