News, Tips & Bargains : Greasing the Rails to the Grand Canyon

Visiting the Grand Canyon without a car is getting easier, with two new ways for tourists to link up with the vintage Grand Canyon Railway in Williams, Ariz., about 65 miles from the South Rim.

For $303.80 per person, double occupancy ($265.31 for ages 2 to 16), the railway-owned Farwest Airlines flies visitors from Phoenix to Flagstaff, where they take a half-hour shuttle bus to Williams, catch the train at 9:30 a.m. and arrive at the South Rim at 11:45 a.m. They take a three-hour bus tour of the canyon, then fly back from Tusayan Airport to Phoenix. An overnight package, at $421.02 per person, adds a hotel stay in Williams. Tel. (800) 843-8723.

Visitors can also make a rail-to-rail connection via Amtrak, which last month extended its Southwest Chief line to Williams Junction, three miles outside Williams, where a free shuttle bus meets passengers and takes them to the Grand Canyon Railway station.

Previously, riders on the Southwest Chief, which runs between Los Angeles and Chicago, had to get off in in Flagstaff and hop a bus to Williams. Overnight rail packages from Los Angeles start at $299 per person, double occupancy; call Farr Discovery Rail Tours in Laguna Hills at (800) 225-8728.