Grand Canyon Guide to Scenic Viewpoints

Discover Scenic Views

Scenic Grand Canyon Vistas

Because Grand Canyon is 277-miles long, the options for scenic viewpoints are truly endless. No matter which side of the canyon you plan to visit, you will be able to stop at numerous incredible views, so you can take home the photos of a lifetime. The South Rim has the most popular and some say the best views, but the North Rim offers solitude and amazing places like Point Sublime. The West Rim is home to the Grand Canyon Skywalk, a unique glass bridge perched on the rim of the canyon and far flung destination like Tuweep has the much photographed Toroweap Point. No matter where you travel to at the Grand Canyon, there’s an awesome vista with your name on it. Read the guide below to find out about the best scenic vistas or check out our Grand Canyon scenic viewpoints map.

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South Rim Scenic Viewpoints

The South Rim is the most-visited part of Grand Canyon so a lot of the photos that you see were taken from these viewpoints. Because the South Rim is lower than the North Rim, you have wide, sweeping views from this side and you can gaze across at the temples and buttes that line the North Rim of the canyon.

Cedar Ridge
Cedar Ridge
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
Further down the South Kaibab Trail you come to Cedar Ridge. From the ridge you have a beautiful mid-canyon view, gazing down at the rock layers below you and an awesome vertical view back up to the rim above you. This is a 3-mile roundtrip hike.
Desert View Point
Desert View Point
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
The most popular spot for sunrise and sunset along Desert View Drive, the Desert View Watchtower is a photographer’s dream.
Grandview Point
Grandview Point
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
This is a popular overlook on Desert View Drive that offers an expansive east-west view, as well as some nice glimpses of the Colorado River.
Hopi Point
Hopi Point
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
The most popular of the Hermit Road overlooks for sunset, Hopi Point has a sweeping east/west view of the canyon and beautiful glimpses of the Colorado River as well.
Lipan Point
Lipan Point
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
This is the second-most popular sunset spot on Desert View Drive since it juts out into the canyon and offers a spectacular panoramic view.
Colorado River Overlook
Little Colorado River Overlook
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
Located in the Navajo Tribal Park, this overlook lets you view the Little Colorado River, a tributary to the Colorado River that formed the larger Grand Canyon. Aerialist Nik Wallenda’s famous 2013 tightrope crossing of “Grand Canyon” actually occurred here.
Maricopa Point
Maricopa Point
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
One of many beautiful Hermit Road vistas, Maricopa Point is probably best known as the site of the 1893 Orphan copper and uranium mine. While the mining structures have already been removed the canyon’s rim, it will be a years-long project for the National Park Service to restore the mine site so that it is once again safe for visitors and wildlife.
Mather Point
Mather Point
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
The most popular overlook on the South Rim, Mather Point is an easy, paved 10-minute walk from the Grand Canyon Visitor Center parking lots.
Mohave Point
Mohave Point
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
Even though this is a less popular option for sunset along the Hermit Road, Mohave Point juts out into the canyon and offers quieter and beautiful sunset views. You can see the Colorado River below the overlook as well.
Monument Creek Vista
Monument Creek Vista
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
A less-visited Hermit Road overlook, Monument Creek Vista is a quiet stop where you can take in the deep red colors of the Supai group and Redwall limestone rock layers.
Moran Point
Moran Point
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
This Desert View Drive overlook offers close-up views of the sedimentary rock layers that make up the top of the canyon, but you can also see the much older igneous and metamorphic rock layers at the bottom of the canyon as well.
Navajo Point
Navajo Point
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
Located just west of Desert View, you can gaze back at the Desert View Watchtower and see the Colorado River below you.

North Rim Scenic Viewpoints

Only open seasonally, the North Rim offers the highest viewpoints to be found along the canyon and you have many opportunities to see up-close views of the photogenic temples, buttes and mesas that form from eroding rainwater on this side of Grand Canyon.

