I walked from the Neon Museum to Fremont. It’s probably a little more than a mile. I can’t stress enough that I mean this quite literally, I felt safer walking in Baghdad than I did on that little trek in broad daylight.
I have only stayed at NYNY since my friend’s host is there so I can’t give too many recommendations but I don’t think I would even want to stay anywhere other than the big strip hotels. Old Vegas is a fun experience for an evening but that’s it. The Wynn and Encore are beautiful but I’ve never stayed there. I have partied there.
As someone who frequents Vegas and never stays on the Strip or in downtown, I will echo the others’ sentiments that you really should be in the middle of the Strip for your first trip. If you ever become a Vegas veteran, I’ll be happy to share my recommendations for staying elsewhere, but now is not that time.
I’ll also join in the chorus of recommendations for a Hoover Dam tour. Well worth it, unless you’ve seen San Andreas.
Then there’s the Pinball Museum, Mob Museum, the aforementioned Atomic Testing Museum, the Clark County Museum, Neonopolis, Jersey Boys, Million Dollar Quartet, Absinthe!, Defending the Caveman, Donnie & Marie, Human Nature, Showstoppers, Blue Man Group, Britney Spears, Carrot Top, Celine Dion, David Copperfield, Ka, O, Love, La Reve, Mystere, Penn & Teller, Popovich’s Pet Circus, Rock of Ages, Terry Fator, Zarkana, Zumanity and about a million more things to do other than eat, drink, gamble, wench, rinse, repeat.
I tried to walk from the Strip to Fremont and only got a little past the Hostel Cat when the sun was going down so I thought it best to backtrack in case it got worse (not that I’d want to be caught near the Chapels at night.)
I’ve stayed at TI, MGM Grand and the Palms a bunch of times. TI and MGM Grand are nice because they are right in the middle of the strip.
Palms is kind of cheesey and it’s way at the end, really off, the strip. Same sort of post-modern d-bag style of a W hotel, but with nightclubs and a casino.
I can’t speak for those old school hotels.
The notion of “walking distance” in Vegas cannot be stressed enough. Most of the hotels may look close to one another, but Las Vegas is a desert; it’s going to be hot and dry, likely over 100 degrees in the daytime, there’s rarely any cloud cover (and when there is it doesn’t make things any better) and it doesn’t cool down much at night. When I visited last year, I tried to walk from Caesar’s to the Rio, which is really only less than a mile, but I was completely exhausted and drenched in sweat by the time I was done (and I routinely walk 15-25 miles per day at my job). Walking from the Stratosphere to anywhere worth going would be inadvisable even if it weren’t on the edge of the part of town you want to avoid.
It’s best to stay indoors as much as possible, take advantage of skybridges where they exist, and avoid walking any further than a few blocks. Wear a hat, use sunscreen, and keep a beverage handy (you’ll find there are almost always people on the Strip hawking bottled water for a dollar or so if you find yourself in a pinch).
The West Rim does have the Skywalk, which is definitely an exhilarating experience, and the abandoned tramway at Guano Point is pretty neat. The west rim “experience” isn’t part of the national park and is operated by the Hualapai tribe instead, so it operates differently as far as admission and so on. There are all-inclusive bus tours that will take you to either rim if you’re not driving; they’ll pick you up at your (on-Strip) hotel early in the morning and have you back about 11-14 hours later depending on which part of the canyon you’re going to.
Just as an FYI, Venetian/Palazzo are owned by Sheldon Adelson, in case that matters in regards to where you want the money you spend to end up.
Haven’t done most of these, but I can personally recommend the Mob Museum, David Copperfield, and Penn & Teller. I haven’t been to the Pinball Museum itself, but I went to the secondary exhibit they had at the Riviera before it closed and it was great. If you like animals, the shark reef at Mandalay Bay and the Siegfriend & Roy dolphin/big cat habitat at the Mirage are both worth seeing. Luxor has a pretty neat exhibition on the Titanic, and an exhibition of dissected and preserved human bodies that’s educational if a bit morbid.
I have been to quite a few hotels in Vegas over the past decade or so, and of the three, I would go with the Golden Nugget as well. If you’re worried about distance from the Strip, especially at night, do what I do and get bus passes - a 3-day pass that includes the two buses that go between downtown and the Strip (Deuce, and SDX - the main difference is, SDX has fewer stops and goes by the Westgate instead of Circus Circus) costs $20 each. However, if you are going to be doing things together more than apart, you’re probably better off renting a car.
