Seeing the canyon from the helicopter was the highlight of our holiday. Chuck the pilot was very nice and helpful.

We booked the Imperial helicopter tour from the South Rim. We arrived at the designated time and checked in quickly. We watched the short safety video and were on our way! Seats are pre-assigned based on the number of people and the weights of the passengers. There were 4 passengers on our trip - 1 sat up front with the pilot. 2 of us were forward-facing in the back and the 4th was rear-facing in the back. There was 1 spare seat. All seats were window seats.

All in all we were really happy with our tour. I felt that the better view was on the other side of the helicopter for most of the trip and the sun was in my eyes for at least 10 minutes, which made for some pretty bad pictures... : ( But the experience was still definitely worth it!

The pilot spoke to us off and on and the rest of the time they played music that was pretty appropriate and added to the overall experience.

Do book ahead - the price we paid by booking in advance online was much less than the price quoted to people who walked in.

We were happy we chose Papillon and happy we took this tour.

Grand Voyager Expedition
We took a small airplane across Hoover Dam and Lake Mead to the west rim of the Canyon, a short coach ride to Guano Point with a buffet lunch, then a helicopter descent from the rim to the banks of the colorado river, there we had a short boat cruise along the river. We flew back to the rim by helicopter and returned back to Boulder City airfield once again over the canyon, dam and lake. We were picked up from our hotel at 10am and arrived back about 5.30pm. A BRILLIANT TRIP, well worth the money.

We booked a “Super Deluxe Air / Helicopter Tour” and that was a great choice !!
Pick up at hotel was almost on time, after 2-3 stops to catch other clients, we were on the way to reach Boulder City Airport 30 minutes later.
The brand new terminal is quite small but nice. After a quick check in and maybe 15 minutes wait, we were able to board on the plane. Both pilots were nice, and the 1 ¼ hour flight to Grand Canyon Airport was very good, with stunning views over Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and West Rim. Then quick transfer by bus to the Helicopter Terminal, and let’s fly over the Grand Canyon for 30 minutes. Absolutely awesome ! We already visited a couple a really great places around the world, but this one will remain one of our favourite. After the lunch (disappointing buffet, only negative point), we went by bus to two points of view (Bright Angel Lodge and Mather Point) where we had plenty of time to enjoy this magnificent landscape and take some great pics. Maybe 2 ½ hours later (and again a great flight), we were back in town, absolutely delighted by our day. It’s not cheap at all ($367) but worth every cents !