Visiting the Grand Canyon on a Tight Schedule
Visiting the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas is a once-in-a-lifetime day tour that can be achieved even if you only have a few free hours in your vacation. If you're pressed for time, planning your trip in advance is key and this guide can provide plenty of information and tips to ensure that you aren't wasting any time during your Grand Canyon trip.
Which Grand Canyon Rim Should I Visit?
There are two primary regions of the Grand Canyon, called rims: the South Rim (also known as the Grand Canyon National Park) and the West Rim. There are many differences between the South Rim and the West Rim, including their distances from Las Vegas and the activities available at each destination.
Both the South Rim and the West Rim offer incredible sightseeing and fun for the whole family, but if you're visiting on a tight schedule, you'll need to choose which you'd like to visit, as it's not easy to see both in one day.
Grand Canyon South Rim
The Grand Canyon South Rim is the official "national park" and contains some of the most world-famous and widely recognized landscapes. This is the most developed region of the Grand Canyon, and the nearby Grand Canyon Village houses several restaurants, hotels, shopping opportunities, museums, and more. Because of its numerous amenities, the South Rim is far and away the most visited area of the Grand Canyon.
Grand Canyon West Rim
A great solution for travelers short on time is to visit the Grand Canyon West. Here the views are very unique from the South Rim, but equally beautiful. The West Rim is also home to the Skywalk, the world-famous glass-bottomed bridge that lets visitors quite literally walk out into the middle of the canyon gorge! Also nearby is Hualapai Point, a Native American cultural center that boasts a restaurant, handcrafted Hualapai gifts for sale, a shooting gallery, multiple trails, and a zip line.
Fastest Way to Get to the Grand Canyon
This region of the canyon is about 252 miles from Las Vegas, or a 4-hour drive. If you only have a few hours to visit, driving this distance would make a trip to the South Rim impossible; fortunately, you can cut your travel time by more than half when you fly to the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas in a sightseeing airplane!
The West Rim is about 127 miles from Las Vegas, or a 2 hour and 10-minute drive. However, this is the only region of the park that can be reached by helicopter, which is just a 70-minute flight. Airplane flights to the West Rim also depart daily with the same flight time.
What if you have even less time? Papillon has a solution for that too! You can book an airplane tour from Las Vegas to the West Rim that flies over the stunning scenery and offers the same aerial sightseeing and photography options, then returns to Vegas in an afternoon's time!
Best Grand Canyon Activities for a One Day Visit
The best news for Las Vegas vacationers wishing to travel to the Grand Canyon is that there are a wide variety of flights that bundle other activities. Grand Canyon combination tours are a huge advantage as all the included activities are reserved and prepared in advance, with no need to wait in line or the disappointment of tours being sold out day-of. Whether youre flying to the South Rim or the West Rim, you can enjoy even more activities upon landing.
South Rim Activities & Tours
Your scenic airplane flight to the Grand Canyon National Park not only includes aerial views of Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, and the Colorado River en route, but also offers different add-on activities upon landing at the Grand Canyon Airport.
Choose to explore a variety of famous lookout points on a ground excursion in a military-style customized Hummer vehicle or see as much of the park as possible with a Hummer tour and helicopter tour combination! You'll visit several lookout points and have time to wander along the canyon's edge, then fly over the deepest and widest rock gorges in a state-of-the-art helicopter.
Grand Canyon West Tours & Activities
The most unique and exciting possibility at the Grand Canyon West is the chance to land on the very bottom in a helicopter! This is the only region of the canyon where helicopters are permitted to land on the canyon floor, and also the only area close enough to Las Vegas where roundtrip helicopter tours are possible. You can fly to the West Rim in a luxury sightseeing helicopter, land on the canyon floor, and even enjoy a pontoon boat ride between the canyon walls along the Colorado River. For a full day of adventure, add entry onto the Skywalk and stand in the air across from Eagle Point, a colossal rock formation that resembles an eagle in flight.
Book Your Grand Canyon Tour with Papillon Today!
If you only have a day (or even a few hours) to experience the Grand Canyon during your trip to Las Vegas, trust only Papillon to get you there. We are the world's largest and longest-running air tour operator, with our first Grand Canyon helicopter tour taking to the skies in 1965. We offer daily departures to both rims of the canyon, and even the options to include roundtrip transportation from your Strip hotel and privatize your aircraft for your group only.
Don't wait any longer - book your Grand Canyon tour from Las Vegas today!