Now let's get something straight...when I say "Grand Canyon on a Budget" I'm not talking unheated cabins, beef jerky, travel by mule or God forbid, camping. I'm talking hotel rooms, buffets and fully heated airplanes and trains.
If that's your kind of roughing it, read on for my review of AAA's popular Rails to the Rim package. I will do my best to give an unbiased review of the package itself, ignoring the fact that despite my careful monitoring of the weather forecast, I ended up at the Grand Canyon during a near whiteout and 48 hour blizzard warning. And yes, it did blizzard for just about all 48 hours of that warning.
The
Auto Club Rails to the Rim package originates in historic Williams, AZ, which is 65 miles south of Grand Canyon Village. I'm not positive what makes Williams historic, but I think it must have something to do with the train because there's not much there besides the train depot and the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel, where we spent our first and third nights. Rails to the Rim basically takes care of your lodging, transportation from Williams to the Grand Canyon and back, a motorcoach tour of the canyon and several meals for 3+ days. You also get a $20 gift certificate for the Grand Canyon Railway gift shop. Winter rates were $296 per person, which I thought was a very good value for all you get.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon, and the
Grand Canyon Railway Hotel was gorgeous. The included dinner buffet was not quite as gorgeous, but I can't really complain when there was a pasta bar and unlimited ice cream. I made a quick stop--and I mean quick--at the hotel's "gym" (
a few cardio machines and that one strength station that all hotel gyms have) before we settled in for the night at our very nice room overlooking the train depot.
The
Grand Canyon Railway left early Sunday morning for the canyon, after tasty buffet #2. Unfortunately, due to the snow that was steadily falling, a scheduled shoot out between the town sheriff and several bad guys was canceled. Really. Your package normally includes the shootout, where the sheriff captures the bad guys, then a train robbery later on, after the bad guys escape. Due to the inclement weather the bad guys were unable to rob us on horseback later in the day, and instead were rather awkwardly dropped off in a truck, at which point the train picked them up. But everyone enjoyed the faux robbery all the same. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone except my husband. We also had some musical entertainment courtesy of
Clarence Clearwater, a talented Navajo who sang several songs in his tribal tongue, then French, Japanese and English. Impressive indeed.
The train ride to the canyon is a leisurely 2 1/2 hours, during which we saw antelope and elk, which was very exciting for me. When the train arrived we were immediately shepherded onto our bus for the motorcoach tour, which lasted about two hours and included buffet #3. This lunch buffet was the weakest of the lot, but even a picky vegetarian like me could find something to eat (
more unlimited ice cream!). The bus tour stops at several usually scenic spots, and the snow and mist lifted a few times to give us some fleeting glimpses of the canyon.
After the bus tour, we were on our own for the next 24 hours. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking the Rim Trail, since my dream of hiking into the canyon down the South Kaibab or Bright Angel Trail would have to wait. You know, because it was blizzarding. Dinner this night was not part of the package, and we dined at the Maswik Lodge Pizza Pub. The pizza was good but not great, as was our room at the Maswik Lodge.
A meal that
was great was our breakfast the next morning at the swanky El Tovar Hotel (
also not included in the package). We got there extra early and got a table right next to the fireplace and the gigantic picture windows. You would never guess there was a canyon of any size out there, due to the swirling mist and snow, but it was nice all the same. After breakfast we walked the Rim Trail in the opposite direction from the day before, stopped in some Grand Canyon Village gift shops and in the afternoon were on our merry railroading way. I should mention that the skies cleared about fifteen minutes before boarding time, and the canyon was absolutely breathtaking all covered in snow.
When we got back to Williams we spent our gift certificates on a lovely pewter Christmas ornament and a book called
Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon. We ate buffet #4 for dinner, spent the night at the Railway hotel (
where our luggage was waiting for us--the railway transports your luggage for you), had buffet #5 for breakfast, a quick dip in the indoor pool and drove back to Phoenix for our flight home.
I highly recommend this package for anyone, especially families with kids. Customer service was excellent across the board, from hotel staff to the train hosts to the bus driver to the pub manager who spent 15 minutes searching for USA vs. Canada Olympic hockey on TV, before realizing he didn't get MSNBC. You don't spend much on food with all those included buffets, and it's great to not have to worry about park fees and parking once you get to the Grand Canyon. And even in a near whiteout, the Grand Canyon does not disappoint. All in all, a very good deal for $296 a person.
Anyone have any good Grand Canyon war stories, or a great travel package deal to recommend? Please, weigh in below!
By HSimas(view all posts by HSimas)
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