"Very good things to do, but very expensive for a 20-minute flight in total"
Canyon Floor Landings
Grand Canyon Helicopter Landing Tours
Descend 3,500 feet below the rim, to the Colorado River.
- 4.5 / 5 381+ Reviews
- 40 minutes Duration
- Canyon Floor Landing Options
- Instant Confirmation
- Free Cancellation
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Check Availability & Prices
Select your preferred date and time. Instant confirmation — free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure.
The Experience
Why Book the Papillon Canyon Floor Landing
The most-booked way to get from a Las Vegas hotel lobby to the floor of the Grand Canyon and back in an afternoon.
Highlights
- Land 3,500 feet below the rim, about 300 feet above the Colorado River
- 20 minutes on the canyon floor at an exclusive landing site
- Fly over Hualapai tribal land with exclusive aerial views
- Premier ECO-Star helicopter with leather seats and wrap-around glass
- Live narration from your pilot throughout
What's Included
- 40-minute helicopter tour including a 20-minute canyon-floor landing
- Aerial views over Hualapai tribal land and the multicoloured canyon walls
- Descent to a landing site 3,500 feet below the rim
- Live pilot narration
How Booking a Grand Canyon Helicopter Tour Works
Four steps from choosing a rim to standing on the canyon floor.
Pick Your Rim First
Grand Canyon West is 120 miles from the national park and the only place helicopters may land in the canyon. The South Rim is the park itself, where flights stay in the air. Choose the experience, then the tour.
Check a Real Date
Use the availability calendar to see live departures and prices. Morning slots have the clearest air; sunset flights over the Strip sell out first, so book those further ahead.
Decide on Transfers
Las Vegas tours either include hotel pickup or expect you to drive to Boulder City. Transfers roughly double the elapsed time but remove the parking and the timing risk.
Check In and Fly
Bring photo ID for every adult passenger. Seats are assigned at check-in on weight and balance, so arrive 30 to 45 minutes early and expect your party may be split across rows.
Photo Gallery
Inside a Grand Canyon Helicopter Tour
Real photographs from the flights on this site — the aircraft, the landing sites and the canyon from the air.





Helicopter Landing vs Scenic Flight vs Coach Tour
Three ways to see the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas or the South Rim — and what you actually get for the money.
| Feature | RECOMMENDED Canyon Floor Landing Flight | Scenic Flight, No Landing | Coach Day Trip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where You End Up | On the canyon floor, beside the Colorado River | In the air above the canyon, start to finish | At a rim viewpoint with the rest of the coach |
| Which Grand Canyon | Grand Canyon West — Hualapai land, the only place landings are allowed | Either rim; South Rim flights cross the national park itself | Usually the West Rim, occasionally the South Rim |
| Time From Las Vegas | 2–4.5 hours door to door | 45 minutes flying, once you are at the rim | 12–15 hours, most of it on the road |
| Typical Price | $279–$609 per person | $269–$359 per person | $120–$200 per person |
| Time at the Canyon | 20–30 minutes standing on the canyon floor | None — you never leave the aircraft | 1–3 hours at viewpoints, plus long transfers |
| Aerial Views En Route | ✓ Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the Colorado River | ✓ The canyon itself from the air | ✗ Desert highway |
| Best For | The single most memorable day of a Las Vegas trip | Anyone already at the rim who wants the aerial view | Travellers on a tight budget with a spare full day |
| Free Cancellation | ✓ Up to 24 hours before | ✓ Up to 24 hours before | ✓ Up to 24 hours before |
| Check Availability | Browse Flights | Browse Tours |
Compare Flights
Every Grand Canyon Helicopter Tour Worth Booking
Six flights across both rims and every price tier — from a 30-minute South Rim scenic to a full half-day landing tour with transfers.
MOST REVIEWEDGrand Canyon Village: Helicopter Tour & Hummer Tour Options
CHEAPEST LANDINGGrand Canyon West: Canyon Floor Landing Helicopter
HIGHEST RATEDGrand Canyon National Park: South Rim Scenic Helicopter Tour
TRANSFERS INCLUDEDGrand Canyon Helicopter Landing Tour with Las Vegas Transfer
SUNSET OPTIONVegas: Grand Canyon Helicopter Landing Tour and Champagne
SKYWALK INCLUDEDFrom Las Vegas: Grand Canyon Skywalk Express Helicopter Tour
Canyon Floor Landings
Which Grand Canyon Helicopter Tours Actually Land
Only one rim allows it, four tours do it, and the price gap between them is transfers rather than experience.
