Compared
Helicopter tour or observation deck? Two views of the same skyline
An observation deck ticket in New York costs about a tenth of a helicopter seat, and the people who have done both rarely say one replaced the other. They show you different things. Here is exactly what each one does, what it costs, and which to spend the money on if you can only choose one.
Quick answer
An observation deck shows you the city from a fixed point looking down. A helicopter shows you the shape of the island from beside it, moving. A deck ticket runs roughly $40 to $80 and gives you an hour or more at the top of a tower; a helicopter seat starts at $253 and gives you fifteen to forty-five minutes in the air. If you have never seen New York from above at all, take the deck. If you have, and what you want is the island as an object with the harbour around it, take the helicopter.
The two, side by side
- Deck ticket
- $40–$80roughly, depending on the building and slot
- Helicopter seat
- $253+from 15 minutes in the air
- Time at height
- 1 hour or moreon a deck; you leave when you like
- Time in the air
- 15–45 minon a helicopter, and the clock is the product
- Best for the grid
- The deckstraight down the avenues from a fixed point
- Best for the island
- The helicopterManhattan as a shape with water around it
- Statue of Liberty
- Distant from a deckat close range from a helicopter
- Weather risk
- Low on a deckflights move; decks open in most conditions
- Booking ahead
- Days for a deckweeks for a sunset helicopter slot
- Photographs
- Through glass either waydecks have rails and reflections too
What each one actually does
The difference is the angle, not the height
A floor plan from a deck, an object from a helicopter.
An observation deck is a fixed point, high up, looking down. From the top of a Midtown tower you see the grid properly: the avenues running to the horizon, the park as a rectangle below you, the rivers on both sides. You have as long as you like, you can eat, you can come back at sunset. What you cannot do is change where you are standing.
A helicopter is a moving platform at roughly tower height. Sightseeing flights run a few hundred metres up, which is the height of the buildings rather than above them. That produces a completely different picture: the Empire State Building at 443 metres goes past at eye level, the skyline reads as a wall rather than a floor, and the island appears as an object with water on both sides.
And there is one thing only the helicopter reaches. The Statue of Liberty. From a Midtown deck she is a speck in the harbour; from a helicopter you pass her at about her own height, close enough that she fills a window.
Which to spend on
Five situations, five answers
If the budget only stretches to one.
- First time in New York, never been up anything
The deck. It is a tenth of the price, it is not weather-dependent, and it answers the question everybody has about the grid. Fly on a second trip.
- You want the Statue of Liberty properly
The helicopter. From every deck in Midtown she is a distant detail. There is no deck that fixes this.
- You are here for photographs
Both, if you can, and for different pictures. A deck gives you a tripod-steady frame down the avenues; a helicopter gives you the island in one shot with the harbour around it.
- It is an occasion
The helicopter, and specifically a private cabin from $937. A deck at sunset is lovely and it is also full of four hundred other people.
- You have half a day and unsettled weather
The deck. It opens in almost anything, you can walk in, and a helicopter slot in bad weather is a slot that may move.
Doing both
The order that works, if you have the budget for two
The deck teaches you the map; the helicopter shows it to you from outside.
Deck first, helicopter second, and preferably not on the same day.
The deck teaches you the map. You stand at the top of a tower and work out where everything is: the park, the rivers, the bridges, which way is north. An hour of that and the city has a shape in your head.
Then the helicopter shows you the map from outside. Because you already know where things are, the fifteen or twenty-five minutes are spent recognising rather than working out, which is the difference between a flight you remember and a flight that was over before you oriented yourself. Everyone who has done it in this order says the same thing.
Not the same day, because both are essentially the same experience of looking at New York from height, and doing them four hours apart blunts both.
Decided on the flight? Here is every option compared, cheapest first.
All twelve flights ranked→Common questions
Deck or helicopter, answered
Is a helicopter tour better than an observation deck in NYC?
They are different rather than better. A deck is a fixed point looking down and costs about a tenth as much; a helicopter is a moving platform at tower height that shows you the island as an object and passes the Statue of Liberty at close range.
Which is better value?
The deck, straightforwardly, at roughly $40 to $80 for an hour or more. The helicopter is not competing on value; it is selling an angle you cannot get any other way.
Can you see the Statue of Liberty from an observation deck?
You can see her, as a small detail in the harbour several kilometres away. If she is what you came for, only the helicopter gets you close.
Can you see Central Park from a helicopter?
From the side on a water route, and from directly above only on a flight that departs from New Jersey. A Midtown deck looks straight down it, which is one thing the decks do better.
Which is better for photographs?
Different pictures. A deck gives you stable, sharp frames down the avenues. A helicopter gives you the whole island in one shot. Both are through glass.
If I can only do one, which?
First visit to New York: the deck. Second visit, or if the Statue of Liberty or an occasion is the point: the helicopter.
Go deeper
More on flying over New York
What it costs
From $253 to $4,415, and what a minute in the air is worth.
The verdictWhich flight is best
One recommendation for each kind of visitor, and why.
The islandManhattan from the air
What the grid looks like from above, and which flights cross it.
After darkFlying at night
The same city lit from the inside, and what it costs.
The heliportsWhere they depart
Three departure points, and how each one changes the flight.
New JerseyFrom New Jersey
The routes that fly over Manhattan instead of around it.
