Hoover Dam helicopter tours run out of Las Vegas, NV

There are dozens of tourist helicopter flights out of Las Vegas every day and night. Several flight services cover only the Hoover Dam area, a short 20-minute hop from the famed Strip to the dam site in Boulder City, Nevada. Many other Vegas-based helicopter schedules include excursions flying several hundred miles from their Las Vegas airport bases to as far away as Arizona’s Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and Petrified Forest and to Utah’s Bryce Canyon.

Additionally, the more extensive helicopter flights offer varied combinations of interesting attractions, lasting anywhere from a few hours to several days. Some include such special services as intimate formal dinners for lovers on a flat rock overlooking the Canyon rim, champagne weddings in the air and overnight camping on the Colorado River bank a mile below on the Canyon floor. There are also helicopter excursions featuring Western ranch horseback riding experiences, exploring ancient Native American ruins and dozens of other exciting activities.

To narrow the selection down to Hoover Dam only flights, I’ve selected one that features mostly an eagle eye’s visit to one of the world’s most massive man-made structures. In-flight narrations will reveal to passengers that the dam is not only famous for its huge size and enormous hydroelectric power that serves hundreds of cities and farms throughout the West. Additionally, when it was built in the 1930s, at a cost of more than 100 workers lives, during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, Hoover Dam created an unexpected bonanza. The government funds and salaries of the dam’s thousands of fun-seeking construction workers also were essential in creating the glittering city of Las Vegas of today.

A typical tourist excursion example is the Las Vegas Strip and Hoover Dam Twilight Helicopter Tour. This trip includes, as most of the others do, limousine service from passengers’ hotels to McCarran Airport, where they board the helicopter for the two-hour flight. The trip takes in aerial views of the Dam and its Lake Mead surroundings. On the return flight, usually at dusk, the chopper lingers lovingly over the famed Strip and downtown Vegas as nightfall brings on the millions of brilliant lights and other Vegas nighttime attractions. The list price is $219.99. Code: 2280TWILIGHT.

As with everything else in Las Vegas, if you take the time to do some homework after you arrive, you rarely need to pay list price for the tourist helicopter flights to Hoover Dam or everywhere else. Before you book any Vegas attraction, always check with your hotel desk for discounts, as well as look for dollars-off coupons in hotel room magazines.