Best of · canyons
The 11 Most Spectacular Canyons & Gorges on Earth
11 places · every one real, mapped, and worth the trip
A canyon is a cross-section of deep time — millions of years of rock laid bare by a river's patient cutting. The greatest range from a mile-deep painted chasm to slot canyons barely wide enough to walk, and from Africa's vast rift to gorges you wade through the middle of. This is our editors' pick, loosely ordered by the strength of the spectacle.
Every one is a real, mapped place with an honest guide to reaching it and the best season to go — several are punishing in high summer or impassable in flood, so each entry notes what it takes.
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Grand Canyon The great chasm
Arizona, United States
The benchmark against which all others are measured — a mile deep, up to 18 miles wide, and glowing in bands of red and gold as the Colorado River winds far below.
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Durmitor & the Tara Canyon Europe's deepest canyon
Durmitor National Park, northern Montenegro
The Tara has cut roughly 1,300 metres down through the limestone plateau of northern Montenegro over some 80 kilometres.
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Colca Canyon Twice the Grand Canyon's depth
Arequipa Region, southern Peru
One of the deepest canyons on Earth, roughly twice the depth of the Grand Canyon, where Andean condors ride the morning thermals up terraced Peruvian walls.
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Fish River Canyon Africa's grandest
ǁKaras, southern Namibia
Among the largest canyons in the world and the grandest in Africa — a vast, ancient gash across the Namibian desert, best seen at sunrise or on the multi-day trek along its floor.
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Verdon Gorge Europe's grand canyon
Provence, southeastern France
France's turquoise-watered limestone gorge, up to 700 metres deep, ringed by clifftop drives and paddled by kayak along its jewel-coloured river.
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Zion Canyon
Utah, United States
A sheer-walled sandstone canyon in Utah you explore from the bottom up — wading the Narrows through the river itself and scaling the exposed spine of Angels Landing.
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Copper Canyon
Sierra Tarahumara, Chihuahua, Mexico
A network of gorges in Mexico's Sierra Madre larger and in places deeper than the Grand Canyon, crossed by one of the world's great railway journeys.
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Antelope Canyon
Navajo Nation, near Page, Arizona, United States
The world's most photographed slot canyon, on Navajo land in Arizona — smooth, wave-like sandstone walls lit by shafts of midday sun.
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Vikos Gorge
Zagori, Pindus Mountains, Epirus, Greece
A dramatically deep gorge in Greece's Pindus mountains, often cited among the deepest in the world relative to its width, walked between stone-built Zagori villages.
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Blyde River Canyon
Mpumalanga, South Africa
One of the largest green canyons in the world, in South Africa — forested walls, round-rock potholes, and the Three Rondavels above the Blyde River.
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Charyn Canyon
Almaty Region, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan's 'Valley of Castles' — eroded red-rock spires and walls that recall the American Southwest, hidden in the steppe east of Almaty.
Canyons are creatures of season and water: desert ones bake in summer and glow in the low light of dawn and dusk, while slot canyons and wadeable gorges can turn lethal in flash floods. Each guide notes the best window and the risks — always check current conditions before you descend.
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