There are of course a lot of different good options. However, it is important to buy equipment that is known to the people that want to help you. It will simplify the procedure to setup the heli properly and they know the obvious problems of that specific brand of equipment. Note that every heli will have its weak points. They will also have plenty of advice and important tips on actually building the helicopter. You say what? Yes, I think it is best to build your own helicopter. This will make you understand how it works, and how to set it up and repair it. Building a helicopter properly is far from trivial, so get help if you have never done this before!

I personally feel that a good helicopter for starting this hobby is the Thunder Tiger Raptor 30. Here you can find all the equipment you need to get started.

Once the helicopter is bought, built, and set up properly you need an instructor to help you to learn to fly. The instructors that can help you to learn to fly have a certain brand of transmitter in use. It is important that you have the same brand of equipment if you want to learn to fly helicopters the easy way. Having the same brand will enable you to connect your Tx to the instructors Tx. This will enable you to learn easy without any risk since the instructor can take over your model whenever you get into trouble. On certain transmitters it is even possible for the instructor to give corrections without completely taking over the control of the heli (e.g. 9Z, 9Z WC, 9Z WCII and FC28 transmitters from Futaba).

Here you can see the learning process on the buddy lead in action. Both transmitters are connected, and the instructor is ready to take over at any time. The helicopter is the Raptor 30.

Next to the remarks above, going to a club can be very motivating for you if you can see some actual RC helicopters fly!

Note that there are a lot of retailers that know how to sell you equipment for RC helicopter flight, but most of the time that is all they know about this hobby :-)