Parachute Jumping vs. Bungee Jumping

Call us biased, but we think skydiving is the creme brule of extreme sports.

If you’re looking to try something extreme that involves falling or flying of some sort, you may find yourself bouncing between videos of bungee jumping and skydiving. They both are pretty accessible, both provide a vague feeling of flying, and both cause your adrenaline to spike as you leap from your comfort zone. But the similarities end there.

When making your decision, we urge you to consider which will provide the greatest bang for your buck and leave you with longer-lasting memories. To help you out, we’ve broken down why we favor parachute jumping over bungee jumping.

Skydiving Can Be Done With A Fear Of Heights

There’s something about standing on the edge of a plane 13,000-feet above the Earth and staring at its curvature on the horizon that completely numbs any fear of heights you might harbor.

With bungee jumping, you’re so close to the ground that you might feel that same sense of vertigo or fear you might get by standing on the roof of a skyscraper or bridge. You can see the rushing water and rocks below you. They’re so close you can make them out and your brain can process all of the things that can potentially go wrong.

With skydiving, the ground below looks a beautiful painting.

Skydiving Takes Much Less Of A Toll On Your Body

Not only is the ground rush much more prominent with bungee jumping, but it also tends to take a much harder toll on your body.

Your heart is pounding, a nervous feeling doesn’t leave your throat and you’re entering into dead air, which gives you as similar a feeling of weightlessness as you might get driving fast down a steep hill or flipping around on a rollercoaster.

At the same time, your are whipped upward after the bungee cord has been stretched fully, which can cause people to feel a bit of whiplash.

With skydiving, on the other hand, you are jumping from a moving object — a plane — which produces relative wind that offsets some of those uncomfortable feelings of falling. At the same time, the parachute opens slowly and smoothly, moving your body comfortably from a lying position to a vertical position under canopy.

The Overall Experience Is Better With Skydiving

Besides the amazing views and better physical effect skydiving has on your body, it’s also just a better experience.

The skydiving experience is significantly longer than bungee jumping, which tends to be over in a blink of an eye. With skydiving, you enjoy a 15-or-so minute plane ride, where you can check out views of Newport and the surrounding area.

You then freefall for an entire minute before pulling your parachute, which gives you an exhilarating rush. Once under canopy, you have a peaceful five-minute ride until you’re back down on the ground, which gives you more time to check out the bird’s-eye view of the Atlantic Ocean and the beautiful area surrounding the island of Newport. Make your reservation with Skydive Newport today!