Twelve flights over a canyon 446 kilometres long, and one thing no listing tells you: you cannot land inside the Grand Canyon from the South Rim. The national park forbids commercial landings below the rim, so every South Rim flight is an overflight. The helicopters that set down on the canyon floor all fly from the West Rim, on Hualapai tribal land outside the park. Pick where you are flying from with the switch below. From $174.
Flights, from
12 listings compared$269
An airplane tour over the canyon starts at $174
Average rating
Across 8 rated listings4.8 ★
Across 7,260 verified reviews
Time in the air
Sets the price25–45 min
Twenty-five minutes reaches the Dragon Corridor; forty-five covers the South Rim
Everything you can book here
Twelve listings, and the switch matters more here than on any other flight we cover. South Rim flights leave the airport at Tusayan and stay above the rim, because the national park does not permit landings. West Rim flights leave Hualapai land and are the only ones that can put you on the canyon floor. The three at the end start in Las Vegas and are days rather than flights.
★ 4.8 · 1,608 reviews
★ 4.7 · 3,052 reviews
★ 4.6 · 385 reviews
★ 4.8 · 7 reviews
★ 4.9 · 24 reviews
★ 4.9 · 1,935 reviews
★ 4.7 · 203 reviews
★ 4.7 · 9 reviews
★ 5.0 · 25 reviews
★ 5.0 · 6 reviews
★ 5.0 · 4 reviews
★ 5.0 · 2 reviews
Two questions
Twelve listings from three places, and they come down to three decisions: the national park or Hualapai land, an overflight or a landing on the canyon floor, and a flight or a whole day. Pick what matters and the page picks the flight.
See it before you pay for it
Three things, and the ground gives you none of them: the Dragon Corridor, where the canyon is at its widest and deepest; the Colorado River a mile below, which is invisible from most of the South Rim; and the side canyons, which from the rim read as one wall and from the air as a system.
Side by side
Every Grand Canyon helicopter tour is one of three products. The South Rim is the national park and the classic view, and nothing lands. The West Rim is Hualapai land, the Skywalk and the only legal landings. A day from Las Vegas is mostly driving and flying to get there.
Swipe the table sideways →
| MOST BOOKEDGrand Canyon National Park: South Rim Scenic Helicopter Tour | Grand Canyon Village: Helicopter Tour & Hummer Tour Options | Grand Canyon West: Canyon Floor Landing Helicopter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price per person | $359 | $269 | $279 |
| Time in the air | 45 minutes | 30 minutes | 40 minutes |
| Cost per minute | $7.98 | $8.97 | $6.97 |
| Lands in the canyon | No — the park forbids it | No | Yes, on the floor |
| Departs from | Tusayan, South Rim | South Rim | Grand Canyon West |
| What you see | Painted Desert, Kaibab Forest and the Dragon Corridor | Both rims, with a sunset Hummer option | Below the rim to a private landing site |
| Whole visit | About 2 hours | About 2 hours | About 3 hours |
| Rating | 4.9 · 1,935 | 4.7 · 3,052 | 4.6 · 385 |
| Best for | The classic canyon flight | The lowest helicopter price | Standing on the canyon floor |
| Book this one→ | Check dates | Check dates |
Free cancellation up to 24 h · Reserve now, pay later
Verdict
Forty-five minutes out of Tusayan: four minutes of Kaibab pine forest, then the Dragon Corridor, the widest and deepest part of the canyon, and the crossing to the North Rim side with the Painted Desert beyond it. One thousand nine hundred and thirty-five ratings at 4.9 stand behind it. The one reason to book something else is the floor — no South Rim flight is permitted to land inside the canyon, and the West Rim listings are.
Check dates and availability→Before you book
One listing on this page carries 3,052 ratings and another 1,935. Four carry fewer than ten. That does not make the newer listings bad — but a score from four people tells you very little, and a score from three thousand tells you a great deal. Read both numbers before you decide.
