Grand Canyon village .Its a strip of hotels , A Pizza hut restaurant which is part of a cinema . Mac Donald’s and few steak houses a gas station & shop , Trading Post gifts and food and that’s your lot. Not what you’d expect beside a world heritage site

An early morning hike down part of South Kaibab Trail is always an exhilarating way to start the day. Ooh-Aah Point or Cedar Ridge are popular destinations for day-hikers on the trail. Especially in the summer, you want to get your hiking done in the morning. It'll take 1-3hours depending on how far you decide to go. Take the orange shuttle from the visitor center to reach the trailhead. Bring adequate water and maybe some salty snacks. Besides the views right in the village itself, there are great viewpoints to the west along Hermit Road. During the spring, summer, and winter, you'll use the free shuttle to get to them. In the winter, you'll use your own car. About 3 hours will cover it. There are also a series of great viewpoints to the easy along Desert View Drive. It is only reachable with your own vehicle. Takes about 3 hours to cover it.

Best place for a quick lunch would probably be the Maswik Food Court in the Maswik Lodge area. And you can take the blue shuttle bus line to get back to your car at the main visitor center, you don't have to walk all the way back.

Look at a road map or google maps- It is a long, long drive on several different highways between Las vegas Nevada and Grand Canyon Village on the south rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. There are no crossings between the new bridge at Hoover Dam on the Black Canyon and Navajo Bridge near Glen Canyon Dam on the Arizona/Utah boirder. You might do better to fly to Phoenix (AZ) or Flagstaff (AZ) and rent a car there. That being said, no matter how you get there, the only toll is the entrance fee to Grand Canyon National Park. Lodgings in the park fill quickly so you may want to check Tusayan, Williams, and Flagstaff.

You can't really avoid tourists, it is the Grand Canyon after all. But it is a huge place, so it's not like you'll be packed wall-to-wall. If your concern is not to have too much hustle and bustle as you step out in the morning, then you probably don't want to stay right on the rim at places like Bright Angel Lodge, El Tovar, Thunderbird Lodge. If you stay further back, say at Maswik or Yavapai, it's more quiet. Yes, you can stay very, very far away from the South Rim, but then what's the point in coming?

Only during the off season. The shuttle is great..

There were lots of people with dogs on leashes when we were there so I'd say the answer is yes. Make sure you have a really good leash because there are a lot of places with no guard rails.

Not sure, we took the train in.

Shuttle will work, but you can get great views from El Tovar area + food + shopping. If you have a limited amount of time, I would do this first - then see if you want to explore and have time for other areas.