The Difference Between Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon, and How to Choose

The difference between upper and lower antelope canyon, side by side

Upper and Lower are not two ends of one walk. They are cut into the same Navajo Sandstone but reached from two different roads east of Page, each with its own check-in, its own tour and its own rules, and a ticket for one does not admit you to the other. A Navajo guide is compulsory at every Antelope Canyon location, so there is no self-guided version of either.

If you want the short version: Lower is the longer, more physical walk and Upper is the shorter walk that can produce light beams in summer. The table below is where the two actually diverge.

Shape, length and depth

Upper's passage is broad where your feet are and pinches towards a narrow opening overhead. The park translates its Navajo name, Tse'bighanilini, as "the place where water runs through rocks". That geometry is why a shaft of midday sun can drop all the way to the floor there in summer, and why the floor stays wide enough to be sandy and walkable.

Lower does the opposite. At floor level it is a tight seam that opens out above you, which is where the name Hasdez'twazi', translated by the park as "the spiral role arches", starts to make sense once you look up. That same shape is why the official caution sits on this section rather than on Upper: narrow walls, steep stairs, and a warning from Navajo Parks that visitors who are claustrophobic may not find it suitable.

The numbers are modest and worth knowing before you build expectations. The canyon is roughly 120 feet (37 m) deep, the floor sits at 3,704 feet (1,129 m), and the rock is Navajo Sandstone dated at roughly 8 to 60 million years old, carved mainly by flash flooding. Lower gives you about 1,335 feet (407 m) of corridor against about 660 feet (200 m) in Upper, which is walked one way so the group keeps moving rather than doubling back.

Stairs, ladders and which antelope canyon tour is easiest

Upper gets called the flat one, and that is only half true. Inside, it genuinely is flat: the first 400 metres are easy and sandy, with no ladders and no stairs. The climb is saved for the end. The operator states that Upper is not recommended for visitors with limited mobility, that there is no wheelchair access, that guests must hike unassisted, and that you climb 150 stairs back to the vehicles.

Lower front-loads the effort instead. You descend five flights of stairs into the largest cavern on the route, and the ladders are fitted with handrails bolted into the canyon walls. The whole hike covers about 1.1 miles round trip in 60 to 90 minutes, which is the longest time on your feet of the two.

Which section is easier depends on which part you mean. For walking inside the canyon, Upper is easier: level sand, one direction, about 60 minutes. Over the whole visit, both sections end with stairs, so a visitor who cannot climb stairs at all should not count on getting inside either one.

• Shortest time on your feet: Upper, with a 15 minute vehicle transfer each way and roughly an hour inside
• Flattest ground inside: Upper, with no ladders or stairs in the first 400 metres
• Most climbing and descending: Lower, with five flights of stairs and ladders with handrails
• Steepest single effort: the 150 stairs back up to the vehicles at the end of the Upper tour
• Footwear is the stricter rule at Lower, where closed-toe walking shoes are required; take a light layer into either section, because the sandstone keeps the interior cool while Page averages a daily maximum near 96.0 °F in July

Two different entrances east of Page

Upper starts with a vehicle transfer. The park entrance is about three miles east of Page on Highway 98, and tour vehicles, 4x4 trucks, collect visitors there for the ride in; allow roughly 15 minutes each way and about 90 minutes for the whole thing. The Upper tour listed here asks you to arrive 30 minutes early and has free parking at the meeting point.

Lower is the simpler arrival. The site is on Indian Route 222, less than 10 minutes' drive east of Page off Highway 98, parking there is free, and you walk in from check-in with no truck ride. Total time on site runs to about 1.5 hours for a one-hour hike, and check-in is forty-five minutes before the tour time.

The tribal fee is the one cost that does not change between the two sections: $15 per person, per entry, to Lake Powell Navajo Tribal Park, counted separately from whatever the guided tour costs. Neither entrance sits inside Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, which is why an America the Beautiful or Glen Canyon pass buys you nothing at either one. The Lower hiking tour and the Upper tour listed here both include all fees and taxes, and the 14 to 15 hour day tour includes the Navajo Nation Permit Fee. If you do both sections on the same day, keep your tribal fee receipt so the entry fee is not charged twice.

• Upper: entrance roughly three miles out of Page along Highway 98, then a truck ride in rather than a walk from the car park
• Lower site: Indian Route 222, under 10 minutes' drive east of Page, free parking
• Tribal park summer hours: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Both sections shut on the same four days: Thanksgiving Day, Navajo Nation Family Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day
• Dogs, drones, rock climbing and littering are prohibited across Navajo Parks land, and alcohol is prohibited across the Navajo Nation

Light beams, time limits and what you can carry

Beams are the one thing Lower cannot give you. Upper's window runs April through September, needs clear sky and sun, and narrows again by the hour: among the published Upper departures it is the 11:20 a.m. tour that is singled out as the likeliest. Go at the edges of the season, early April or late October, and the beams come out thinner and fade sooner. Nobody can promise you one, and operators say so themselves.

Crowd management differs too. Upper has had a two-hour limit on time spent inside since 1 May 2011 and is walked one way, and no official maximum group size is published for it, while the standard Lower walk takes up to 15 guests. Navajo Parks & Recreation lists six licensed operators for Upper and only two for Lower, so Lower's departures are concentrated in fewer hands and sell out quickly in the March to November peak.

Bag and tripod rules are not the same in the two canyons, and a generic packing plan will get you stopped. At Upper, bags must be transparent and opaque bags cannot be hidden inside them; water, medication and a wallet are fine in pockets or the clear bag. At Lower, bags of any kind are banned, including clear ones. Tripods, monopods and selfie sticks are out at Upper, while Lower bans tripods and professional camera equipment, and Navajo Parks no longer issues photography or filming permits for either section. Phones and handheld cameras are fine in both.

Which section to pick by traveller type

Pick Lower if you have no strong reason to pick Upper. You get roughly double the walkable corridor, 1.1 miles round trip and 60 to 90 minutes of it, for the lowest price of the canyon tours listed here, and the Lower Antelope Canyon Hiking Tour runs from $94 for 1 hour with all fees and taxes included, rated 4.9 ★ (7729 reviews).

Pick Upper when the April to September beam window is your actual reason for coming, or when the shortest possible walk matters more than the length of the passage. On this side of the comparison that means the Upper Antelope Canyon Tour-AACT: 1 hour 20 minutes from $119, fees and taxes included, free parking where you meet the guide, rated 4.7 ★ (2140 reviews).

• First visit, one section only: Lower, for the longer walk and the stair-and-ladder route through the narrow part
• Keen photographers: Upper for the beams in the April to September window, accepting that tripods, monopods and selfie sticks are banned and only handheld shooting is allowed
• Families: Lower if the children are steady on stairs and ladders with handrails; Upper if you want sandy, level ground inside and a shorter time on your feet
• Limited mobility, or anyone who cannot climb stairs: neither section is suitable, since Upper ends with 150 stairs back to the vehicles and Lower involves five flights and ladders; within the tours listed here, the Horseshoe Bend element of the 14 to 15 hour day tour is a hardened, ADA-accessible 1.5 mile (2.4 km) round trip
• Tight schedule in Page: Lower, about 1.5 hours on site including check-in, with no vehicle transfer to factor in
• No car at all: the Award-Winning Lower Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe Bend Tour, from $160 over 14 to 15 hours, 4.9 ★ (8468 reviews), with round-trip transportation from select hotels, the Navajo Nation Permit Fee, Lower Antelope admission and guided tour, Horseshoe Bend admission, a deli lunch and on-board Wi-Fi

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