Is Meteor Crater Worth Visiting? Our Family’s Arizona Road Trip Stop
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Is Meteor Crater worth visiting? Here’s what to expect from the crater, visitor center, exhibits, viewpoints, café, gift shop, and a family road trip stop.
Estimated reading time: 19 minutes
Meteor Crater was not actually supposed to be part of our Arizona trip.
We had planned to leave the Grand Canyon through Desert View, drive over to Page, and make it in time for our Lower Antelope Canyon tour.
And then Arizona decided to give us a snowstorm.
Desert View was closed, we missed our Antelope Canyon tour, and suddenly we had to take the long way around to Page.
At that point, we looked at the map, realized Meteor Crater was only a little bit out of our way, and figured…why not?
And I am really glad we did.
Meteor Crater ended up being one of those classic road trip stops that you don’t necessarily build an entire vacation around, but once you’re there, you’re really happy you made the detour.
It is weird.
It is interesting.
It is very Arizona.
And yes, technically, the main attraction is an enormous hole in the ground.
But there is actually a lot more here than that.
I Had Been to Meteor Crater Before
This was not my first visit to Meteor Crater.
My husband and I stopped here back in 2003 when we were driving from Texas to California, not long after we got married.
I remember thinking it was cool back then, mostly because…well…it is a gigantic crater.
You walk up, look down into this enormous hole in the Earth, and there is just something very strange and impressive about it.
But I also remember the attraction itself being much simpler.
Basically, there was a crater.
And you looked at the crater.
And then you left.
Okay, I am probably oversimplifying that a little bit, but not by much.
When we came back in 2024, the crater itself obviously had not changed.
The visitor experience absolutely had.
Meteor Crater now feels like a legitimate tourist attraction, with a museum, exhibits, interactive activities, a theater, NASA history, observation areas, a gift shop, and a café.
It was honestly much more interesting than I remembered.
What Is Meteor Crater?
Meteor Crater is exactly what it sounds like.
A giant meteorite slammed into the Arizona desert thousands of years ago and created an enormous crater.
And when you are standing at the edge of it, it is hard to really understand the size until you look across to the other side.
It is huge.
The crater is roughly three-quarters of a mile across and hundreds of feet deep.
Standing there, it almost looks like a giant bowl carved into the desert.
You can see the different layers of rock around the crater walls, and there are several viewpoints where you can get slightly different perspectives.
There are also telescopes you can use to look more closely at different areas inside the crater.
And honestly, that alone is pretty cool.
But what surprised me on this visit was how much effort they have put into explaining what happened here and why it matters.
The Visitor Center Is Much Better Than I Expected
This is the part that changed Meteor Crater from “cool roadside stop” to “actually very interesting attraction” for me.
The visitor center has a whole museum built around the science of meteor impacts.
There are displays explaining how the crater formed, exhibits about meteorites, interactive activities, and information about other major impact events.
One of the exhibits lets you create your own impact by changing things like the size, speed, density, and angle of an incoming object.
Which is basically a very educational way of letting kids destroy planets.
So obviously that is fun.
There is also a Ground Zero experience that walks you through what the impact might have been like.
The room changes lighting while you watch the meteor approach and then see what happens when it hits.
It is not some huge theme park attraction, but it was surprisingly immersive.
There is also a movie theater showing a film about the crater and its history.
Again, I was expecting to look at a big hole in the ground.
I was not expecting this much science.
Meteor Crater and NASA
One of my favorite parts of the visitor center was the connection to the U.S. space program.
Meteor Crater was used for astronaut training because the terrain helped scientists and astronauts better understand impact craters and lunar geology.
There are exhibits about that history, along with space-related displays and an Apollo test capsule outside.
That was really cool.
It also gives the attraction a little more depth because you start to understand why scientists cared so much about this particular crater.
This was not just a random giant hole in Arizona.
It became an important place for studying impacts, geology, and eventually even preparing astronauts for the Moon.
That is the kind of thing that makes a roadside stop much more memorable.
Is Meteor Crater Kid-Friendly?
Absolutely.
This is one of those attractions that works really well for families because there are enough interactive exhibits to keep kids interested, but it does not require an enormous time commitment.
There are buttons to push, simulations to play with, videos to watch, space exhibits, meteorites, and of course the crater itself.
And then there is the gift shop.
My daughter was really into rocks at the time.
