Congratulations on planning a trip to the Grand Canyon, you will have a fantastic time because there is so much to do there. You want to be sure and take one of the many tours available. They are all fun so it doesn't matter which one you decide to try, they are all worth the experience.

If you're planning to visit the National Park, you'll first need to decide whether to do the South Rim or the West Rim. If you are in a city in Arizona like Williams, Phoenix, Sedona, or Flagstaff, you will be going to the South Rim. If your tour departs from Vegas, you can go to the South Rim or the West Rim.

Motor Coach Tours

Bus tours are the cheapest of all the Grand Canyon tours. Day trips set out for the South Rim from Phoenix with a stop at Sedona along the way. Vegas coach tours headed for the South Rim are full-day adventures with lots of things to do. It's even possible to add an optional chopper flight. You'll also have a lot of optional upgrades when you choose a bus tour to the West Rim such as passes to the glass Skywalk, a raft trip on the Colorado River, and a helicopter ride to the floor of the canyon.

Helicopter Flights

Vegas-based visitors can choose a West Rim landing tour or the air-only type. Federal regulations don't permit copter landings at the South Rim, so air-only tours are the only type available there.

But, you can choose either a 30-minute or 50-minute South Rim helicopter tour. The 30-minute flight passes over awesome scenery on its way to the North Rim and back. The longer tour does too, but adds everything up to the Park's eastern boundary. In all, this comprehensive flight lets you see nearly 3/4 of the entire Grand Canyon region.

The helicopter fly-overs offer amazing views, but the landing tours offer a lot of adventure. One of the fun landing tours takes you on a thrilling descent to the canyon floor and then treats you to a champagne picnic.

Grand Canyon Airplane Tours

Planes don't land on the bottom (or even fly below the rim), but they do follow the same flight path as the choppers, just at higher altitudes. So, for example, if you choose to go on an airplane tour of the South Rim, your plane will follow the same route as the 50-minute helicopter tour. The airplane tours are a lot of fun and you can choose landing flights too. You can select an airplane tour that comes with a helicopter ride to the floor of the canyon, a pass to the Skywalk, and a rafting trip on the smooth waters of the Colorado River.

Grand Canyon Smooth-Water Rafting

The rafting trips are simply spectacular and you should take your whole family and go since everyone over the age of four years old is allowed to participate. The rafting tour out of Vegas begins with a chopper descent to the floor of the canyon where you hop on a bus and head to the Hoover Dam to begin your eleven mile float to Willow Beach in Arizona. The South Rim rafting tours cover 15 miles of the river from Glen Canyon Dam to historic Lee's Ferry. The basic tour takes you to the dam by bus while the deluxe tour takes you on a 4x4 expedition first and then flies you to the dam to begin your raft trip.

To Summarize

Seats on these exciting tours of the Grand Canyon fill up fast because the tours are such great fun. Select the rim you want to see and the tour you want to experience and book your seats at least one week in advance. When you book your seats online on the tour operator's website, you will get the lowest price available.