Is Lake Powell Resort Worth It?: Boat Tours, Hikes and More

If you’ve spent any amount of time on Instagram, you’ve probably come across Lake Powell Resort and the surrounding areas. Instagram seriously knows how to take my wanderlust from around a 70 to about 99 everyday!

So, of course, as soon as I got the chance, I headed there and I was definitely not disappointed. If you’re looking for an unforgettable experience, Lake Powell boat tours and resorts need to be on your list of places to see in 2024!

This is definitely one of my favorite spots in Arizona, featuring stunning rock formations, crystal-clear waters, and so many things to see! The boat tours here are one of the best ways to explore the area and check out all the hidden gems it has.

This trip gave me an opportunity to enjoy the Lake Powell Resort right inside the national park, boat tours, and a bit of trail time, so I’m sharing here for those who might be looking to fuel their own wanderlust.

Lake Powell Resort: An Overview

This resort is situated on the lake in Page, AZ, within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. This stunning location is approximately 2.5 hours by car from the Grand Canyon.

But there is also a small airport there, so if you aren’t road-tripping it, you can fly in and take a short ride to the resort. You also have the option of camping or a houseboat (I did that in France and it was a cool experience).

The strategic location of this place is perfect for exploring the surrounding areas and try their incredible guided boat tours (which was definitely my favorite part about the trip!).

On Site Dining Options

There are a few different options for dining here. Since we were just past peak season, The Rainbow Room was the only on site restaurant for breakfast and dinner (we were out and about during the day).

Dinner options are high quality seafood, meat, and salad options with a plethora of appetizers that we may have ordered all of one evening!

Breakfast has an omelet bar, buffet and small menu. It’s a great standard breakfast option that will work for just about anyone. The dairy-free folks like me will be looking to their tasty oatmeal, and vegetarians can enjoy the eggs.

For a more casual setting, there’s also Driftwood Lounge where you can grab a variety of cocktails, beers, and comfort food. Or head to Latitude 37 if you’re looking for some quick and easy option like sandwiches, salads, and burgers.

Wind is their coffee shop that also serves light appetizers and wine! And of course, we have Pizza too at Wahweap Pizza Co.

Amenities

I mean with the lake and the views, you hardly need much more! Boating, kayaking, swimming, it’s literally at your fingertips.

But they do also have an outdoor pool and hot tub, along with a small gym with free weights and a couple treadmills. The best part? They’re also pet-friendly!

Luckily, this was a trip where I got to run the nearby Rim Trail and simply up the road to the resort where the views were insanely wonderful.

Their rooms are pretty good too with basic amenities like a TV, coffee maker, mini fridge, hair dryer etc.

Lake Powell Boat Tours – Are They Worth It?

One of the easiest ways to explore the area is through boat tours! I admit initially, I wondered if all that time aboard would make me motion sick, but the lake is so flat that wasn’t an issue.

Really the biggest issue is that I wanted off to hike around everything I was seeing, but that would make a half day trip more like a three day trip. For future trips, I’ll be looking more in to hiking local trails and finding ways to explore on foot…you know this girl has gotta move!

The boat tours here are operated by Lake Powell Resorts & Marinas, managed by Aramark, which is an authorized concessioner of the National Park Service, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

You have to arrive in the lobby of Lake Powell Resorts 45 minutes before departure and boarding behind 15 minutes prior to the schedule departure time.

Quick note: There is a $30 Glen Canyon Park fee since it’s located inside Navajo Nation. This fee allows entry for one private, non-commercial vehicle and all its passengers, and is valid for 7 consecutive days.

The entrance fees collected are used to enhance the visitor’s experience of the lake. All collected funds stay within the park.

Types of Boat Tours at Wahweap Marina

There are a whopping eight different boat tours you can go on here and they’re all incredible. Let me discuss a bit more about them before jumping to my own experience and recommendations.

