Disclosed herein is an upright vacuum cleaner having a movement control grip that is capable of performing switch between automatic operation mode and manual operation mode on the movement control grip. The grip comprises a grip body, having a square section, connected to the upper end of a cleaner body while being bent to the cleaner body, upper and lower guide members vertically connected to each other while surrounding the grip body such that the upper and lower guide members can be slid along the outer surface of the grip body, a grip returning unit disposed at the grip body for resiliently returning the upper and lower guide members to their original positions, and a grip sensor unit mounted at the grip body for sensing the forward or rearward movement direction of upper and lower guide members relative to the grip body.