Most Grand Canyon helicopter tours never touch down. The ones that do all fly to the same place for the same reason: Grand Canyon West sits on Hualapai tribal land, outside Grand Canyon National Park, and is therefore the only part of the canyon where a commercial helicopter is permitted to descend below the rim and land.
Flights over the national park — every South Rim departure — are scenic flights and always will be. If a tour page is vague about which canyon it flies to, that is the question to ask.
What the Landing Is Actually Like
The aircraft drops below the rim and settles onto a private plateau roughly 3,500 feet down, a few hundred feet above the Colorado River. You get 20 to 30 minutes on the ground depending on the operator, usually with a champagne toast and light refreshments at a shaded picnic area.
It is not the bottom of the canyon in the hiking sense and you are not at the water’s edge. What you get is the thing photographs cannot carry: standing underneath walls a mile high, somewhere reachable only by air or by a multi-day expedition, in near silence. Read the reviews on any of these tours and this is the twenty minutes people are describing.
The Four Landing Tours
The Grand Canyon West canyon floor landing is the value pick at $279. Forty minutes total: ten down, 20 on the canyon floor, ten back, in a premier ECO-Star with leather seats and wrap-around glass. It departs from Grand Canyon West Airport, so you need to get yourself there, and a West Rim entry ticket is required and not included.
The Papillon landing tour with Las Vegas transfers at $489 is the one most Las Vegas visitors should book. Round-trip hotel pickup from the Strip, the flight over Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam, about 30 minutes on the canyon floor with champagne, and the ride home — 4.5 hours door to door, 1,746 ratings at 4.8.
The Maverick landing tour with champagne at $499 lands in the same area but skips the transfers, so it takes only 2 to 2.5 hours. It is also the only tour here with a sunset option, which flies home over the lit Las Vegas Strip.
And the one that is not a landing tour despite what people assume: the Skywalk Express lands at the West Rim, at the top, and includes VIP admission to the glass bridge. Book it for the Skywalk, not for the canyon floor — no single flight offers both.
The Price Gap Is Transport, Not Experience
$279 and $489 buy you the same twenty-odd minutes in the same part of the canyon. The difference is that the higher price absorbs a 250-mile round trip, the hotel pickups, check-in and the catering.
Which is better value depends entirely on whether you have a car. For a couple with a rental and a free morning, the $279 flight is comfortably the best deal on this site. For a family of four staying on the Strip without transport, a private transfer to Grand Canyon West and back would cost more than the $210 per-person difference, and the Papillon tour wins. We work the numbers through in is a landing tour worth it.
Practical Notes
Every adult passenger needs government-issued photo ID. Seats are assigned at check-in on legal weight-and-balance limits, so groups are sometimes split across rows, and passengers over roughly 275 to 300 lb are required to purchase a second seat. Most flights need four passengers minimum to operate.
Fly in the morning if you can. The canyon floor is a rock bowl with no shade, and West Rim summer temperatures regularly exceed 100°F — those 20 minutes are far better at 8am than at 2pm. Afternoon thermals also make for a bumpier ride, and between July and September afternoon storms are the main cause of cancellation. See the best time to fly and what to expect on the day.
Guest Reviews
What Guests Say
Ratings and review counts are the tour operators' live figures on GetYourGuide and may shift slightly day to day.
"Amazing experience! Everything was well organized, the helicopter landing in the Grand Canyon was unforgettable, and the staff was fantastic. I highly recommend this tour, it was definitely one of the highlights of our trip!"
"No observation deck will make as much of an impression as a helicopter flight through the Canyon"
"Very impressive experience. Nice pilot. Whether the whole thing is worth just under €500 for 2 people is for everyone to decide for themselves. However, we were very impressed by the canyon from the inside"
"We really liked our pilot, very friendly and talked a lot about the canyon. Helped everyone with pictures, very smooth flight. I will recommend to others"

"Simply fantastic. Just a small clarification for those hoping to put their feet in the water: the spot is about ten meters above the river. There are picnic tables with umbrellas where you can sit for about 15 minutes."

"Two super important tips for anyone driving from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon West to take the helicopter tour there! 1- Be careful with the tour time and when you leave Las Vegas. On the border between Nevada and Arizona (Roover Dam), you lose 1 hour because of the time zone, so you actually lose 1 hour, so leave early. 2- If you go to the Grand Canyon by car and don't want to enter the national park (99 USD), you don't need to pay the fee. The helicopter airport is in front of the park's general parking lot. The helicopter ride is worth every penny!!!! Going into the park after the helicopter ride was a waste of money, in my opinion."

