Antelope Canyon Tours: How Booking Works, Upper vs Lower, Prices and Light Beams

Antelope Canyon Tours: How Booking Works, Upper vs Lower, Prices and Light Beams

Where Antelope Canyon Is

Antelope Canyon is a set of slot canyons just outside Page, Arizona, on Navajo Nation land in the LeChee Chapter. It's part of Lake Powell Navajo Tribal Park, which Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation runs. The two famous sections are Upper Antelope Canyon, whose Navajo name Tse'bighanilini means "the place where water runs through rocks," and Lower Antelope Canyon, Hasdez'twazi. Both are a few minutes from town. Antelope Canyon Tours, one of the Upper operators, starts its tours from its office on South Lake Powell Boulevard in Page.

You Need a Navajo Guide, Every Time

The Navajo Nation's rule is short: "Tour Guides are mandatory to all Antelope Canyon locations." There's no self-guided entry, no walk-up hike and no way to drive your own car to the Upper canyon. Every operator has to hold a Navajo Nation permit to guide, and the park publishes the list of authorized Antelope Canyon operators. As of today it lists six companies for Upper Antelope, two for Lower Antelope, one helicopter operator and fourteen more under "Other Canyons." If a company isn't on that list, don't book it.

On top of the tour, the Navajo Nation charges an entry fee of $15 a person, per location, per day. Some operators fold it into the price and some add it at check-in, so read the fine print (more on that under prices).

Upper vs Lower Antelope Canyon

Pick Upper if you want the light beams, can't do stairs or ladders, or have small kids. Pick Lower if you'd rather walk the whole way in, want a longer walk through the slot, and don't mind climbing. Both are short tours. Neither is accessible for wheelchairs.

Upper is the one in most photos with light shafts hitting the sandy floor. It's flat inside, and the walking comes at the end, when you climb up and over a hill to get back to the trucks in about 20 minutes. Antelope Canyon Tours runs it four times a day, at 9:00 AM, 11:20 AM, 1:40 PM and 4:00 PM, with the 4:00 PM slot only from April 1 to September 30. The midday slot costs more because that's when the beams show. The park also caps time inside Upper Antelope at two hours.

Lower is narrower and longer underfoot. Dixie's describes the tour as five flights of stairs down into the canyon and back out, 1.1 miles round trip, on sandstone that's rocky and sandy, so wear real shoes. Dixie's runs tours from 6:15 AM to 4:45 PM in summer and 8:45 AM to 2:45 PM in winter, and says the best light is from 7:15 to 10:45 AM, with the afternoon after 1:45 PM as the other good window.

Other Slot Canyon and Boat Tours

The Navajo park lists more slot canyons near Page, all guided. Antelope Canyon X is the southeastern part of the system, two slot canyons with a short walk between them. Its operator lists a 1.5-hour hiking tour at $47 and a 3-hour photography tour at $142. Cardiac Canyon, the southernmost slot, is about 2,600 feet long and rated strenuous, and it needs a Navajo backcountry permit on top of the guide. The operator lists a 4-hour hike at $192.

You can also tour Antelope Canyon by boat from Lake Powell. Antelope Point Marina, one of the boat tour operators the National Park Service lists for Lake Powell, runs a 1-hour Antelope Canyon boat tour from $50 an adult and $30 for kids 4 to 12. It's boat-only, so you don't get off and walk a slot. The marina sits inside Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, where the entrance fee is $30 a vehicle for a week and park passes count. The boat tour doesn't replace a walking tour of Upper or Lower.

How Much an Antelope Canyon Tour Costs

These are the operators' own October 2026 prices for a standard adult ticket:

• Upper Antelope, Antelope Canyon Tours: $92 an adult and $87 for kids up to 7, with rates that change by season and discounts in late fall and winter. The $15 Navajo park fee is extra for anyone 8 and older, and booking and card fees are added at checkout. That puts an adult at about $107 before those fees.
• Lower Antelope, Dixie's: $80.50 for ages 4 and up, listed as all-inclusive, and free for kids 3 and under. Ken's Tours lists its general tour from $80.50 including taxes and fees, a 75 to 90 minute Deluxe tour from $173.63, and a combination tour from $148.
• Resellers: GetYourGuide sells a Lower Antelope entry and Navajo guided tour from $75 and an Upper Antelope tour with a Navajo guide from $90. Those links are affiliate links, and we earn a small commission if you book.

One money saver from Dixie's: if you visit Upper Antelope, Canyon X or Waterhole Canyon and Lower Antelope on the same business day, bring the receipt for the first $15 Navajo fee and you can ask for the second one back.

How to Book, and How Far Ahead

Book directly with an operator on the Navajo list or through a reseller, and do it before you drive to Page. Antelope Canyon Tours says advance reservations are required year-round and its tours have passenger limits. Ken's calls March to November peak season and says tours there sell out often. No operator publishes a minimum number of days ahead, so the safe move is to book as soon as your night in Page is fixed, and earliest of all if you want the 11:20 AM Upper slot in summer.

