Williams, Arizona Travel Guide: Route 66, Grand Canyon Railway & Things to Do
Williams, Arizona surprised us.
We knew it as the Gateway to the Grand Canyon, but once we arrived, we discovered a fun little Route 66 town with historic buildings, tourist shops, Wild West attractions, the Grand Canyon Railway and some beautiful scenery nearby.
It also taught us a rather abrupt lesson about elevation.
That morning, we’d left the desert near Oatman in shorts and T-shirts.
A few hours later?
We opened the truck doors near Williams and practically froze.
Welcome to northern Arizona!
We spent our time here exploring Williams, watching the Grand Canyon Railway depart, taking a rough-road adventure out to beautiful Sycamore Canyon and camping among grass and trees that General hadn’t seen in months.
Here’s what we found.
Why Visit Williams, Arizona?
Williams is a great stop for travelers interested in both Historic Route 66 and the Grand Canyon.
Downtown embraces its Route 66 history, with themed shops, restaurants and plenty of reminders of the road’s past.
The town also serves as a jumping-off point for Grand Canyon adventures.
You can drive to the Grand Canyon from Williams or leave the car behind and take the Grand Canyon Railway.
But even if you’re not heading to the national park immediately, Williams is worth spending some time exploring on its own.
That’s what we did.
From Oatman to Williams: What a Difference!
Our travel day from Oatman to Williams took us roughly two and a half hours.
It was a beautiful drive.
We started in the lower Arizona desert, surrounded by rolling hills and the landscape we’d become accustomed to during the winter.
Then we started climbing.
The rolling desert gradually changed into larger rocky hills.
Juniper trees began appearing.
And the temperature dropped.
A lot.
We’d left the Oatman area in the morning, and Ed had been sweating outside while hooking up the trailer.
By the time we reached the higher elevations around Williams, we got out of our climate-controlled truck and discovered we were seriously underdressed.
We’d climbed from roughly 800 feet in elevation to around 7,000 feet.
That makes a difference!
Camping Near Williams, Arizona
We camped along Dogtown Road just south of Williams.
We’ll cover that particular spot separately in our campground review, but it gave us a nice base for exploring the area.
General was particularly thrilled.
There was grass.
Actual grass!
After months of traveling through areas where grass wasn’t exactly plentiful, you’d have thought we’d given him his own private amusement park.
There were also trees.
And sticks.
Lots of sticks that apparently needed chewing.
General approved of Williams immediately.
Exploring Historic Route 66 in Downtown Williams
Williams sits directly on Historic Route 66, and the town doesn’t exactly hide that fact.
Route 66 themes were everywhere.
We found shops, restaurants, signs and displays celebrating the Mother Road.
During our visit, we also saw a mural noting Williams’ place in Route 66 history as the last town bypassed by Interstate 40 in 1984.
Today, the Route 66 heritage has become part of the town’s identity.
Yes, it’s touristy.
We don’t necessarily consider that a bad thing.
Sometimes touristy is fun.
Williams was one of those places.
Wild West Junction
One of the little attractions we stumbled across downtown was Wild West Junction.
We thought this place was adorable.
It was designed like a little Old West village, with themed buildings and what appeared during our visit to be space for entertainment or performances.
We didn’t need it to be a major attraction.
It was simply another fun detail that contributed to the personality of downtown Williams.
That’s really how we enjoyed the town—walking around, looking at the buildings and seeing what we’d discover next.
The Grand Canyon Railway
One of Williams’ biggest attractions is the Grand Canyon Railway.
The train runs from Williams to the Grand Canyon.
We didn’t ride it.
At the time of our visit, the tickets were outside what we wanted to spend, particularly for the experience we would have wanted.
And there was another issue.
General couldn’t go with us.
When you travel full-time with a dog, pet restrictions become part of your sightseeing decisions.
We probably could have found someone we trusted to watch him, but between the cost and the logistics, we decided to skip the ride.
That didn’t mean we skipped the train.
Watching the Grand Canyon Train Leave Williams
If you like trains, watching the Grand Canyon Railway depart was an attraction all by itself.
We went down to see it leave the station.
Standing beside that train as it pulled away was impressive.
And it didn’t cost us anything to watch.
Sometimes that’s the nice thing about traveling on a budget.
You may decide not to pay for the big-ticket attraction, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy part of the experience.
We still got to see the train, photograph it and enjoy the atmosphere around the station.
Williams as a Grand Canyon Base
Williams calls itself the Gateway to the Grand Canyon, and it’s easy to understand why so many travelers use the town as part of a Grand Canyon trip.
