booking a trip to vegas

My wife uses Booking.com for all reservations. She highly recommends it.

I like Kayak... check all the boxes and it will do the searches for you.

SFH has retired from the biz.

Why are you going and what do you want to do there? To gamble, party, eat, see shows, just see the place...? How long will you be there? How much do you want to spend? How fancy of a hotel do you want?

degenerate gambler wrote:

Why are you going and what do you want to do there? To gamble, party, eat, see shows, just see the place...? How long will you be there? How much do you want to spend? How fancy of a hotel do you want?

We are going for our 10 year anniversary. We wanted to go somewhere we could go for like 4 days and get away from the kids. We thought about disneyland, but our kids would never forgive us if we went without them. So, we are just going for the experience. We don't gamble. We want to see the strip, get drunk, see some shows, ride the ferris wheel. See some stuff on fremont st, see the hoover dam, see the atomic bomb museum.

I want to be thrifty, but i don't want to be straight up cheap. I don't mind spending a little money, but not unnecessarily. I want to stay on the strip in decent hotel, but not one of the super expensive ones. After doing a little research, im looking at places like the mirage, the flamingo, nyny, etc.

is there anything i should have on my to do list?

high roller ferris wheel

fremont st

atomic bomb museum

Hoover dam

I been there recently. Stayed in a hotel that was real close to a Denny's. forgot the name of it. you can Google that if you want. it was cheap or at least cheap enough for me. quiet area in my opinion. or at least by Vegas standards

Hey sounds like you have some stuff you want to see already so I'd plan on that - in terms of places to stay I would register online for Mlife rewards (its free and lowers the rates on the hotels). MLife owns a bunch of hotels on the strip (from Bellagio down to Excalibur). Not sure your budget/tastes but I might recommend the Signature at MGM Grand (currently looks like $137 a night for the weekend I checked in August). I like it is at is a bit removed from the strip (so its all non smoking, etc.) but you can walk to and get access to all the MGM Grand amenities (including the pool - Lazy River!)

Another one I'd check out is Park MGM - this is a new hotel (they are remodeling the old Monte Carlo) so they have crazy deals on it ($84 a night when I looked) but is going to be very nice eventually - I'm just not sure how complete they are with building everything out.

Also for what it is worth a restaurant I like is Scarpetta in the Cosmopolitan - good Italian food and overlooks the Fountains of Bellagio from certain tables. Not cheap (at all) but not insanely priced like some other high end places. Have fun.

Vegas isn't a fun place if you are going to worry about money. Everything is expensive and to really enjoy it you have to be willing to blow money.

I have stayed at the mirage and it is a decent choice. It isn't the hottest place, but the pool is decent and the hotel is not overly expensive but is still on the strip, fairly centrally located.

I like the Venetian a lot but it is a bit more expensive. All of the rooms are suites and much nicer that the rooms you will get at the vast majority of hotels.

Don't get your phone stolen by a hooker after you pass out. Stay Alert!

Since you mention exploring the strip, location is more important than you would think. Yes it's one strip and everything is within a few miles, but it can literally take 30 minutes to get from your hotel room to one across the street, elevators/escalators/stairs... not to mention the brutal august heat. Mirage is fairly far north, nyny fairly far south, but not too bad - i'd stay in either (and I have), but not idea for a first timer. Flamingo is pretty much dead center of the strip, I haven't stayed in a CET hotel in years, MGM treats me better so I can't speak to more than the location. Like someone else said, go sign up for some players club cards ahead of time and you'll get discount offers.

So try to find something center strip and get ready for more walking and drinking (water) than you would expect.

If you get up early, do a run on the strip - it's quite an experience - drunk people stumbling home and a handful people out exercising. I've been both of those and both are fun

mellow seeds wrote:

Vegas isn't a fun place if you are going to worry about money. Everything is expensive and to really enjoy it you have to be willing to blow money.

Couldn't disagree more. Vegas is dirt cheap compared to most major American cities.

I like the Cosmo and the Bellagio a lot.

Funfunfun! wrote:

Another one I'd check out is Park MGM - this is a new hotel (they are remodeling the old Monte Carlo) so they have crazy deals on it ($84 a night when I looked) but is going to be very nice eventually - I'm just not sure how complete they are with building everything out.

Remodel while open prices often means you'll stay in a Monte Carlo room and that sale generates the $ to help pay for the new ParkMGM furnishings going in.

800 dude wrote:

mellow seeds wrote:

Vegas isn't a fun place if you are going to worry about money. Everything is expensive and to really enjoy it you have to be willing to blow money.

Couldn't disagree more. Vegas is dirt cheap compared to most major American cities.

I like the Cosmo and the Bellagio a lot.

The "Old Vegas" certainly was dirt cheap, when hotels/food/shows were loss leaders to get people into the casinos. It's not the same any more if you go expecting that, hotels are more expensive than ever and they nickel and time you with stupid resort fees and paid parking. Hotel restaurants and buffets are overpriced - most are crap, some are good but overpriced (I can deal with expensive if it's worth it, not a lot is).

There are still some values out there, but don't expect many at a MGM/CET place center strip.

Was there earlier this month. Check out the smoking situation in the hotels - the ones we saw had registration next to the casino floor, which meant guests got lots of secondhand smoke while waiting to check in. I'd avoid Excalibur/Luxor/Mandalay Bay, where we had to be, as they're on the south end of the Strip & it sounds like you'd be better off nearer the middle.

We enjoyed a Pink Jeep Tours tour of Red Rock Canyon. Didn't do the ferris wheel (which sounded like it took a long time & would've gotten old quickly), but a nighttime helicopter ride checked the same box.

i booked the mirage. I booked one show, "the tournament of kings." Ive heard its better to wait until you get there to get show tickets, but this one didn't seem too expensive and i wanted to get good seats. Front row, center