Mather Campground — Grand Canyon National Park

LOTS of tree coverage. Can hang a hammock. Sites are big and not on top of each other. Central to everything on the south rim. And friendly to people on big trips that are wandering.. they always seem to have a site for you, the rangers are exceptional. And don’t feed the fat squirrel at the visitor center… he lies, he can find his own food.

The initial camping trip and fell in love with it

After spending three nights at Trailer Village, we moved to this campground for the next two nights. It is so much better and affordable so if you don’t need hookups, this is the better choice! (but be aware there is a 30-foot limit).

Sites are all paved, some are pull-thru and some back-in. Not all are completely level, but we made it work in Site 5. 

The bathroom was basic but clean and had an ADA-accessible stall. Certainly in better shape than the one in Trailer Village! If you need showers or laundry, both are close by in Camper Services. Didn’t use either during our stay but nice to know they are there. 

You can catch the shuttle bus to various points in the park at the entrance to the campground. Shout out to Ranger Diego at the check-in window – had a great conversation with him! 

Wherever you decide to stay in the park, make sure you make reservations in advance– it was completely full on a weekday in early April (and we woke up to snow!).

Stayed in Mather proper for two nights and Trailer Village for one. Both require reservations well in advance even in late October. Both were full. It was cold (24 degrees in the morning) and lots of campfires were burning. Nice shower and laundry facilities. Centrally located and within easy access to the shuttle buses. Pretty close quarters for my style of camping but tolerable.

Generally the spots are pretty close together and you can see the road in many places (definitely from our spot!). Bathrooms are nice, including a water spigot and dish area. There’s a shower and laundry spot at the front of the campground and the check-in/out process was easy!

The no generation loop (juniper) was pretty quiet, and it was surprisingly rainy and cool during our visit. Close to the visitor center, shuttles, market area, and a short drive to the Grand Canyon village

Pros: bathrooms with flushing toilets are pretty close to all sites and always had soap and TP; washing sink for dishes right outside the bathrooms to cut down on disposable product waste; drinking water stations at multiple locations; had showers & laundry available; check in was easy and staff was incredibly friendly & helpful with finding us a level campground for our rooftop tent; plenty of trees for hammocks and hanging shower bags if you have one; campsite located within the park and you can get multiple good views of the canyon from under an hour away. they also had a free shuttle; campfire rings with grates to cook food and SMORES!!

Cons: campsites pretty close together; showers cost $2.50 for 5 mins run time (quarters only, change machine on site); only ~20 showers (10 mens room, 10 womens room) in 1 location (could be 1+ mile round trip to walk to them depending on site location) for the whole park, we didn't have any problems but it could be; showers weren't as clean as other facilities considering they're paid for; showers also not 24/7 which sucks for night owls like my husband and I who prefer to shower right before bed

We arrived here on a road trip through AZ to find that the sign said full. When we asked though the host checked some things and found a spot for us thank God.

It is a massive campsite right in Grand Canyon park. There are multiple loops and each site has a nice little campsite with a pull in, table, fire pit, etc. Bathrooms and showers here as well.

The sites are close together but you can't beat the proximity to the rim and village. There is a bus stop out front of the campsite that can take you wherever you need in the Grand Canyon village as well. Super convenient.

On my next road trip I will definitely book this site ahead of time. 9/10 recommend

We did group camping at site 6 in the Sage Loop. Site was spacious with great stone picnic tables and plenty of room. Adjacent to horse site but wasn’t an issue. Bathrooms with toilets were close but showers were very far and pricey at $2.50 for 5 min. The campground is very dark which is great for star gazing but tricky for getting around at night.

If you want to camp relatively close to the rim of the Grand Canyon, this is the spot. For “car camping” these are very spacious sites, all close proximity to a nearby restroom with flushing toilets, and also drinking water. Near the main entrance to the campground is a shower and laundry facility, should you need them. And a roughly 15-20 min walk to the rim. Or catch one of the frequent free shuttles. Also frequent elk wander the area and often pass right through your site.

