Do You Need Covering For Camera Antelope Canyon

Should Yous Visit Upper or Lower Antelope Coulee?

With its glowing, cherry coulee walls and beams of light shining through the dusty air, Antelope Canyon is a scenic destination. Two different slot canyons make up Antelope Coulee and both offer very different experiences. If you lot can only visit one, how do yous decide which one?

Upper or Lower Antelope Canyon?

Antelope Canyon is located in Page, Arizona. Both slot canyons are located on Navajo lands and tin just be visited on a bout.

Tim and I toured both canyons on the same solar day in early May 2017. We had a great feel at both of them and nosotros each had our favorite. Tim loved Lower Antelope Canyon; my favorite was Upper Antelope Coulee.

Here are the advantages and disadvantages of both canyons.

Upper Antelope Canyon

When people refer to Antelope Canyon, they are usually referring to Upper Antelope Canyon. This is the more popular of the two slot canyons. With its calorie-free beams, falling sands, and very loftier canyon walls, this is the more than photogenic of the 2 canyons.

Upper Antelope Coulee is shaped like an upside-down "V," narrow at the top and wide at the base. This coulee is wider at the bottom than Lower Antelope Canyon, so it feels less claustrophobic and information technology'southward easier to walk through. The narrow canyon walls at the elevation are what helps create the calorie-free beams when the sunday is at the right angle. These high, narrow walls also makes the upper canyon darker and feel libation.

Click hither to acquire more about Upper Antelope Canyon.

The Good

It's More Photogenic

Both canyons are stunning, only when yous see photos of Antelope Canyon, they are ordinarily of Upper Antelope Canyon. If you want photos of the low-cal beams, you want to visit the upper canyon midday, preferably between 10:30 am and one pm.

The Bad

It'due south More Expensive

A general tour costs $68 – $78 for the Upper canyon versus $xl for the lower Canyon.

Tours Sell Out Months in Advance

Fewer tours are offered in Upper Antelope Coulee, which ways that tours sell out months in accelerate. If you want to visit the upper canyon during the magical hours between 10:30 and ane pm, you should plan to make your reservation every bit much every bit half dozen months in accelerate. Yep, information technology's that popular now.

It's Darker

Because of the narrow canyon walls at the top, the upper coulee is darker than the lower coulee. This makes hand held photography more hard. Upper Antelope Canyon is brightest between ten am and 1 pm. During my three hr photography tour (which started at i pm), the canyon got noticeably darker as the afternoon stretched on.

Lower Antelope Canyon

Lower Antelope Canyon is shaped like a "Five." It is very narrow at the bottom and broad open up at the elevation, making the lower canyon experience brighter and warmer than the upper canyon.

Click here to learn more near Lower Antelope Canyon.

The Skilful

It'south More than Fun

Of the two canyons, many people concord that Lower Antelope Coulee is more than fun, with narrow passageways to squeeze through and ladders to climb. The narrow walls at the bottom, twisting and turning their way through the canyon, are fun to walk through, sometimes fifty-fifty slide through.

This is the Canyon with Ladders

This is too the canyon famous for its ladders. You will descend downward into the canyon on a series of ladders and as y'all make your journey through the canyon, you lot will climb several more. People either beloved them or detest them. We loved them.

It'south Less Likely to Sell Out

With tours running every 30 minutes between the hours of 8 am to 4 pm, spots should be available onetime during the day, fifty-fifty in the busier summertime months. Still, in the past yr, the popularity of these canyons has skyrocketed. I would recommend booking your tour severall months in advance merely in case it does sell out.

The Bad

It'southward Getting More Crowded

If you read other, older blog articles, they may tell yous to visit Lower Antelope Canyon because information technology is less crowded. This was not truthful in our case. We visited both canyons on the same day and both had identical oversupply levels.

In fact, Lower Antelope Canyon was and then popular in 2017 that they experienced expect times of i to 3 hours just to enter the canyon. And that was even if you lot had a reserved time slot!

Since 2018, both Ken's Tours and Dixie Ellis' Tours offer fewer tours per twenty-four hours to cut down on waiting times to enter the lower canyon. They anticipate waiting times of no longer than xxx minutes to enter the canyon (as opposed to 1 to three hours) for peak season. This besides ways that fewer tours are offered daily. Now it is more of import then always to book your tour in advance.

So, Which One Do You Choose?

If you are looking for a fun experience and like the idea of exploring a narrow canyon, then Lower Antelope Coulee gets our vote. To avoid the worst of the crowds, visit this canyon early or later in the solar day, if you don't heed missing out on the ideal lighting.

For photographers I recommend Upper Antelope Canyon. Personally, I institute the upper canyon to take more of a "wow" factor than the lower coulee. And if you want to have a photographic tour, check out Adventurous Antelope Slot Canyons.

If yous want to visit both canyons, I recommend visiting Upper Antelope Canyon at 10:30 am (best adventure to see those light beams only make certain y'all book your tickets well in advance!) and Lower Antelope Canyon at 1:30 pm (even with a reservation, you might have to wait 30 minutes or longer to enter Lower Antelope Canyon midday when crowds are at their biggest).

If you want to avoid the crowds at Lower Antelope Coulee, consider booking one of the last tours of the day (although you lot will exist sacrificing the better lighting atmospheric condition).

Whichever coulee you lot choose, expect big crowds of people, especially midday. The tour groups become ushered through the canyon rather quickly, making it feel like a rushed feel.

UPDATE: The popularity of these canyons has skyrocketed in recent years.To avoid thwarting, brand your reservations far in advance (at a bare minimum, four months in advance, but up to six months in accelerate during the summertime season). People have been writing in that May fourth dimension slots are selling out in early February!

Coulee X

Several of our readers have let us know about a third slot canyon chosen Canyon X. If you are having trouble getting a time slot at upper or lower Antelope Canyon, if you desire to have a photographic tour, or if you only desire to visit a less crowded canyon, have a look at Canyon X. Nosotros have no personal experience but I think this one is worth a consideration, since upper and lower Antelope Canyons have become then popular and overcrowded.

Click here to acquire more virtually Canyon X.

For more than information nigh Canyon X, scroll downwardly to the comment department and read Beth Wulf's comments about what information technology is similar to tour Canyon X. Thanks Beth!

If you lot take been to Canyon 10 and would like to share your feel, let u.s.a. know in the comment section below. It would assistance our time to come readers! 🙂

Important Links:

To see more of Upper Antelope Coulee, click here.

To see more of Lower Antelope Canyon, click here.

We used Antelope Slot Coulee Tours for our tour of the Upper canyon.

We used Ken'due south Tours for our tour of the Lower canyon.

You can as well purchase archway tickets through GetYourGuide to Upper Antelope Coulee, Lower Antelope Canyon, or Coulee X. I recommend doing this if tours are already booked for your dates of travel …y'all might exist able to however become an entrance ticket from this tour provider.

Tours of Antelope Canyon

Antelope Canyon makes a nice twenty-four hours trip destination from Las Vegas, Flagstaff, or Sedona. It'southward a long mean solar day but with these tours, yous can sit back and relax during the drive. Plus, your tickets are included on these tours.

Note: This post contains chapter links. When y'all make a purchase using 1 of these affiliate links, we become paid a pocket-size commission at no actress toll to you.