Helicopter or Open-Top Bus: Which Las Vegas Night Tour Is Worth the Money?

The open-top bus and the helicopter flight are the two most-booked evenings here, and the choice between them looks like a price question. It is not. Forty dollars separates them and they answer completely different questions, so the useful comparison is not "which is better value" but "which question are you asking".

The short answer

Book the bus if it is your first evening here and you cannot yet picture the city. Book the helicopter if you already know the Strip from the ground, or if you have exactly one evening and want the thing you will still be describing next year.

Side by side

Figures as captured from each operator's own listing.

Compare both

The case for the bus

Two hours on an open top deck is the most efficient introduction to this city that exists. It runs the Strip past the Fountains of Bellagio, the Eiffel Tower deck and the LINQ, carries on five miles north to Fremont Street, and comes back past Luxor and The STRAT. Nothing else here covers both districts in one go, and nothing else does it for $59.

The commentary is recorded rather than live, in English and Spanish, and reviewers who expected a person say so. That is the trade that buys the price. The late 10:15pm departure adds a photo stop at the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, which is otherwise awkward to reach; the 8pm run is 21 and over with a drink included.

Its real value is what it does to the rest of your trip. After two hours you know where things are, how far apart they actually sit, and which end of the boulevard you want to spend an evening on. The bus tours page compares it against the Neon Museum departure.

The case for the helicopter

Ten to twelve minutes, and they are not comparable to anything on the ground. From about a thousand feet the Strip stops being a street and becomes a four-mile bar of light with black desert on either side, with the Luxor beam coming up through the middle. Sphere, the High Roller, the Bellagio, downtown and Allegiant Stadium all pass under the skids while the pilot names them.

Be clear about the shape of it. The booking runs one to two hours; the flight is ten to twelve minutes of that, and the rest is check-in, a briefing and boarding. Reviewers divide almost exactly along whether they knew that in advance. Original government photo identification is required from age 18, weights are declared at booking, and the refund window is three days rather than 24 hours.

It is also the strongest occasion booking of the set. Birthdays and anniversaries come up more often in its feedback than for any other evening. The helicopter tours page compares it against the three other aircraft flying the same loop.

Doing both, and in what order

The bus first, always. It gives you the map, and the map is what makes the flight legible — from the air you want to be able to name what you are looking at, and two hours on the ground is what teaches you that. Twenty-four hours later the flight lands differently.

Total cost for the pair is $158 before tips, which is less than most single dinners on the Strip. Both are two-hour commitments at most, so they fit in consecutive evenings easily, and both leave the rest of each night free for the free shows.

What each one is not

The bus is not a guided tour. The commentary is a recording and there is nobody to ask a question of, which several people book it expecting and do not get. It also does not collect you: you make your own way to the High Roller loading zone at 3973 LINQ Lane and arrive fifteen minutes early, because seating is not allocated.

The helicopter is not a scenic flight in the leisurely sense. Ten to twelve minutes is the whole of it, the aircraft seats six and is not private unless you buy all six seats, and where you sit decides how much of the Strip you see. It also asks more of you before you board than anything else here: original photo identification from age 18, and a declared weight at the time of booking.

If neither is quite right

There is a middle option that neither of these covers, and it is worth knowing about. The guided vans and the open jeep run three to four hours, collect you from your hotel and stop and walk you around eight or nine landmarks with a live guide, from $103. That is the format for anyone who wants to be shown the city rather than driven past it or flown over it.

The open jeep also builds a 30-minute High Roller rotation into the fare, which gets you height without a heliport. The options page puts all six formats side by side, and what to expect on the night covers the practical differences between being collected and meeting a kerb.

What each one costs you in time, not money

Count the whole evening rather than the fare. The bus asks for about three hours of your night: getting to the LINQ, fifteen minutes early for a seat, two hours aboard, and the walk back. The helicopter asks for about two and a half: reaching the heliport, a check-in that closes half an hour before the slot, the briefing, twelve minutes airborne, and the way home.

That is closer than the headline durations suggest, and it changes the arithmetic if you have one evening. Neither consumes a whole night, and both leave you free for the 15-minute fountain cycle afterwards, which runs until midnight.

Verdict by visitor

• First time here, several evenings: bus first, then the flight.
• First time here, one evening: the flight, then walk to the fountains afterwards.
• Been before, know the ground: the flight. The bus will tell you things you already know.
• With children: the bus. Any age, cheapest fare, and no ID at the door.
• Dates not settled: the bus. It refunds at 24 hours; the flight needs three days.
• Marking something: the flight, with the dinner package if the evening is the occasion.

The full options comparison puts both against the other four formats, and every departure is listed on Las Vegas night helicopter tour.

Forty dollars apart, and answering two different questions. Every departure is on Las Vegas Night Tours.