Antelope Canyon from Las VegasAntelope Canyon Tickets: What They Cost and How They Work
Antelope Canyon tickets are not sold at a gate, and that surprises a lot of people planning the trip from Las Vegas. The canyon sits on Navajo Nation land, every visit runs with a Navajo guide, and the ticket you buy is a tour. This page sets out what a ticket costs at the canyon itself, what a tour from Las Vegas folds into its price, the $15 Navajo Nation fee, the bag rules, and the closures that can cancel a booking. The tours themselves are compared on Antelope Canyon tour from Las Vegas.
A tour group gathers in the sandy wash at the entrance to Upper Antelope Canyon before heading in. Photo: Raymond M. Coveney, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Quick answer Ticket costs at a glance
Antelope Canyon tickets are tour tickets only. Booked at the canyon, they run from $47 at Antelope Canyon X to $92 for the Upper Antelope sightseeing tour, plus a $15 Navajo Nation fee per person per canyon per day. There is no walk-up entry and no self-guided option.
Key takeaways
- Driving yourself? The local operator prices and the $15 Navajo fee are the numbers that matter.
- Coming from Las Vegas, a coach day with Lower Antelope and lunch costs $160 with the permit included.
- Not every $160 ticket buys the same canyon. See what each tour's price includes.
- The bag rules trip people up. Check the bag policy table before you pack.
There Is No Gate Ticket
The single most useful fact about Antelope Canyon tickets is that none exist at a booth you can walk up to.
Guided Access Only, On Navajo Land
Antelope Canyon lies inside the Navajo Nation, and Navajo Nation Parks states that tour guides are mandatory for visiting Upper Antelope Canyon, Lower Antelope Canyon, Antelope Canyon X and Cardiac Canyon. You cannot buy an entry pass and walk in on your own, and private cars cannot drive the rough roads to the canyon mouths anyway. Every ticket on sale is a seat on a guided tour with a Navajo-authorized operator.
The rule has a reason. On 12 August 1997 a flash flood killed 11 hikers in Lower Antelope Canyon. The canyon closed afterwards and reopened with guided-only access and fixed metal stairways. That history is why the modern ticket is always a tour, and why the Navajo operators, not the Las Vegas companies, hold the power to close the canyon on the day.
For someone starting in Las Vegas this means two possible routes. Book a day tour that leaves the city and folds everything into one price, or drive the 272 miles to Page yourself and buy a canyon tour locally. The driving option is covered in the guide to getting from Las Vegas to Antelope Canyon.
Sources: Navajo Nation Parks, NPS Horseshoe Bend
What A Ticket Costs At The Canyon
If you drive to Page and book with the local operators, these are the published figures before transport.
The Local Operator Prices
Three canyons are open to standard sightseeing tickets, and each has its own operator and price. The figures below are the canyon tour alone, booked locally in Page, with no transport from Las Vegas. Add the $15 Navajo Nation fee on top of each one, and remember the fee is charged per canyon per day, so visiting two canyons means paying it twice.
At the cheapest end, Antelope Canyon X costs $47 for an adult hiking tour, which is less than half the Upper Antelope price. Upper Antelope is the expensive one because demand is highest for the corridor with the famous light beams. Note that the noon slot on the Upper sightseeing tour is priced higher than the figure shown, and the operators do not publish that midday price as a flat number.
| Canyon | Ticket | Adult price | Child price | Time inside |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Antelope Canyon | Sightseeing tour | $92 (ages 8+), noon slot higher | $87 (ages 0-7) | About 30-40 minutes, 1 hour 45 minutes with the ride |
| Lower Antelope Canyon | General tour (Ken's Tours) | $80.50 | Not stated separately | 50-60 minutes, up to 15 per group |
| Antelope Canyon X | Hiking tour (Taadidiin Tours) | $47 | $37 (ages 0-17) | 1.5 hours |
Upper Antelope Has More Than One Operator And More Than One Price
Upper Antelope Canyon is not sold at one price. Antelope Canyon Tours charges $92 per adult plus the $15 fee. Antelope Slot Canyon Tours by Chief Tsosie charges $95 for ages 12 and over, $90 for children 6 to 11 and $85 military, for a scenic tour of about 90 minutes covering about a mile round trip with about 150 ft of climb. Adventurous Antelope Canyon Tours charges $120 for adults and for children 8 to 12, with no children under 8, and about 80 minutes inside on an open-air truck over a bumpy track.
