South Rim or West Rim from Las Vegas?

From Las Vegas, the West Rim is the short day and the South Rim the long one. The West Rim is about 122 miles from the Strip by road and a coach day there takes about 10 hours; the South Rim, in Grand Canyon National Park, is about 275 miles away and the coach day takes 14. Both give you about three hours at the canyon. Pick the South Rim for the national park and its classic viewpoints, and the West Rim for a shorter day with no $100 park fee for non-US visitors. The West Rim day in the calendar below, Comedy on Deck Tours’ Vegas: Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Skywalk Option, & Two Meals, shows from $99 (checked November 2026), the option without the Skywalk on Saturdays from May 2027; on every earlier date we read it was $179 per adult (checked November 2026).

The calendar shows the price for your date and the number of adults; the Skywalk and the helicopter flight are separate options in it.

The two days side by side

Tour prices on GetYourGuide checked November 2026; park fee from the National Park Service, checked November 2026.

The hours at the canyon come out the same. What differs is the four extra hours on the coach to reach the South Rim, and which canyon you see when you get there.

The $100 fee for non-US visitors

Since 1 January 2026, Grand Canyon National Park charges non-US residents aged 16 and over an extra $100 per person, on top of the entrance fee, unless they hold an annual pass or an America the Beautiful pass; the Non-Resident Annual Pass is $250. Children under 16 need no pass, and the park takes no cash (National Park Service, checked November 2026). The fee belongs to the national park, which means the South Rim.

The West Rim is outside the park. It lies on the Hualapai Indian Reservation, and the National Park Service says so on its page about the Skywalk: the Tribe charges its own entry to the reservation. Comedy on Deck Tours’ West Rim day has that entry in its price, and the operator tells foreign visitors there is no $100 fee to pay.

The South Rim day trips leave the fee out of their prices. National Park Express lists the “Non-US Resident Entrance fee” among its exclusions and asks non-US guests to pay it online or in person, or to show a Non-Resident America the Beautiful pass. Pink Jeep Tours’ South Rim day on Viator excludes the same fee, at $100 per person. For a couple from abroad, that is $200 the West Rim day does not cost.

What you see at each rim

At the West Rim the coach day stops at two viewpoints. Eagle Point is named for a rock formation shaped like an eagle with its wings spread, and the Skywalk, the glass bridge over the edge, is there. Guano Point is a high spur with a view in every direction and the Colorado River far below; the BBQ lunch is served there. Visitors who come by car reach the viewpoints on the park shuttles; this tour’s coach drives you to them.

At the South Rim the coach climbs about 5,000 feet from the desert into pine forest. National Park Express stops at Mather Point and around the Bright Angel Trail, by El Tovar, Hopi House and the Kolb Studio, the classic South Rim views. One South Rim viewpoint is shut: Lipan Point on Desert View Drive closed on 22 June 2026 for work on the overlook and is expected to stay closed through 23 December 2026 (National Park Service). It is not one of this tour’s stops.

The South Rim day also starts early. It leaves at 5:15 am, before sunrise in winter, and a 14-hour day gets back after dark: in mid-November the sun sets at the South Rim at about 4:25 pm by the Las Vegas clock.

Which to book

Prices, ratings and review counts from the listings (GetYourGuide checked November 2026; Viator checked November 2026). Operators price by date and option, so treat the figures as the shape of the market, not a quote.

How long the day trip takes adds the small groups, the plane and the helicopter, which all go to the West Rim.