Antelope Canyon X: The Ultimate Guide for Visiting This Year
Antelope Canyon X in Arizona is a lesser-known alternative to the popular Upper Antelope Canyon and Lower Antelope Canyon. This Antelope Canyon X guide will point you to the best tours and tips for visiting this year.
Visiting Antelope Canyon X, you’ll witness the same soaring walls and windy labyrinth paths as the popular Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon, but with one key difference — far fewer crowds.
Antelope Canyon tours in Page, Arizona, have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, thanks in part to stunning images circulating social media of the wavy orange rock walls and sunbeams shooting down from ceiling crevices hundreds of feet above. The sandstone slot canyon is on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona, running east of Page toward Antelope Creek, which connects to Lake Powell on the border of Utah.
Most visitors join guided tours at one of two well-known spots — Upper Antelope Canyon, with an easy ground-level entrance, and Lower Antelope Canyon, which requires climbing down metal stairs. While both offer incredible experiences for travelers and photographers, their popularity means that you’ll often be sharing the narrow passageways with dozens of other people and tour groups.
There is a quieter alternative to Antelope Canyon just a couple of miles down the road. Antelope Canyon X by Taadidiin Tours operates small-group excursions into a different section of the same canyon. They are the only tour provider here, so you don’t have to worry about overcrowding and can enjoy a more serene visit to the natural wonder.
I visited the canyon in spring at the most popular time of day (late morning) to see how it measured up to the photos online. Keep reading for tips for visiting Antelope Canyon X Arizona and why I think this is the best alternative tour of Antelope Canyon that you can take.
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The Antelope Canyon X Experience
We arrived 30 minutes early for our reservation time at Antelope Canyon X to pay the fee and sign in. There were about a dozen people booked for the 11 a.m. tour, and we all loaded up in two four-wheel-drive vehicles to make the 3-mile commute to the mouth of the canyon.
Once there, we hiked down a sandy hill to the first of two slot canyons included on the tour.
The previous tour group of about the same size was wrapping up as we began with our guide — the only time it felt ever so slightly crowded. We decided to hang back from the others a little to get a few photos without people in them, which was easy to do with such a small group.
After taking turns admiring the different corridors and rooms in the first slot canyon, we followed our guide a short walk away to the second one, which has an X opening at the ceiling that the site is named for.
Both canyons have the curvy, winding passageways often seen in photos of Lower and Upper Antelope Canyon, smoothed by erosion. It was a little early in the year to see the sunbeams that shoot down from above around the summer solstice, but some light snuck in around midday to make shapes on the walls and show off all the different shades of limestone rock.
Out guide accompanied the group the whole time, but we never felt rushed and lingered to take lots of pictures and admire the scenery in Antelope Canyon X. She pointed out several features along the way (like openings in the ceiling that form interesting shapes) and helped everyone get the creative photos she knew we’d want.
The tour lasted about 90 minutes, including the car rides, but the end was very loose and our guide let us wander around the first canyon again.
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Antelope Canyon X vs. Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon
Since Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon are on everyone’s Arizona bucket list, they are typically packed with people and sell out early during the busy season. Antelope Canyon X, on the other hand, benefits from a more small-group experience.
You don’t feel crowded or rushed and you have the chance to snap more photos. There were also a number of small touches that really put Antelope Canyon X over the edge.
First, they take care of you. From a cooler of waters to an employee stationed to take our picture, all of our needs were met. Even though we hung back from our group a couple of times, our guide made sure that we didn’t miss anything she pointed out, even leading us back into the first canyon to point out a photo spot we had missed her mentioning the first time.
They also knew exactly what pictures we would want and coached us on how to take them. When we started the tour, our guide told us what settings we should switch our phone cameras to for the best results, and along the way pointed out features we should snap.
She stopped in one spot to pour sand over a ledge and let us all take turns posing with it, and tossed sand in the air in another location for us to capture it swirling in a beam of light.