Two-minute check
Twelve listings from three places, and the descriptions read almost identically. Three answers narrow it to one: where you are staying, whether landing inside the canyon matters, and how much of the day you are willing to give it.
Where are you staying?The rims are four hours apart by road
What are you willing to spend?Per person, per flight
Do you want to land inside the canyon?Only the West Rim is allowed to
You'll get the flight that fits your answers, the thing about it that catches people out, and an honest word about how much evidence its rating rests on.
Six kinds of flight
Ratings are the operators’ own numbers on GetYourGuide, shown exactly as published. We do not write reviews and we do not average other people’s into a score of our own. Two listings here carry over 1,900 and over 3,000 ratings; four are newer and carry fewer than ten, and we say which is which.
★★★★★
Based on 7,260
verified reviews
Every rated listing on this page, scored by the people who took it on GetYourGuide.
Read all 7,260→Grand Canyon National Park: South Rim Scenic Helicopter Tour
From $359 · 1,935 reviews
★★★★★
Forty-five minutes out of Tusayan over the Kaibab National Forest and into the Dragon Corridor, the widest and deepest part of the canyon. 1,935 reviews at 4.9 — the highest score of any long flight on this page.
Grand Canyon Village: Helicopter Tour & Hummer Tour Options
From $269 · cheapest helicopter
★★★★★
Thirty minutes over both rims, with a sunset Hummer tour you can add on the ground. 3,052 reviews at 4.7 — more ratings than any other flight here.
Grand Canyon West: Canyon Floor Landing Helicopter
From $279 · 385 reviews
★★★★★
Forty minutes from Grand Canyon West, down below the rim to a private landing site. No South Rim flight can do this: the national park does not permit commercial landings inside the canyon. 385 reviews at 4.6.
Grand Canyon West: Helicopter & Boat with Park Entry Options
From $324 · 7 reviews
★★★★★
Two helicopter flights across Grand Canyon West and a boat ride on the river four thousand feet below the rim. A newer listing with 7 ratings at 4.8.
Grand Canyon Dancer Helicopter 25-minute Tour from South Rim
From $329 · rated 4.9
★★★★★
Twenty-five minutes from Grand Canyon National Park Airport straight into the Dragon Corridor. Rated 4.9, and the cheapest way to see the part of the canyon people come for.
Grand Canyon South Rim Airplane Tour from Grand Canyon
From $174 · an airplane
★★★★★
A fixed-wing air tour over the Zuni Corridor, Imperial Point and the Confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado. It flies higher and straighter, and it is the cheapest way into the air here: 1,608 ratings at 4.8.
What it really costs
A Grand Canyon helicopter tour runs from $269 a person for thirty minutes over both rims to $359 for the forty-five-minute South Rim flight. Landing inside the canyon starts at $279. An airplane tour, which is a different aircraft on a higher route, is $174.
Swipe sideways →
| What you are paying for | Price | What you get | Cancellation |
|---|---|---|---|
| An airplane tour over the canyon, 40 minutes | $174 | The Zuni Corridor, Imperial Point and the Confluence, from a fixed wing | Free cancellation 24 h |
| A helicopter over the South Rim, 25–45 minutes | $269–$359 | The Dragon Corridor and the Painted Desert — overflight only, no landing | Free cancellation 24 h |
| A helicopter that lands in the canyon, West Rim | $279–$689 | Down to the floor, and on some listings a boat on the Colorado | Small group |
The honest answer
Yes, and for a reason that does not apply to most scenic flights. From the rim you see one cross-section of one canyon. From the air you see that the Grand Canyon is not a canyon at all but a system of canyons a mile deep and up to twenty-nine kilometres wide, and no viewpoint on the ground shows you that.
The flight, minute by minute
South Rim flights check in at Grand Canyon National Park Airport in Tusayan, a few minutes from the park gate. Bring photo ID. Everybody is weighed, and the weights decide where you sit.
