When planning out our month with my parents joining us on the road trip, I noticed that where we were staying in Kanab, UT was only a relatively short drive to Page, AZ.
Page is home to both Lower Antelope Canyon and Upper Antelope Canyon, so I checked to see if I could get us booked in to one of those tours. Upper Antelope Canyon tours were already booked up, although thankfully Shae and I already had tickets for one of those tours a month later as we’d booked those even earlier.
Lower Antelope Canyon tours were still available though through at least a couple of different tour companies (you have to go on a guided tour – you can’t just take yourself.) The tour companies seemed to be equally well reviewed online, so I picked the company that had the best time slot available for the day we wanted to visit – Ken’s Tours.
When researching online, the various articles I’d read suggested that the best time to visit Lower Antelope Canyon is between 10:30am and 1:30pm as that’s when the slot canyon gets the most daylight, thereby enhancing the colors inside. We managed to book tickets for 11am, so we arrived at 10:30am to get checked in.
Lower Antelope Canyon is on Navajo Nation land, so masks were still required when we visited in April 2022. We were split into groups of something like ten or so people and headed down to the canyon with our great guide Kayson.
Lower Antelope Canyon is an unusual place because there’s no indication while walking along that a canyon is anywhere to be seen.
Within minutes though we were at the top of the canyon, ready to take the stairway down.
One of the nice things about visiting in groups of no more than ten was that it was possible to take photos without large crowds in them.
You need to be able-bodied in order to go hiking in Lower Antelope Canyon as there are a few ladders you have to climb up and down. Overall though, it’s more of a walk than a hike and isn’t strenuous, especially seeing as you’re frequently pausing to experience a new part of the canyon and take photos.
The canyon is a beautiful place, with rock formations, erosion and striations providing something new to see around every corner.
Depending on the angle of how you view different parts of Lower Antelope Canyon, some of the rock formations look like different things.
The tour lasted about an hour. That seemed to pass by incredibly quickly, but it didn’t feel like we were too rushed.
Final Thoughts
If you find yourself in northern Arizona or southern Utah, we’d highly recommend visiting Lower Antelope Canyon in Page, AZ. The slot canyon is as beautiful in person as it looks in photos – perhaps even more so. Just remember to soak in the experience while you’re there rather than spending the entire time trying to get the quintessential Instagram shot!
How We Booked Our Lower Antelope Canyon Tour
We booked our tour with Ken’s Tours. Tickets were $50 per person, but there were additional charges for 6% Navajo tax, a Navajo permit fee and a booking surcharge. That meant our tickets came to $64.66 per person all-in – not cheap, but definitely worth the money.
[…] in April, Shae and I took my parents to Lower Antelope Canyon when they joined us on our road trip for a month. We’d also wanted to visit Upper Antelope […]