Verkamp's Visitor Center

A historic South Rim building that serves as a visitor center, with exhibits on local community history and a park store.

Grand Canyon, AZ

About Verkamp's Visitor Center

Verkamp's Visitor Center sits a short walk east of El Tovar Hotel and Hopi House on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. The building began as a curio shop run by the Verkamp family, who built it in 1905 and operated it for more than a century. The National Park Service bought the building and opened it as a visitor center in November 2008. Exhibits cover the Grand Canyon community and what daily life was like there, with a walking history timeline on the floor. Visitors can find an information desk, a bookstore and museum shop, and a family home movie display. The park describes it as the closest visitor center for people arriving by train.

#south rim
#visitor center
#local history
#curio shop
#bookstore

What's around here?

The closest stops to Verkamp's Visitor Center, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

Stay
Iconic
El Tovar Hotel
$50+
Stay or dine in a 1905 lodge of limestone and Oregon pine set right on the Grand Canyon's South Rim.
Right next doorSwitch it up: Stay
Tours
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Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters
$50+
Helicopter and airplane air tours over the Grand Canyon departing near the South Rim.
0.4 mi awaySwitch it up: Tours
Sports & Outdoors
Outdoor Adventure
Skydive the Grand Canyon
$50+
Tandem skydives from 16,000 feet over the Grand Canyon, from the Grand Canyon National Park Airport in Tusayan.
0.4 mi awaySwitch it up: Sports & Outdoors
Sightseeing
Iconic
Desert View Watchtower
$25–$50
Climb a 70-foot stone tower on the South Rim for views of the eastern Grand Canyon and Colorado River.
17 mi awayMore like this
Sightseeing
Cameron Trading Post
Check prices
Historic trading post near the Little Colorado River Gorge that combines a motel, restaurant, Native American art gallery, and large gift shop.
42 mi awayMore like this
Sightseeing
History Buff
Williams Visitor Center
No admission fee
The official visitor center of Williams, Arizona, in the town's 1901 Santa Fe freight depot on Railroad Avenue.
56 mi awayMore like this