While Antelope Canyon photo tours are available here at double the price and length, our small group was able to spread out enough that we were rarely in each other’s way. There was one photographer in the canyon when we arrived, and they made sure we stayed out of his way as much as possible, too. So whichever tour you book, you're sure to get plenty of crowd-free Antelope Canyon photos.
This tour also is a winner because it’s a bit longer and cheaper than most of the Lower and Upper Antelope Canyon ones. Our tour lasted an hour and a half, but the guide let us wander around at the end with no rush, and the group coming in behind us only had about four people on it.
Antelope Canyon X Tours
Taadidiin Tours offers two different experiences in Antelope Canyon X and the lesser-known Cardiac Canyon, a more adventurous slot canyon at the bottom of a sand dune. Check the current tour prices and availability here.
Hiking Tours
The Antelope Canyon X hiking tours last about an hour and a half. You’ll be with a guide the whole time, but group sizes are small so it’s easy to explore and take photos. The tour includes time in two slot canyons.
Photography Tours
The photo tours at Antelope Canyon X are a bit longer to give amateur and pro photographers more time to soak up the scenery from behind a lens. Photographers will have 3 hours to explore and take pictures.
Unlike on regular hiking tours, you are allowed to bring one camera bag and tripod on the photo tour. If you want to capture video content, you will need a special permit from the Lake Powell Tribal Parks and Recreation Office.
Cardiac Canyon Tours
The Cardiac Canyon tour is a more adventurous way to explore the Page slot canyons. This canyon is a bit farther away than Antelope Canyon X, so you’ll ride for 7 miles with a guide before setting off to hike and slide through the 2.5-mile canyon.
The tour lasts for 6 hours and you are allowed to bring a backpack and camera to capture content.
Antelope Canyon X Location
Antelope Canyon is in Page, Arizona, about 2 hours from the Grand Canyon South Rim.
Antelope Canyon X tours meet on Highway 98 southeast of Page. After passing parking areas for other Antelope Canyon tours, you’ll see a sign that says Canyon X and a parking area with a trailer. This is on the Navajo Nation Reservation, so Navajo Nation hiking permits are required and included in your ticket price.
You’ll depart from the parking area in a 4WD vehicle with a guide to the beginning of the Antelope Canyon hike. Be careful where you park. The lot is sand and gravel, and we witnessed a car get stuck in a soft spot.
You can plug the following address into your GPS to pull up directions to the location: MP 308 Highway 98 #3784, Page, AZ 86040.
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FAQ and Tips for Visiting Antelope Canyon X
Don’t miss your Antelope Canyon X tour time
Antelope Canyon X tours follow Arizona time, which is in the Mountain Standard Time (MST) zone. Arizona does NOT observe daylight savings time. This means that during daylight savings time (generally March-early November), it’s the same time in Arizona as in Nevada and the West Coast.
This may be confusing while you’re staying in Page, because the Navajo Nation in this corner of the state DOES observe daylight savings time and springs forward to Mountain Daylight Time (MDT), so your clock may freak out and change back and forth a lot. If you get confused, just call Taadidiin Tours the morning of your reservation to confirm the time.
Book your tour in advance for Antelope Canyon X
Booking ahead is recommended for busy seasons (like holiday weekends and summer break), but walk-up openings are sometimes still available here. The midday tours, around 11 a.m., are the preferred time and will likely have the largest crowds. You can reserve a time online and pay when you arrive. Taadidiin Tours prefers cash payments to credit cards.
What to wear to Antelope Canyon X
Wear comfortable shoes for walking up and down the sand dune on the Antelope Canyon hike and dress appropriately for the season (you may want a sweater in the cool canyon in winter). Arizona gets extremely hot in the summer, and sometimes during the shoulder months, so wear sunscreen and drink plenty of fluids before, during and after your tour.
Are there bathrooms at Antelope Canyon X?
The only bathrooms are portable toilets near where you’re dropped off to begin your Antelope Canyon hike. Page is about 15 minutes away, so plan your bathroom breaks accordingly.
