Shopping. Skip the mall, it’s the same as every other mall. But the shopping malls attatched to the casinos (like the one at Ceasars)- are great. Very expensive but unique.
Lodging can be very very cheap. We stayed one mile from the strip, nice room, $29.
Food. They have both super nice expensive food, and super cheap but tasty food. Plan on doing mostly the cheap stuff, but get a few nice dinners.
Some shows have old style seating. They have a Maitre-de/doorman that takes your ticket and another dude that leads you to your seats. Tip both of them, $5-$10. And, dress nice. I did this and my date had the time of her life as one of the Drifters came down, and sang right to her, gave her an autographed CD and everything. Don’t be cheap.
I enjoyed the “rides” at the Luxor, the “walk through” of King Tut’s tomb was quite nice.
One more question if you don’t mind :). Is there any benefit to go over a weekend as opposed to the week? Better nightlife (significantly so)? Some shows only run Fri and Sat? Thanks again!
Mid-week will get you better rates on your rooms, and the Strip won’t be as crowded. Some shows are dark during the week, but usually only for a day. Penn & Teller are dark Mondays, for example. Check the show site for specific down days.
More questions, I hope DMark will stay pay attention to this thread. How far apart (walking distance please) is the Freemont street experience from the Strip?
How good/bad far/close to the strip and the good people watching and free entertainment is Fitzgerald’s Casino and Hotel?
It’s been a few years for me, but aren’t there still various shuttle busses that run instead of getting a cab? My folks are regular trippers to Vegas and usually stay at SamsTown and take shuttles down to the strip, and I remember correctly, Fremont St. (Heh, you tend to have a few the whole time, so much of my memory of the trip is a bit fuzzy.)
Unless you’re rolling in dough (or are just cheap like me), I’d say stay off the strip for lodging.
You are being too kind - the show sucks even worse than that.
It is seldom that I can honestly say that a show that is free is still a rip-off - the time you spend waiting in the crowd for the show to begin, and the time it takes to watch this pap drivel is time better spent waiting in line at a buffet.
For free shows, go to NYNY and watch the dueling pianos (OK, you might want to buy a drink and sit in one of the booths, but you don’t have to) or go see the fountains at Bellagio, or take a walk through the botanical garden at Bellagio, or check out the shows in Caesars shopping area (two fountains, on both ends of the the shopping area, with different free shows worth seeing if you happen to walk by), or listen to the gondola singers in the Venetian, or see the lions at MGM or tigers at Mirage, or if you are downtown, look up at night and watch the huge, overhead projection show, or maybe just catch one of the lounge acts at any number of the casinos, or hit the Rio and watch their very entertaining Mardi Gras show that is free and has 100 times the talent than that Treasure Island (The TI) bomb out front.
And of course the most fun for free - people watching - from the “ohmygod I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing that” moment, to “wow, is he (or she) hot!” to just gawking at the masses of humanity. 99.9% of the people are genuinely friendly, smiling and just there to have a good time - and the feeling is contagious…you strike up conversations easily, share some tips on where to eat, how the gambling has been going on, what shows to see…Las Vegas is a party town, and just being in the midst of it all changes your outlook and you forget about the troubles back home; and that is why many come here, isn’t it?
Don’t be afraid to talk to people in the buffet line. Last time we ate at the Palms, the little old lady in front of us had to go to the bathroom. We offered to save her spot, and when she got back she gave us her unused coupon for said buffet (her friend decided to gamble rather than eat) which saved us $25.
From Fremont Street to the Strip - walking?!?!? LORD NO! First of all, you would have to walk through some very iffy neighborhoods, and even by day it wouldn’t be pleasant and by night, downright dangerous. Secondly, that is several miles and unless you are in peak physical condition, and the weather is not too hot, it would be one hell of a trek. There is a good bus connection, or just break down and pay for a taxi.
