Grand Canyon Tours

Grand Canyon air tours by airplane offer visitors the fastest way to travel to the Grand Canyon South Rim or West Rim, plus you enjoy a dramatic and memorable bird’s eye view of the Grand Canyon National Park. More than 200,000 visitors choose Grand Canyon air tours each year. Most of these Grand Canyon airplane tours take off from Las Vegas, Nevada or nearby cities like Henderson, Nevada and land at Grand Canyon West, where many visitors opt to add on Skywalk tickets, a helicopter flight, horseback riding or boat ride to their air tour package. There are air tours from Las Vegas and Scottsdale to the South Rim as well. Air tours are the number one way to see the Grand Canyon in one day and some visitors find it worthwhile to spend a little more to fly than to take an 18-hour round-trip van or bus tour.

Peer out the window during one of these Grand Canyon helicopter tours for a bird’s eye view of the Grand Canyon it is a visual feast without rival. More than a half million visitors take a Grand Canyon helicopter tour each year. Most of these helicopter rides take off from either the Grand Canyon Airport in the village of Tusayan located just outside the South Rim, or Las Vegas, Nevada or Sedona, Arizona.

Helicopter tours at the Grand Canyon have become increasingly popular and affordable. Not only do visitors get to fly over and through the canyon walls, select helicopter trips touch down at the bottom for a picnic lunch. Helicopter tours are an easy and rewarding way to see and experience the Grand Canyon and require only 1/2 - 1 day of time and can be under $200 per person. Grand Canyon helicopter tour companies upgrade and maintain their fleet often for first-class comfort, passenger protection as well as environmental protection, while tour narration can be offered in up to seven different languages. Additional tours such as the Grand Canyon Skywalk are often part of popular helicopter tour packages. Check out different providers of Grand Canyon tours to all points departing from Las Vegas, Sedona and South Rim areas.

Ask any of the 22,000 Colorado River runners who brave Grand Canyon white water river rafting trips each year to describe the experience and you’re likely to hear that it is “the trip of a lifetime.” Licensed Grand Canyon rafting companies vie with eager private boaters for the limited Grand Canyon Colorado River rafting permits the National Park Service make available every year. Kayaks, dories, oar-powered inflatable rafts, and graceful motorized rigs are the watercraft of choice through this world-class Grand Canyon whitewater rafting wonderland. Trips are moderately expensive, and last anywhere from one day to two weeks. There are also different levels of excitement available for these trips. Float trips tend to be more mild and and travel mostly on the smoother part of the Colorado River with less rapids. Other trips take on the Class 5 rapids head-on! If you have the desire to travel through the Grand Canyon via water, there is a river rafting trip for you.

Many Grand Canyon river rafting trips depart by van from Flagstaff or Las Vegas and put-in at points like Lees Ferry, located about 2 1/2 hours from Flagstaff and about 50 miles north of the North Rim entrance. These trips start booking up a year in advance, but it never hurts to keep an eye out for last minute cancellations or unfilled spots. There are a few Grand Canyon river rafting booking companies on TheCanyon.com that work with all of the difference rafting companies to assist in filling the available spots. If you're looking to book last minute, look at or Special Deals page or our 11th Hour Getaways. You might just be able to book a river rafting trip down the Colorado last minute and maybe even get special pricing!

Hiking the Grand Canyon is the most intimate and profound experiences one could have with nature. With every step, the rugged terrain introduces a new perspective of the depths that make up the Grand Canyon. There are several Grand Canyon hiking trips to choose from. From backcountry backpacking hikes or backpacking with mule assist, to hiking then camping or staying at a Grand Canyon hotel, there is a hiking trip for you. Guided hikes can range approximately anywhere from 14 to 44 miles over 3 to 7 days or so. It really depends on the hike you chose and which guide service you are hiring.

There are a few hiking trails that are conducive to an average fit adult to hike, but many people underestimate the demanding nature of hiking the Grand Canyon. Bringing enough water, staying cool or warm in more sever temperatures, pacing oneself, being appropriately fit, and knowing how to get help when something goes awry are essential to hiking the Canyon. If you are not completely confident in your abilities to manage a safe hike, then hire a Grand Canyon hiking guiding service. These hiking guides are passionate about the Grand Canyon and are more than happy to keep you safe while sharing their love for this truly unique place on Earth.