Campin

Beautiful campground inside GC park. Quite and clean. No hookups. Easy access to sites inside park. Sites spread out nicely.

Stayed 4 nights at juniper loop ADA site 130. Primitive and cold! Some camp sites open into the road to be careful choosing. Lots to do here, hiking and sightseeing. Elk come right into your campsite! Laundry facilities were spacious. Opted out of the pay showers as heard lots of complaints on people paying and getting no water. Overall I highly recommend camping here.

Well treed, nice benches and fire rings. Pavement looks new and perfect. Tight navigation for bigger rigs.

Sites are packed in tight, but they all seem to have tree barriers surrounding them, which helps.

Convenient to the village which has a full supermarket. Bus routes close by, too.

Lots of Elk!

Great park, friendly service, and right where we needed to be for us to be ready to go explore the Grand Canyon. We visit in January and it snowed. It was stunning.

If you can I would absolutely reserve a place here for your trip to the Grand Canyon. We loved it! The location couldn't have been more perfect. The staff was so friendly, the facilities were clean and the showers were hot! There is potable water in many locations around the whole property. Fire pits and picnic tables at every site. We hope to be back for more than one night next time!

These are perfect little spots to set up for the night. Each seems to have their own fire ring with a grate, a nice table, and place for a tent or two. Very close to the camp services (showers and laundry) as well as the general market (easy place to pick up food or firewood). The spots are very close together, but it isn't overly loud

Very quiet , a lot of space. Everything is well maintained and the rangers are super nice.

This was a very quiet and well shaded campsite. Our site (38) was unfortunately near the road so we would be blinded by headlights occasionally. Each site has a fire ring with a grill grate for the top. As well as a stationed concrete table for each site. I showed up around 4-5pm and was fortunate enough to get a spot for $18. So I will not complain about headlights or anything else. The sky was glowing at night. Despite the tall tress, we still had a great view of the Milky Way. Also, deer and elk were all around us which was just citing as well

This is a standard national parks camp ground with everything you need and nothing more. We were able to walk in with no reservations in November and snag a spot. There’s nice bike paths that pass though and easy access to the Canyon. We did have a hard time sleeping due to some loud generators but that might have just been bad luck.

Look a trip to the Grand Canyon in early June.  My husband and I overland in our Ford Excursion.  The weather was gorgeous and we loved our site.

We stayed in the tent circle and our driveway was nice and flat.  It had a picnic table and fire ring (unfortunately for us, stage 2 Fire Restrictions were in effect, so no open flames). We did a bit of cleanup at the site - nothing major, just some small bits of trash.  The bathroom was relatively clean.

We did take advantage of the coin operated showers twice - stalls are a bit small for larger people, but got the job done.  We were disappointed in the laundry, about 2/3 of the machines were not in operation due to Covid for social distancing.  

We loved how close it was to the Market and walked up there everyday and used the free shuttle buses to move around the rest of the park.

Our specific site seemed very large, the table was in the sun most of the day, but we could always find shade.

One awesome extra, was everyday we had an elk just meander through our site!

Overall, we would stay here again!

My partner and I parked our van in one of the tent sites and were surprised at how spacious and private they were! The location is close to the Visitor Center and some shopping. We got in pretty late so we didn’t get to enjoy the scenery too much, but we made some s’mores around the fire ring and did some stargazing. Perfect spot to situate yourself for an early morning hike into the canyon!

I’ve camped here at least 30 times over the past 20 years, and at all times of the year. Sites are always clean. Bonus times are when giant elk just wander through the campground.

While you get to choose your site (do it WAY ahead of time during busy months) you can also score a last minute site most of the time as people often cancel. All sites have picnic tables and fire pits. Restrooms and drinking water are scattered all over the entire campground.

When reserving be sure to view proximity to restrooms and dumpsters as that can be noisy(ier) at all hours. At some points in the dry fire season you cannot have an open flame fire (aka no wood burning) but you CAN have a propane gas fire pit/unit.

