How long
Every helicopter ride Los Angeles sells comes in one of four lengths, and the choice matters more than the operator does. Ten minutes is one landmark. Twenty is the Hollywood loop. Thirty reaches Downtown or the coast. An hour crosses the whole basin and back.
Quick answer
Twenty minutes is the right length for a first helicopter ride Los Angeles visitors book. It covers the Hollywood Sign, Griffith Observatory, Universal Studios and Beverly Hills, it costs $199, and at about $9.95 a minute it is the cheapest flying time on this page. Ten minutes is one pass at the Sign. Thirty adds Downtown or Santa Monica. An hour is for people who want the coast as well.
Every trip, current fare
The cost-per-minute column reads backwards from the price column, which is the whole point of looking at both.
| 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 |
What each length actually covers
One landmark, four landmarks, a district, or the whole basin.
Ten minutes. Lift, turn toward Mount Lee, one pass across the front of the Hollywood Sign, a look at Lake Hollywood Reservoir and the Hollywood Bowl, and back. You are on the ground before you have finished being nervous. It is a complete errand if the Sign is the errand.
Twenty minutes. The same Sign pass, then east over Griffith Observatory, out over Universal Studios and the backlot, down the Sunset Strip and across Beverly Hills before turning for home. Four distinct things instead of one, for $40 more. This is why it carries 916 reviews.
Thirty minutes. Adds either Downtown, with the flat-topped towers and the freeway interchange, or the coast at Santa Monica and the pier. Both exist at $299 and you should read the itinerary to see which one you are buying.
Sixty minutes. Everything above plus the run up the coast toward Malibu, or a wider sweep of the valley. Diminishing returns on landmarks, increasing returns on scenery. Best value per minute on the page, and the wrong first flight for most people.
How long the whole outing takes
A twenty-minute flight is not a twenty-minute appointment.
Van Nuys, Burbank, Long Beach, Torrance or Fullerton. From central Los Angeles, anywhere between twenty minutes and an hour and a quarter depending on traffic.
Thirty to forty-five minutes before departure on most listings. Photo ID for the booking name.
Every passenger, on a scale, in public. It decides seating and load balance and it is not negotiable.
Five to ten minutes, headsets on, and it covers how you get out if you need to.
Ten to ninety minutes, and it is the only part of the day you booked for. Allow an hour and a half at the airfield around it.
Book direct
A helicopter ride Los Angeles at each length: ten minutes, twenty, thirty and a full hour.
★ 4.6 · 127 reviews
★ 4.9 · 916 reviews
★ 4.9 · 91 reviews
★ 4.7 · 49 reviews
Twenty minutes costs $40 more than ten and covers four times as much.
What each length costs→Common questions
Between ten and ninety minutes. Twenty is the most common and the one we recommend first, at $199.
Not if you want the Hollywood Sign and nothing else. It is one clean pass. It is too short if you also want Beverly Hills, Downtown or the coast.
Only for the coast. After thirty minutes the landmarks run out and the flight becomes scenery, which is lovely and is not what most people booked for.
Ninety minutes door to door around the flight: check-in, weigh-in, briefing and the wait for the aircraft to come back.
Rarely on a shared rotation, because the next group is already checked in. On a private flight, sometimes, if the aircraft is free and you pay for the time.
Operators quote flight time, which starts when you lift. Taxiing at Van Nuys can add a few minutes at either end that are not in the number.
Thirty minutes against an hour
The hour buys distance. The twenty minutes buys landmarks.
Adding thirty minutes to a helicopter ride Los Angeles flight does not add thirty minutes of landmarks, because Los Angeles runs out of them. It adds distance: the coast up to Malibu, the valley north of the hills, or a wider sweep of the harbour from the South Bay.
That is real scenery and it photographs well, and it is the right choice if you want to see the shape of Southern California rather than tick off the Hollywood Sign. It is the wrong choice for a first helicopter ride Los Angeles flight, where the twenty-minute loop has a landmark in the window almost continuously and the hour has stretches of coastline that look, from two thousand feet, much like coastline.
Choosing a length in four questions
Every one of them is about you rather than about the aircraft.
If not, ten minutes is the whole errand and the cheapest helicopter ride Los Angeles on this page.
Then twenty minutes, and the reviews agree by a wide margin.
Then thirty minutes after dark, which is a different city rather than a longer look at the same one.
Then ten or twenty minutes. An hour-long helicopter ride Los Angeles flight is a long time to be in a small cabin with somebody who did not want to come.
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.
The verdictFourteen listings, and the four worth your money.
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.
Hollywood & Beverly Hills Celebrity Helicopter Tour
★ 4.9 · 646 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h