The verdict
Eleven of the fourteen flights bookable here carry ratings, and 916 of the 1,398 reviews on this page belong to a single twenty-minute listing. That is not a coincidence and it is the whole shape of the market. Here is which helicopter ride Los Angeles actually rewards, by what you want out of it.
Quick answer
The twenty-minute Hollywood and Beverly Hills flight at $199 is the best helicopter ride Los Angeles sells to a first-time visitor. It is rated 4.9 from 916 reviews — more evidence than every other listing on this page combined — it costs the least per minute, and it covers the Hollywood Sign, Griffith Observatory, Universal Studios and Beverly Hills in one loop. The night flight at $299 is the better second flight, not the better first one.
How we ranked them
Evidence first, route second, arithmetic third.
Does the evidence exist? A 5.0 from three reviews is not better than a 4.9 from 916. Three listings here have no reviews at all. They may be excellent; nobody has said so yet, and a first flight is the wrong place to find out.
What does the route actually cover? Titles are written by marketing departments. Two listings promise Downtown and give it thirty seconds at the turn. Read the itinerary, count the landmarks, and divide by the minutes.
What does a minute cost? The twenty-minute flight at $9.95 a minute is the cheapest in the air on this page. The ten-minute flight is the cheapest to buy and the most expensive to fly. Both facts are true and people only ever quote the first.
Every trip, current fare
Rating and review count are in the last column. A helicopter ride Los Angeles visitors choose for the first time should not be one of the three with an empty one.
| Flight | Length | Price | Kind | Cost per minute | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hollywood & Beverly Hills Celebrity Helicopter TourTwenty minutes, and the best evidenced flight here | 20 min | $199 | Day | $9.95 | 4.9 · 916 |
| Hollywood Sign & Universal Studios Helicopter TourTen minutes, and the cheapest on the page | 10 min | $159 | Day | $15.90 | 4.6 · 127 |
| Los Angeles: Downtown LA Cityscape Helicopter TourTwenty minutes over Downtown | 20 min | $239 | Day | $11.95 | 4.0 · 1 |
| Hollywood Sign & Downtown Los Angeles Helicopter TourThe Sign and Downtown in one flight | 25 min | $274 | Day | $10.96 | 5.0 · 3 |
| Los Angeles Night Helicopter Tour: Hollywood & City LightsThirty minutes over the city after dark | 30 min | $299 | Night | $9.97 | 4.9 · 91 |
| California Coastline & Hollywood Celebrity Helicopter TourHollywood and the Pacific in one flight | 30 min | $299 | Coast | $9.97 | 4.9 · 60 |
| Los Angeles Helicopter Tour: Hollywood, DTLA & Beverly HillsHollywood, Downtown and Beverly Hills | 30 min | $299 | Day | $9.97 | New |
| Los Angeles: Malibu and Hollywood Flight TourSeventy-five minutes up the coast | 75 min | $349 | Coast | $4.65 | 4.3 · 56 |
| Los Angeles: Hollywood Flight TourA full hour over the city | 1 h | $388 | Day | $6.47 | 4.7 · 49 |
| Los Angeles: Night Flight TourThe longest night flight here | 1 h | $399 | Night | $6.65 | 4.3 · 22 |
| The LA Helicopter Tour: Beverly Hills, DTLA & HollywoodThirty minutes across three districts | 30 min | $399 | Day | $13.30 | New |
| Los Angeles Helicopter Tour & Malibu Mountaintop LandingIt lands on a Malibu mountaintop | 1.5 h | $649 | Landing | $7.21 | 5.0 · 30 |
| Los Angeles: Private 1-Hour Sightseeing Helicopter TourA private hour, just your group | 1 h | $640 | Private | $10.67 | 5.0 · 43 |
| Los Angeles: Downtown Rooftop Landing Helicopter TourA Downtown rooftop landing — the price anchor | 1.5 h | $1,198 | Landing | $13.31 | New |
The best helicopter tour in Los Angeles, by what you want
There is no single winner. There is a winner for each reason people book.
