Arizona
River Rafting & Railroads: The Grand Canyon With Your Grandchild
Program No. 5831RJ
Share the journey of a lifetime with your grandchild as you visit the Grand Canyon via train, raft the Colorado River and see amazing animals at Bearizona Wildlife Park.
Participant Reviews
Based on 16 Reviews
SHOWING
We had a wonderful time on our trip with our granddaughters. Mark and Amber were outstanding guides. My granddaughter, Kasey, said “They were super nice!” We needed dietary accommodations for my celiac Kasey, and special placement in the bus for my car sick Julia, and we got them! I am so very grateful.
I especially enjoyed the learning part of the trip. The lectures from the geologist and the Navajo were really interesting. Even the girls said so.
I can’t pick a single favorite highlight. The raft trip was fabulous. The train trip was too. My girls enjoyed the root beer floats in the dining car. Getting “robbed” was fun. I could go on and on, but you already know the itinerary. You put it together! Briscoe, our bus driver became part of the bunch.
I liked staying in Flagstaff, both because of the cool weather, and because I hate packing and re-packing
Most of all, I loved spending time with my granddaughters. We don’t want to buy them more things anymore. We want to buy them experiences. We hope to go on another trip soon.
Thank you!
Ginger and Dave
— Review left August 1, 2025
Don't miss this opportunity to deepen your relationship with your grandchild. This program has activities that appeal to both generations! Fun and informative; mentally and physically engaging. The financial investment is so worth it!
— Review left July 26, 2025
The four days of adventures (with travel days before and after) were packed with interesting information and showed us a variety of sites in the Flagstaff, Williams and Grand Canyon areas. Bearizona wildlife, boating along the Colorado, geology & history talks & Walnut Canyon hike down the steps to walk into old carved out cave dwellings were very interesting. Entertaining train trip to Grand Canyon helped to shorten the two-hour trip and seeing the Grand Canyon is always awe-inspiring. My grandson thought the river trip and Bearizona were his favorites. I loved walking down to the Walnut Canyon 'island' and listening to the history with listening devices was my favorite experience. The leaders were organized, flexible, kind and experienced with the ages of these grandkids.,
— Review left July 3, 2025
This was a great program. Our 10 year old grandsons (cousins) loved the trip and were very engaged. Mark and Chris were outstanding leaders and really paid attention to the kids. The activities were engaging and interesting for kids and us as adults. We had a wonderful time.
— Review left June 24, 2025
These grandparent/grandchild experiences are invaluable. Seeing Arizona and especially the Grand Canyon through the eyes of a grandchild is so awe-inspiring and the memories made traveling together will last forever. There are some physical activities such as hiking and rafting and Arizona was hot in June, but it was well worth the exertion to experience this trip.
— Review left June 23, 2025
The Grand Canyon and Railroad Trip was the perfect first RS trip for my husband, 10 year old grandson and me. Staying in one hotel in beautiful, cool Flagstaff made the logistics easy. The pace of the program, the mix of lecture and activities, was just right. The range of topics, geology, Native American culture, history, made for a fun and engaging week of togetherness. The kids made friends quickly and we found we had much in common with many of the grandparents. To quote my grandson "thank you for taking me on this AWESOME trip."
— Review left August 1, 2024
It was a wonderful opportunity to spend quality time with our 2 grandsons!
— Review left July 30, 2024
This was a great program to experience with my grandchildren. A good balance of learning, fun, experiencing new people and places!
— Review left July 29, 2024
Excellent program! Wonderful guides! Very well organized and executed! Will go on other Road Scholar trips!
— Review left July 28, 2024
Wonderful and fun experience; the rafting event was truly inspirational; seeing the Grand Canyon for the second time was again a goose bump moment! Thorough planning and preparation was done by the team to make this trip very memorable! Loved it!
— Review left July 11, 2024
Both the program guides and itinerary exceeded both the grandparent and grandchild's expectations. The classroom learning by Willow Bend Environmental Education Center was outstanding by including all ways of learning for us to really understand and remember the geology of the Grand Canyon. Learning the history of the National Parks systems and how it has evolved was well done. Each day was well planned with information regarding the next day provided to help add to the experience. Overall, an outstanding curriculum lead by the best guide team! Well done.
— Review left July 10, 2024
All of the activities of this Road Scholar Trip are wonderful and full of adventure and learning together. Please be aware that there may be an activity change or two based on the long experience of the University of Northern Arizona staff members. These changes could affect your transportation timing on the last day of the trip.
— Review left August 22, 2023
We had a wonderful experience with the Road Scholar trip to the Grand Canyon. Our guides were from the area and very knowledgeable, the kids had a great time, we grandparents enjoyed all the activities and getting to know each other. We look forward to another trip with Road Scholar!
— Review left August 1, 2023
Nice to see. Educational in parts. We enjoyed the trip.
— Review left July 24, 2023
This program is a winning combination of fun and informative! Activities were age-appropriate, and the children were very enthusiastic. The program was an ideal way to introduce a child to the wonders of the Grand Canyon and northern Arizona!
— Review left July 3, 2022
I can not say enough good things about the intergenerational Road Scholar programs. The Grand Canyon: River Rafting and Historic Train Ride is just another of the well organized, very informative and entertaining trips that engage both the adults and children in the experience.
— Review left July 8, 2019