Vegas to Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam?
(from Australia) we will be in Vegas later this year and want to do one of those helicopter tours over Grand Canyon…can anyone recommend or tell me the difference between a west rim/south rim tour? i assume skywalk is essential?
also, is Hoover Dam worth a trip on it’s own? The helicopter tours only fly over it, should i also book another trip to the Dam?
any tips and opinions welcome…thanks 
Sadly the skywalk is far from essential, the skywalk is at Grand Canyon West and notGrand Canyon National park dont get the two confused. The photos and the Grand Canyon that you have seen on TV is not Grand Canyon West this is an Indian Reservation trying to cash in the South Rim is where you want to be the West Rim is not woth the trip its a total rip off for somthing that is not that spectatcular. All landing helicopter trips from Vegas only go to the West Rim. Youc an drive there see below.
West Rim http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3116/2586374685_a65eb3c6f7.jpg?v=0
South Rim http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2239/2093000804_1b04a2c627.jpg?v=0
Self Drive http://vegasuncovered.wordpress.com/2008/08/14/self-drive-day-trip-from-las-vegas-to-the-grand-canyon/
May 16th, 2010 at 10:14 am
I can only answer you with my own preferences.
Take the Hoover Dam bus tour. Why? You are up close and personal. You can walk the breadth and marvel at the height and the width of the construction, and if you are anywhere an engineering fan as I am, you would simply think it is an awesome sight. Take the tours where it shows footage of the construction, memorabilia of the workers, old equipment, the story of the dog, the doggy’s memorial.
As for helicopters, I found them somehow overpriced and could not find a single human who swore that it was not to be missed. So I have steadily been missing it in the more than a dozen and a half times being in the neighborhood.
It seems to me that those who took the Canyon bus tours or drove there themselves were the most satisfied tourists. The skywalk ?- I have not heard any criticism about it. The ones who drove through the Canyon area, stayed in the local accommodations gave the best feedbacks.
Most locals will agree. They will suggest the helicopter rides to those who do not have the time to waste and only have one or two day to take in the sights.
References :
May 16th, 2010 at 10:43 am
Sadly the skywalk is far from essential, the skywalk is at Grand Canyon West and notGrand Canyon National park dont get the two confused. The photos and the Grand Canyon that you have seen on TV is not Grand Canyon West this is an Indian Reservation trying to cash in the South Rim is where you want to be the West Rim is not woth the trip its a total rip off for somthing that is not that spectatcular. All landing helicopter trips from Vegas only go to the West Rim. Youc an drive there see below.
West Rim http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3116/2586374685_a65eb3c6f7.jpg?v=0
South Rim http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2239/2093000804_1b04a2c627.jpg?v=0
Self Drive http://vegasuncovered.wordpress.com/2008/08/14/self-drive-day-trip-from-las-vegas-to-the-grand-canyon/
References :
May 16th, 2010 at 11:23 am
Hi >For more reasons than I feel like listing Do Not Do Skywalk and or The so called West Rim of Grand Canyon >If despite my great advice you choose to do so you will not have seen anything that even remotely resembles the real Grand Canyon
Do not take any helo -tours that promise to land in the Grand Canyon
Due to combination of National Park Service [NPS] and Federal Aviation Administration [FAA ] rules there are some very specific rules that govern the airspace over GCNP
Among those rules are prohibitions against :
Landing anywhere in GCNP unless on official businesses like S&R,
Flying below the Rims
and there is a huge No Fly Zone over the Canyon that was put into place so that selfish experienced Canyon hikers such as myself could experience the deafening silence that is such an essential part of hiking the Inner Canyon.
So where does this leave you ?
You can take a tour using Scenic Airlines
http://www.scenic.com/
You can rent a car and spend a very long day on the road driving
Instead of the "normal" routing that you would get trying doing it this much more spectacular way to get there
Pop this into mapquest exactly like this But don’t pay too much attention to their point to point times
Leave LAS an hour before sunrise and do this:
LAS>Hurricane UT>Mount Carmel Junction UT>Jacob Lake AZ>GCN>LAS
Notes :
Get gas in Hurricane , Cameron AZ & I-40 exit 48 at Kingman AZ
Just before you cross the Colorado make a left and follow that road to Lees Ferry proper and dip your toes in the cold Rio
Lees Ferry is River Mile zero and is the put -in place for the raft /dory &kayak trips that go down the Rio
Grand Canyon Village is about RM 94
and Skywalk >which is over a side canyon> is RM 265? Grand Canyon has 277 RMs in it
Before you cross the Rio pull into the rest area and walk to the middle of the old Navajo Bridge
The free view 467′ straight down to the Rio beats Skywalk’s
http://www.nps.gov/glca/historyculture/navajobridge.htm
Watch the sun go down over Maricopa Point , grab dinner at either the El Tovar or the Arizona Steak House and then head back to LAS
My thinking is that because the drive from GCN to LAS is basically boring as hell anyway there is simply no point of doing it in perfectly good daylight
Enjoy the Canyon
References :
Me>Canyon hiker that used to live an hour from the S.Rim .