The best way to see the Grand Canyon is from the air so you can appreciate its immense size and beauty of it, and the most affordable type of sightseeing in the air is an airplane tour. Airplane tours operate year-round, seven days a week, and you get what you pay for. There are several air tours to choose from and here are my top three recommendations.
Want to depart from Arizona or Vegas?
You can start your air travel in Tusayan, Arizona, or Vegas, Nevada. Tours depart from Vegas flying to the West Rim or South Rim. Air tours from Tusayan are South Rim tours only.
Top Three Tours
Canyon Airplane Tour #1 is a very popular choice as it is a flight to Vegas that comes with a helicopter ride when you reach the Canyon. This tour flies by plane from Vegas to the top of the Western Rim, and when the plane lands, you'll be transferred to a helicopter and take a thrilling flight to the bottom of the Canyon. Plus, this tour includes a VIP ticket to the famous Skywalk.
The helicopter part of the tour is quite interesting as the helicopter descends 2500 feet to the bottom of the Canyon where it lands near the Colorado River. Alternatively, you'll have about 30 minutes to explore the area on foot. Plus, the tour comes with a boat ride along the river, so you can do it all when you book this top tour.
Tour #2 is also a Vegas tour, but this one goes to the South Rim, not the West Rim. The South Rim is further away, so the flight from Vegas takes about an hour, but it will be much faster than if you were driving, which would take more than five hours. The plane flies from Vegas to Tusayan, where a coach is waiting to take you on the ground through the national park. To enhance your experience, you can add a helicopter flight to this tour that travels from the Southern Rim,
through the Canyons to the remote wilderness areas of the Northern Ring, and back.
Tour #3 is a departure from Tusayan. This might be the tour for you if you want to see as much of the park's beauty as possible. This flight will take you from the Southern Rim to the North Rim, then it flies to the park's eastern boundary before turning back to the South Rim. This tour flies over 75% of the entire national park in a 50-minute flight. It's a great option for excursions if you're departing from Arizona instead of Vegas. You'll enjoy
dramatic aerial views of sites like the Dragoon Corridor and the Colorado Confluence