Las Vegas Helicopter Tours

Baddass

Baddass

Baddass

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Hi guys

I'm off to Vegas this summer and wondered if anyone had any experiences with any of the Helicopter tour companies operating out there? Looking for a trip to the Grand Canyon by helicopter (preferably to the south rim) but want to know which companies are reliable but won't cost an arm and a leg!

any suggestions?

thanks
 
Your best bet for the south rim is to fly by light aircraft out to the rim and then catch a helicopter, If memory serves the helicopter tours from Vegas don't actually go the real grand canyon but a side canyon.

Were going this summer and will be hiring a car to drive up to the canyon we will then be stopping over night in a motel so we can catch sunset and sunrise and avoid some of the day trippers!
 
we're going to drive to the West Rim one day and see the skywalk etc (about 2-3 hours drive from vegas) but we dont quite have time to do a drive to south rim. if heli tours only really do the western area, maybe we already have it covered a bit with the drive there
 
I did the whole Grand Canyon thing with a company called 'Sundance' I think it was. The weather was horrid (in the desert! how unlucky) They gave us the option of setting out and seeing what it was like when we got up in the air, or cancelling the tour and a refund from the start.

We chose to head out towards the canyon, in a convoy of 3 or 4 choppers, the cloud was really low and they said it was too dangerous to continue so they turned around and did a little fight over the strip and just charged us for that. They always gave us the option of what to do, you could even reschedule the tour for a few days later, which my Dad did, I however couldn't make it so he went on his own they refunded my part of the cash and all was great. They even collected us and tooks us back from the hotel in a Limo. I cant however remember the price, but it wasn't unreasonable.

Would have been great to do the canyon, alas Ive never seen it :( But as far as the helicopter company were concerned there were no problems what so ever. Have fun in Vegas

C.
 
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Ive been twice now (canyon and vegas) The first time at the canyon the weather was bad, got up at around 5am for the sunrise and it was too cloudy. I was with family so just did the outer rim trail.

The second time was in February, we did part of the outer rim trail then the 'south kaibab trail' to skeleton point. This was the last point before you had to camp overnight. It was amazing. The weather was bad, but got better as you walked down.

Some people booked a helicopter tour and couldnt go straight away because of weather, they ended up waiting around for hours then couldnt go anyway, this also made them miss the good bit of weather.

I recommend hiking down into the canyon and camping overnight if you have 2 days. Its far more rewarding than a ride in a helicopter. Heres a few of pictures from my hiking

walking around outer rim
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no wonder americans are fat, 3 sandwiches and 3 litres of water! I had 1/2 a litre of water and some beef jerky

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you can't fly to south rim from Vegas by helicopter, you can only do the West Canyon ( what they call the west rim )

when you there ?
 
I went with Papillion from Vegas - and then we ended up on a coach and saw a bit more. To be honest, although the heli tour was ok, I found it very cramped and couldn't see a great deal, let alone hear anything (guided tour as such) which was a shame. I don't know if we got a raw deal but I went away feeling disappointed. Certainly for the money it cost I couldn't recommend it.

We saw loads more from the coach and we stopped in several places and got some shots. To really appreciate it I think you need to 'feel' it if you follow - you need to explore an area by foot. Because it is so vast you really can't do it justice in a few hours. But it is worth seeing even if you only go once.

I went during August too, and the weather was simply awesome. Could see for miles.
 
dont forget to do a day trip to the hoover dam - also day trips to death valley are great, we went with some crazy one eyed ex nam bloke.....was pure entertainment all day!!
 
gc4170 said:
dont forget to do a day trip to the hoover dam - also day trips to death valley are great, we went with some crazy one eyed ex nam bloke.....was pure entertainment all day!!
Click to expand...

That's what we did just after the coach trip - water rafting on the Colorado which took us up to the Hoover. Now that was good fun. If you can squeeze half a day's rafting in you wouldn't regret it ;)
 
gunna def take a drive day trip to hoover dam and lake mead. also a day trip drive to west rim and skywalk. the heli tour was more for the misses who has never been to America, and thought it might be a good experience for her. she's never been in a heli either.

will check out the recommendations above, thanks guys :)
 
Anouther vote for Death Valley, one of the best bits of our trip. Easily doable as a day trip, get up to Dante's View if you can. Views are fantatic.
 
I'm going with my mates on the 18th June and we're wondering what to do regarding this also.

One of the lads I'm going with has done the helicopter grand canyon thing before so he's pushing us to rent a car and drive there for something different.

Either way should be fun, I seriously can't wait to get to Vegas now :D
 
The south rim is a very long boring drive to do both ways in a day. It's 4-5hrs and the road from kingsman to the hoover dam has a 30-40mile straight! When they finish the dam bypass it will shave a bit off.
 
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