Lower Antelope also has two sellers. Ken's Tours runs the $80.50 general tour, a Deluxe Tour from $173.63 for 75-90 minutes and a Premier Tour from $302.41 for 8 hours 30 minutes with transfers, both capped at 6 people. Dixie Ellis's Lower Antelope Canyon Tours charges $80.50 all-inclusive for ages 4 and up, free for ages 0-3, for 60-90 minutes and about 1.1 miles round trip.
At Antelope Canyon X, Taadidiin Tours sells a photography tour at $142 plus the $15 permit for ages 8 and over, 3 hours, bring your own tripod, and a private guided tour at $150 per person with a 5-person minimum. Serious photographers should also know that video needs a separate permit from Lake Powell Navajo Tribal Park.
Mistakes People Make at Antelope Canyon
Rules, bags and timing, from a visitor who has done the tours. Third-party video by Jared Dillingham. We did not shoot it and have no relationship with the creator.
What A Las Vegas Tour Price Includes
A tour ticket costs more than a local one because it also buys the 4.5-5 hour drive each way, and the two prices are not directly comparable.
Same Price, Different Canyon
Read the canyon line before the price line, because the same $160 buys different things. The Lower Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend day tour with lunch from Jupiter Legend includes Lower Antelope Canyon, the permit, a deli lunch and hotel pickup. National Park Express charges the same $160, but the base price buys Antelope Canyon X, with Upper or Lower Antelope available as paid upgrades. Empire Vacations does not fix the canyon at all on its golden-hour day at $209: the guide decides between Lower, Upper and Canyon X on the day, based on weather and crowds.
One honest catch runs through the whole list. The day is long for the time you get inside. Page is about 272 miles from Las Vegas, the coaches budget 4.5-5 hours each way, and the result is a 13-16 hour day for roughly 1-1.5 hours in the canyon. The Grand Canyon combinations stretch to 17 or 18 hours.
| Tour | Price | Canyon bought | Navajo fee | Meals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jupiter Legend day with lunch | $160 | Lower Antelope Canyon | Included | Deli lunch included |
| National Park Express day with lunch | $160 | Antelope Canyon X (Upper or Lower as upgrades) | Included, except on the Secret Antelope Canyon option | Boxed lunch included |
| Upper Antelope day | $259 | Upper Antelope Canyon | Included | Deli lunch included |
| Small-group Lower day | $230 | Lower Antelope Canyon | Included | Hot lunch included |
| Golden-hour day | $209 | Lower, Upper or Canyon X, decided on the day | Included | Not included, stops at your own cost |
| VIP small-group van day | $249.99 | Antelope Canyon X, Lower as an option | Included | Lunch included |
What Is Never In The Price
Tips are extra on every listing that states them, and Jupiter Legend suggests 15-20% for the driver and the Navajo guide. Meals are extra on the golden-hour day at $209, which stops for breakfast in St. George and lunch in Page at your own cost. The Grand Canyon combination days carry a further charge for visitors from outside the US: anyone aged 16 or over who is not a US resident pays an extra $100 national park fee at the Grand Canyon, on top of the tour price. Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend are not national park fee sites, so the Antelope-only days carry no such charge.
If the tour ticket price is the deciding factor, compare the full list on the homepage under Antelope Canyon tour from Las Vegas before booking, because the differences sit in the canyon line and the extras, not the headline number.
Looking straight up inside Lower Antelope Canyon, the walls pinch into a narrow strip of sky. Photo: Supercarwaar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Bag Policy And Photography Rules
The Antelope Canyon bag policy is the rule most visitors break without meaning to, so it is worth reading before packing.
What You Can Carry Inside
The rules differ by canyon, which is why the simple advice from the Las Vegas operators is to leave all bags on the bus. Upper Antelope Canyon allows only clear bags. Antelope Canyon X bans every bag, including clear ones. The coach tours cut through the confusion by keeping everything on board, and phones and small cameras in a pocket are fine on every standard tour.
Photography gear is restricted too. Tripods, monopods and selfie sticks are banned on the standard sightseeing tours at all three canyons, and Antelope Canyon X adds video and drones to the ban. Antelope Canyon Tours notes one further dress rule that surprises people: skirts and dresses are not allowed inside. Anyone who genuinely needs a tripod should look at the dedicated photography tours, such as the Antelope Canyon X photography tour at $142 plus the $15 permit, where you bring your own tripod on a 3-hour group departure.
| Canyon | Bags | Tripods and selfie sticks | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Antelope Canyon | Clear bags only | Banned, hand-held only | About 200 ft elevation change, soft sand |
| Lower Antelope Canyon | Leave on the bus per tour listings | Banned | Ladders and stairs, up to 15 per group |
| Antelope Canyon X | No bags at all, not even clear | Banned, along with video and drones | Entry on railroad-tie stairs, no ladders |
| Las Vegas coach tours | All bags stay on the coach | Banned on standard tours | Phones and small cameras in pockets are fine |
Closures, Holiday Shutdowns And Refunds
Some tickets cannot be honored no matter how far you traveled, because the canyon closes for reasons outside anyone's booking system.
