Which rim
West Rim or South Rim? Where Las Vegas helicopters actually go
Ask about Grand Canyon helicopter tours on any travel forum and the same argument starts within three replies: the West Rim is not the real canyon. It is a fair point and it is only half true. Here is the honest version — what each rim is, what the helicopters can and cannot do at either, and which one your trip should go to.
Quick answer
Every helicopter tour sold in Las Vegas flies to Grand Canyon West, about 200 kilometres away on Hualapai tribal land in Arizona. No Las Vegas helicopter goes to the South Rim, which is more than four hundred kilometres away inside Grand Canyon National Park. The South Rim is deeper, wider and more spectacular from the ground. The West Rim is the only place a tourist helicopter may land on the canyon floor, and the only one you can reach and return from in an afternoon. That trade is the entire decision.
The two rims, side by side
- West Rim, from Las Vegas
- About 200 km45 minutes by helicopter, 2.5 hours by road
- South Rim, from Las Vegas
- About 440 kma long day each way by road
- Who manages the West Rim
- Hualapai Tribenot the National Park Service
- Who manages the South Rim
- National Park ServiceGrand Canyon National Park
- Depth at the West Rim
- About 1,100 mand helicopters may land on the floor
- Depth at the South Rim
- About 1,600 mand no tourist helicopter may land
- The Skywalk
- West Rim onlyEagle Point, projecting ~21 m over the edge
- Las Vegas helicopter trips
- West Rim onlyevery single one on this page
- Cheapest canyon trip here
- $3297 hours door to door
- The one with a landing
- $4701,164 reviews at 4.9
The fair criticism
Why people say the West Rim is not the real Grand Canyon
Deeper, wider and more famous. All true, and all about the South Rim.
They have a point, and it is worth hearing before you spend five hundred dollars.
The South Rim is more dramatic. It is deeper — around sixteen hundred metres against roughly eleven hundred — wider, and the overlooks are arranged along a rim where you can stand and see the canyon run away in both directions for tens of kilometres. Every famous photograph of the Grand Canyon was taken there or near there. Travellers who have seen both will tell you this without hesitating, and they are right.
The West Rim is narrower and the walls are closer. The scale is less overwhelming from above. Some people arrive expecting the postcard and get something smaller.
And it is not a national park. Grand Canyon West is run by the Hualapai Tribe, whose land it is, with its own entry arrangements and its own attractions — the Skywalk, Eagle Point, Guano Point. That is neither better nor worse; it is simply not the thing the national park website is describing.
The case for the West Rim
What it has that the South Rim does not
A landing at the bottom, an afternoon rather than two days, and the Skywalk.
You can land in it. This is the whole argument and it is a strong one. Tourist helicopters are permitted to land on the canyon floor at Grand Canyon West and nowhere else. Standing eleven hundred metres down, beside the Colorado River, with the walls going up on both sides, is not a diminished version of looking at the canyon from a rim. It is a completely different experience, and it is the one people describe years later.
You can do it from Las Vegas in an afternoon. Three hours door to door on the quickest listing, against two full days for the South Rim. For a trip built around Las Vegas rather than around the canyon, that is not a small difference.
The Skywalk is there. A glass horseshoe at Eagle Point, projecting about twenty-one metres out beyond the rim with the floor a long way below the glass. Opinions on it are divided — some travellers think it is the highlight, others that it is an expensive queue — but it exists only at the West Rim.
And the flight itself is the same either way. Whatever you think of the rim, twenty-five to forty-five minutes in a helicopter over the Mojave and into a canyon is the same pleasure at both.
Which one your trip should go to
Five situations, five answers
The rims suit different trips, and it is rarely a close call once you know the constraint.
- You are in Las Vegas for three or four days
The West Rim, by helicopter. The South Rim is two days you do not have, and the helicopter is the only way to stand inside the canyon at all.
- The canyon is the point of the holiday
The South Rim, by road, with a night or two nearby. Fly over the West Rim on a separate trip if you want the aerial view as well.
- You want to land at the bottom
The West Rim. It is the only place it is allowed, and every landing tour on this page goes there.
- You are travelling with someone who tires easily
The West Rim by helicopter. Three hours door to door with a short flight and a short walk, against two days of driving.
- You have seen the South Rim before
The West Rim, without hesitation. The landing is the thing the South Rim cannot offer you at any price.
Decided on the West Rim? Here are all eight flights that go there, compared.
Every canyon flight compared→Common questions
West Rim or South Rim, answered
Do Las Vegas helicopter tours go to the South Rim?
No. Every helicopter tour sold in Las Vegas flies to Grand Canyon West, about two hundred kilometres away. The South Rim is more than four hundred kilometres from Las Vegas and no helicopter tour goes there.
Is the West Rim the real Grand Canyon?
Yes — it is a genuine stretch of the Grand Canyon, about 1,100 metres deep, on Hualapai tribal land. It is not inside Grand Canyon National Park, and it is shallower and narrower than the South Rim, which is why people argue about it.
Which rim is more impressive?
The South Rim, by most accounts — deeper, wider and with the overlooks in every famous photograph. The West Rim wins on one thing the South Rim cannot match: helicopters may land on the canyon floor there.
Can helicopters land in the Grand Canyon?
Only at Grand Canyon West, on Hualapai land. Tourist helicopter landings inside Grand Canyon National Park are not permitted.
How far is the West Rim from Las Vegas?
About two hundred kilometres, which is roughly forty-five minutes by helicopter or two and a half hours by road each way.
Is the Skywalk at the South Rim?
No. The Skywalk is at Eagle Point at Grand Canyon West, and it projects about twenty-one metres out over the rim.
Go deeper
More on flying from Las Vegas
The Grand Canyon flight
Three hours from the Strip to the canyon floor, from $470.
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.
LandingLanding in the canyon
The flights that put you 1,100 metres down, beside the river.
