Imagine the huge buildings touching the sky, neon lights everywhere around and people walking on streets with a lively vibe. This is the Las Vegas, popular by the name of “Sin city” and visiting it is like a dream come true. This city offers nightlife, gambling, pool parties, resorts … you name it and you’ll find. Since it is a very popular travel destination, it is quite important that you plan your trip before rather than regretting it later.
How much time you need for a Vegas trip
We spent three days and 2 nights in Las Vegas. It is a sufficient time to spend as it can prove a costly affair taken otherwise. Considering the warm temperatures, we decided to travel in the month of February. It was Valentines week. Vegas is less expensive to travel on weekdays. So, we started on 13th Feb, Wednesday and returned on 15th Feb, Friday.
Plan the journey
We were living in Phoenix, Arizona that time. So, it was a 5-hour one-way journey for us. Travelling by road is less expensive than by flights. We started early so that our evening is saved. We usually never eat before travelling so that we can save our hunger for the highway restaurants. Our favorite one is Denny’s; they have lots of good breakfast options even for vegetarians.
Where to stay In Vegas
Las Vegas Strip is a street where every major hotel and the casinos are located. We wanted to stay on the Strip otherwise you need a cab every time you want to explore something. But please never think about using your own car to visit attractions as parking fees is quite expensive.
If you are interested to spend more on sightseeing or gambling, I would suggest making the stay less expensive. We booked Treasure Island hotel from Hotel’s.com because it was mid-way between luxury and cost. Also, it included free breakfast plus one of the places that we planned to visit. We paid 113$ for prebooking and paid 100$ +40$(Resort fee) per night at the time of entering the hotel. The resort fee is for hotels on the strip only and it included access to pool, fitness center, computer, internet, newspaper, phone calls, faxes etc.
Things to pack
Vegas has an unpredictable weather since it is a dessert after all. Winters are cold. We were visiting in February, so I carried one jacket each for all of my outfits that I planned to wear. Even if you are planning to visit in summers, you must carry one jacket.Explore all the outfits I wore during the trip in the below mentioned videos.
We checked the weather one week before only and it was showing rainy. We were little disappointed as we have already made all the bookings. The biggest difficulty is to choose between heels or shoes while travelling. You want to make it stylish but remember there is a lot of walking around. So, I packed my waterproof shoes only considering the travel. We also carried an umbrella which proved quite helpful while walking on the streets.
Places to visit in Las Vegas
Do look for state’s explorer passes while visiting anywhere in USA. We chose the ‘Go Las Vegas Explorer’ Passes with 5 choices to choose from. It was 121$ per adult. It was more than enough for three days travel.
The best choice we made was ‘Big Bus Las Vegas Nighttime Tour’. It was a hop on/off bus which would take you on a ride unveiling the Strip including a free walking tour of the Fremont Street, Downtown. Visiting the Fremont Street is a whole new experience where you will enjoy street performers and entertainers performing live .Also, it unloads from the High Roller Observation Wheel at the LINQ so you can take a spin also if you have sufficient time. This was the choice we wanted to make but could not because of the long queue.
Then was the ‘Madam Tussauds Las Vegas’ inside Venetian Hotel where you can take the gondola ride plus, I had never seen a wax museum before. The Venetian Hotel offers indoor as well as outdoor gondola rides. The indoor ones were charging 29$ per adult for a shared ride. It was fair but there was huge waiting, so we enjoyed the atmosphere. The other choice was “Marvel Avengers Station” which was inside our hotel. We are both Marvel Fans, so it was in our bucket list.
Watch the IGTV video for a detailed view.
I would suggest watching the musical fountains at the Bellagio Hotel while walking the streets. They have a free show within every 15 or 30 minutes. And the Mirage Hotel organize a Volcano show in the evening before 7pm,8pm and 9pm. These both are free shows but well-worth a visit. We also visited the ‘Caesar’s Palace’ as it was famous, it had an immense food court to explore and the fabulous Night club named ‘Omnia’. We tried to reach at the time mentioned on their website but somehow Omnia did not open that night. It happens like you can’t get everything you planned.
We were confused between the ‘Hoover Dam Tour’ and ‘Vegas the Show’ as our last choice. We chose the show as it was organized inside Planet Hollywood Resort to avoid the wastage of our limited time. It was an amazing show where many skilled artists performed.
If you want to make your trip more adventurous do make a visit to the “Stratosphere Hotel” with a 1149-foot observation tower where the thrilling rides are waiting for you. It also offers the best top view of Las Vegas for photography.
All the hotels offer gambling. We enjoy playing roulette and blackjack. Some casinos offer free drinks if you play there. But make a budget before and decide not to spend more. It can prove quite expensive.
Food in Vegas
Food is quite expensive in Vegas. We had our breakfast at Denny’s on the way from Phoenix. Then we explored Forum Food Court at Caesar’s Palace. There are lots of options including Asian, Mediterranean etc. Also, they were not expensive if you compare with other places on the strip. We picked Gyro Platter from Halal Guys. Our hotel provided a one-time free breakfast buffet. It was good with a variety of options.
The other restaurant we explored was the Grimaldi’s Pizzeria serving best brick-oven pies & calzones. We loved it and would suggest to definitely try it. They have many branches in Vegas. After watching our show in Planet Hollywood, we tried burger from Ketchup Premium Burger Bar. They were good in taste and not expensive.
Summary
So, this way we enjoyed our vacation within the 1000$ budget by buying the explorer passes which included any three places of your choice to visit, not missing the free shows, enjoying the free breakfast of the hotel and by walking the Strip without spending a penny on the transport.
This was my experience; I would like to know your experience as well. Let me know in the comments if you enjoyed the article and what places you want to try. I am waiting for your feedback.
Also checkout my other travel related stuff in USA if you haven’t already:-
Travelling to India during Corona ..Check out my experience with international travel during pandemic
Road Trip to Smokey Mountains
Awesome article. Got good information about enjoying Vegas in simole way. Thank for sharing the post.
Sure ..:-) Vegas is dream city ..and if one get a chance to explore ,he/she should be prepared to do it.And this article can really help.
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Thankyou very much for your appreciation.I am glad to know that you found it useful.
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