Hoover Dam
Hoover Dam helicopter tour from Las Vegas: 35 minutes, $207
Two hundred and twenty-one metres of concrete wedged into a black rock canyon, holding back a lake that runs for a hundred and eighty kilometres. From the road you see a wall. From the air you see what it is actually doing. One flight on this page goes there, and it is the only one.
Quick answer
A Hoover Dam helicopter tour from Las Vegas costs $207 and lasts thirty-five minutes in the air, in daylight. The route takes in the dam itself, the Black Canyon of the Colorado below it, Lake Mead behind it, and the Las Vegas Strip on the way back. It is the only listing on this page that goes to the dam, and it is a new listing — 27 reviews at 4.5 — so treat the score as thin and the product as sound.
The Hoover Dam from the air, at a glance
- Height of the dam
- 221 mfrom bedrock to the crest
- What it holds back
- Lake Meadthe largest reservoir in the United States by volume
- Distance from the Strip
- About 50 kmsouth-east, on the Nevada-Arizona border
- The flight
- $20735 minutes in the air, daylight
- What else is on the route
- Lake Mead, the Stripand the Black Canyon below the dam
- Reviews
- 27 at 4.5a new listing — read the count, not just the score
- By road, for comparison
- About 45 mineach way, plus parking and the tour queue
- Best light
- Morningthe canyon below the dam is in shadow by afternoon
- Whole outing
- About 2 hoursdoor to door
- Free cancellation
- Yesup to 24 hours before
What you see
Thirty-five minutes over the dam, the lake and the Strip
An empty basin, a flooded canyon, a wall, and the city on the way home.
Out over the desert to the south-east. Las Vegas ends abruptly and then there is nothing at all for twenty minutes, which is itself worth seeing: the city sits in an empty basin with mountains on every side.
Lake Mead arrives first. A flooded canyon system rather than a lake with a shore, running back into the rock in a dozen directions. The white band around the edge — the bathtub ring, where the water used to be — is one of the clearest things visible from the air and the reason a lot of people go quiet for a moment.
Then the dam. From above you see what the road cannot show you: the scale of the wall against the narrowness of Black Canyon, the intake towers standing in the lake, the bypass bridge downstream of it, and the Colorado River coming out the bottom as a thin green line and heading off toward the Grand Canyon.
And back over the Strip. In daylight, which is a different picture from the night flights: the shape of the city and the desert around it, rather than the neon.
Dam by air or by road
Which one to do
They are not the same visit and the price gap is large.
- By helicopter, $207
Thirty-five minutes in the air, about two hours door to door, and the only way to see the dam in its landscape — the lake behind it, the canyon below it, the bridge downstream.
- By road, a fraction of the price
Forty-five minutes each way from the Strip, plus parking and a queue. What you get instead is the inside: the tour of the generator hall, the walkways, the sheer face of the thing from the bottom of a lift shaft.
- Both, if the dam genuinely interests you
They show you opposite halves of the same object. The flight explains where it is; the tour explains what it does.
If you have half a day rather than two hours, the Grand Canyon flights are the other daytime option.
The Grand Canyon flights→Common questions
The Hoover Dam flight, answered
How much is a Hoover Dam helicopter tour?
$207 from Las Vegas for thirty-five minutes in the air, including Lake Mead and the Strip on the way back. It is the only listing on this page that goes to the dam.
How high is the Hoover Dam?
About 221 metres from bedrock to the crest, wedged into Black Canyon on the Colorado River at the Nevada-Arizona border.
Does the helicopter land at the dam?
No. It is an overflight of thirty-five minutes covering the dam, Lake Mead, Black Canyon and the Strip. If you want to go inside, that is a road trip and a separate ticket.
Is it better than driving there?
It is different. The flight shows you the dam in its landscape, which the road cannot. The road trip gets you inside it, which the flight cannot. The dam is about forty-five minutes from the Strip by car.
What is the white line around Lake Mead?
The mineral band left on the rock where the water level used to sit. It is one of the clearest features from the air and it is why a lot of passengers go quiet as they pass.
When is the best time of day to fly?
Morning. Black Canyon below the dam falls into shadow through the afternoon, and in summer the desert thermals make a late flight bumpier.
Go deeper
More on flying from Las Vegas
The Grand Canyon flight
Three hours from the Strip to the canyon floor, from $470.
Which rimWest Rim or South Rim
Where the Vegas helicopters actually go, and what you give up.
CostWhat it costs
From $93 to $1,271, and what a minute in the air is worth.
The StripFlying the Strip
Eleven to fifteen minutes over the neon, from $93.
After darkFlying at night
Why almost every Strip flight sells the night version.
SkywalkThe Skywalk by air
Eagle Point, the glass bridge, and whether it is worth it.
