| Address | Near North Rim, AZ 86052 |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 36.0914, -112.1505 |
| Category | Hiking, Scenic |
| Nearest city | Tusayan |
| Region | Arizona, USA |
| Sources | geonames |
Dana Butte Travel Guide
Dana Butte is a mountain in Arizona. The nearest service base is Tusayan, roughly 15 km away.
Dana Butte at a Glance
- What it is: mountain (travel destination)
- Where it is: Near North Rim, AZ 86052 — coordinates 36.0914, 112.1505
- Why it is listed: a source-verified entry in the CollabsTravel master database, matched against official gazetteer and geographic records before publication
- Time needed: a couple of hours
- Best season: May to September
Quick Facts
| Place type | Mountain |
| Also good for | Hiking, Scenic |
| Region / state | Arizona |
| Postal address | Near North Rim, AZ 86052 |
| Nearest city | Tusayan |
| Coordinates | 36.0914, -112.1505 |
| Nearest base town | Tusayan (15 km) |
Why Dana Butte Is Worth Visiting
Dana Butte earns its place in this guide for a simple reason: it is a verified destination in Arizona,. Its position 15 km from Tusayan also makes it an easy add-on rather than a detour that costs half a day. Visitors book it for hiking, scenic as much as for destination. And unlike listicle recommendations, everything on this page - coordinates, category, sources - was checked against official records before publication.
About Dana Butte
In plain terms, Dana Butte is a mountain in the Arizona area of Arizona that travellers book around destination trips. Beyond its main draw, the record tags it for hiking, scenic too, so it rewards more than one kind of visit. Functionally it belongs to Tusayan - the town most maps and locals will reference when describing how to reach it. Everything stated on this page comes from that verified record; where background history is quoted, the source is named at the end of the section.
The Story of Dana Butte: History & Background
Dana Butte is a 4,964-foot (1,513 m) prominence adjacent to the course of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon and sits on the south side of Granite Gorge. Named for geologist and volcanologist James Dwight Dana, the butte is roughly 2.5 miles (4.0 km) north-northwest of Grand Canyon Village of the central Grand Canyon, and lies about 2.0 miles (3.2 km) due north of Pima Point (South Rim).
The butte lies at the end of a higher elevation bright-red, very narrow Supai Group ridgeline, and the spire of Dana Butte sits on the cliff-former Redwall Limestone that creates not only massive cliffs, but platforms that support younger rock units above. Dana Butte's prominence spire is dull gray, sitting on gray debris on the platform, and is composed of weathered Supai Group Manakacha Formation, also a cliff-former rock. Dana Butte drains west into the Salt Creek (Grand Canyon) drainage, and east into the adjacent canyon of the terminus of Salt Creek.
Lead passage from the Wikipedia article "Dana Butte", reused under CC BY-SA 4.0 with a coordinate-verified name match; the source article carries the full referenced history.
The Beauty of Dana Butte
What people mean when they call Dana Butte beautiful is usually the setting itself - the land, water and sky that put the place on maps. The light does most of the work: mid-latitude light gives the place two looks: clean blue summer noon and a low amber angle in spring and autumn. The seasons restyle everything around it - each season repaints it - plan the visit around the colour you want in your photos. And the beauty compounds with context: with 8 other verified places nearby, the Arizona area reads as one continuous landscape rather than a single viewpoint, which is worth more than any filter on the photos you take here.
Getting There
Dana Butte sits at 36.0914, 112.1505 in Arizona. Most visitors reach it by car, regional rail or local transit; pin the coordinates above rather than only the name - Dana Butte names repeat across regions, and rural entries often lack street addresses.
Base yourself in Tusayan and make this a half-day trip; services, fuel and lodging are easiest there. The run from Tusayan is about 15 km (9 mi) each way, so allow Tusayan as your anchor for the day.
Best Time to Visit
the desert Southwest runs hot from June to September, so spring (March–May) and fall (September–November) are the most comfortable months for hiking and outdoor plans.
Dana Butte Season by Season
- Summer (Jun-Aug) - peak season: the warmest, longest days and everything open, which also makes it the priciest and busiest window
- Autumn (Sep-Nov) - shoulder season: crowds drain away, the light turns photographic, and lodging rates typically fall
- Winter (Dec-Feb) - off-season: cheapest beds and empty viewpoints, but check for closures, snow or rain before committing
- Spring (Mar-May) - rebuild season: wildflowers, newborn wildlife and reopened facilities - the best balance if the weather holds
Things to Do
Planning what to actually do at Dana Butte comes down to the setting it sits in:
- Arrive with the exact coordinates (36.0914, -112.1505) pinned in your maps app — rural place names repeat across states
- Give the site one unhurried hour before adding anything else to the day
- Pair it with the nearest named attraction on this page to make a full loop
- Chain the stop with what is nearby — see the list below before fixing your day route
None of this needs a rigid schedule - the honest pattern at Dana Butte is one anchor at the nearest anchor town, one longer stop, and the rest of the time left for whatever looks better from the car window. That flexibility is what separates a good half-day from a rushed one.
A Perfect Day in Dana Butte
Morning (start early). Have breakfast at Tusayan and roll out before mid-morning - the light is softer, parking is open, and Dana Butte is at its quietest before the day-trippers arrive. Give the main stop its full due first rather than saving it for later.
Midday. From Dana Butte, Cheops Pyramid is only 4 km away - pair the two rather than driving home for lunch; a picnic beats a reservation near most of these spots.
