Hoover Dam holds back Lake Mead on the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada, at the end of US 93 from the Valley. Tour tickets are not currently available. Tours and tickets, parking on each side, the security checkpoint, the bridge walkway and the trails nearby, from the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service and ADOT.
1 Hoover Dam · 2 Boulder City. Pin 1 is the Bureau of Reclamation's published coordinate; pin 2 is the U.S. Geological Survey's Geographic Names point. The Visitor Center, the bridge walkway lot and the trailheads have no agency-published coordinates, so they have no pin. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
About 233 miles in a straight line from Phoenix City Hall to the dam, and about 244 from Mesa City Hall, measured to the Bureau of Reclamation's coordinates. ADOT puts US 93 from Wickenburg to the Nevada line at 200 miles. Road miles run longer than the straight line.
The Bureau of Reclamation charges for its tours and the Visitor Center, and $10 for the Nevada-side parking garage. Lots 13 and 14 on the Arizona side are free. Walking on top of the dam is not allowed after dark.
The Guided Dam Tour is a 10-minute movie plus about a one-hour guided tour. The Power Plant Tour's guided portion is about 30 minutes.
Tour tickets are not currently available. As of October 2026, Reclamation lists Hoover Dam tour tickets as not currently available, so call 702-494-2517 before you go. When sales run, the Guided Dam Tour is $40 per person, sold on site only, first come, first served, and Reclamation says it routinely sells out. The Power Plant Tour is $25 for adults and $15 for ages 4 to 16. A self-guided Visitor Center ticket is $15. Children 3 and under are free.
Yes. The Guided Dam Tour goes through the historic tour tunnels and inspection tunnels, rides the original elevator to the top and includes the Power Plant Tour. The Power Plant Tour visits a platform over a 30-foot penstock and eight generators in the Nevada Powerhouse.
Yes, on the Arizona side: Lots 13 and 14 are free, and Lot 9 is $10. The Nevada-side garage by the Visitor Center is $10 per vehicle. RVs, trailers and oversized vehicles must use the Arizona-side lots.
Yes, to reach the Arizona-side lots, after the security checkpoint on Nevada State Route 172. You cannot stop on top of the dam, even to drop off passengers. Reclamation's directions return Arizona-bound visitors through Nevada to cross on the bypass bridge.
The Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, which carries the highway 900 feet above the Colorado River. It was dedicated October 14, 2010 and opened to traffic October 19, 2010.
Yes, on the pedestrian walkway, during daylight only. Reclamation lists about 70 parking spaces just past the security checkpoint in Nevada.
Reclamation lists it at 726.4 feet from foundation rock to the roadway on the crest, with 3.25 million cubic yards of concrete in the dam itself and a nameplate capacity of about 2,080 megawatts. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated it on September 30, 1935.
Lake Mead, the reservoir behind the dam, stretches about 110 miles up the Colorado River toward the Grand Canyon, Reclamation says.
Reclamation's tour and Visitor Center tickets do not accept interagency passes such as America the Beautiful. The National Park Service charges a Lake Mead National Recreation Area entrance fee for recreating in the park: $25 per vehicle for up to 7 days.
Bags are inspected at building screening. Firearms, knives of any size, drones and marijuana are prohibited, and pets are not allowed on the dam or in the buildings, though service animals are welcome. Sealed food and bottled water may be carried.
From the Valley, Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon and the Rim are all road trips away. If you are weighing a move or a second home, I can walk you through the areas that fit how you live.
Checked 27 October 2026. Tours, prices, hours, parking, security, accessibility and directions: Bureau of Reclamation, Hoover Dam visitor services and directions; tour lengths from Reclamation's 2024 Visitor Center map; bridge walkway parking and pedestrian rules from Reclamation's crossing guide. Dam history and numbers: Reclamation's chronology, dam FAQ, power FAQ, lake FAQ and project page. Bridge: ADOT and the Federal Highway Administration. Lake Mead fees, visitor center and trails: National Park Service. Museum: bchdmuseum.org. Route 66 Museum: mohavemuseum.org. Route and road work: ADOT. Straight-line distances: each city hall's Maricopa County Assessor point to Reclamation's coordinates. Left off: senior and military tour prices (none posted), parking garage hours (not posted), whether driving to the dam itself needs the Lake Mead fee (no agency page says), and total concrete volume (Reclamation's two pages differ; the dam's own 3.25 million cubic yards is used). Photo: Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, Kate Headley, 2015 (public domain, Wikimedia Commons). The questions answered are ones people search on Google, each answered only from the pages above.