Angels Window
Angels Window
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Scenic Vistas
The highlight of this viewpoint is the aptly named Angels Window, a sizable “window” in the Kaibab Limestone near the overlook.
Bright Angel Point
Bright Angel Point
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Scenic Vistas
While it is the easiest to access scenic viewpoint on the North Rim, Bright Angel Point does not disappoint. A short, .5-mile roundtrip hike leads out the point itself where you can see Roaring Springs and Bright Angel Canyon below you, in addition to the sweeping Grand Canyon views to the east and west.
Cape Royal Overlook
Cape Royal Overlook
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Scenic Vistas
One of the best North Rim viewpoints by far, you can take in incredibly vast views of the canyon no matter which way you look.
Coconino Overlook
Coconino Overlook
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Scenic Vistas
A short but steep, 1.6-mile roundtrip hike on the North Kaibab Trail takes you to Coconino Overlook. Here you will take in eye-level views of the steep cliffs formed by the Coconino sandstone layer of Grand Canyon.
Point Imperial
Point Imperial
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Scenic Vistas
This highest of all Grand Canyon viewpoint gives you the best views of the eastern end of Grand Canyon, including the Painted Desert beyond it.
Point Sublime
Point Sublime
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Scenic Vistas
Well named, this point is hard to access but well worth it if you choose to make the 36-mile roundtrip driving journey.
Roosevelt Point
Roosevelt Point
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Scenic Vistas
Roosevelt Point was dedicated in 1990 to honor President Teddy Roosevelt’s early efforts to protect Grand Canyon from development by protecting it as a National Monument. As such, this isn’t one of the premier Grand Canyon views, but more of a might-as-well stop if you’re on your way to Cape Royal.
Supai Tunner
Supai Tunnel
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Scenic Vistas
While the tunnel itself makes a great frame for scenic photos, just beyond the tunnel you will find yet another dramatic view of Bright Angel Canyon and you can see the North Kaibab Trail snaking even further down into the canyon below you. 3.7-mile roundtrip hike.
Vista Encantada
Vista Encantada
Guru Rating
Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Scenic Vistas
From here you can see a close view of the nearby Walhalla Plateau as well as the flat plains of the Painted Desert in the distance. The canyon views are stunning, including a glimpse of Nankoweap Creek down below.
Walhalla Overlook
Walhalla Overlook
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Scenic Vistas
Walhalla Overlook offers a unique view of the Colorado River as it snakes around the Unkar Delta at the bottom of Grand Canyon. The delta farmed by Ancestral Puebloan people.

West Rim and East Rim Scenic Viewpoints

West Rim Grand Canyon offers some unique viewpoints to visitors. Toroweap is certainly one of the most beautiful natural views of the canyon while the Grand Canyon Skywalk at Eagle Point is certainly the biggest adrenaline rush viewpoint thanks to the glass-bottomed platform that visitors can walk out on to see the canyon. While there is only one scenic viewpoint on the East Rim, it is also one of the most easily accessible and famous viewpoints as well.

Eagle Point
Eagle Point
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
Also known as the Grand Canyon Skywalk, here you will have the opportunity to walk out 70-feet beyond the rim of the canyon and take in the views from the glass-bottomed platform.
Guano Point
Guano Point
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
Guano Point strangely features the remnants of the mining cable car structures that were once used to mine bat guano in the 1930s-1950s in this area.
Horseshoe Bend Overlook
Horseshoe Bend Overlook
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Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
Probably the most photographed viewpoint in Grand Canyon on social media, this overlook is a short, easy walk from the parking lot to take in the view of the steep drop down to the Colorado River below. This point is named for the way the river winds its way around the rocks across the canyon, creating a distinct horseshoe shape.
Toroweap Overlook
Toroweap Overlook
Guru Rating
Trip Season
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Scenic Vistas
This viewpoint is unlike any other at Grand Canyon, probably because of the breathtaking 3,000 ft sheer drop at the overlook itself.

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