The honest answer
Is a Grand Canyon helicopter tour worth it? The honest answer
Two answers come back with equal conviction from people who have done it: it was the best thing I have ever done, and it was four hundred dollars for twenty-five minutes. Both are true, and the difference between them is almost always something the person did or did not know before they booked.
Quick answer
Yes for the landing tours, with one condition: know that you are flying to Grand Canyon West rather than to the national park. Standing eleven hundred metres down beside the Colorado River is the part people describe years afterwards, and the listing that does it carries 1,164 reviews at 4.9 — the best evidence on this page. A flight that only passes overhead is a good forty-five minutes and a less obvious purchase. And the Strip flight at $93 is worth it for almost everybody, because it costs less than a show ticket.
What the numbers say
- Reviews across all flights
- 7,065on the twelve listings on this page
- Average rating
- 4.71weighted by how many people rated each flight
- Best-rated flight
- 4.9the canyon landing tour, 1,164 reviews
- Most-rated flight
- 2,061the cheapest night Strip flight, at 4.6
- Cheapest way to find out
- $9312 minutes over the Strip
- Typical complaint
- The rim was not the parkand it is a booking problem, not a flying one
- Second complaint
- The middle seatseats are assigned by weight, not chosen
- What people remember
- The edge, and the floorthe moment the ground stops, and the river
- Coach, for comparison
- About a fifthof the price, and ten to twelve hours
- Free cancellation
- All twelve flightsup to 24 hours before
Why people say yes
What a helicopter gives you that nothing else at the canyon does
The edge, the floor, and an afternoon you keep.
The edge. This is the thing that comes up most and it is not the canyon itself. It is the moment: forty minutes of flat brown Mojave with nothing in it, and then the ground stops and falls away eleven hundred metres, with no warning and no approach. Passengers consistently say no photograph prepared them for it, and it is over in about four seconds.
The floor. Only a helicopter goes there — there is no road — and only at Grand Canyon West. The rotors wind down and what is left is the river, the wind and rock going up on both sides of you. People who have both flown over the canyon and stood in it describe these as different experiences rather than different amounts of the same one.
The hours back. Three hours against a twelve-hour coach day. On a short Las Vegas trip that is the difference between the canyon costing you a morning and costing you a quarter of the holiday.
And on the Strip flights, the sheer value. Eleven minutes over six and a half kilometres of neon for $93 is the cheapest genuinely memorable thing in Las Vegas.
Why people say no
The three complaints, and how to avoid all of them
Three complaints, three booking decisions, all avoidable from a page like this.
"It was not the real Grand Canyon." The commonest one, and it is a booking problem. Every helicopter from Las Vegas goes to Grand Canyon West, on Hualapai land, not to Grand Canyon National Park. The West Rim is a genuine part of the canyon and it is shallower and narrower than the South Rim in the postcards. Know that going in and almost nobody minds; find out afterwards and some people mind a great deal.
"I got the middle seat." Every operator weighs passengers and the pilot seats the cabin by weight so the aircraft balances. Only the daytime Strip flight at $98 writes a window into the booking. Everywhere else it is the scale that decides.
"Seven hours for twenty-five minutes of flying." The advertised duration is air time. The trip is the transfer, the check-in, the flight, the ground time and the flight back. Read the trip length before you book, and if the day matters, take the two-and-a-half-hour listings rather than the seven-hour one.
All three are decided before you pay, which is the useful thing about them.
Who should skip it
Four honest reasons not to book
We earn a commission when you book and it is still worth writing this down.
- You are going to the South Rim later in the trip
You will get the canyon properly there, from the rim with the overlooks and the depth. The West Rim flight becomes optional rather than necessary.
- The budget is genuinely tight
A coach to the same place costs about a fifth as much. Or take the Strip flight at $93, which is a real experience for a fifth of a canyon trip.
- You only have an afternoon and the weather is unsettled
Summer storms move flights at short notice. A coach runs when a helicopter does not.
- Small spaces and noise bother you
It is loud even with a headset, the cabin is small, and on a canyon flight there is no getting out for forty-five minutes. If that description already sounds unpleasant, it will be.
Decided it is worth it? Here is every flight compared, cheapest first.
All twelve flights ranked→Common questions
Is it worth it, answered
Is a Grand Canyon helicopter tour worth it?
For the landing tours, yes for most people — the listing that puts you on the canyon floor carries 1,164 reviews at 4.9. The condition is knowing that Las Vegas helicopters fly to Grand Canyon West rather than to the national park.
Is the Las Vegas Strip flight worth it?
For almost everybody. Eleven minutes over the lit Strip costs $93, which is less than a show ticket, and it is the most-rated flight on this page at 2,061 reviews.
What do people complain about most?
Three things: that the West Rim is not the national park, that the seat was in the middle, and that a seven-hour trip contained twenty-five minutes of flying. All three are decided at booking.
Is it better than the coach?
Different. The coach gives you more time at the rim for about a fifth of the price. The helicopter gives you the flight, your afternoon back, and the only route to the canyon floor.
What is the average rating?
Across all twelve flights on this page, 7,065 reviews average 4.71 weighted by how many people rated each listing.
Should I book the cheapest one?
On the Strip, yes — the cheapest is also the most-rated. On the canyon, no: the cheapest canyon listing is a seven-hour day, and the landing tour at $470 gives you far more canyon per hour spent.
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.
