The Strip
Las Vegas Strip helicopter tour: eleven minutes over the neon
The Las Vegas Strip is six and a half kilometres long. A helicopter flies it twice in eleven minutes, and the whole evening costs less than a show ticket. Four flights on this page do it, from $93, and the differences between them come down to two things: daylight or dark, and whether anybody collects you from your hotel.
Quick answer
A Las Vegas Strip helicopter tour costs from $93 and lasts eleven to fifteen minutes in the air, with the whole evening taking about ninety minutes. The cheapest is a night flight at $93 with 2,061 reviews at 4.6 — the most-rated flight on this page. The one we would book is the daytime flight at $98, because it is the only listing here that writes a window seat into the booking rather than leaving it to the weigh-in.
Flying the Strip, at a glance
- Length of the Strip
- 6.8 kmand eleven minutes covers it twice
- Cheapest
- $9312 minutes at night, 2,061 reviews at 4.6
- Shortest
- $9311 minutes, 1,938 reviews at 4.7
- With a guaranteed window
- $9815 minutes, the only one that promises it
- With hotel transfers
- $10311 minutes, pickup and drop-off included
- Whole evening
- About 90 mincheck-in, weigh-in, briefing, flight, photographs
- Best time
- After darkthe neon is the entire point
- Cost per minute
- $7.75on the cheapest — the best value on this page
- Reviews across the four
- 4,668more than the eight canyon flights combined
- Free cancellation
- All fourup to 24 hours before
What you see
Eleven minutes over Las Vegas, in order
The Strip as one object, flown twice, in about eleven minutes.
The first thirty seconds. Off the pad and the city arranges itself: the Strip running north to south in a line of light, the dark desert on both sides of it, and the mountains beyond that. People consistently say this is the moment — not any single hotel, but the shape of the place.
Down the west side. The big properties come past one at a time and much closer than you expect: the fountains, the towers, the pyramid at the south end with its beam going straight up into the sky. From the air the Strip is obviously a single engineered object rather than a street.
The turn at the south end and back up the east side. Different angle, different hotels, and the airport traffic below you on the way back. Eleven minutes is long enough to do this twice.
What you do not get is the Grand Canyon, which is two hundred kilometres away and a different product entirely, or much of Las Vegas beyond the Strip itself — the rest of the city is suburbs and desert.
The four Strip flights
Which of them to book
They fly the same six and a half kilometres. What differs is the light and the logistics.
- The cheapest, $93
Twelve minutes at night and the most-rated flight on this page: 2,061 reviews at 4.6. No transfers — you make your own way to the terminal, which is worth about an hour of your evening and a taxi each way.
- The shortest, $93
Eleven minutes, 1,938 reviews at 4.7, and the classic version of this flight. If you want the cheapest well-evidenced night flight and do not mind the arrangements, this or the one above.
- With a window seat written in, $98
Fifteen minutes in daylight and the only listing on this page that guarantees you a window rather than leaving it to the weigh-in. Our top pick, and for a helicopter that guarantee is worth more than the five dollars it costs.
- With hotel pickup, $103
Eleven minutes at night with a shuttle from your hotel and back, which turns a logistics problem into a booking. Two hours door to door.
Day or night
Almost everybody books the night flight, and almost everybody is right
Night for the neon, daylight for the shape of it, dusk for both.
Las Vegas is a city that exists at night. From the air at ten in the evening the Strip is a single ribbon of light with black desert on both sides of it; at two in the afternoon it is a row of large beige buildings beside a road.
Three of the four Strip flights here are sold as night flights, and the reviews back that up: the night listings carry 4,216 ratings between them.
The case for daylight is narrower but real. You can see the shape of the city, the mountains, the desert running out to the horizon and the scale of what has been built in the middle of it. And the daytime listing is the one with the guaranteed window seat. If you are flying with a camera rather than a phone, that combination is worth considering.
The best compromise is the last flight before dark, when the Strip has begun to light up but there is still colour in the sky. It costs the same as any other slot and it goes first.
The Strip is an evening. If you have half a day, the canyon is a completely different flight.
The Grand Canyon flights→Common questions
Strip flights, answered
How much is a helicopter ride over the Las Vegas Strip?
From $93 for twelve minutes at night. The daytime flight with a guaranteed window seat is $98, and the version with hotel transfers is $103.
How long is a Strip helicopter tour?
Eleven to fifteen minutes in the air. The whole evening is about ninety minutes once you count check-in, the weigh-in, the briefing and the walk to the pad.
Is the night flight better than the day one?
For most people yes — the neon is the point, and three of the four Strip flights here are sold as night flights. Daylight shows you the shape of the city and the desert around it, and the daytime listing is the one with the guaranteed window.
Do Strip flights include hotel pickup?
One of the four does. The two cheapest do not, which is worth about an hour of your evening and a taxi at each end.
Can I choose my seat?
Only on the listing that says so. On the others the pilot assigns seats by weight after the weigh-in so the aircraft balances.
Is eleven minutes long enough?
The Strip is 6.8 kilometres long and eleven minutes flies it twice. People who are disappointed usually expected half an hour; people who booked knowing the length almost never are.
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.
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.
LandingLanding in the canyon
The flights that put you 1,100 metres down, beside the river.