Harness, doors, and the rule about never walking uphill of a helicopter on sloping ground. Headsets for everyone, because the commentary is most of what tells you what you are looking at.
Across the apron in a line, ducking, with the rotor already turning. Tusayan sits at about 2,000 metres, so the air is thin and the machines work harder than at sea level.
Ponderosa pine in every direction, flat and green. For the first three or four minutes it does not look like canyon country at all.
This is the moment. The forest runs to an edge and then there is a mile of nothing. Nobody is ready for it, however many photographs they have seen.
The widest and deepest part of the canyon, and the reason the South Rim route exists. The Colorado is a thin green line far below, and the side canyons open one after another.
On the forty-five-minute flights you cross to the North Rim side, with the Painted Desert beyond it, before turning back.
The same pine forest, and it looks entirely different on the way home. Allow about two hours for the whole visit even on a twenty-five-minute flight.
The one decision that matters
Everything else on this page is a preference. This one is jurisdiction. The South Rim is Grand Canyon National Park, and the National Park Service does not permit commercial helicopter landings below the rim inside it. Every South Rim flight — including the forty-five-minute one we recommend — is an overflight, and no amount of money changes that. Grand Canyon West is different ground: it belongs to the Hualapai Tribe and sits outside the park boundary, and the landings there are authorised and controlled by the tribe. That is why a helicopter can set you down four thousand feet below the rim on one side of the canyon and not on the other. If standing on the floor is what you want, you are booking Grand Canyon West, not the national park — and the two are about four hours apart by road.
Four parts of the flight
The widest and deepest part of the canyon, and the heart of every South Rim route.
A mile below the rim, and invisible from most viewpoints on the ground.
Reached only from the West Rim: the national park does not permit landings below the rim.
Four minutes of flat ponderosa pine, and then the ground simply stops.
Start here
Here is the thing that decides which Grand Canyon helicopter tour you should book, and no listing says it: you cannot land inside the Grand Canyon from the South Rim. The South Rim is national park, and the National Park Service does not permit commercial helicopter landings below the rim. Every South Rim flight is an overflight. The helicopters that put people down on the canyon floor all work from the West Rim, on Hualapai tribal land outside the park boundary. So “a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon” and “a helicopter tour that lands in the Grand Canyon” are two different products, from two places four hours apart by road.
The second thing is the scale. The canyon is about 446 kilometres long, up to 29 kilometres across and 1,857 metres deep at its deepest. From a viewpoint you see one cross-section of one bend. From the air you see that it is not a canyon at all but a system: side canyons opening into side canyons, buttes standing free inside it, and the Colorado a thin green line at the bottom of all of it. That is the whole argument for flying.
The South Rim route is the one people picture. Flights lift from Grand Canyon National Park Airport at Tusayan, cross four minutes of flat Kaibab pine forest, and then the ground stops. The route runs into the Dragon Corridor, the widest and deepest part of the canyon, with the Painted Desert beyond the far rim. Twenty-five minutes reaches it; forty-five crosses to the North Rim side and back.
The West Rim is a different place and a different product. It is Hualapai land, about two hours from Las Vegas, with the Skywalk on the edge and helicopters that descend four thousand feet to a landing site by the river. It is not the national park and it does not look like the postcard. What it has is the one thing the park cannot sell: the floor.
The FAA governs all of it. The airspace over the park is a Special Flight Rules Area under 14 CFR Part 93, with flight-free zones over the busiest stretches and corridors reserved for aircraft that meet a quiet-technology noise limit. That is why every operator flies almost the same shapes, why the routes have names, and why nobody is improvising over your head.
What the advertised duration means. Twenty-five, thirty, forty or forty-five minutes is time in the air. The visit is about two hours from check-in to walking back out, on every flight here, because everybody is weighed, briefed and fitted with a headset first.