"It was a great trip. Out pilot Allan was personable and a great guide. A smooth ride to the base of the canyon and a great trip out of the canyon."
Read all 381 verified reviews
See All ReviewsStand on the Floor of the Grand Canyon
Papillon's EcoStar landing tour flies from Las Vegas over the Hoover Dam and sets down beside the Colorado River, with about 30 minutes on the canyon floor, a champagne toast and hotel transfers included. Starting from $279 per person.
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Grand Canyon Helicopter Tour FAQ
The questions worth answering before you pick a flight.
Prices on this site run from $269 to $609 per person. A 25–30 minute scenic flight from the South Rim starts around $269. A flight that actually lands on the canyon floor starts at $279 if you are already at Grand Canyon West, or from $489 out of Las Vegas with hotel transfers included. The Skywalk Express, which bundles skip-the-line Skywalk admission, is the most expensive at $609.
Only the ones flying to Grand Canyon West. The West Rim sits on Hualapai tribal land rather than inside Grand Canyon National Park, and that is the only reason landings are legal there. Flights over the national park itself — every South Rim departure — are scenic flights that never touch down. See our canyon floor landing tours for the flights that do land.
It depends on what you want out of the day. The West Rim is closer to Las Vegas, has the Skywalk, and is the only place a helicopter can put you on the canyon floor. The South Rim is the deeper, more dramatic canyon most photographs are taken from, and its flights cross the national park — but they stay in the air. Our West Rim vs South Rim guide works through the trade-off in detail.
The flight is the short part. Scenic flights run 25–45 minutes in the air. Landing tours from Las Vegas take 2 to 4.5 hours door to door, of which roughly 75 minutes is flying and 20–30 minutes is spent on the canyon floor — the balance is hotel pickups, check-in and the drive to the departure terminal in Boulder City.
Comfortably. A helicopter landing tour takes half a day at most, which is the main argument for flying rather than taking the coach — a bus day trip to the same rim runs 12 to 15 hours, most of it on the road, for a shorter time at the canyon. See every Grand Canyon helicopter tour departing Las Vegas.
Morning departures have the clearest, calmest air and the coolest temperatures on the canyon floor. Sunset flights give you the canyon in low light and, on the Las Vegas routes, the Strip lit up on the way home — they photograph better and sell out first. Our best time to fly guide covers the seasonal picture too.
Yes, and it is enforced. Passengers weighing roughly 275–300 lb or more are required to purchase an additional seat, depending on the operator. All seating is assigned at check-in according to legal weight-and-balance limits, which also means a group is not guaranteed to be seated together.
A passport or government-issued photo ID for every adult passenger, a camera, and a light layer — the canyon floor is cooler than the Strip early in the morning. Drones, selfie sticks, tripods, backpacks and large bags are not permitted on board. Our what to expect guide walks through the whole day.
Occasionally. Desert thunderstorms in the July–September monsoon and high winds are the usual causes. Operators cancel rather than fly in marginal conditions, and rebook you or refund you when they do. Every tour on this site offers free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead, so booking early costs you nothing in flexibility.
For South Rim flights, yes — Grand Canyon National Park charges its own entrance fee, and since 1 January 2026 non-US residents aged 16 and over also pay a $100 National Park Service nonresident fee on top, including on commercial tours. Grand Canyon West is Hualapai tribal land and is outside that scheme, but it charges its own admission, which most Las Vegas helicopter tours already include.
The honest answer depends on which one you book. A canyon-floor landing is the kind of thing people remember for years, and it is genuinely hard to reach any other way. A 25-minute scenic flight is spectacular but brief. Our is it worth it guide sets the cost against what you actually get.
Two to four weeks for a specific date, and further ahead for sunset slots, spring and autumn weekends, and US holidays. Flights also require a minimum of four passengers to operate, so a thinly booked departure can be moved — another reason not to leave it to your last afternoon.
Still have questions? Email us at info@grandcanyon-helicopter.tours
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- Grand Canyon Skywalk Express Helicopter from Las Vegas
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- Grand Canyon West Canyon Floor Landing Helicopter Tour
- Las Vegas Grand Canyon Helicopter Landing & Champagne
- South Rim Scenic Helicopter Tour, Grand Canyon Park