Afternoon. Keep going to Grandeur Point (4 km) if the group still has legs; it is the standard second half of this loop.
Golden hour. End at the main viewpoint, waterfront or main street as the light drops; this is the hour Dana Butte is genuinely famous for locally, and it costs nothing.
Evening. Sleep at Tusayan unless the road out is long - leaving at dusk is the one mistake that can flatten an otherwise perfect day.
Know Before You Go to Dana Butte
- Save the pin (36.0914, -112.1505) offline - reception in Arizona is exactly as good as it needs to be and no better
- Check the official source listed at the bottom of this page for current hours, fees and closures before driving out
- Visit on weekdays: at most verified spots weekends triple the local traffic
- Bring the basics - water, layers, power bank - because facilities at this kind of place are self-service
Nearby Places Worth Combining
Dana Butte does not sit in isolation - these verified places are all within a short hop and combine into a full loop:
- Cheops Pyramid — place, about 4 km (2 mi) away
- Grandeur Point — place, about 4 km (2 mi) away
- Cope Butte — place, about 4 km (3 mi) away
- Horus Temple — place, about 5 km (3 mi) away
- Isis Temple — place, about 6 km (3 mi) away
- O'Neill Butte — place, about 6 km (4 mi) away
- Osiris Temple — place, about 7 km (4 mi) away
- Schellbach Butte — place, about 7 km (4 mi) away
Planning More of Your Trip
See all destinations in Arizona on the Arizona state hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Dana Butte worth visiting?+
Yes, if you are in the area for more than a single day. Dana Butte is a verified mountain in Arizona that most drive-by lists miss, and the official-record provenance behind this page means the location, name and access facts are checked rather than guessed. Give it a couple of hours.
Where exactly is Dana Butte?+
Dana Butte sits at Near North Rim, AZ 86052, coordinates 36.0914, -112.1505. The postal locality is North Rim - use the coordinates rather than the name alone, because place names repeat across regions and a map pin beats a keyword search.
How far is Dana Butte from the nearest city?+
Dana Butte is about 15 km (9 mi) from Tusayan, which is an easy out-and-back day trip - most visitors base themselves in Tusayan and make the run in well under an hour each way.
What is the best time to visit Dana Butte?+
May to September. Book the shoulder months either side of that window for the same scenery at lower prices, and check seasonal closures before fixing dates.
How long do you need at Dana Butte?+
Plan on a couple of hours for a first visit - the highlights at a normal pace without rushing. Add another half day if you want to combine it with the nearby places listed above.
Is Dana Butte good for families with kids?+
It works with kids who have patience for the setting; judge it by your shortest-attention traveller and keep the visit to the first highlight.
Does Dana Butte cost anything to visit?+
Most public places like this have no entry fee, but parking, guided programs and seasonal shuttles are the usual small costs. Confirm current fees with the official source cited on this page - they change more often than guidebooks do.
What is near Dana Butte?+
The closest verified neighbour is Cheops Pyramid; the nearby list above has the full set with distances, and combining two or three of them is the standard way to fill a day around Dana Butte.
Is Dana Butte open to visitors, and do you need a permit?+
Public places listed here are visitable by default; the permit exceptions are usually specific activities (backcountry camping, drones, commercial photography) rather than the visit itself. Check the cited official source for anything activity-based.
Should you visit Dana Butte in bad weather?+
Rain reshapes rather than ruins the day - viewpoints become cloud-scapes and trails get muddy. Keep Dana Butte as a fair-weather item on your trip and swap in the covered alternatives from the regional list when the forecast turns.
What makes Dana Butte different from other places like it?+
Its exact combination: a mountain in Arizona with verified coordinates and, where listed, an official designation. The difference is usually the setting and the access pattern rather than the category label - the facts table on this page shows that specifically.
Can you visit Dana Butte as a day trip?+
Yes - at a couple of hours on site, a day loop is realistic: morning at Dana Butte, one nearby stop, and home by evening. The Perfect Day section above has the hour-by-hour version.
What is Dana Butte known for?+
In the wider record, mountain-class place: Dana Butte is a 4,964-foot (1,513 m) prominence adjacent to the course of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon and sits on the south side of Granite Gorge. This guide adds the practical layer - verified coordinates, access, seasonality and what to combine it with.
What is the most beautiful thing about Dana Butte?+
The honest short answer is in The Beauty of Dana Butte section above, but distilled: what people mean when they call dana butte beautiful is usually the setting itself - the land, water and sky that put the place on maps. Come for the light and the setting rather than a single checklist object.
Is Dana Butte crowded?+
Dana Butte sits below the headline-name tier in its region, so crowding is an event-and-weekend problem rather than a standing one. Weekday mornings in the shoulder season are the quietest version of the visit.
What is the history of Dana Butte?+
The History & Background section above quotes the coordinate-verified Wikipedia lead for Dana Butte, which is the shortest trustworthy path into its past - dates, name origin and the events that shaped it, with the full referenced article linked there. ## Source Verification This guide's facts come from official public datasets: [Geonames record 5291986](https://www.geonames.org/5291986). Location data is reviewed in per-state batches before publication.
Nearby destinations
Cheops Pyramid
Mountain · Arizona
Grandeur Point
Mountain · Arizona
Cope Butte
Mountain · Arizona
Horus Temple
Mountain · Arizona
Isis Temple
Mountain · Arizona
O'Neill Butte
Mountain · Arizona
Osiris Temple
Mountain · Arizona
Schellbach Butte
Mountain · Arizona