What better escape from the city life of Las Vegas than the Grand Canyon? Its immense landscape with changing colours is definitely worth the 5-hour drive from Vegas (and back). We also stopped at the Hoover Dam and some Route 66 signs on our way.
First stop: Hoover Dam
Just before crossing the State line, we parked our car in Arizona and walked to Nevada to watch the Hoover Dam. From Las Vegas, it took us about 45 minutes to reach the Hoover Dam. So even if you don’t have time to visit the Grand Canyon, you could still consider visiting this place.
We watched the Hoover Dam from a bridge crossing the Colorado River. I was super impressed with the colour of the water, the height of the dam and the rocky landscape.
Second stop: Route 66 signs
Have you even driven Route 66 if you didn’t take any picture with its signs? Of all the signs we came across, the one at the Historic Route 66 Motel is my favourite. It is exactly how I picture America from the movies.
Third stop: Grand Canyon's South Rim
After a 5 hour drive, we finally arrived at Grand Canyon’s South Rim. We managed to park our car close to the Visitor Centre, where we had our lunch. From the Visitor Centre, we followed the rim trail to Pima Point, where we watched the sunset. We found numerous amazing landscapes on our way to Pima Point:
Watching the sun set over the rim was magnificent as we could see the colours of the Canyon change:
Shortly after sunset, we took the free shuttle from Pima point to the Village Route Transfer (red route). From there we took the blue route shuttle bus back to the Visitor Centre.
Map of this day trip
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