And the last thing, which no listing mentions: from early July the monsoon builds thunderstorms over the plateau most afternoons. Take the first slot of the morning, put the flight early in your trip so a postponed one still has somewhere to move to, and take the rebooking rather than the refund if it is offered.
If an overflight is not enough
No South Rim flight lands: the national park does not allow it. These three work from Hualapai land and from Las Vegas, and each one sets down four thousand feet below the rim — on the floor, beside the river, or at the start of a raft trip.
40 min · ★ 4.6 (385)
$279See dates 30 min · ★ 4.8 (7)
$324See dates 8 h · ★ 5.0 (4)
$689See datesPractical
Four things decide how a Grand Canyon helicopter tour goes: which rim you book, whether you want to land inside the canyon, the hour of the day, and the fact that summer afternoons here build thunderstorms almost on schedule.
The Zuni Corridor, Imperial Point and the Confluence, from $174 — a fixed wing, not a helicopter.
Both rims, with a sunset Hummer option on the ground, from $269.
Below the rim to a private landing site, from $279.
From Grand Canyon National Park Airport, rated 4.9.
Our top pick: Painted Desert, Kaibab Forest and the Dragon Corridor.
A flight plus a boat, a UTV at a ranch, or a night in a cabin.
And 1,857 metres deep at its deepest point.
The widest and deepest stretch, and the heart of the South Rim route.
A mile below the rim, and invisible from most viewpoints on the ground.
Four minutes of flat ponderosa pine between the airport and the edge.
Hualapai tribal land outside the park, with the Skywalk and the only legal landings.
FAA airspace with flight-free zones and quiet-technology corridors.
Allow about two hours at the airport regardless of which flight you book.
Every operator does it, and the weights decide the seating.
From July the monsoon builds thunderstorms over the plateau most afternoons.
The South Rim sits at about 2,100 metres and mornings are cold even in June.
Hats and loose items stay behind; you walk out under a turning rotor.
So that a flight moved by weather still has a day left to move to.
Shown on most listings on this page; check the line on the one you pick.
The South Rim and Grand Canyon West are four hours apart by road.
The national park does not permit commercial landings below the rim.
Two listings here carry over 1,900 and over 3,000 ratings; four carry fewer than ten.
The best light and the steadiest air; the flights themselves run all year.
In every month, and in July and August it is not close.
Best time
Flights run all year and the canyon is at 2,100 metres on the South Rim, so the season decides comfort and light far more than access. What the month really changes is how often the afternoon is flyable.
Apr – May
Clear air, low sun on the terraces, comfortable temperatures on a rim that sits at 2,100 metres, and no monsoon yet. The canyon is at its most legible from the air and the flying is as steady as it gets. If you can choose, choose these months.
Sep – Oct
The monsoon has ended, the air is washed clean and the low autumn sun rakes across the terraces. Fewer people than summer, and afternoon flights become reliable again.
Jun – Aug
Hot on the floor, pleasant on the rim, and from early July the monsoon builds thunderstorms most afternoons. Flights run, but the first slot of the morning is worth far more than it is in any other season.
Nov – Mar
Cold, quiet and often startlingly clear, with snow on the rim and none on the floor — a contrast that only exists from the air. Short days and the occasional closed morning.
Worth knowing
Decide the rim before you decide the price. The South Rim is the national park and the view people picture, and nothing lands. Grand Canyon West is Hualapai land two hours from Las Vegas, and it is the only place a helicopter may set down inside the canyon. They are four hours apart by road and they are not interchangeable.
Take the first slot of the morning. The air over the plateau is calmest early, the low sun puts shadow into the terraces, and from July the monsoon builds thunderstorms most afternoons. This is true in every month of the year.
Twenty-five minutes already reaches the Dragon Corridor. The extra twenty on a forty-five-minute flight buys the crossing to the North Rim side and the Painted Desert. Worth it if you are flying once; not worth agonising over if the budget is tight.