Flash Floods And The Monsoon
The canyons close for flash-flood risk, and the decision is made by the Navajo operators and Navajo Parks and Recreation, not by the Las Vegas tour company. Monsoon storms run from about mid-June through September and are most active from July to September. Operators cancel tours even at midday when storms upstream threaten the canyon. This is not a formality. The 1997 flood that killed 11 hikers in Lower Antelope Canyon is the reason the rules are strict.
If the canyon closes on the day of your tour, the Las Vegas trips still run to Horseshoe Bend and the Glen Canyon Dam area. Jupiter Legend refunds the canyon portion minus processing fees. National Park Express refunds according to its own terms. Several listings ask in capitals that you book nothing time-sensitive for the evening of the tour, because a 13-16 hour day can run late even without a closure.
The tribal park also closes for four fixed dates: Thanksgiving Day, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. No canyon tour of any kind runs on those days, so plan a Las Vegas tour ticket around them rather than through them.
Booking Tips
A short list of the mistakes that cost people money on Antelope Canyon tickets.
Do
- Do read which canyon the ticket buys before comparing prices, because $160 buys Lower Antelope with one operator and Antelope Canyon X with another.
- Do budget the $15 Navajo Nation fee per person per canyon per day if you book locally, since it sits on top of every canyon price.
- Do keep the whole day free, because the tours warn in capitals not to book anything time-sensitive for the evening.
- Do bring a phone or a pocket camera only, since that covers the bag rules at all three canyons.
Don't
- Don't show up in Page expecting a walk-up ticket, because access is guided-only and the popular slots sell out.
- Don't pack a tripod or selfie stick, because they are banned on every standard sightseeing tour.
- Don't book a canyon visit on Thanksgiving, the day after, Christmas Day or New Year's Day, when the tribal park is closed.
- Don't assume a flash-flood cancellation means a lost day, since the tours still run to Horseshoe Bend and refund the canyon portion under the terms described above.
Antelope Canyon Ticket Questions
How much does it cost to go to Antelope Canyon?
Booked locally, a ticket runs from $47 for the Antelope Canyon X hiking tour to $92 for the Upper Antelope sightseeing tour, with the noon Upper slot priced higher, and the $15 Navajo Nation fee on top. From Las Vegas, a full day with transport and the permit included starts at $160, like the Lower Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend day tour.
Can I go to Antelope Canyon without booking a tour?
No. The canyon is on Navajo Nation land and guides are mandatory for Upper, Lower, Canyon X and Cardiac Canyon, so there is no gate ticket or self-guided entry. Your choice is a local Navajo operator in Page or a day trip such as an Antelope Canyon tour from Las Vegas that hands you to a Navajo guide at the canyon.
How do I get tickets for Antelope Canyon?
Book with a Navajo-authorized operator: Antelope Canyon Tours and others for Upper, Ken's Tours and Dixie Ellis's for Lower, and Taadidiin Tours for Canyon X. If you are starting in Las Vegas, a day tour folds the ticket and the permit into one price, such as the VIP small-group van tour at $249.99 with all fees included.
What is the $15 Navajo fee for Antelope Canyon?
It is the Navajo Nation Tribal Park entry fee, $15 per person, per location, per day, charged on top of the canyon tour price and again for each extra canyon you visit. Every tour in this catalog includes it except the Secret Antelope Canyon option on the National Park Express day, where it is not part of the price.
Why can't I bring a bag into Antelope Canyon?
The bag policy is set canyon by canyon: Upper allows clear bags only, Canyon X bans every bag including clear ones, and the Las Vegas operators simply keep all bags on the bus. Phones and small cameras are fine, which means a small-group day needs nothing more than pockets.
Does the Upper or Lower Antelope ticket matter for the light beams?
Yes, the beams are an Upper Antelope effect, needing the sun high overhead, so they appear on midday slots in the summer months and not on late-afternoon or winter visits. No operator publishes an exact calendar. The trade-offs between the two canyons are set out in the Upper vs Lower Antelope Canyon guide.
What happens if my Antelope Canyon tour is cancelled for flash floods?
The Navajo operators close the canyon when storms upstream threaten it, most often in the July to September monsoon, and the decision is not the Las Vegas company's. The tours still run to Horseshoe Bend, and Jupiter Legend refunds the canyon portion minus processing fees while National Park Express refunds under its own terms.