Ohhh what a beautiful place to visit and see. We first saw in 1956 and have been several times since then. I liked it best when we were there in 1956, no commercialization to speak of and the views were just beautiful with some forests as well. The commercialization has now removed a lot of the forests and there are tourist traps everywhere trying for your dollar.
We stayed one trip at a motel on the east end of the park, but don't remember the name of it. I am sure if you go out to the website you can find a lot of information as well. We have also stayed in Williams and taken the train up and back. You don't have much time to spend in the park and sight see if you go up and back in one day, but the train trip was neat and the entertainment on the way back was great as well.
We have also been to the north rim and also went to a place west of the park called Toro Weep. It reminded me of the first time we visited the GC no commercialization, actually nothing there but a portable john. Only so many could apply for camping permits at one time, no railings, so you had to be very careful. You don't want to walk up to the edge of the rim as the rocks roll under your feet and you can slip over the edge very easily. Most were lying flat on their stomach and crawling up to the edge to look over. The views were fantastic and oh what a drop straight down.
If you want to take the mule trip down to the bottom of the canyon, you have to make your reservations a year in advance unless you are lucky enough to get in on someone's cancellation. It never hurts to check to see if anything is available. We have not done that, but I think it would be a neat thing to do.
Regardless of when you go, take your time and enjoy the beauty of the canyon. As many times as I have been there, I would go back in a heartbeat! It changes all the time and the same view will look different at different times of the day with the changes of sunlight on it.
Didn't mean for this to get so long, but it is a BEAUTIFUL place, not just a whole in the ground type thing.