Helicopter Rides And The Grand Canyon

Jun 5
15:32

2013

Tracy Delvecchio

Tracy Delvecchio

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If you go to the Grand Canyon, consider going on a helicopter excursion. These flights offer an amazing bird's eye view of the Park while providing an experience you will never forget.

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If your budget is tight or you don't have a ton of free time,Helicopter Rides And The Grand Canyon Articles air-only helicopter tours are a terrific way to see the Grand Canyon. Landing tours are fun too but they cost more and they take more time. Even so, all you really need to fully experience the Grand Canyon is a tour by helicopter. Air only Grand Canyon helicopters go to the West Rim and The South Rim, but if you want to go to the West Rim, you depart from Las Vegas and if you want to go to the South Rim, you depart from Phoenix or a nearby city in Arizona. If you choose to go on a landing tour instead, then you won't have a choice of rims since the West Rim is the only area where helicopters are allowed to fly below the rim. There are two tour options for the South Rim, one of them lasts 30 minutes and takes you over to the North Rim and back. The second tour option is longer, at nearly an hour in length and covers the same ground but also takes you over the Zuni Corridor, Imperial Point, the Colorado River confluence, the Painted Desert, and Dragoon corridor, which is the deepest part of the canyon. If you have time, choose the longer flight because you get to see so much more of the canyon. There are several airfields in the Vegas metro area where the West Rim chopper tours depart on a daily basis. Plan on the tour to take around 3.5 hours all together. In addition to the canyon, you get to fly over Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. At the canyon, you will pass over the famous glass Grand Canyon Skywalk, Eagle Point, Guano Point, as well as view the might Colorado River snaking along the canyon floor. This tour is the perfect add on to a Vegas vacation since it doesn't take too long and you get to see a great national treasure. However, if you want to spend the extra time and want to see the canyon up close, consider taking a landing tour instead. On one of these tours you can land on the bottom of the canyon where you can float down the Colorado River or enjoy a champagne picnic. If you want an additional thrill, you can add a stroll on the glass Skywalk too. No matter which rim you choose and which type of tour you take, I urge you to pick one of the air tours that use EcoStar 130 helicopters. These offer a more enjoyable experience than the AStar helicopters many of the tour operators offer. Besides having a larger, more comfortable cabin, the EcoStar 130 gives you a quieter, more stable flight, top-notch climate control, theater-style seating, and a panoramic windshield that's perfect for sightseeing. Just about every Grand Canyon helicopter tour is incredibly popular, and most sell out very quickly. You definitely need to get your tickets early, at least a week in advance if you can. I also urge people to book online, because that's where the best tour deals and discounts always are. What's surprising to some people is the fact that the best deals are offered by the tour companies themselves, not Expedia, Orbitz, Viator or anywhere else. Cut out the middleman and save a bundle. You have to complete your transaction online though so you can qualify for the steep Internet discount. If you mail in your payment or order through customer service you will pay more.