Fantastic tour, Amazing sights and a Great Guide We had a fantastic two-day tour with Max Tours visiting Zion National Park, Antelope Canyon and the Grand Canyon. It was a long couple of days with a lot of driving, but it was absolutely worth it. Antelope Canyon and the Grand Canyon were both incredible and, in our opinion, places everyone should see at least once in their lifetime.
Our tour guide, Leslie, was fantastic. We had a little hiccup at Zion on the first day, when we were given around an hour and a half to explore. We were advised about the Emerald Pools and took the shuttle, but by the time we got there we realised there wasn’t enough time to complete the walk and get back. We ended up returning about 20 minutes late, along with another group of four from our tour. At the time, Leslie was understandably quite stressed and explained that she was restricted by driving-hour regulations and that if we missed the departure time, we could potentially have a very long wait for another driver.
Initially, we found this a little upsetting, but as the tour went on we got to know Leslie and discovered what a lovely person she was. When I later mentioned that she’d seemed a little scary that day, she told me that she had been scared too! It completely changed our perspective and actually became something we could laugh about afterwards.
Leslie also went above and beyond for us later in the tour. At Antelope Canyon I became dizzy and overheated, so when the rest of the group went to Horseshoe Bend, Leslie took us directly to the hotel so I could rest. She then waited in a queue for around half an hour because the hotel was having problems with their room keys. We were worried that she wouldn’t make it back in time to collect the rest of the group, but she made sure we were safely checked in and then went back for everyone else. That was incredibly kind and showed just how much she cared about her passengers.
The van was very comfortable, particularly because there were only eight people on our tour rather than the maximum of 14. My husband and I even had three seats between us, so we had a bit of extra room. There were plenty of drinks and snacks provided throughout the trip, which was a nice touch.
The accommodation was probably the weakest part of the tour. The hotel had the key issue mentioned above, and the air conditioning in our room was extremely loud, which meant my husband didn’t sleep particularly well. It was fine for one night, but it wasn’t the highlight of the trip.
The itinerary was generally very well planned. The days are long and there is a lot of driving, but we had plenty of time at both Antelope Canyon and the Grand Canyon, which were the main reasons we booked the tour. Apart from the little hiccup at Zion, we felt the timing worked really well.
Our group was also fantastic. There were only eight of us and, as it happened, we were all Australians, so everyone got along really well. That made the whole experience even more enjoyable.
Overall, we thought this tour was excellent value for money and we’d definitely recommend it. The scenery was spectacular, the small group made the van journey comfortable, the tour was well organised, and Leslie was a wonderful guide who genuinely went above and beyond. Despite a couple of minor hiccups, we had a brilliant time and came away with some unforgettable memories.
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