You have a real town with restaurants, shops and services.
You have Route 66 history.
You have camping nearby.
And you have the railway providing another way to reach the Grand Canyon.
For RV travelers like us, staying outside the national park also meant we could establish a base and make day trips without hauling the trailer everywhere we wanted to explore.
That’s generally how we prefer to travel.
Park the trailer.
Then explore with the truck.
A Side Trip to Sycamore Canyon
One of our adventures while staying near Williams took us away from Route 66 entirely.
We decided to explore Sycamore Canyon.
This turned out to be one of those trips where getting there was part of the story.
The roads were awful.
It took us roughly an hour each way to reach the viewpoint we visited.
But then we got there.
And wow.
Was Sycamore Canyon Worth the Rough Drive?
For us, yes.
Sycamore Canyon was beautiful.
After bumping along those roads for what felt like forever, we finally reached an overlook where we could appreciate just how large the canyon was.
This wasn’t the polished experience of pulling into a major national park overlook with paved parking and crowds of tourists.
It felt much more remote.
That made the view even more rewarding.
Would we recommend blindly taking every vehicle down rough back roads just because we did it?
No.
Road conditions can change considerably, and travelers should check current conditions and make sure both the road and vehicle are appropriate before heading into remote areas.
But we were very glad we saw Sycamore Canyon.
And Then It Snowed
Remember how we’d left Oatman sweating?
Williams wasn’t finished teaching us about elevation.
We were expecting some rain.
Instead, little white pellets started falling from the sky—something between hail and snow.
Then it turned into actual snow.
In Arizona.
After we’d just spent months in the desert.
It was pretty funny.
Our friends Scott and Ariane came to visit and spent the night near us in their van, so we had company for our little weather adventure.
The sun eventually came out and melted the snow.
Then the clouds returned.
Then more snow came down.
Welcome to spring at higher elevation.
Weather Can Change Quickly Around Williams
Our experience was a good reminder that Arizona isn’t all hot desert.
Elevation matters tremendously.
Williams sits at a much higher elevation than places like Quartzsite and Oatman.
We’d experienced that temperature difference ourselves in a matter of hours.
If you’re traveling through northern Arizona during the shoulder seasons, don’t assume the weather at your previous stop tells you anything about what you’ll find in Williams.
Check the forecast.
And maybe don’t bury all the warm clothes at the bottom of the trailer.
We learned that one pretty quickly.
Things We Enjoyed Around Williams
Our visit wasn’t built around one huge attraction.
It was the combination of little experiences that made Williams enjoyable:
- Walking around the Route 66 downtown
- Browsing the themed shops and restaurants
- Seeing Wild West Junction
- Watching the Grand Canyon Railway depart
- Camping among trees and grass
- Watching General rediscover his love of sticks
- Exploring Sycamore Canyon
- Enjoying the mountain scenery
- Experiencing an unexpected spring snowstorm
- Using Williams as a base for exploring northern Arizona
There’s enough variety here that Williams doesn’t have to be merely the town you sleep in before going to the Grand Canyon.
Tips for Visiting Williams, Arizona
Our biggest piece of advice would be to plan for the elevation.
Temperatures can be very different from lower-elevation Arizona destinations, particularly outside the summer months.
If you’re interested in the Grand Canyon Railway, check current schedules, prices and policies before your trip. The prices and pet restrictions we encountered reflected our visit and may have changed.
If you want to explore remote areas such as Sycamore Canyon, check current road conditions before heading out.
And leave yourself some time just to walk around downtown Williams.
Route 66 is part of the attraction.
Is Williams, Arizona Worth Visiting?
We thought so.
Williams is touristy.
But it’s touristy in a fun way.
You’ve got Route 66 nostalgia, old-fashioned storefronts, a Wild West atmosphere and a train running off to one of the most famous natural wonders in the world.
Then drive outside town and you’re surrounded by forests, mountains and canyons.
It certainly wasn’t the Arizona we’d been living in all winter.
That was part of what made it so much fun.
We’d started the day near Oatman sweating in shorts and T-shirts.
A few hours later, we were standing at 7,000 feet wondering where we’d packed our warm clothes.
A few days later, it snowed.
That’s travel.
And that’s Arizona.
If you’re planning a Route 66 road trip or looking for a place to base yourself while exploring the Grand Canyon and northern Arizona, Williams is certainly worth putting on the list.
And we’ll see you down the road…and Over the Hills!
Continue the Journey
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