Headed to the Grand Canyon - your advice?

[AudiDude]

Thanks everyone - particularly Audi for that incredibly informative post. I have printed it out I really appreciate you taking the time to be so thorough and detailled and your pix are fantastic.

Could you clarify something for me in your post, Audi?

"This was one of the cheapest hotels. When we went this year, for 5 nights, we paid $580 per person. This was taxes included but this also covered flight from Toronto, so I am sure you could do really well booking with them, but if not, try Phoenix."

Did you book a package with someone or did you book hotel/flight separately? It sounds like a really great deal so I'd like to check it out...

I am booking tonite as I know the 7 day window is the longest you should wait..

Thanks again for the amazing help.. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it..

Yes, I always book US Airways Vacations for a package deal. Since you are asking so close to the date you want to go, deals are scarce to none. I tried from the 20th to the 26th on their website and noticed the option to stay at the Hilton and a few other hotels that were normally there are not available.

An alternative plan is to book a package to Las Vegas and drive from there an get a hotel for only 2 nights in Phoenix and split the trip up. I get a price of $360 to stay at Circus Circus, $450 to stay at Stratosphere, or $562 to stay at Luxor. These prices are USD per person and do not include taxes, but since US Airways is in the US you only pay local taxes, so multiply the amount times 2 and add $190 per trip (for two people) and convert to CDN and you have your total price.

As for staying at Circus Circus (I can hear the moans), the GF and I finally got the stones to walk in there this year and it actually was not as bad as what I imagined. That being said each of the other hotels were not bad either. Yes they could be a little tacky, but that is what Las Vegas is about. Since you have a car, who cares where on the strip you would stay, you are driving, not walking. You could leave Las Vegas in the morning, be in the GC around lunch, hit Sedona for late afternoon (and the sunset) and stay in a hotel for that night. You could pick how many nights you want to stay, but you could shop your way back to Las Vegas and fly back to Toronto. So there is a option.

There would be connecting flights in Phoenix which might seem a little weird to have to drive back, but it is the cheapest way to fly out of TO and get your trip done. I find four days in Scottsdale is enough for me as everything is spread out and lots of driving is involved, so I personally would not be opposed to splitting up a Vegas/Scottsdale trip, especially if you bring a pre programmed GPS like I do. Most of my first couple of trips to Scottsdale were spent trying to figure out where I was. With the GPS pre programmed with my trip stops, all I had to do was press the button and follow directions.