We recently went to Arizona and tried all of the Antelope Canyon tours, including the two main sections: Upper Canyon and Lower Canyon. This is our complete review from the Lower Antelope Canyon.
If you haven’t heard of Antelope Canyon, it’s a narrow passage in the desert with smooth, curving walls of orange and purple sandstone. This chamber was carved by wind and water over the course of many years, leaving the beautiful slot canyon you can see today.
One important thing to note is that Antelope Canyon is located on the Navajo reservation, so unfortunately the only way to visit it is with a tour and a local Navajo guide. However, since this place has become such a popular bucket list item nowadays, the tour system is basically needed anyway for crowd control.
In this review of the Lower Antelope Canyon, I’ll share my experiences and photos from our tour, and then I’ll explain the best time to visit, and everything else you need to know before you go!
Best Lower Antelope Canyon Tours
We booked our Lower Antelope Canyon tour with GetYourGuide and had a great experience. The price includes your entry tickets, Navajo permit fee, and a local Navajo guide. Everything was communicated clearly by email, and they have a refund policy if you need to cancel in advance.
They also have tours for Upper Antelope Canyon, Antelope X, and some of the more specialized canyons in the same area that get less visitor traffic than the main canyons.
We’ve used GetYourGuide for lots of tours and activities around the world, and they’re great. Highly recommended!
Lower Antelope Canyon Review: What To Expect On The Tour
The Lower Antelope Canyon tour takes you through a slot canyon that is below ground.
This involves a short, sandy walk to get to the slot, and then you climb down some metal stairs, go through the slot in single file at a relaxed pace, and then climb up some stairs to go back to the starting point.
When we started the tour, they first had us sit and watch a short Navajo tribal dance with music that was included for free as part of our experience. This was an added bonus and tips are optional. They didn’t ask us to pay anything.
After watching the Navajo dance, we followed our guide and walked about 10 minutes through the desert to get to the slot entrance. It’s a short walk, but the heat can be intense. The sooner you get inside the slot the better, because the temps are much cooler!
Before you enter Antelope Canyon it hardly looks like anything from above, just a crack in the ground, but as soon as you get inside you’re blown away by the perfectly smooth, wavy walls and the colorful sandstone.
This place looks just as good as it does in the pictures. Our Navajo guide pointed out a bunch of different fun shapes in the walls of the canyon, including a dragon, an eagle, and a tribal chief.
Taking photos inside the canyon isn’t as hard as you might think, and even phones do well here. A wide angle lens is usually best to capture the most details.
Lower Antelope Canyon is just as wonderful as it looks in the photos
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to say the Lower Antelope Canyon tours are always crowded. Very crowded. There’s no way to escape this unless you go in the off season, and even then you have no guarantees. More on that later.
In spite of the crowds, we were still able to enjoy the scenery and everything we saw. We spent almost 1 hour inside the slot canyon and took lots of great pictures with no one else in them, so it didn’t ruin the experience for us.
In the same week, we also visited the Upper Antelope Canyon, and it was much more rushed and hectic than the Lower Canyon, so we barely got to take any photos. Overall, the Lower Canyon was a far better experience for us.
We really enjoyed Lower Antelope Canyon
Best Time To Visit Lower Antelope Canyon
The best time to visit Lower Antelope Canyon really depends on what you’re looking for. If you want to avoid the crowds and heat, the best time to go is from November to March. However, the most spectacular lighting is arguably in the summer months.
Compared to the Upper Canyon, this one has a wider ceiling and it gets a lot more ambient light from the sun, which means it can actually get very bright inside — possibly too bright for ideal photos.
This means the best time of day to visit Lower Canyon is actually in the morning or late afternoon, when there’s not too much light and contrast inside the canyon.
However, we went to Lower Antelope in the middle of the day and I have to say most parts of the canyon were still very nice even at that time, so don’t write off a midday visit completely. If you’re not a pro photographer, you might not really notice the difference.
Majestic colors and lighting
Is The Tour Worth It?
Yes, the Lower Canyon is definitely worth it for the sights and scenery, even though the crowds dampen the experience a bit. This is undoubtedly one of the most unique and beautiful slot canyons in the United States.
The price for the tour is not exactly cheap, but it’s still quite a bit more affordable than the Upper Antelope Canyon, which can be as high as $150 USD per person during the summer season. Lower Canyon is also a better value overall since the tour isn’t as rushed.
