Las Vegas - Grand Canyon

Jimmy81

Going to Vegas next week for 6 nights. I have a few questions for anyone thats been before:

Grand Canyon
This is one of the main reasons we are going to vegas so we want to see this properly. We dont plan on renting a car so we are assuming that a helicopter tour would be the best, as none of us really fancy spending all day on a bus. I have done a search on a few tours, but I am looking for info from people who have been before. Can you recommend any particular tour company? The ones that we looked at so far seem to just fly to and around the canyon. Ideally we would like to get a chance to walk around a bit at the top and get a few photos.

Hoover Dam
From what I can make out this seems to be a tour that can be done by bus, so we plan on taking one of the coach tours. Again, if anyone has any recommendations on any particular tour/tour comapany please let me know.

Outlet Malls
We plan on doing a fair bit of clothes shopping while we are there as well. Are the outlet malls in vegas any good + is there good value to be had there?

Finally, getting from the airport to our hotel. Whats the best way to do this? Limo, bus, taxi?

Staying on the strip at Circus Circus (ive heard its not the best, but tbh i dont really care!

Thanks in advance.

LikeOhMyGawd!

Was in Vegas in May.

Mates took a helicopter tour of the Canyon which included 45min flight there (and 45 back) plus champagne breakfast on the canyon floor. Cost about $250 IIRC and flew over the dam

I took the coach trip to the Hoover dam, took half a day and cost around €45

There are a few outlet malls around vegas:
Las Vegas Outlet Center is located on Las Vegas Boulevard just south of the strip. It contains over 150 factory outlet stores. http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=61

Las Vegas Premium Outlets is located just north of the strip at the gateway to downtown Las Vegas. http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=58

Fashion Outlets at Las Vegas is located about 30 minutes south of the strip on I-15 at Primm, Nevada. Shuttle busses to this mall depart from most of the major casinos. Tickets cost $14 but the fare includes many discount coupons. It has over 100 shops including many exclusive designer labels. http://www.fashionoutletlasvegas.com/

Didn't go to any but hear they are good and cheaper than NY.

Jimmy81

thanks. those outletlets are just what im looking for. By any chance do you remember what company your firends used for the grand canyon trip?

Loadedscream

Heading over to vegas myself on monday....renting a car for the duration of the trip....does anybody know if the additional personal accident insurance being flogged by the rental company is required if you have already gotten normal travel insurance??

mad m

You would want to be carefull as the Grand Canyon is closed during some months because of snow. But if your flying then you will have no problem of gaining access im sure.

mad m

Loadedscream wrote:

Heading over to vegas myself on monday....renting a car for the duration of the trip....does anybody know if the additional personal accident insurance being flogged by the rental company is required if you have already gotten normal travel insurance??

You can use like I did the travel insurance if you are in an accident and need medical care but thats all it covers. Before you go try orbitz.com. When I was in LA during summer I got an economy car for $16 a day and insurance was $9.99 to cover car if I damaged it and $12.99 if I hit someone so insurance was more for a day than car. Oh btw I was told to pick economy car as they never have them and I was upgraded to a mid sized car free of charge.

dixiefly

If you get a chance you should trry and hike down into the Canyon. I assume that you will be at the South Rim. The South Kaibab trail is steeper than Bright Angel but gets out into the heart of the Canyon quicker.

If you get a chance get yourself a steam at the Arizona Steakhouse. A great way to round off a day at the Canyon.

Loadedscream

mad m wrote:

You can use like I did the travel insurance if you are in an accident and need medical care but thats all it covers. Before you go try orbitz.com. When I was in LA during summer I got an economy car for $16 a day and insurance was $9.99 to cover car if I damaged it and $12.99 if I hit someone so insurance was more for a day than car. Oh btw I was told to pick economy car as they never have them and I was upgraded to a mid sized car free of charge.

cheers I booked the car with the third party insurance and the collision waiver so i think i'll tell em to stuff the personal accident cover as ive got travel insurance to cover it...in total car is $435 for 13 days not too bad i dont think....cheers for clarifying it for me

mad m

dixiefly wrote:

If you get a chance you should trry and hike down into the Canyon. I assume that you will be at the South Rim. The South Kaibab trail is steeper than Bright Angel but gets out into the heart of the Canyon quicker.

