The two Vegas Strip helicopter tours you can book for after dark, Papillon's Strip Night Flight and Maverick's Vegas Views, are nearly the same flight: an Airbus EcoStar, roughly 10 to 15 minutes in the air, the Strip and historic downtown filling the windows. Papillon takes off from its terminal on Koval Lane beside Harry Reid International Airport, Maverick from its own on Las Vegas Boulevard South. So the right one is whichever has seats at the hour you want. The differences below are real, and they're small.
Papillon Strip Night Flight: a turn around the top of the STRAT
Papillon's Strip Night Flight comes from a company that has flown sightseers since 1965, when Elling Halvorson founded it and named it with the French word for butterfly. The night route runs up the Strip past the Luxor pyramid and its beam, the Bellagio fountains and the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas, then swings around the summit of The STRAT, a 1,149-foot tower, before heading over downtown. The tower fills the side window. Seats face forward, the windows are oversized, and the pilot talks you through the route over the headsets with music underneath.
Departs: Papillon's terminal at 5060 Koval Lane, one block east of the Strip. In the air: roughly 10 to 15 minutes. Aircraft: Airbus EC130 EcoStar with forward-facing seats. Route: the Strip, a circle around The STRAT, then downtown.
Check Papillon Strip Night Flight availability
Maverick Vegas Views: Allegiant Stadium to Circa
Vegas Views is the night flight from Maverick Helicopters, the company Greg and Brenda Rochna started in the mid-1990s. Maverick flew its first Las Vegas tours in July 1996 and says it later became the first operator in the world to log 300,000 flight hours on the Airbus EC130, the aircraft behind this flight. The cabin seats up to six on leather theater-style seats behind wrap-around glass. Maverick's route reads like a skyline roll call: Allegiant Stadium, Bellagio, Caesars Palace, the High Roller, Wynn and The STRAT, then Circa and the old casino blocks downtown. Then it turns for home.
Departs: Maverick's Las Vegas Strip terminal at 6075 Las Vegas Boulevard South. In the air: roughly 10 to 15 minutes. Aircraft: Airbus EC130 EcoStar with theater-style seats. Route: the Strip from Allegiant Stadium to The STRAT, then downtown.
Check Vegas Views availability
When the answer changes
Book Papillon if the turn around The STRAT is the picture you want. Book Maverick if Allegiant Stadium and Circa are on your list. Either way you get the same nearly four miles of light, from the Luxor pyramid to the STRAT, and that stretch is the reason to go: from the air the Strip stops being a long walk between casinos and becomes one unbroken line of color, with the Bellagio fountains going off below you like they were timed for your pass.
If the flying itself is the point, a quarter of an hour will feel short. Maverick's Wind Dancer spends 130 minutes in the air on its way to a Grand Canyon landing, compared in our Maverick helicopter tours guide, and Papillon's two canyon-floor landings are weighed in our Papillon Grand Canyon helicopter tours comparison. For the skyline from above without a helicopter, our High Roller vs STRAT Tower guide covers the two observation decks.
Check-in, the weigh-in and the seat you get
Maverick asks guests to check in at least 30 minutes before departure, and both operators use that time the same way: a weigh-in, a safety briefing and a seat assignment. Seats are set by weight to balance the aircraft, so nobody reserves the front. Maverick also asks every passenger 18 and over for a government-issued photo ID. Maverick asks for closed-toe shoes. A phone flash bounces straight back off the window at night, so photos come out cleaner with it switched off and the lens held close to the glass.
The short version
Either one is the right Vegas Strip helicopter tour if it has a seat on your night: same aircraft family, same stretch of neon, same downtown finish. The night departures on Vegas.com start after dark, so they move with sunset through the year, early in the evening in winter and much later in summer.