So walking into a gift shop that was basically filled with rocks, minerals, crystals, fossils, and all kinds of other geological treasures was pretty much her version of winning the lottery.
I think she may have enjoyed the gift shop almost as much as the crater.
Honestly, maybe more.
And if you have a kid who loves rocks, space, science, geology, or just weird roadside attractions, this place is an easy win.
Seeing Meteor Crater
Of course, the main reason you are here is to actually see the crater.
And it is huge.
I know that sounds obvious because, yes, it is called Meteor Crater. But when you are standing there looking across it, it really is kind of hard to wrap your head around how big it is.
There are several places where you can go outside and look down into the crater, and I really liked that you could see it from a few different angles.
You do not have to do some huge hike to get a good view either.
There are paved areas and observation decks right by the visitor center, and then there are some stairs if you want to go up or down to some of the other viewpoints.
We did walk around to several of them, mostly because we were already there and wanted to see everything.
And the views were really cool.
The Observation Areas
One thing I liked about Meteor Crater is that you can kind of decide how much walking you want to do.
If you just want to walk outside, see the crater, take some pictures, and go back inside, you can do that.
If you want to explore more, there are stairs and additional viewing areas where you can get a little bit higher or lower.
There is also a lower observation platform that gets you closer to the rim.
I would not call any of this hardcore hiking.
It is more like walking around a tourist attraction that happens to have a giant meteor crater in the middle of it.
There are definitely stairs though, so you do not need to do every single viewpoint if stairs are an issue.
You can still see the crater really well without doing all of them.
Look Away From the Crater Too
This is something I probably would not have expected before we got there.
The scenery around Meteor Crater is really pretty too.
It is just this huge open Arizona landscape, and when we visited there were snow-covered mountains off in the distance.
So yes, obviously look at the crater.
But also turn around.
The views in the other direction are pretty fantastic too.
The Telescopes Were Fun
There are also telescopes set up around some of the viewing areas so you can look more closely at different parts of the crater.
That was fun because there are things down inside the crater that are hard to really see otherwise.
And honestly, looking through the telescopes made the crater seem even bigger.
You can look down there and see something that looks tiny from where you are standing, and then realize that it is not actually tiny at all.
Everything just looks small because the crater is so enormous.
How Long Do You Need at Meteor Crater?
We spent about an hour here.
And I think that was about right.
That gave us enough time to walk through the museum, see the crater, check out the different viewpoints, look through the gift shop, and get a snack.
You could definitely stay longer if you wanted to read every single exhibit or spend more time outside.
But I would not say you need to plan half a day here.
This is a really good road trip stop because it is interesting, but it does not take over your entire day.
For us, that was perfect because we were still trying to get to Page after our original plans completely fell apart.
We Grabbed a Snack at the Café
We did stop at the café while we were there.
It was good.
Nothing crazy.
Nothing I would tell you that you absolutely have to try.
But if you are hungry, it is perfectly decent and definitely convenient.
We had already had a weird morning with the snowstorm, the road closure, and missing our Antelope Canyon tour, so honestly it was just nice to sit down for a few minutes and eat something before getting back in the car.
I would absolutely eat there again if I was hungry.
The Gift Shop Was a Big Deal
At least it was a big deal to my daughter.
She was really into rocks at the time.
And Meteor Crater has rocks.
Lots and lots of rocks.
There were minerals, crystals, fossils, and all kinds of other things that she thought were extremely interesting.
So I think she could have spent quite a bit of time in the gift shop.
If you have a kid who likes rocks, definitely leave a little bit of time for this.
Actually, if you have a kid who likes rocks, just accept now that you are probably going to buy something.
Is Meteor Crater Worth Visiting?
Yes.
I definitely think it is.
Would I plan an entire Arizona vacation around Meteor Crater?
No.
But that is not really what this place is.
This is one of those attractions that is perfect when you are already road tripping through Arizona and it is somewhere near your route.
It is interesting.
It is unusual.
It is very easy to visit.
And now that they have built out the visitor center so much, there is actually quite a bit to see besides the crater itself.
I think that was the biggest surprise for me.
When my husband and I stopped here in 2003, I mostly remembered the crater.
This time, I thought the entire attraction was really well done.
The museum was interesting.
The NASA connection was interesting.
The crater itself is obviously impressive.
And my daughter had plenty to keep her interested too.
