My husband Alex and I recently honeymooned in Utah roadtripping the Mighty Five. We had a honeymoon fund set up for our wedding, and some of our guests graciously contributed to it. We used the money to book three bigger experiences during our lengthy trip, and the first one we did was none other than a helicopter tour 🚁!
We booked the 55 mile Zion Canaan Cliffs Tour + Zion Butte Landing Experience with Zion Helicopters for 6 pm on May 16, 2024. We were originally supposed to land in St. George in the early afternoon, but the universe had other plans. Alex and I were early for our first flight that, in all, ended up being delayed 3 hours due to a ground stop in Dallas because of storms. I spent hours anxiously thinking we would miss our connecting flight and in turn miss the helicopter tour we'd booked, but by some miracle, our connecting flight was delayed but not for too long. When we landed, we literally only had time to get our bags from baggage claim, get our rental car, and check into our AirBNB/drop our stuff off. We narrowly made this tour, and it was such a relief to finally just be in Utah! This tour set the tone for the rest of our trip - it was incredible.
The duration of this tour is approximately 1 hour (30 minutes of that being flight time).
You’ll need to arrive about 20 minutes before your flight time to check in, sign a waiver, and watch a safety video. They will give you a flotation device to strap around your waist in the event of an emergency water landing. There are also noise-cancelling headphones that you will put on and wear once you’re settled in the helicopter. They put my purse behind the counter at the facility for me during the tour (🙏🏻), but you will want to wear closed toed shoes, and you’ll want to have a good pair of sunglasses and a camera with you.
A photographer will also take pictures of each group joining that you can later purchase for $29.99 — if you do this, you’ll get one printed picture at the end of your tour, and the rest of the digital photos will be e-mailed to you. I got the e-mail with the rest of the photos the next day. If you are lucky, Jesse will check you in and serve as your photographer, and Kyle will be your Captain. Kyle told us so many stories about his experiences flying helicopters and teaching others to fly them. He might say something along the lines of, “See! It’s just like driving a car!” He was incredibly knowledgeable about the area, and he dropped a lot of information that he would refer to as “food for thought.”
We got to fly on a very clear evening that wasn’t too windy, and it was absolutely stunning. For the portion of the flight before the butte landing, Alex and I sat in the back, and Alex let me sit by the window so I could get decent footage for this blog — such a thoughtful husband!
While we were flying, Kyle pointed out the direction in which the south rim of the Grand Canyon was visible and the direction in which Bryce Canyon was also visible. The butte we landed on was Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. On top of the butte, there was so much petrified wood. Kyle told us we could take a piece home as long as it fit in the palm of our hand. We now have two pieces of petrified wood sitting on a bookshelf amongst some of our other travel souvenirs.
This tour also comes with champagne during the butte landing! Kyle was fancy and had real glasses for us to use. Cold bottled water was given out, too. There are picnic tables up there that you can sit on, or you can walk around. Kyle did take pictures for everyone in our group who asked him to. Someone that was with us was doing backflips up there - I wish I could see the pictures, but he’s braver than I will ever be!
On the short flight back to the facility, everyone suggested Alex and I sit up front since we were on our honeymoon, so that was such a treat!
It was a butte-iful day for this tour! Alex and I highly recommend it. This isn’t the cheapest of activities, and notably, the prices listed on their website are per person, but it is totally worth planning and saving up for!
I made a highlight reel of our experience that is posted to my blog’s Instagram page, which you can view here ⤵️
Zion Helicopters Rivers Edge Facility is located at 3050 East UT-9, Virgin, UT 84779.
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Those views are no joke. So glad y'all didn't miss this one!