July 4th vacation week, one of summer\’s biggest holidays, will soon be here. And if you\’re planning on doing a Grand Canyon airplane tour during this time, book it now as flights are filling up fast.

There are two locations from which planes fly: Las Vegas and Tusayan, Arizona, which is home to Grand Canyon National Park Airport. Flights leave hourly from early morning to the end of the day and at sunset.

Las Vegas

All Vegas plane tours go over Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, the Colorado River and the Canyon. If you pick an all-air tour, you\’ll fly over all this and head back to Vegas. If you take a landing tour, you\’ll land on the top of the West Rim.

The great thing about landing tours is that not only are they a great value but they can be upgraded to include some terrific add-ons like helicopter rides to the bottom, VIP Skywalk tickets, Colorado River boat rides and much more.

My personal favorite is the tour that lands and comes with a helicopter ride 4K feet to the bottom. From there, you do a boat cruise then head back to the top via helicopter and experience the Grand Canyon Skywalk. It\’s a heck of a tour and one that let\’s you see as much as possible in less than a day.

Direct Flight

My other favorite plane tour is the Vegas direct flight to the South Rim. The flight itself takes just 60 minutes (compare that to driving 5.5 hours by rental car or bus!). Once at South Rim, you take a bus tour inside the National Park and enjoy lunch there as well. You can even add a helicopter ride from South Rim to North Rim and back.

South Rim also offers an airplane tour. It\’s 50 minutes of pure airtime and goes from the South Rim to the East Rim to the North Rim and back. After you\’ve done this flight, you\’ll have seen up to 75 percent of the National Park. That\’s quite a feet considering it would take weeks to come close to a fraction of what this flight delivers.

I do recommend that you book these airplane tours in advance and online. Typically, I suggest getting your tour locked down right after you get your hotel booked. However, if you get in a pinch, try to do it within 5 days of flight time. Avoid same-day bookings as they can get quite expensive. Finally, make sure to complete your transaction online in order qualify for the cheap online discount rate.

Don\’t forget to dress for hot weather. It easily gets to over 100 degrees here at the West Rim and gets near that at the South Rim. As such, I recommend you bring sunglasses, sun block, a brimmed hat, a lightweight long-sleeved shirt and an extra bottle of water or two. A salty snack like trail mix also comes in handy.

Conclusion

I hope this article about July 4th holiday weekend airplane tours to the Grand Canyon proved helpful. When it comes to Vegas, I prefer the landing tours, especially the one that combines helicopter, boat and Skywalk. And at South Rim, do consider the 50-min. Flight – if it\’s still available. Just remember to book early and book online. That way you can get the best flights at the cheapest rates.

The author is an expert on Grand Canyon sightseeing tours and strongly recommends that readers go here for the best flights on Canyon airplane tours form Las Vegas and the South Rim: http://www.grandcanyondaytrips.com/best-airplane-tours/

The author is an expert on Grand Canyon sightseeing tours and strongly recommends that readers go here for the best flights on Canyon airplane tours form Las Vegas and the South Rim: http://www.grandcanyondaytrips.com/best-airplane-tours/

Author Bio: The author is an expert on Grand Canyon sightseeing tours and strongly recommends that readers go here for the best flights on Canyon airplane tours form Las Vegas and the South Rim: http://www.grandcanyondaytrips.com/best-airplane-tours/

Category: Travel
Keywords: sightseeing tours