Las Vegas tips and tricks

What month are you going again? Summer rates are usually low at the hotels. And weekdays are cheaper too. We usually fly Southwest because they have a lot of flights out of San Diego, and they tend to be the cheapest.

Lot of good hotels on the strip. We usually stay downtown, but most of the big name hotels on the strip are nice. My dream is to one day stay at the Bellagio. I have stayed at Monte Carlo (they have a new name now). It was very nice. And we have stayed at the Excalibur and Circus Circus. I wouldn’t recommend those two unless you have kids.

For your first time, I would recommend the strip. It is were all the glitz and glamour is. Easy to get around between all the hotels and restaurants too.

I saw cirque du soleil ka. Other than that Vegas was pretty boring to me. Also eat at battistas hole in the wall. Old school Italian. But I’m not a fan of casinos. The cigarette smoke alone is worth staying home.

The last time we went we drove. We stayed at Circus Circus which was nice but really full of young families. But outside the Circus Circus you can buy a pass for the double decker tour bus and hop off and on at or behind almost every casino. You can also take the down town tour for no extra money. The Las Vegas McDonalds is to the right when you go outside the front doors, that was kind of neat to get coffe and cinnamelts with Las Vegas on the receipt. The good thing with the tour bus pass is you can walk a while and you can ride a while. We took it one night and watched the pirate show from the top deck of the tour bus in the road in front of the show. Bring good walking shoes.

I like flying Southwest the best but I always shop around for the best price. The most recent trip, I flew to LV on Frontier and flew back home on Spirit. My friend book the flights through cheapoair.com and we didn't have any problems.

Stay on the Strip - if you do, you can walk to pretty much anything you want to (make sure you bring some good walking shoes because you will walk a lot - we walked about 7-10 miles every day - no kidding). We always stay at the Flamingo because it is nice, reasonable and not too big. The location is perfect and I just love the history of the place. But anywhere along that area is a good choice.

The Fremont Street Experience is a must since that shows you old Vegas and all of its fun neon signs...you can Uber there.

Have fun!!

O is an AMAZING show! Tons of acrobatics with water. The tickets are pricy but SOOOO worth it. The close seats are totally worth it.

I can't remember the name but there is a casino with a really good cheap buffet that is close to the airport (vs the strip). It was worth it to us to make the trip out there for a yummy meal.

Start searching flights and hotels on Expedia and some other travel sites and the offers will start to roll in your email. The Flamingo is a nice central not to expensive hotel. It is also close to In-N-Out Burger if you like that chain. We've stayed in at least a dozen hotels in Vegas and they have all pretty decent to really good. This last time we went I got free nights at Excalibur and was pleasantly surprised because I had heard it was more run down.

Well, since you will be there in early May, if you are there that first weekend, I can recommend something that locals do.. you can go see the Nevada Ballet perform Alice in Wonderland at the Smith Center. The Smith Center is a well kept secret in Vegas. It's their big performing arts center. But it is not at a casino, so tourists never know about it. It's were all the Broadway tours come. I might just be there too.

I like pretty much any Cirque show. You cannot go wrong with one of the 7 or so different Cirque shows currently in Vegas.

My favorite place to recommend visiting is the Neon Museum. You have to sign up for a tour. They run about $20 and they do sell out ahead of time. I like to go at night when the restored signs are lit. They give you a tour of the neon graveyard and talk about the history of the signs and the history of Vegas in general.

One of most entertaining nights of my life was seeing the Blue Man Group. It's a fantastic show and really makes you feel good. They're very talented and they involve the audience. It's great fun.

ETA: I decided to add a couple more shows that we enjoyed. Penn and Teller are at the Rio Suites off of the strip, but you can easily Lyft there. Their show is really fun. It's very entertaining. Also, Cirque shows are always worth it. We saw LOVE at the Mirage last summer and really enjoyed it. Mystere at Treasure Island is hilarious. That was my first Cirque show years ago and it made me a huge Cirque fan.

I would stay on the strip, because you can take the monorail to go up and down and it makes life easy. Be prepared to walk a lot. The hotels are huge and you'll get a workout just getting from your room to the casino. As a kid I stayed at Ballys when it was the original MGM Grand. The walk from our room to the pool was a mile long walk. My mother called downstairs and asked if there was a shortcut. She was promptly told to jump out the window if she wanted to get there quickly. Really, the rooms in many of the hotels are similar. At one time Steve Wynne owned most of the hotels and you can tell by the decor. MGM owns many of the hotels now. Look at the strip map and see what interests you. Then stay in that part of the strip. For instance if I was staying w/kids I'd stay around the MGM Grand or NewYorkNewYork, cause there is an m&m store, Coke store, etc. Excalibur caters to kids, but I wouldn't stay there, cause the rooms are really rundown. If I wanted a more chichi experience I'd stay up the strip between Paris and the Venetian either on that side or on the Mirage side.

The Forum shops are nice and you'll find celebrity chef eateries, but once you're in there it's a schlep to get out. It's huge. The Fashion show mall on the strip is nice, but it's a mall. The attractions at the hotels are fun, but some are really expensive. I thought it would be fun to ride gondolas at the Venetian until I priced them. EEK. I'll save my money for Gondola in Venice, thank you very much.

I have stayed at many of the hotels, but I like Paris, because it's reasonably priced and in the center of everything. The monorail stops at Ballys and there's an indoor walkway between Paris and Ballys. I don't stay at the pricey hotels, because you're not in your room that much in Las Vegas and you really don't get anything special. I'd rather spend my money having fun.

Aside from the Forum Shops you'll see celebrity chef owned restaurants all over the strip. So, you'll be able to enjoy some good meals.

Enjoy Disneyland for drunks! (We took our kids once and that was their assessment.)

I love Vegas, more than many on this board, but 2-3 nights is the sweet spot. I definitely wouldn’t stay 6 days unless you’re spending a couple of them far off the strip to get a little peace and quiet.

Definitely don't stay at the Excalibur God I loath that hotel. The NYNY is great has lots of great restaurants and a cool dueling piano bar. MGM I found the walk to where you room was at the end of the day was sooo long.

The monorail is ok but I prefer the double decker bus I think it was a double decker it's been awhile. I just found you had to do a lot of walking within the hotels to find the monorail vs the bus that dropped you from hotel to hotel. I believe the pass for a week was very reasonable.

Big Elvis at Harrahs is really good and it's free!

I second Blue Man Group such an awesome show and Jersey Boys if it's still there

I agree, completely. After 4 days we are done, and we LOVE everything that is Vegas. 

We just got back last week. We've stayed numerous places but were at Bally's this time - it's pretty much mid-strip so the location is great and the rooms in the tower have been re-done since last year - very nice. We saw 'O' this trip but I have to say Le Reve is by far my favorite. LOVE the High Roller - if you get your tickets online you can bypass any lines there are. Went up in the Stratosphere this time and it was cool - great view. We also did the new zipline by the High Roller - lots of fun. Get the onion rings at Wahlburgers - excellent. We always have a dinner at Maggiano's - great Italian and we love breakfast at Mon Ami Gabi @ Paris. We did breakfast at The Peppermill this year - really neat place and great food.