Grand Canyon Helicopter tour review

A friend recommended me to check out the rims of Grand Canyon in an helicopter. So I booked an Helicopter Tour starting in Tusayan taking you through the Grand Canyon. The name of the company is Papillon helicopter tours. I would like to provide you a short review of my Grand Canyon Helicopter tour.

They offer 2 main helicopter tours through Grand Canyon, the North rim tour for 130$ and the Imperial tour for 190$. The North rim tour takes you with the helicopter to the north rim of Grand Canyon and then back to Papillon Airport. The north rim tour is around 25-30 minutes. The Imperial tour is 50-60 minutes and is basically the same with the difference that the helicopter flies slower so that you can take better pictures.

The Imperial Grand Canyon helicopter tour was booked out in my. case so I took the North Rim tour. Heavy Thunderstorms made Papillon Helicopters cancel almost all tours. I was lucky to be in one of only three choppers that started. It was a bit scary because of violent lightnings on the left and right of the helicopter. Reaching Grand Canyon the view on the Colorado and the million year old cliffs was awesome. I really recommend you to book an helicopter tour through Grand Canyon. It is a much more breathtaking experience than just standing on the south rim of Grand Canyon. 30 minutes were enough for me to experience Grand Canyon from above. I think I would have gotten bored fast without the thunder storms if I had booked the longer tour. I think the rates for the longer Grand Canyon heliopter tour were a bit too long.

Here a video of the Papillon Helicopter tours:


And a map of the Papillon Helicopter start area:

Größere Kartenansicht

Thanks a lot for reading my short Grand Canyon Papillon helicopter tours review :-).

Capitol Reef review

Leaving Bryce and Escalante Canyon behind my next national park in Utah is the so called Capitol Reef. I am currently driving on the scenic highway through it and would like to let you know my Capitol Reef review so you an decide whether you think Capitol Reef is worth the money or not.

A Capitol reef national park picture (click to enlarge):


For more information about geographic aspects and history of the park, please check this link.

My hotel is just outside the town of Torrey, the Best Western Capitol Reef resort. It's ideal, because it is just outside of Capitol Reef with a beautiful view on multicolored Capitol Reef. The first people living here were Mormon settlers, they opened farms, that's why their village was named Fruita. The Mormons living here in Capitol Reef sold their property at around 1910. You can now visit Fruita with your car and see how the Mormons lived over here in Capitol Reef. As I am giving a short review, I can only recommend you to check out the small Oasis in the middle of Capitol Reef. Also make sure to check out the visitor center here in Capitol Reef as it gives you relatively good background about Capitol Reef. Also check out this link. to get more information on the web about Capitol Reef.

Right after Fruita I took the scenic drive it costs 5$ and is well worth the money. Beautiful cliffs and rocks can be seen on both sides of the street. The scenery is unique and amazing. I am amazed by this extreme experience. Every mile you see a shield warning you of flash floods here in Capitol Reef. Be careful and don't over estimate yourself when it rains. I am heading back to my hotel. Check out my Best Western Capitol Reef resort review and my Arches Canyon review, where I will be tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed my short review of Capitol Reef. My rating 10/10.

Escalante Canyon review

I am currently driving through Escalante Canyon and woud like to provide you a short review of it, My travel guide recommended to take this scenic highway when travelling from Bryce Canyon to Capitol Reef. I will sleep in Torre, for which i will also provide a review. The scenic drive took me through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

A Escalante Canyon picture (Click to enlarge)


The Escalante Canyon is amazing with its unique rocky, colorful landscape consisting of beautiful cliffs. It is unique in Utah, in the USA and on the world. I can only recommend you to take the scenic highway number 12. It starts at Bryce Canyon and leads to Boulder and then Torrey. You will be amazed by Escalante Canyon's landscape. I just drove through Boulder and it is probably the smallest town I have ever seen. There are two buildings with some cows in front. If you need restrooms, gas, food, or drinks then I can only tell you, don't aim to find that in Boulder, as here is really nothing.

If you are interested, check out my Torrey review, which is my next stop and then my Capitol Reef review.