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Submitted by: Rhegie Taylor
Memorial Day vacation week is coming up quickly and it’s the perfect time to take a Grand Canyon helicopter tour from Las Vegas or the SOuth Rim. Please note that this is a super busy time of the year and that trips sell out fast so RSVP in order to get the best seats and prices.
Vegas
Las Vegas is an ideal place to do a helicopter tour. Please note that these trips only go to the West Rim as the South Rim is too far for Vegas helis to fly. If you really want to do the South Rim from Vegas, consider the daily direct plane flight, which takes 60 minutes to reach the South Rim and comes with a 30-minute heli tour.
In Vegas, you get to choose from no-landing and landing tours. Both follow the same path of flight over Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, Colorado River and the Canyon. No-landing tours will head back to Vegas after the Canyon segment while landing tours will either land on the bottom, top or both. Frankly, I prefer landing tours but that depends on your budget.
My favorite landing tour is the one that descends 3.5K to the bottom and lands. You deplane and enjoy a Champagne picnic with the Colorado River about 100 yards from the picnic area. Travelers often upgrade this tour to include a boat ride down the Colorado River. You can even add VIP tickets to the Grand Canyon Skywalk.
Skywalk
The Skywalk, one of Vegas’ most famous outdoor attractions, is a $30 million all-glass platform; the Hualapai Tribe, which owns the attraction, provides cloth booties so your shoes don’t scratch the surface. The platform lets you walk some 70 feet over the edge until you are standing about 4,000 feet over the bottom. From any point on the bridge, the views are phenomenal.
All South Rim trips are no-landing because the National Park Service (NPS) bans helicopters from flying below the rim and landing. Thus your options are the 30-minute and the 50-minute flights, both of which include flying via the Dragoon Corridor, which is the widest and deepest section of the Canyon. I prefer the 50-minute option because it lets you see up to 75 percent of the Park.
Deluxe Trips
Each tour has a basic and deluxe version. In Vegas, deluxe includes limousine hotel transfers and an extended tour over the Las Vegas Strip. The biggest difference, however, is that deluxe tours use the EcoStar 130, which is the new helicopter (versus the old helicopter used in basic packages).
In my opinion, I prefer the new helicopter because it’s bigger, quieter and comes with a massive 180-degree front windshield.
I do recommend buying your tour at least a week or two in advance. Memorial Day is the first big holiday of the summer vacation season and these flights will sell out. Additionally, by booking early you’ll guarantee that you’ll get the best seats at the cheapest price. Avoid booking 48 hours prior to flight time or same-day. In these instances, prices will be much more expensive and there’s a strong chance the flight you want will be sold out.
Conclusion
I hope this article about Grand Canyon helicopter tours during the Memorial Day holiday week will help you as you plan your vacation. From Vegas, I recommend landing tours and especially the one that lands at the bottom for a picnic. From South Rim, take the 50-minute tour as it will let you see as much of the canyon as you can in under an hour. Lastly, book these flights in advance and online. And make sure to complete your booking online in order to qualify for the Internet discount.
About the Author: The author is a Grand Canyon expert and recommends going here for the best
South Rim helicopter
tours and here for ones that depart from Las Vegas:
grandcanyonhelicopters.org/las-vegas/
Source:
isnare.com
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