Take A Hike Grand Canyon Great For Anniversary Trip

Q. For our 25th wedding anniversary this year, we would like to spend one week in Key West and one week at the Grand Canyon. We would appreciate any info, especially about hiking in the canyon with a tour guide. - H. and L.K., Brick, N.J.

A. Now there’s a contrast, from a funky sea-level watering hole to high-altitude grandeur. Did each of you pick one, or was this a mutual decision?

The Grand Canyon has plenty to do even for lookers as opposed to doers. The more sedentary set can take a plane or helicopter ride over the canyon; drive along the South Rim and stop at the many overlooks for good views; ride a vintage steam train; see a good canyon film at the IMAX theater, and browse Canyon Village’s shops.

For active vacationers, there are ranger-led hikes, self-guiding hikes, guided tours offered by the park concessionaire, mule rides down into the canyon, horseback riding and boat trips. Incidentally, anyone who wants to take the mule trip down into the Canyon must be over 4 feet 6 inches in height, weigh less than 200 pounds and be fluent in English.

The key to enjoying the canyon is to plan well ahead and make reservations early for activities as well as for rooms if you wish to stay near the rim in Grand Canyon Village. Consider that nearly 5 million visitors are expected at the Canyon this year, and of those, half a million will take hikes and 80,000 will be on flights over the canyon. Most of them, about 90 percent, will visit the South Rim rather than the higher North Rim, which is closed by snow from October to mid-May and has fewer visitor facilities.

Prospective visitors can get a lot of information from the free newspaper, “The Grand Canyon Guide,” which lists times and places of all interpretive programs and is available at the visitors’ center and South Rim hotels.

For recorded information or for reservations at the lodges and hotels at South Rim, call the concessionaire, Fred Harvey, at (520) 638-2401.

For information on activities and programs, write Superintendent, P.O. Box 129, Grand Canyon, Ariz. 86023: for recorded information or regulations on back country permits, call (520) 638-7888.

In addition to the hotels and lodges in the Village along the South Rim, including several old historic places, there are many motels at Tusayan, five miles south of park headquarters. Tusayan, which is outside the park, also has grocery stores, campgrounds, canyon helicopter and airplane tours, and an IMAX theater showing a canyon film. The only drawback about staying in Tusayan is that on crowded days the park gates often close for hours at a time, and once inside the park, parking is hard to find anywhere along the Rim and in the Village.

Another lodging option is Williams, Ariz., which offers a steam train round-trip daily to the canyon rim; call (800) 843-8724.

Park admission is $10 per car for a 7-day pass. A Golden Eagle Passport for all U.S. national park properties costs $25 a year per vehicle; a Golden Age passport for people 62 and over is $10 and good for life.

As for Key West, call (800) FLA-KEYS for plenty of good information.

Q. Although more and more cruise ships are going to the Western Caribbean with stops at Playa del Carmen and Cozumel, Mexico, it seems virtually impossible to obtain maps, brochures and literature on the towns of Playa del Carmen and San Miguel.

Information from the Mexican Tourist Office and Mexican consulates is very limited. The cruise brochures are also limited on information about those two cities, mostly giving information about tours to the Mayan ruins. Can you give the name and address of the two local chambers of commerce and information on the ferries between the two towns? - J.V., Bradenton, Fla.

A. J.V. found out what I already knew: Getting information about anything in Mexico is never easy and always slow. I usually try the government tourism sources, wait, wait some more, then give up and rely on a trusty guidebook.

According to Fodor’s 1995 guide to Cancun, Cozumel and the Yucatan Peninsula, here’s the ferry information:

Passenger-only ferries leave from the Playa del Carmen dock (no phone) for the 40-minute trip to San Miguel, the principal town on the island of Cozumel, about every hour from 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and begin the return trip from Cozumel about every hour from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. Cost is about $5 each way. A catamaran and two large speedboats also make the crossings.

Fodor’s cautions that the schedules are never firm and should be checked for changes from day to day.

I called the Mexican Government Tourism office at 128 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, Fla. 33134, (305) 443-9160. Elsa Foglio in that office said that travelers wanting Mexico information should phone a tourist hotline, (800) 44-MEXICO. I did so, didn’t say I was a travel writer and was promised some information by mail. That was two months ago, and I’m still waiting. The tourism office at 405 Park Ave., Suite 1401, New York, N.Y. 10022, (212) 838-2949, also referred me to the same toll-free number. So it goes.