Also, GN is close to one of my favorite Vegas spots - the Mob Museum.
The Mob Museum is definitely a place that warrants visiting more than once. It’s located in the old federal building where some of the Kefauver hearings were held in the '50s, and it’s a very educational look at the history of the mob in America and especially in Vegas. There’s a lot of reading involved and a lot of videos and filmstrips to stand around and watch, but I personally found a lot of the artifacts more interesting to be in the presence of, including suits and guns owned by various mob bosses, vintage casino cheating devices, and the actual brick wall from the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. I also picked up, from the gift shop, a cookbook by the late Henry Hill (of Goodfellas fame) which has proven invaluable in expanding my Italian-American cuisine repertoire.
The aforementioned bus from the Strip stops right across the street from it, and it’s only two blocks from Fremont, so even in spite of my previous advice it’s walkable. If you venture further east down Fremont, Atomic Liquors (so named because crowds used to gather on the roof to watch the nuclear test bombs go off in the desert to the north) is also worth stopping into for a drink and to admire their collection of atomic age memorabilia.
Yeah, one year I was staying at a timeshare off-strip that had a shuttle to Harrahs. One of those days I decided to walk all the way north, and take a look at the fenced-in remains of the Sahara, right across from the Stratosphere. It wasn’t without its fun, but when I got there, it honestly didn’t matter how much the monorail cost, I was taking it back.
In other visits, I actually found I walked more and was more tired when I stayed at the Paris as opposed to the Excalibur. That seems counter-intuitive, but I found that when I was at the south end, it was pretty much a bus pass anytime I had plans to go any further north of the Monte Carlo. But when I was at the Paris, even though I should have known better at that point, my mind still thinks “I’m in the middle of everything, a bus pass is a waste!”
More correctly, the “Pinball Hall of Fame,” but never mind.
If you like pinball, it is well worth a visit. Pretty much every popular game through the years is there, and they all work. The very first pinball I ever played (when I was 12) was there, as were the games I enjoyed subsequently (and whaddaya know, I still can get replays on Gottlieb’s “Royal Flush”). I grew up in the EM era, so those games got most of my attention (I got to play Gottlieb’s “Atlantis” again!), though there were a few digital/solid state games that I played also. Nice way to spend an afternoon without spending a fortune, and an easy bus ride from the Strip.
I have never been to Mandalay Bay, but I have been to see the dolphins and cats at the Siegfried and Roy exhibit. The dolphins are pretty much amusement animals–they do tricks and such; but they are obviously well-cared for, and well-looked-after. You can watch them from stands, or poolside, or even from underwater windows.
The cats are also well-looked after, I’m pleased to say. They may look like they are in small enclosures, but the keepers keep them stimulated and as occupied as the cats wish to be. On the day I was there, in one enclosure, one cat was enjoying a nap, while another was having a blast tossing and pouncing on and shredding a cardboard box that a keeper had thrown in. There were other toys to play with, but this cat was having fun in his own way, and getting plenty of exercise.
You may also meet up with Siegfried himself, who seems to like to be there to greet visitors. I met him, and we had a nice conversation about animal conservation. He was kind enough to pose for a photo with me too.
I’d agree with this except for the bit about “pretty much every game is there and they all work.” It does have a huge selection of most eras except for the 70s-late 60s-- the ones that had a fairly modern layout and mechanisms but still used manual scoring. Seemed a lot heavier both on older ones that had weird small and/or weak flippers and 80s and later ones with digital displays. And they had Center Xenon but it didn’t work at the time.
That said, they also have some classic video games. So it’s definitely worth going to.
Given when you are going, look around for special menus at some of the higher-end restaurants. I know Delmonico is running a special truffle menu through the 22nd. I’m sure other places are doing similar things leading up to Thanksgiving.
Shoot, we had an entire thread just about which steakhouses to visit. I can personally vouch for the Top of Binion’s, both in terms of the food and the quality of service.
The Peppermill, Secret Pizza, Stripburger, and the Heart Attack Grill are also good stops.
Gallagher’s is on my shortlist for the next time I go to Vegas - there’s a window on the casino floor that looks directly into the cooler where they dry-age their steaks, and it looked awfully tempting.
Like I said, there is a bus that goes to/from the Strat on a regular basis. Goes through those areas in a few minutes and there you are, walking distance.
The Circus Circus should be torched (after everyone has left, of course). I would recommend newbies to Vegas at least visit it just for the shock value!