Here are the eight boat tour options you have at Lake Powell Resorts:

Rainbow Bridge Tour: In this tour, you’ll cruise along the 50-miles of unique Lake Powell shoreline to Rainbow Bridge National Monument, which is one of the largest known natural bridges in the world!
Navajo Canyon Tour: Next, we have a 3-hour cruise covering Navajo Canyon and featuring incredible views of Glen Canyon Dam. The highlight is the beautiful Navajo Tapestry-laden walls of Navajo Canyon.
Scenic Dam Cruise: As the name suggests, this is an incredible scenic 90-minute boat tour where you’ll cruise through Wahweap Bay to the Glen Canyon Dam.
Antelope Canyon: This is a 2-hour cruise where you’ll follow the original path of the Colorado River into the canyon! You’ll see stunning colors on the highwalled sandstone sidearm of the lake.
Canyon Princess Dinner Cruise: This is a fun 2-hour dinner cruise aboard the Canyon Princess and is a great dinner cruise if you’re in the mood for one.
Canyon Princess Charcuterie Cruise: And if, instead, you’re in the mood to enjoy some charcuterie boards, you can opt for this boat tour instead.
South Lake Private Boat Tour: For anyone who’s more into private tours, you can go in one of the next (North Lake) tour. The south lake goes either to Rainbow Bridge or a Multi-Canyon tour. You’ll get to see some of the most Instagrammable spots!
North Lake Private Boat Tour: The other private tour explores Lost Eden, which is a flooded slot canyon with echoing amphitheaters! A different tour but a really interesting one.

Best Lake Powell Boat Tours (From Experience)

Now let me share the three boat tours we picked and what you’ll experience in each of them:

1. Scenic Dam Cruise

Day one we enjoyed a tour that’s recently returned to the area and allows you to see the famous Horseshoe Bend from a whole new perspective.

While others were above taking photos, we were floating through the Horseshoe eating our lunch and then being serenaded by one of the coolest tour guides ever!

The tour starts at the Glen Canyon Damn and is an easy float on a powered boat along the canyon for a half day trip. You’ll see canyon walls up to 2500 feet, stop for a moment to see some petroglyphs and in general be surrounded by incredible beauty.

We were there on a perfectly flat water day, but as you can imagine if it’s windy it comes whipping through those canyons and can create some big waves…that would have been a bad day for me!

After finishing the float trip, you’ll take a bus back to the drop off point and that’s when we did something extra. We drove over to Horseshoe Bend at sunset, so we could see from above where we’d just been floating.

These are definitely some of the iconic photos that keep popping up on Instagram! It’s a very small parking lot, so if you go during peak season, expect you’ll need to get there early to even get close to it.

After parking, you’ll walk just 5 minutes or so to the edge of the canyon where you can then take in this beautiful space. PLEASE be careful here, we all want the epic photo, but this is truly a massive cliff you’re looking over and we saw some people trying to get things like handstand photos…eik!!

Also, don’t be the jerks who set down their chairs in the peak viewing spot to prevent anyone else from getting in there. ha!I swear even these photos don’t really capture how pretty it was every where that you turned on this trip.

2. Rainbow Bridge Tour

This beautiful site is on Navajo land making it a sacred place and not one that I can share much more of than the photo on Instagram. Once you arrive there is a short hike you can do up to the arch and around to the other side…unfortunately it was close to 3 hours on a boat in the cold each direction.

The entire ride was beautiful…just maybe one that I’d recommend for summertime months. Then you can cruise, stop, swim, play on the water and make your way there over time rather than a straight drive with the shivers.

Of course with our crew, that meant about an hour long dance/workout party on the pontoon boat as we tried to warm up!! These are some great newer pontoons that have 3 stabilizers and ran about 18-20mph.

3. Antelope Canyon Tour

Now, this was a real treat! But I feel like I need to open the kimono a little!

First, the beauty. You see all the stunning photos splashed across Instagram looking zen and isolated…it’s a tour you must take as a group because ti’s also on Navajo land and it’s crowded the entire time, making those photos kinda stressful to get.

That being said it’s 10000000% worth going to see because it’s just a unique experience to walk through the canyon with the light shades, the beautiful walls and knowing that it was created simply by nature.

The trip starts in town, where you board a fun little open air vehicle and then off road it to the canyon. Then it’s only about a 30 minute walk through the canyon, which mostly involves lots of stopping to oohhhh, ahhh and attempt photos. We had the best tour guide again and he was snapping photos with everyone’s phones to show them how to get the most brilliant colors.

Now my biggest regret is that I didn’t get to do more hiking, running and exploring on foot. The boat tours are INCREDIBLE, you get to see so much and it’s perfect for those who don’t like to move, move, move, but I like that more tactile travel.

Have you ever been to this area?

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