Pinar Ko
I had searched through many providers shortly before Christmas because I wanted to do a South Rim Grand Canyon tour. However, I received cancellations from well-known companies like Get Your Guide and similar providers saying that the tour was already fully booked. Of course, it was also unfortunate to try to do a Grand Canyon tour on December 25th, the day Christmas is celebrated. Ultimately, I started looking for more local operators and came across Greylines. Since I had already received several rejections from other companies, I sent them an email beforehand to ask whether the tour was actually available. They confirmed it to me by email. After that, I booked the tour for the South Rim and was really happy about it. However, one day before the tour, I received a cancellation — the tour had been called off. Instead, I was upgraded to the West Grand Canyon tour. I didn’t know what the price difference would be, and since I only had one day and many other providers were already fully booked, there were no other options left. It was a bit disappointing, because this could have been communicated from the beginning, especially since no reason for the cancellation was given. Aside from that, the West Grand Canyon tour was very good. Still, it wasn’t my first choice. Our guide, TAKA, was excellent. We were very satisfied with him. He provided a lot of information and was very friendly and helpful. The pick-up in front of the Horseshoe Hotel was great because we happened to be staying there as well. That’s definitely recommendable, as the hotel is very central. The only thing we would have wished for is that, since many groups are picked up there, the different tour operators would make themselves more clearly identifiable. You really have to ask each driver individually which company they are with. It was a somewhat unstructured situation, because about 30 to 40 to people were standing in front of the hotel, and three or four different buses were arriving to pick people up. So we weren’t sure which operator was ours. We had to speak to each bus driver individually, and of course they speak quickly. And at 6:20 in the morning, it’s very early. So, the driver first dropped us off at Hoover Dam, and we had about 45 minutes to look around and explore the dam. Then we continued on schedule to the West Rim. There, the driver parked and handed out the tickets — some people had lunch included or access to the Skywalk, while others only had a basic ticket without any additional options. Once we arrived, we were on our own and could explore everything independently. We had about three to four hours there, and without lunch included, the time was sufficient for us. It is also very windy there. After passing through the entrance, you are transported by Grand Canyon shuttle buses to the two main viewpoints, where you get the best views. The tour took about twelve hours, including the pick-up and drop-off at the hotel. Unfortunately, we had two people in the group who arrived half an hour late, which of course caused a delay and extended the tour. And in the morning there was also a delay caused by one or two people.