If you get a chance get yourself a steam at the Arizona Steakhouse. A great way to round off a day at the Canyon.

Dont talk to me about hikes,we dropped the bro in law off at Angles walk on North rim and he walked to south rim in temps of 48celcius,mad man....You can get donkey trails down to Phantoms Ranch also.

clare82

not long back from vegas and the grand canyon..went on a three day trip with www.incadventures.com
its more a buget traveller tour but you go to zion national park and bryce canyon which were both cool as well as the north rim of the g canyon..the guide is a navajo indian and you stay in a teepee at an indian village for both nights..for less than 250euro:D

skipn_easy

Went to Vegas there last week. Visited the grand canyon while there, by helicopter, using Papillion Grand Canyon tours. Were really well organised, have loads of different options... we did a 50 minute helicopter tour that didn't land, but I would have preferred to have landed and done the champagne lunch thing... just to get a real impression of the grand canyon while standing on the floor. But the tour was amazing, and we saw a lot just from the helicopter. It also goes over the Hoover Dam, which is spectacular.
We went to the fasion show mall which is only about 5-10 minute walk from Circus Circus, not an outlet mall, but still loads of good shops.

Would really recommend going downtown, to Fremont Street one evening. There's a free light show which extends half a mile down Fremont Street (its covered entirely in a ceiling of bulbs), which is cool but over-rated, and loads of the original casinos etc. gives a nice comparison to the more modern strip.

krinpit

LikeOhMyGawd! wrote:

Was in Vegas in May.
Mates took a helicopter tour of the Canyon which included 45min flight there (and 45 back) plus champagne breakfast on the canyon floor. Cost about $250 IIRC and flew over the dam

Did your mates say the tour company was any good? Can you find out the name of the company they used?

The reason I ask is because I've found a company which seems to offer the exact same deal as the one you mentioned, but they've got a lot of flack on the web for their bus tours. I'm hoping that the helicopter tour is organised better. (They're called "The Grand Canyon Tour Company").

Thanks

furtzy

Used these guys a couple of years ago

http://visionholidays.com/

Flight from Vegas to the grand canyon with commentary

Helicopter trip to the bottom of the canyon and then a boat trip up the river followed by a meal with the local Walapai indians.

Highly recommended

pow wow

The airport is practically in the middle of town anyway so taxis are really cheap. There are a number of shared shuttle bus companies that operate around there, when I booked with them it was $10 return per person.

Re the GC, I went with Grand Canyon Tour Company and found them great. Our driver really knew his stuff and they showed videos etc while on our way there. Lunch was included and we covered an obscene amount of mileage that day. Our tour was $80 per person but we didn't go in the helicopter. Try the Skywalk if you are too scared of the helicopters, well worth it!

tinkerbell

mad m wrote:

You would want to be carefull as the Grand Canyon is closed during some months because of snow. But if your flying then you will have no problem of gaining access im sure.

Oh no!!!! :eek: What months is it usually closed???

Please don't say November

alleepally

tinkerbell wrote:

Oh no!!!! :eek: What months is it usually closed???

Please don't say November

http://www.nps.gov/archive/grca/grandcanyon/index.htm

mcaul

I used these guys - very good. Also if your not too squeamish, let the pilot know that you're fine with some fancy flying and you could be in for a treat.

Bring a decent camera if possible - you can get fab photos of hoover dam & lake las vegas as well as Canyon itself.

http://www.maverickhelicopter.com/


Word of warning with shopping - it is great value, but beware of excess baggage charges from the airlines. Go with just the basics for a couple of days and buy the rest. Both outlets centres are a short taxi ride from the strip and both have similar mix of stores though. (both are ownwed by same management company).