The advertised minutes are flying time. Allow about two hours at the airport: the weigh-in, the briefing, the walk out and the photographs all sit outside the number in the listing.
Dress for 2,100 metres, not for Arizona. The South Rim is high desert. Mornings are cold in June and genuinely cold from November, and the cabin is glass on three sides.
Read the review count as well as the score. Two listings here carry 3,052 and 1,935 ratings. Four are newer and carry fewer than ten, and a first rating of 5.0 is not the same evidence as 4.9 from nearly two thousand people.
Round out the trip
30 min · ★ 4.7 (3,052)
$269View 25 min · ★ 4.9 (24)
$329View 40 min · ★ 4.8 (1,608)
$174ViewGo deeper
Common questions
From $269 a person for thirty minutes over both rims, up to $359 for the forty-five-minute South Rim flight. Landing inside the canyon starts at $279, and an airplane tour — a different aircraft on a higher route — is $174.
South Rim flights lift from Grand Canyon National Park Airport at Tusayan, a few minutes outside the park gate. West Rim flights leave Grand Canyon West on Hualapai land, about two hours from Las Vegas. The two are roughly four hours apart by road.
Only on the West Rim. The National Park Service does not permit commercial helicopter landings below the rim inside Grand Canyon National Park, so every South Rim flight is an overflight. Grand Canyon West is Hualapai tribal land outside the park, and the landings there are authorised by the tribe.
The forty-five-minute South Rim flight at $359, which carries 1,935 reviews at 4.9 — the highest score of any long flight here. The most reviewed listing overall is the thirty-minute flight at $269, with 3,052 ratings at 4.7.
Twenty-five, thirty, forty or forty-five minutes in the air, depending on the listing. Twenty-five already reaches the Dragon Corridor; forty-five crosses to the North Rim side and back. Allow about two hours for the whole visit.
The first slot of the morning. The air over the plateau is calmest early, the low sun gives the terraces depth, and from July the monsoon builds thunderstorms over the canyon most afternoons.
Operators postpone rather than fly a marginal window, and most listings here are free to cancel up to 24 hours before. Book the flight for the first days of your trip so a postponed slot still has days to move into.
No. A fixed-wing air tour flies higher and straighter over the Zuni Corridor, Imperial Point and the Confluence, from $174. It is the cheapest way into the air here, it carries more passengers, and it cannot hold a turn over a side canyon the way a helicopter does.
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One PDF: all twelve listings by rim, minutes and price, which ones can actually land inside the canyon, and the two hours around the flight from the weigh-in to the walk back out.
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Why trust this page
Durations, prices and ratings are read off the live listings rather than copied from other affiliate pages. The heights, distances and place names come from the published record.
Every flight here is sold on scenery and priced on time in the air. We put the minutes on every card, and the cost per minute in the comparison, because that is the number that actually separates them.
A 5.0 from two reviews is not the same evidence as 4.9 from nearly two thousand people, and we label it that way rather than sorting everything by score.
Twelve listings, ordered as a shop window rather than by price, ranked on what they reach and how much evidence stands behind the rating. We earn a commission when you book, and it does not change what we recommend.
The answer
If you are flying once over the Grand Canyon, take the forty-five-minute flight from Tusayan at $359. It is the classic route — the Kaibab Forest, the Dragon Corridor and the crossing to the North Rim side — and it carries 1,935 ratings at 4.9, the highest score of any long flight on this page. If standing on the canyon floor matters more than the view from above, book the West Rim landing flight at $279 instead: it is the only kind that is allowed to.
Check dates and availability→ Free cancellation up to 24 hours · Reserve now, pay laterBefore you go
All twelve listings by rim, minutes and price, which ones can actually land inside the canyon, and the two hours around the flight from the weigh-in to the walk back out.
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Grand Canyon National Park: South Rim Scenic Helicopter Tour
★ 4.9 · 1,935 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h