Fitzgerald’s is a musty, older casino, but the downtown area can be fun if you don’t mind being in the midst of other musty, older casinos. The Golden Nugget and Main Street Station are the two better casinos downtown, and the overhead projection show is pretty good. So - all in all, if you are stuck staying downtown, get into the spirit of it and go for the cheap buffets (although you usually get what you pay for) and get the cheap shrimp cocktails, and the funky drinks in odd glasses and party like it was 1968! Seriously, lots of people prefer the downtown area - especially if you are on a tight budget and want the feel of the “old Vegas” experience. However, I don’t know of a single local who goes to the downtown area on their own free will.
Vegas is a bore bore bore!
Watching others gamble is like watching other people primp at the restroom mirror - you wish they would stop and do anything else, but they never do. Like the unwatched pot, they will repeat the same moves over and over as long as you watch them.
They must all be brain dead.
Main Street Station also has an excellent brewpub. Hit MMS or the Plaza for the buffet, and go to the Golden Gate for an original shrimp cocktail. Just a little piece of history. If you like Hawaiian, go to the California.
We have decided to go, just at a different time. Doing it mid-march. Thank you all for your help so far, hope you are still willing to answer more questions :).
We would want to spend most of our time on the strip. It would seem to be the better place for people watching, seeing fun free stuff, and enjoying the bright lights of Vegas. In my searchings for deals, it seems the cheaper places to stay are downtown (ie Fitzgerald’s). The Fremont street experience would also be good to see. This is located downtown correct?
Would it be worthwhile to get a place on the strip, even though it is more expensive? Or are cabs easy to get and unexpensive?
How long is the strip? The cheaper hotels on the strip appear to be ones such as “Circus Circus” or the “Stratosphere”. This Map has no scale. How far are these 2 Casino’s from the main cluster? Is this walkable?
If you want cheap on the Strip, check out Imperial Palace or Barbary Coast. Both are in the center of the Strip and from there you can walk just about anywhere. They also have monorail stations. Stratosphere is at the far north end of the Strip, and edging into injun country. It is also a shitty hotel. If you stay there, you can walk to…nowhere. Circus Circus is at the north end of the Strip, and rivals Stratosphere for shittiness. You can walk to some parts of the Strip from there, but New York New York or Mandalay Bay will be quite a hike. Here’s amap with a scale. You can see the Stratosphere is a good mile from Circus Circus, which a good mile from the best part of the Strip.
Stay at the center of the Strip and cab it downtown one night.
The Fremont street experience is definitely downtown.
Cabs are readily available but I would not say they’re cheap. Try hotel to hotel free transports if you do end up staying on the strips. Some have trams, monorails and walkways to make getting around easier.
A cab fare from downtown to The Sahara would only be $10 or so. I think I read that you can catch the Monorail at the Sahara and ride it up to MGM, which is walking distance to a lot of the bigger casinos. The casinos are huge, it’s like driving towards a mountain range. You can see one on the horizon and think it’s close, after walking an hour it looks a little closer (slight exageration, not much).
I’ve walked from Sahara to Luxor with side trips into many casinos, and it is quite a haul. I think the actual distance is 5 miles, add a couple more for trips into casinos, took most of a day. The north end of the strip is pretty seedy. We walked from the Sahara to The Stratosphere and even that short little trip went thru some pretty rough territory.
Catch a cab from downtown to the Stratosphere, go to the top and you can get an idea of the scale. Have a couple of drinks up there and catch a cab (or the monorail) up to maybe the Venetian. Then you can walk to a few of the mega casinos in that area and catch a cab up to Mandalay Bay or something at the far south end, something like that.
I’ve rented a car a few times, I think it was like AAA rental. They had rent-a-wrecks for $30/day back then with like 100 miles included or something. For the price of a couple of cab fares, we went all over, from downtown to the south end of the strip and just about all points in between. Not for the faint of heart. I think every casino has free valet parking if you want to try your luck driving down the strip, or parking garages behind them that you can get to from side streets with a lot less traffic.