So even though this was absolutely not part of our original plan, I am really glad we stopped.
We missed Antelope Canyon because of a snowstorm.
We had to take the long way around to Page.
And somehow that turned into a return visit to Meteor Crater more than 20 years after the first time we saw it.
That is pretty much road trips in a nutshell.
Sometimes the thing you did not plan ends up being one of the things you are really glad you did.
Who Will Enjoy Meteor Crater?
I think Meteor Crater is one of those places that works for a lot of different people.
Families will like it because there is enough to keep kids interested.
Science and space people will obviously like it.
Geology people will probably really like it.
And honestly, even if you are none of those things, it is still pretty cool to stand on the edge of a massive meteor crater in the middle of Arizona.
It is also a good stop for people who like quirky roadside attractions.
And I mean that in the best possible way.
There is something very classic road trip about pulling off the highway to see a giant hole in the ground created by a meteor.
Is Meteor Crater Good With Kids?
Yes.
I think this is a really easy attraction to do with kids because it is not super long and there are enough interactive things inside to break up the museum part.
You have the crater.
You have the exhibits.
You have the space stuff.
You have the interactive displays.
And then you have a gift shop full of rocks.
So there is a pretty good chance at least one of those things will be a hit.
I also think the fact that you can do the whole thing in around an hour helps.
This is not the kind of attraction where everybody starts losing their minds three hours in.
You can see it, enjoy it, and keep going.
Where Does Meteor Crater Fit Into an Arizona Road Trip?
For me, this is exactly how I would visit Meteor Crater.
As part of a bigger Arizona road trip.
I would not build an entire day around it.
But if you are already driving through this part of Arizona, it is a really easy stop to add.
That is exactly how we ended up there.
Our plans changed.
We had to take a completely different route to Page.
Meteor Crater suddenly made sense.
And it ended up being one of the better surprises of the day.
So if you are looking at your route and thinking, “Hey, Meteor Crater is not that far out of the way,” I would go.
A Few Things to Know Before You Go
You really do not need a huge amount of time.
About an hour worked well for us.
Wear comfortable shoes because there are stairs and different viewing areas if you want to explore more.
You do not have to do all the stairs to see the crater.
There is food there if you need a snack.
And if your child likes rocks, maybe set a gift shop budget before you walk in.
I am just saying.
Final Thoughts on Visiting Meteor Crater
Meteor Crater was not one of the big headline attractions of our Arizona trip.
It was not the Grand Canyon.
It was not Antelope Canyon.
It was not something we had planned months ahead of time.
We basically ended up there because the weather messed up everything else.
And I think that is part of why I liked it so much.
It was easy.
It was interesting.
It was different.
And it gave us something really fun to do on a day when our original plans had completely fallen apart.
I had seen Meteor Crater more than 20 years earlier and remembered thinking it was cool.
This time, I thought the entire experience was much better.
The crater is still the crater.
But now there is enough around it to make the stop feel worthwhile.
If Meteor Crater is anywhere near your route through Arizona, I would absolutely stop.
It is one of those weird, interesting, very Arizona kinds of places that just fits perfectly into a road trip.
More Arizona Road Trip Ideas
If you are planning a bigger Arizona road trip, Meteor Crater fits really easily with both the Grand Canyon and Page.
Here are a few more places and planning guides to help you build out your trip:
- Grand Canyon South Rim Guide – Start here if you are planning your first visit to the South Rim and want an overview of what to see and how to organize your time.
- One Day at the Grand Canyon South Rim – If you only have one full day, this itinerary will help you make the most of it without trying to cram in too much.
- Best Grand Canyon Viewpoints Without Hardcore Hiking – You absolutely do not have to do a major hike to see some of the best views at the Grand Canyon.
- Things to Do in Page, Arizona – Page has a lot more than Antelope Canyon, and this guide covers the best things to add to your itinerary.
- 2–3 Day Page, Arizona Itinerary – If you have a few days, this is the itinerary I would use to fit in Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Glen Canyon, and a few other easy stops.
- Upper Antelope Canyon Tour Review – Upper Antelope Canyon was absolutely one of the highlights of our time in Page, and this post walks through exactly what the tour was like.
- Horseshoe Bend Guide – Horseshoe Bend is an easy add-on while you are in Page, and this guide covers what the walk is like, what to expect, and whether it is worth the stop.
