The Grand Canyon Skywalk

Which ticket gets you onto the Skywalk

Grand Canyon West sells three day passes, and only two of them include the Skywalk. The cheapest of the three, the Sunset Pass, is one of the two.

A few things the ticket page doesn't make obvious. There is no Skywalk-only ticket to add to General Admission, so in daytime the All-Access Pass is the only pass that gets you onto the glass. The All-Access Pass's "meal" perk is a $10 discount on a $20 spend, not a meal. And the pass terms say the Skywalk is "based on availability" and that nothing is refunded for attractions you don't use, so a wind closure on the day costs you the difference.

The package names you'll still see in a lot of search results (Grand, Grander, Grandest, Legacy) are gone from Grand Canyon West's own site, along with the $49 and $68 prices attached to them.

Is the Skywalk worth it?

After three hours in a car or a coach, I'd pay the $32 step up from General Admission to All-Access. The Skywalk is the one thing here you can't do anywhere else. Arrive after 3pm and the Sunset Pass beats both: it's $8 cheaper than General Admission and includes the Skywalk.

The catch: the walkway is 10 feet wide, extends 70 feet past the rim and is busiest from 11am to 3pm. Cameras stay in the locker, and Grand Canyon West sells professional photos without publishing their prices. For the canyon rather than the glass, Guano Point is one shuttle stop on.

Still choosing between Grand Canyon West and the South Rim? The Grand Canyon tours from Las Vegas guide compares the two.

What you can take onto the glass

Phones are allowed. Grand Canyon West's FAQ now reads "Cell phones are permitted on the Skywalk," with two conditions: you carry it at your own risk, and you don't hold it out past the railing. Guides that tell you to leave your phone behind are working from the old rule.

Everything else goes in a locker: cameras, purses, backpacks and similar bags. The lockers are free. You wear shoe covers over your shoes on the glass. Children who can walk may walk the Skywalk and infants can be carried, but strollers stay off it. The Skywalk terminal has an elevator, and the shuttle takes wheelchairs.

Opening hours and the Arizona clock

Grand Canyon West runs on Arizona time, and Arizona doesn't observe daylight saving time. Las Vegas does. For most of the year the two clocks match. From November 1, 2026 to March 14, 2027, Arizona is an hour ahead, which is exactly when the park's last entry is earliest.

A winter afternoon trip that leaves the Strip after about 12:30pm Las Vegas time is cutting it close for a 3:30pm (Las Vegas clock) last entry. The Skywalk's own last walk is usually about 30 minutes after last entry.

Getting there from Las Vegas

The drive from the middle of the Strip to the Grand Canyon West parking lots is about 127 miles. The National Park Service puts it at about 2 hours 15 minutes, and Grand Canyon West says 2 hours on one page and 2.5 on another. A routing engine with no stops makes it about 2 hours 45 minutes, so plan on 3 with a fuel stop. The route crosses the Hoover Dam bypass, runs 39 miles down US-93, then takes Pierce Ferry Road and Diamond Bar Road into the reservation. The official FAQ says the main roads in are paved.

Parking is free. Private cars can't go past the designated lots, so everyone rides the free hop-on, hop-off shuttle, which loops between Eagle Point (the Skywalk), Guano Point and Hualapai Point (the zipline). Gas is on US-93 and Pierce Ferry Road; Grand Canyon West itself has only emergency fuel, sold through a gift shop, so fill up before you leave the highway.

You don't need a reservation to drive in and buy a pass on the day. There's no daily visitor cap.

Tours from Las Vegas that include the Skywalk

Not every "Skywalk tour" includes the Skywalk ticket. On the two most-reviewed coach tours it's an option you pay for, and one well-known helicopter flight doesn't land at all.

The best-reviewed tour that handles the Skywalk for you is the small-group one with breakfast and lunch, with 517 reviews at 4.8 stars. The sleep-late van is the pick if an early hotel pickup sounds miserable; it reaches the rim in the afternoon. On the cheaper coach tours, choose the Skywalk option when you book rather than assuming it's in the price.

The helicopter and boat add-on

The Helicopter Pontoon package ($418) adds a helicopter ride about 3,500 feet down to the bottom of the canyon, a narrated boat ride on the Colorado River, and the flight back up. Each leg is short: about 15 minutes flying and 15 on the boat, roughly 45 minutes in all, and you check in an hour early at the helicopter terminal. It includes the All-Access Pass. To fly from Las Vegas itself, the helicopter tours guide covers the flights that leave from the Strip.

Grand Canyon West is not the national park

Grand Canyon West is on the Hualapai Reservation and is run by the Hualapai Tribe, which says it receives no federal funding. The National Park Service states that the Skywalk is outside Grand Canyon National Park, and Grand Canyon West says national park passes are not accepted. The South Rim, inside the national park, is about 250 miles away by road, about five hours by the Park Service's count.