The $199 twenty-minute flight. Best evidence, best rate per minute, and it covers the four things you came to Los Angeles to see from above.
The $159 ten-minute flight. One pass, one photograph, done inside an hour including check-in.
The $299 thirty-minute night flight. Rated 4.9 from 91 reviews, and the basin after dark is genuinely a different place.
The $640 private hour. Divided by three it is close to the shared thirty-minute fare, and nobody is sitting between you and the window.
The $299 thirty-minute coastline flight, 4.9 from 60 reviews, out over Santa Monica and Malibu.
The $649 Malibu mountaintop flight, 5.0 from 30 reviews. It is the only flight here with an evidenced landing.
Book direct
Best overall helicopter ride Los Angeles, best cheap, best at night, best on the coast.
★ 4.9 · 916 reviews
★ 4.6 · 127 reviews
★ 4.9 · 91 reviews
★ 4.9 · 60 reviews
The listings we would skip first
Three unrated listings priced against well-evidenced ones.
The $299 thirty-minute Hollywood, Downtown and Beverly Hills flight. No reviews yet. At the same fare, the night flight has 91 and the coastline flight has 60. There is no reason to be the one who finds out.
The $399 thirty-minute flight. Also unrated, and $100 more than two rated flights of the same length. If it turns out to be better, that will be visible in its reviews in a year.
The $239 Downtown cityscape flight. One review. Twenty minutes of Downtown for $40 more than twenty minutes that includes the Hollywood Sign, Beverly Hills and Griffith Observatory. Downtown is better as part of a longer flight than as the whole of a short one.
916 of the 1,398 reviews on this page belong to one twenty-minute flight.
What each one costs→Common questions
The twenty-minute Hollywood and Beverly Hills flight at $199. It is rated 4.9 from 916 reviews, covers the Hollywood Sign, Griffith Observatory, Universal Studios and Beverly Hills, and works out cheapest per minute of any flight here.
No. The $1,198 rooftop landing flight has no reviews. The best evidenced helicopter ride Los Angeles offers costs $199.
For a first flight, yes. Three of the fourteen have none. They are not necessarily worse, but there is no reason to take the risk when rated flights sit at the same price.
Only if you want what the extra minutes cover. Beyond thirty minutes you are flying out over the coast or the valley, which is scenery rather than landmarks.
Day. You want to see the Hollywood Sign, the observatory and the studio backlots, and none of those read after dark. Book the night flight second.
This page compares flights rather than companies, because the same operator often sells three listings at three prices. The rating and the review count sit on the listing, and that is what you are buying.
The shortlist in one paragraph
One flight for most people, and four for the exceptions.
Book the twenty-minute Hollywood and Beverly Hills flight. It is the best helicopter ride Los Angeles sells on evidence, on route and on arithmetic, and the other thirteen listings exist to serve cases it does not cover: ten minutes if you only want the Sign, thirty minutes after dark if you have already flown by day, a private aircraft if there are three of you, and a landing if you want to get out somewhere.
Everything else is a preference. The one mistake worth avoiding is paying a premium for an unrated listing when a well-reviewed helicopter ride Los Angeles flight sits at the same fare, and three listings on this page do exactly that.
Three questions that settle it
The answers rank the fourteen listings faster than any review does.
A helicopter ride Los Angeles listing with 916 reviews at 4.9 tells you something. One with three reviews at 5.0 tells you nothing at all, and three listings here have none.
Fare divided by minutes. It reorders the table completely and it is the number nobody quotes.
A cheap helicopter ride Los Angeles flight out of the South Bay does not reach the Hollywood Sign, and the drive there costs you the afternoon.
Go deeper
From $159 for ten minutes, and what the hour buys.
The SignNo road, no public access. Why the air is the only front-on view.
At nightTwo listings, and a completely different city underneath.
DowntownThe towers, the stadiums and the basin they stand on.
PrivateFrom $640 for the aircraft, and when it works.
How longTen minutes, thirty or an hour — what each one actually covers.
Hollywood & Beverly Hills Celebrity Helicopter Tour
★ 4.9 · 646 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h