The Grand Canyon is one of the world\’s most beautiful places. You can explore it on foot or by car. But if you really want to capture the essence of this natural wonder, you\’ve got to take a helicopter tour.

Big Park

Know how big the National Park is? Try more than 1 million acres. That\’s a lot of wilderness, and much of it\’s inaccessible. Unless you fly over it in a chopper.

There are two places where you can catch a helicopter ride. Las Vegas is the most popular, and then there\’s Tusayan, AZ, home to Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN).

There are numerous air tour companies in Las Vegas, and each departs from different airstrips, including ones on the Vegas Strip and in Henderson, NV, and Boulder City, NV.

From Las Vegas

Naturally, if you leave from the Strip, you\’ll pay a premium for the convenience. If you depart from a Vegas suburb like Boulder City, you\’ll lock in the cheapest rates (the drive from LV to Boulder is about 30 minutes).

Las Vegas helicopters fly direct to the West Rim, which is a smooth-and-easy flight that takes about 45 minutes. Helicoptering to the South Rim is impossible as this destination is 277 miles from the City of Entertainment and out of reach of choppers.

The cool thing about the West Rim is that it\’s the only place in the whole National Park where you can take a chopper to the bottom. To do this, you need to select a landing package (versus an air-only trip). The most popular trip in this category gives you 30 minutes at the bottom and comes with a Champagne picnic.

Boat Ride & More!

Other landing trips that I like include taking a steel-pontoon boat down the Colorado River or the Grand Canyon Skywalk. If you\’re not familiar with the glass bridge, it\’s the internationally famous attraction that lets you stroll over the edge on a deck of glass until you are suspended 4,000 feet over the bottom.

Air-only flights from Vegas are great, too, especially for travelers who are pinched for time or who can\’t afford a landing trip. Like the landing tours, aerial trips go over beautiful Lake Mead and stunning Hoover Dam before hovering over the Grand Canyon and making the return passage back to Vegas.

South Rim helicopters all leave year-round from Tusayan (yes, even during winter!). Only aerial tours are available. This is because flying below the rim is prohibited by the National Park Service (NPS). That\’s all good and fine because the aerial options are superb. Choices include a 30-minute ride or a 50-minute one. From my perspective, I prefer the longer tour because it lets you see nearly 75 percent of the Park in under an hour!

Conclusion

I hope this article helped you understand your options when it comes to seeing the Grand Canyon by helicopter. You can catch these thrilling flights from Las Vegas or Tusayan, AZ. Trips depart on the hour every day of the year. From Vegas, give strong consideration to landing tours as they are a better value for the money. If based in Tusayan, most definitely go with the 50-minute flight. None of this will matter, however, if you can’t get a seat. That’s why I recommend booking ahead of time. And, to save you some extra cash, purchase your trip online. Just remember to complete the transaction on the website in order to get the discount.

Travel editor Keith Kravitz is an expert on Grand Canyon helicopter flights. He recommends going here for South Rim discounts and here for Las Vegas coupons: http://www.grandcanyonhelicopter.org/west-rim-coupons.html

Travel editor Keith Kravitz is an expert on Grand Canyon helicopter tours. He recommends going here for terrific prices on these fine canyon flights: http://www.grandcanyonhelicopter.org/grand-canyon-helicopter-tour-coupons.html

Author Bio: Travel editor Keith Kravitz is an expert on Grand Canyon helicopter flights. He recommends going here for South Rim discounts and here for Las Vegas coupons: http://www.grandcanyonhelicopter.org/west-rim-coupons.html

Category: Travel
Keywords: grand canyon helicopters, grand canyon tours, grand canyon, las vegas tours, las vegas helicopters