Check in on time. Antelope Canyon Tours wants you there 30 minutes before departure and Dixie's wants 45 minutes. Antelope Canyon Tours doesn't take same-day cancellations, and Dixie's refunds up to 24 hours before departure.

What You Can't Bring

Rules differ by operator, and Lower is the strict one:

• Lower Antelope (Dixie's): no bags of any kind, transparent ones included, no tripods, monopods or selfie sticks, no GoPros or action cameras, and no drones. Ken's bans tripods and professional camera gear on every tour and asks you to leave large bags behind.
• Upper Antelope (Antelope Canyon Tours): clear bags only, and you can't put an opaque bag inside a clear one, even a small purse. No tripods, monopods, selfie sticks, strollers, drones or pets. Photography is hand-held only, and there are no photo sessions on tour.
• Everywhere on Navajo Tribal Park land: no dogs, no alcohol, and ask before you photograph Navajo people. Commercial photos need a permit, and the park isn't issuing photo or film permits for Upper or Lower Antelope right now because of visitor numbers.

A phone in your pocket and a hand-held camera are fine at both. Dixie's allows baby wraps, slings and backpack carriers, and asks that toddlers 2 and under ride in a hiking backpack.

The Time Zone Trap

Arizona stays on Mountain Standard Time all year. The Navajo Nation doesn't. The National Park Service puts it plainly: from March to November the Navajo Nation observes Mountain Daylight Time, one hour ahead of the rest of Arizona, including Page. Antelope Canyon is on Navajo land, but the tour companies run on Page time. Antelope Canyon Tours says its tours "ALWAYS operate on Arizona Time," and Dixie's shows the current time in Page, AZ, in MST on its site.

The trap is your phone. Near the canyon it can pick up a Navajo Nation tower and jump an hour ahead, so you either panic or, worse, relax. Between March and early November, set your phone to Phoenix time for the day and read the time zone on your ticket. From early November to early March everyone shares one clock.

Light Beams and the Best Time to Go

The light beams are a summer, midday thing. Antelope Canyon Tours says they show in Upper Antelope on clear, sunny days from April through September, and the 11:20 AM tour gives the best chance. Ken's says the beams in Lower are most visible from late spring through mid-fall, roughly 10 AM to 1 PM. Clouds kill them, and a cloudy day isn't grounds for a same-day cancellation at Upper.

So the month depends on what you want. April, May and early June give you beams before the monsoon starts on June 15. July through September still has beams, but that's also monsoon season, when tours get cancelled for storms. Late fall and winter have no beams, shorter tour hours at Lower, and off-season discounts at Upper. Tours run year-round, though the park closes on Thanksgiving, the day after (Navajo Nation Family Day), Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

Flash Floods, Monsoon and Closures

A slot canyon is a drain. Rain that falls miles away can send water through it, and the Navajo Nation's own rules tell visitors to "be aware of the dangers of flash floods." Its operator page warns that closures are possible because of bad weather. The National Weather Service defines the Southwest monsoon as June 15 to September 30, which is when afternoon storms are most likely.

If your tour is cancelled for weather, you get your money back. Antelope Canyon Tours gives a full refund when it cancels for extreme weather, Ken's refunds or reschedules tours cancelled for flash flood warnings, and Dixie's refunds weather cancellations in full. In summer, book a morning slot when you can and keep a second day loose in Page.

Fitting It Into a Trip

Page sits between the Grand Canyon, Zion and Monument Valley, so most people do Antelope Canyon as one night on a longer drive. It's about 143 miles and 2 hours 45 minutes from Grand Canyon Village (see Grand Canyon to Antelope Canyon) and about 120 miles and 2 hours 30 minutes from Zion (Zion to Antelope Canyon). Book the tour first and plan the drive around it.

Horseshoe Bend is the easy add-on. The trailhead is about 5 miles south of the Carl Hayden Visitor Center, the walk to the overlook is 1.5 miles round trip, and the City of Page charges $10 a vehicle to park, open sunrise to sunset. National park passes don't cover it. If you're staying longer, camping near Lake Powell puts you a short drive from both.

Two of our trips build Antelope Canyon in. The 7-day Arches, Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon road trip loops from Las Vegas through Moab, Monument Valley, Page and the South Rim. The 10-day Arizona canyoneering itinerary pairs it with Buckskin Gulch, The Wave lottery and the Grand Canyon. The Arizona road trip itinerary covers the wider state.

Plan the Rest of the Trip

Your Antelope Canyon tour comes with its Navajo guide, and that part is set. For the drive around it, the Arches, Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon loop is a free day-by-day plan with booking links for each night, with the Antelope Canyon tour booked separately through a Navajo operator. If you want a guide for a whole national park trip, see the trips that have one on our guided trips page.