Grand Canyon tours on the ground are a great way to see more of the Grand Canyon in a shorter amount of time. Bus and coach tours go to the South and West Rims. These tours are highly recommended if you would like to see the Canyon in comfort. If you're feeling adventurous and want to see and do it all, some of these ground tours are combined with helicopter rides, river trips, lodging and dinner reservations. There's a ground based Grand Canyon tour for almost every kind of visitor and they range in time from a few hours to multiple days with lodging included.

Visitors should know that even though the approximate straight-line distance between the South and North Rims of the Grand Canyon is only about ten miles, the driving distance is about 215 miles and amounts to five hours driving time. Ground tours leave from many of the towns and cities surrounding the different parts of the Canyon. There are van tours that go to the South Rim departing from Sedona, Flagstaff and Williams; bus/coach tours depart Las Vegas or Los Angeles; Jeep tours often leave from Williams or Las Vegas. But depending on your location and what you want to see, you may want to take a combination ground-and-air tour to get the full experience.

Usually, visitors headed for the South Rim - the most popular area of Grand Canyon National Park - frequently embark on tours from Williams, Flagstaff, Sedona, Phoenix or Las Vegas aboard a comfort-ride van or coach, particularly when the tour is taken in place of transportation. Popular South Rim tours also include the Grand Canyon Railway, which departs Williams for Grand Canyon Village daily, and 30 to 45-minute helicopter tours, flying from the Grand Canyon Airport near Tusayan over the South and North Rims and back.

Grand Canyon tours from Las Vegas are typically destined for Grand Canyon West, an area of Hualapai Nation located outside the National Park and home to the glass Skywalk attraction. The South Rim is also a popular destination from Las Vegas. Tours from Las Vegas commonly include transportation by van, coach, helicopter, airplane and Jeep (or a combination therein) and range in price from under $100 per person to over $600 per person.

South Rim
Grand Canyon tours to the South Rim - the most popular area of Grand Canyon National Park - most commonly depart from Las Vegas, Flagstaff, Williams/Tusayan, Sedona, or Phoenix. Embark on a tours from Williams, Flagstaff, Sedona, Phoenix or Las Vegas aboard a comfort-ride van or coach, especially if you're looking for the tour as an alternative to transportation. Popular South Rim tours also include the Grand Canyon Railway, which departs Williams for Grand Canyon Village daily, and 30 to 45-minute helicopter tours, flying from the Grand Canyon Airport near Tusayan over the South and North Rims and back.

West Rim
Usually, tours to Grand Canyon West, an area of Hualapai Nation located outside the National Park and home to the glass Skywalk attraction, originate from Las Vegas. Tours to the West Rim commonly include transportation by van, coach, helicopter, airplane and Jeep (or a combination therein) and range in price from under $100 per person to over $600 per person.

North Rim

The North Rim is a very remote destination; there are no single-day commercial tours to the North Rim at this time (although many whitewater and smoothwater rafting trips begin north of the North Rim at Lees Ferry.) Instead, book a multi-day "Grand Circle" trip that includes the North Rim, a river rafting trip, or a custom tour. With a handsome travel allowance, many tour operators can create a custom tour for you with a combination of van, coach or air travel.

For a one or two day trip, we highly recommend you drive yourself to the North Rim. You could take a shuttle or taxi; there are very few companies that provide Grand Canyon shuttles or taxi cabs from Flagstaff to the North Rim, but those that do offer prices ranging from $158 - $200 per person and depart almost exclusively from Flagstaff hotels (although custom options are available for additional rates.)

Although not a tour to the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, there is a 30-minute air tour from Las Vegas to Bar-10 Ranch, a decidedly remote 'off-the-grid' vacation lodge and ranch located on the Arizona Strip outside the National Park but only 9 miles from a portion of the North Rim, located 80 unpaved miles from St. George, UT. You'll find this and the aforementioned tours right here on theCanyon.com.