Grand Canyon West Skywalk — Attraction in Moapa Valley

I wish I could say the Skywalk at Grand Canyon West was well worth the cost but the truth is that it's overpriced and underwhelming. Seventy-ish dollars is a large ask to drive hours into the middle of nowhere, stand in line, and then spend only a few minutes on the Skywalk without being able to take a camera with you, which is then followed by the guides offering to take your picture at an eye-watering 25 bucks for just one photo. The Skywalk is even more underwhelming once you realize it doesn't even overlook the main canyon – it's actually suspended over a small side canyon. That's right, if you were expecting to see the Colorado River underneath you prepare to be disappointed as all you can see is just a lot of dirt and rocks. Once you get over the initial brief wow factor of peering through the glass floor, the novelty wears off fairly quickly since there's little to actually look at that'll hold your attention.

For a cheaper and arguably more thrilling experience you can skip the Skywalk and go to the other main point of interest at GCW, Guano Point. It's a rocky outcrop that projects into the main canyon and has the remnants of an old aerial tramway used by miners decades ago. Unlike the Skywalk there aren't any railings at Guano Point so if you really want to scare yourself silly you can walk right up to the edge and peer down into the canyon for as long as you like without dealing with a line of other tourists waiting their turn behind you. The views are better too since Guano Point faces the main part of the Grand Canyon rather than just a small offshoot. You can also watch tourist helicopters make their runs through the canyon for further entertainment.

Food options are another sore spot at GCW. The only proper sit-down restaurant at the Skywalk building usually has its own long line to get seated and menu options are fairly limited and quite ordinary there and at the two outdoor cafes (one there at the Skywalk and another at Guano Point).

Overall, I would only recommend GCW to the time-crunched foreign tourist visiting Las Vegas who really wants to see the Grand Canyon and can't schedule a trip to the South Rim instead. Anyone else should just save their money and go to any of the other main tourist spots of the Grand Canyon: the South Rim, North Rim, and Horseshoe Bend. Any of those three offer better views for less money with the North Rim being the best...

I highly recommend checking online and do your full research thoroughly before coming here for trip. The general admission only gets you to the door. Parking is free and there is a shuttle to take you to the different points. A good time to go is to arrive before noon. If you buy your ticket at the ticket center/gas station before entering, you can get a discount for AAA, military members, etc. We spent roughly $300 for 5 GA and 2 skywalk bridge passes.

Eagle Point - This is the first stop. Yes everything looks nice, but I recommend spending your time at the second stop - Guano Point. The skywalk bridge is an additional cost $74/pp. They have a strict airport security, where you cannot bring any loose items on the skywalk (no phones, backpacks, etc.). They do offer free locker for your items. You get a personal photographer to take your pictures. $25 for one or $50 for all the pictures + scenic pictures. The scenic pictures were low quality (you can’t see them before purchasing).

Food - Despite where you go all, all meals are $25. Meal tickets are $25. If you do not buy a meal ticket, you can still pay at the cashiers (prices are still $25). The pictures are deceiving as the chicken tenders are really just giant dino nuggets. I highly recommend packing your own food and beverages. It is going to be hot and dry. The skywalk restaurant limits to you to eat only 30mins by the window. Otherwise it is $40 to dine (before food) to sit by the windows. Eagle Point only has American ball park fried food, Guano has bbq, Hualapai has tacos.

Guano - We spent at least 2 hrs here because there was just so much more to see. There are NO railings, so explore at your own risk. There are rangers walking around routinely to make sure everyone behaves. There is covered seating area with a breezeway here.

Hualapai - We did not get to go. The drivers will not tell you that they are skipping the last stop (they ask for votes from those sitting in front of the bus) to return to the parking lot or go to last stop. You just have to kindly remind them that you want to see the last stop; otherwise, they will take you to the parking lot. We had a lot of foreign visitors on our bus, who did not understand and just went with the flow.

Overall, we really did enjoy our time there. It was definitely a once in a time life experience, not something I would go back...

There were some nice views around the Grand Canyon West Rim, staff were generally friendly and shuttle busses ran fairly smoothly without too many queues (when I visited in February), but I had mostly only been lured here by the idea of the SkyWalk which to be honest was a bit of a let down, far too restrictively and unnecessarily managed.

By their own admission it is not even the best views of the canyon.

You have to lock away all bags and phones so that you cannot take your own photos on the skywalk and then the staff will take some poor quality shots of you that you have to pay at least $26.00 to download, despite having already paid extra to add the SkyWalk experience to your ticket. Feels like they are charging you twice for one experience.

Might not have been so bad if there had been a high res clear shot of us available but the download was a fairly low resolution blurry image, not worth printing and definitely not worth the $26.00 additional fee we had to pay just to get a photo when we would have easily been able to take far superior shots even on the oldest smartphone. Glad I had only paid for the best single picture rather than paying for all of them. I think that would have been over $50 extra.

The photographers on the skywalk doing their thing also greatly slow down the potential flow of people such that you have to queue to go out to the skywalk longer than would be necessary if people just had a slow steady wander around taking only the photos they want to for themselves. Wasn't that many people there but still had to queue for around half an hour to get out there.

The cafe trailer out the front did add some amusement though. It was 12:15 when we turned up, the cafe didn't serve coffee (can you have a cafe that doesn't serve coffee? apparently so) and despite offering cheeseburgers, they were no longer available, and there were only a handful of people around at the time, it wasn't that busy. Fortunately I only wanted a chicken sandwich (would also have had a coffee if they had some, but I had water with me so no problem) and the chicken sandwich was nice and freshly cooked and came with more fries than I would normally eat in a week (thinking about it, I don't normally eat fries). I think the next bus stop after the skywalk was probably the best views if I remember rightly, wish I had skipped paying any extra for...