I’m going to be passing through Las Vegas this summer-- I’m flying into the airport and have an afternoon and evening to kill before one of my friends picks me up and we strike out for the wilderness. I figured I would drop my bags somewhere and wander around the Strip and visit the giant flaming mantis at the Downtown Container Park.
I would like advice. First, where can I drop my bags? There are luggage lockers at the airport, but you have to go through security to reach them, which won’t work for me because I’m not flying out of the airport again. I’m bringing camping equipment so I can’t exactly go wandering around with this stuff.
Second, where should I go? What should I see? Where are good places to eat?
As you look around, think about how they paid for all those fancy buildings. Not from people winning!
Also the people winning in Vegas in movies is PURE FANTASY. Note that companies can pay movie makers to show their products in movies - and cities can do so as well. More on this…
Product placement - Wikipedia
With that said, think of gambling as an entertainment cost. Set aside an amount of money you can afford to lose - will lose. Say $20 or $100. When that is gone, stop! If you win anything, RUN (don’t walk) out the door and stop. Then you will keep what you have won.
Oh, yeah, I have no interest in gambling at all. Just walking around and eating and taking pictures.
Decide which end of the strip you’d like to start at and call the bell desk of one of the hotels near that end and ask if they’d let you check your bags for the day and what they would charge.
If you hint that the reason you’re asking is so that you can spend the time in their casino they’re likely to say yes. Then, just move on to your plans for the day.
There are a couple of places where you can get discounted tickets to Vegas shows. The range from Cirque de Soleil, comedians, singers, magicians, musicals, to showgirls.
If you don’t want to go to those, it’s probably best of walk around Fremont Street; the Freemont Street Experience is free and things are close together.
The strip is enormous. Hotels may look close, but often a quarter mile (or more) from one to the other (it’s a full quarter mile from the Strip to the entrance to the Bellagio, for instance. It doesn’t look that way due to the scale of the architecture.).
There’s lots of upscale shopping at the Venetian, and they throw in “street” entertainment (it’s all indoors, though the ceiling is lit like it’s the sky – and changes lighting as the day goes on).
Food isn’t a problem if you like quantity. Just pick something.
The Caesars Palace/Bellagio area is my favorite part of the Strip. Caesars has a ton of shopping, and you’ll definitely want to take photos of the Bellagio fountains. I also enjoy people watching in the higher-end casinos like The Wynn and The Cosmopolitan.
As far as restaurants, the sky’s the limit in Vegas. If you like to stuff yourself with as many different kinds of food as possible, go for one of the casino buffets.
You can take a trip to the top of the Paris Las Vegas Eiffel Tower. The fountains at the Bellagio are pretty, if you’re interested in that.
Go in the lobby of the Bellagio and check out the Chihuly glass sculptureson the ceiling. Truly amazing.
The casinos themselves are the least interesting parts of the Strip - they are all pretty much the same except for the cocktail waitresses uniforms. The lobbies and outsides and free outside shows (like the fountains) are far more interesting.
Second Fremont Street Experience. Very weird. And the Atomic Testing Museum, not far from the Strip, is worth a visit if you want to do something a bit different.
If you like window-shopping, the Forum Shops inside Caesars Palace are definitely something to see.
If you just want to walk around and take pictures, and you’ve never been to Vegas, you might like a bus tour. You can see a lot of the “cool and free” stuff in a relatively short time. The Vegas strip has gotten so overgrown that it’s difficult to take it all in the way you used to.
If you are there all night, you might enjoy one of the nightclubs, like Hakasan. It is very expensive, but I have never seen such a crazy dance-club scene (not that I am a connoisseur…) Everyone is in Vegas to have fun, so you might as well spend a few hours dancing with whoever you think is the hottest person in a club, they will probably be game.
Second for the buffet at the Bellagio. I have heard the Caesar’s Palace buffet is also very good.
If you haven’t seen a Cirque de Soleil show, they are pretty amazing.
I thought Treasure Island was a neat place just to visit. If you want to play blackjack/gamble, word is the odds are better in Old Vegas, like at say the Four Queens.