Also, it’s only about 1.25 miles to the rim so you can camp, hike over to Bright Angel Trailhead, do your thing and have a reasonable “warmdown” returning to the campground.
The showers near the CG entrance are a bit old-school ($2 or $2.50 for 5 minutes and there’s a change machine as well as laundry washers/dryers. It’s usually nice and warm water.

Overall I love this place. If you’re not doing dispersed camping, this is the next best thing. Highly recommend!

This was a really nice and surprisingly affordable campground inside Grand Canyon National Park. Amazing location for distance. There’s showers and laundry (paid, unfortunately, but I won’t complain too much). Friendly staff and easy access.

I was lucki to take the last first come first serve spot It's a good one, own eating table and firepit Enough room for 3 tents

We stayed in a pull through RV site. Short walking distance to the bathrooms. The site was basic, offered a picnic table and fire pit. The sites are relatively open, not too private but not on top of each other either. 

The campground offers do it yourself laundry, a short drive from the sites, and showers. There is a restaurant and small store within the campground a short drive away with ample parking.

This park is absolutely beautiful and when we return we will be staying here!

Since there are so many reviews for this place I’ll keep it brief!

-$18/night, no hookups 

-There’s a dump station with threaded and non threaded potable water as well as non potable water near the entrance, free for campers. 

-There are also water spigots throughout the campground. 

-No hookups here at this campground but there’s an RV park up the road with full hookups 

-Generator hours are limited to 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening. 

-The shuttle system is wonderful and is the reason we stayed here for so many nights. We were able to explore the whole park easily. (Being in a motorhome with no tow vehicle and only our feet and bikes to get around really limits our radius of exploration). 

-The grocery store is close by and it’s great! It’s got a ton of souvenirs and any supplies you might need, and the groceries are decently priced and there are a lot of vegan products and a great beer selection! 

-Laundry on site Showers are $2.50/5 min 

-Their waste bins are single stream- trash and recycling all go in the same bin. Per sign at visitor center they recycle glass, plastic, and aluminum. 

-Verizon had 5G signal, ATT had LTE, and TMobile as always lagged behind with roaming service.

This is the best place to camp if you really want to experience the Grand Canyon. Stayed at sites 206, 210 and 258. 210 and 258 best for solar. We have a Thor Vegas class A approximately 26.5’ (29’ with rear slide deployed). Towing a Jeep Cherokee. No problems with fitting on these sites. Restrooms not bad for a basic campsite.

The only complaint would be that it appears that a number of selfish campers made reservations and didn’t show up leaving about 25% of the sites vacant. Commented to the rangers and they said it happens a lot but people have already paid so they wash their hands of the situation and keep turning people away. Doesn’t seem fair.

The sites are well spaced in the woods with picnic tables and fire rings. The bathrooms are spread out and have flush toilets (not vault). There are pay showers near the registration desk. There are no electric hookups or water hookups but there are water sources and an RV dump station. Get up early and have access to the Rim trail with few people around. By noon the trail is packed. If you get a chance stop at Desert View as well.

Mather Campground is a great central location for exploring the South Rim. It's within walking distance (or more easily biking distance) of the Village area and market, as well as Mather Point and the rim trail. We had good cell signal with Verizon and plenty of space around our campsite. They have bathrooms and hot showers for a separate charge. To fill water or dump, you'd need to go to the nearby camper services center.

We stayed in site 39, which had a length restriction of 27ft. We have a 26' TT, and we BARELY fit into that site due to the trees. the driveway is more than long enough, but the curve of the driveway was quite tricky!

We thought it would be fun to rush to see the Grand Canyon covered in snow! It was gorgeous! But I will say it presented challenges. I didn’t realize there was an RV village… which would have been easier to stay at! Especially since Mather has no hookups or power. Thankfully we had a propane furnace so we were warm! And had to make coffee with the generator during the specified hours. But getting out was a tad stressful because the road(we were in maple loop) is tight, not well paved, and full of trees. It was very icy! So I went to the rangers and they were VERY nice, and didn’t rush us out at checkout. So we waited an extra hour and things were much more thawed out.