Planning trip from Dodge City, Kansas via SWC and the Grand Canyon Railroad to the Grand Canyon this summer. Any advice or insight?
The guest seems to be a man of few words.Planning trip from Dodge City, Kansas via SWC and the Grand Canyon Railroad to the Grand Canyon this summer. Any advice or insight?
Greatcats is right plan to spend at least three days. We took the SW Chief 3 years ago spent the night at the railroad hotel and then GCRR to the south rim. Spurge and go first class, we took the dome up to the canyon and took the observation car with open vestibule you can stand on at the back .Planning trip from Dodge City, Kansas via SWC and the Grand Canyon Railroad to the Grand Canyon this summer. Any advice or insight?
Bryce, Zion, and Grand Canyon are different levels of the same geologic formation, makes them particularly interesting to visit in sequence. However, this trip is probably a week plus worthwhile hiking.Also consider Bryce and Zion NPS.
Grand Canyon Railway definitely sells both one-way tickets (in case, say, you want to arrive from Flagstaff by bus, and then take a train to Williams) and round-trip tickets for which the return is not same-day. You do have to call to get these options, though -- last time I checked, they weren't available on the website.I hope the railway sells one-way tickets so you can stay overnight. That's the only way I'd ever ride it again, but it is a very nice tourist line.
Which website? I know you can get these one-way tickets on amtrak.com, but I don't see an option for it on the Grand Canyon Railway website (www.thetrain.com).the one way ticket is on the website.
If you get the "Vacation Package" you can book overnight. But you've got to do it far enough out that there are rooms available.Which website? I know you can get these one-way tickets on amtrak.com, but I don't see an option for it on the Grand Canyon Railway website (www.thetrain.com).the one way ticket is on the website.
Just to clarify, as was pointed out above, you don't have to stay in a package hotel to spend more than a day at the Canyon. You can book the train and hotel separately, stay in any hotel you want, and spend as much time at the South Rim as you please.We considered Williams Jct and the GCRR but found the options for overnight stays at the South Rim too limited. The only hotels they offered in their packages were not on the rim.
Yes, but you may not get the van transport from/to the WMS JCT cement pad in the desert where the SWC stops to the actual town of WMS unless you are staying at the GCRR affiliated hotel. This hotel is quite expensive, to my mind, when WMS is awash with other hotels of all price levels. Yes, you can purchase GC RR tix and lodging separately, but you pay a premium to do so. The GC RR web site and the web site of the affiliated hotel make the "a la carte" options hard to find.Just to clarify, as was pointed out above, you don't have to stay in a package hotel to spend more than a day at the Canyon. You can book the train and hotel separately, stay in any hotel you want, and spend as much time at the South Rim as you please.We considered Williams Jct and the GCRR but found the options for overnight stays at the South Rim too limited. The only hotels they offered in their packages were not on the rim.
This is not correct: as long as you ride the Grand Canyon Railway, you're entitled to the WMJ shuttle. You can even book the shuttle (in conjunction with the GCRR train) as a "thruway bus" on the Amtrak website. Last time I visited Grand Canyon, I took the train from South Rim to Williams, one-way, and got on a shuttle from there to catch the westbound Southwest Chief. I did not stay in any GCRR-affiliated hotels, and did not encounter any problems. You can definitely stay in whatever hotel you want in Williams or South Rim. The GCRR website (understandably) pushes their "vacation packages," but if you call, I found them to be very flexible. And as I said before, you can even book the train and the shuttle on Amtrak.com for whatever dates you want. There's a bit of a premium for doing this, but it's not much: the price is $43 one-way, as opposed to the $75 same-day round-trip on the GCRR website. If you call GCRR, they might even let you have a different-day round trip for $75.Yes, but you may not get the van transport from/to the WMS JCT cement pad in the desert where the SWC stops to the actual town of WMS unless you are staying at the GCRR affiliated hotel.
If you get a chance go to Jerome (just south of Sedonna), an old town on the side of a mtn. I believe it was a copper mining town. There is a rail trip around that area too,but I dont remember the details!I am glad you posted this question, and all the answers will be really helpful for my up coming trip in a couple of weeks. We chose to stay at Flagstaff at the Rodeway Inn(Choice Privileges AGR reward points) and rent an Enterprise rent a car for $69. 2 days (10000 AGR points) We are staying two days and plan on driving over to WMJ and Sedona and other places. I don't know if this is agood plan but it is a plan. If it isn't I'll know what to improve next time. Thanks for letting me piggyback on your topic
Verde Canyon RR. I may hit that next month.If you get a chance go to Jerome (just south of Sedonna), an old town on the side of a mtn. I believe it was an copper mining town. There is a rail trip around that area too,but I dont remember the details!I am glad you posted this question, and all the answers will be really helpful for my up coming trip in a couple of weeks. We chose to stay at Flagstaff at the Rodeway Inn(Choice Privileges AGR reward points) and rent an Enterprise rent a car for $69. 2 days (10000 AGR points) We are staying two days and plan on driving over to WMJ and Sedona and other places. I don't know if this is agood plan but it is a plan. If it isn't I'll know what to improve next time. Thanks for letting me piggyback on your topic
RF
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