Meteor Crater

About this spectacle

Meteor Crater (officially Barringer Meteorite Crater) is one of the best-preserved impact craters on Earth, sitting in the high desert of northern Arizona. Visitors stand at the rim and gaze into a vast bowl carved roughly 50,000 years ago by a nickel-iron meteorite. The scale is staggering — the crater stretches nearly a mile across and drops hundreds of feet to a flat, pale floor dusted with debris. The surrounding plains are arid and open, with the San Francisco Peaks visible on the horizon. An outdoor rim trail and enclosed museum tell the story of impact science and early space-age exploration. The dry desert air and unobstructed sky give the site an otherworldly stillness. Photography from the rim captures dramatic shadows across the crater floor in morning and late-afternoon light, when low sun angles reveal the subtle topography of the ejecta blanket.

When to go

Jan — Dec, peak Sep — May

Getting there

Nearest airport: FLG. Nearest city: Flagstaff.

Booking options

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