Vegas Trip Information for anyone looking to go this year.

[exstream]

Some advice please, just bagged a direct flight from Gatwick with Virgin for a very reasonable £393 departing 31st may for 2 weeks.
 
As I am a Vegas virgin, I am not sure if a hotel on the strip verse downtown verses a villa rental is best??  Its a minefield out there so any advice is welcome.   

i'm going to be so surprised if anyone says downtown or a villa
i havent been a lot tho

[mumblesrock]

Some advice please, just bagged a direct flight from Gatwick with Virgin for a very reasonable £393 departing 31st may for 2 weeks.
 
As I am a Vegas virgin, I am not sure if a hotel on the strip verse downtown verses a villa rental is best??  Its a minefield out there so any advice is welcome.   

i'm going to be so surprised if anyone says downtown or a villa
i havent been a lot tho

Any reason for saying that??   what are the pit falls of downtown or villa??

[Marky147]

First time, I'd always say to stay on the strip, and central, if possible.

Just had a quick look, and Excalibur is coming up about the cheapest on the strip at the moment @ ~£800 for 14 nights.

Might be worth having a look on smartervegas.com, and seeing what's available there, with Black Friday this week, too.

[tonytats]

Cheers guys - I really want to see Penn and Teller I guess they should be running at that time of year?

Also any other magic/illusion shows worth taking in?

I think I want to plan a decent trip with 2 or 3 things in each day for 4 of the days and then just let the other parts fall into place for something spontaneous. 

Are any of the gun places worth going to?  quite fancy blasting off some rounds as well and the Mrs has said she is interested in that. 

We saw penn teller this year in June gfs first time my second time its not fantastic but if you are a fan you will enjoy it
Don't rush out at the end as they come down by the exit and very happily pose for selfies with fans and sign your tickets ,they were very pleasant - I was surprised as it was only that week the girl singer in Florida got shot !!

[Marky147]

Some advice please, just bagged a direct flight from Gatwick with Virgin for a very reasonable £393 departing 31st may for 2 weeks.
 
As I am a Vegas virgin, I am not sure if a hotel on the strip verse downtown verses a villa rental is best??  Its a minefield out there so any advice is welcome.   

i'm going to be so surprised if anyone says downtown or a villa
i havent been a lot tho

Any reason for saying that??   what are the pit falls of downtown or villa??

You're going to be a distance from anywhere, and cabs are a pain to deal with when in a house/villa.

I stay downtown now, but I've been going to Vegas for 10 years, and being downtown suits me nowadays. I would definitely not recommend staying there on your first trip.

Stay on the strip, and it's easy enough to pop downtown for a few evenings to look about, and maybe try a few nights there should you head back out in the future.

[tonytats]

First time, I'd always say to stay on the strip, and central, if possible.

Just had a quick look, and Excalibur is coming up about the cheapest on the strip at the moment @ ~£800 for 14 nights.

Might be worth having a look on smartervegas.com, and seeing what's available there, with Black Friday this week, too.

For that length of time why not stai in 2/3 places strip for 8/9 nights downtown for 3/4 nights
Ballys is ok mid strip - linq - treasure island all cheaper than aria Bellagio Caesars
Try the downtown grand / golden nugget too !!
Personally I wouldn't bother with a villa !!

[Marky147]

First time, I'd always say to stay on the strip, and central, if possible.

Just had a quick look, and Excalibur is coming up about the cheapest on the strip at the moment @ ~£800 for 14 nights.

Might be worth having a look on smartervegas.com, and seeing what's available there, with Black Friday this week, too.

For that length of time why not stai in 2/3 places strip for 8/9 nights downtown for 3/4 nights
Ballys is ok mid strip - linq - treasure island all cheaper than aria Bellagio Caesars
Try the downtown grand / golden nugget too !!
Personally I wouldn't bother with a villa !!

I did 2-3 weeks on the strip for the first 1/2 dozen trips, and still missed loads out

[mumblesrock]

Thanks for the input, think there will be 4 of us going, they are keen on a condo which appears to be next to/behind the Rio.... walking distance by all accounts, but I have read info online that the area is not to good??  I will def have a look at prices on black Friday and see if there are any sales on! 
Do the hotels get cheaper closer to the time? or is it worth booking well in advance??

[Marky147]

Thanks for the input, think there will be 4 of us going, they are keen on a condo which appears to be next to/behind the Rio.... walking distance by all accounts, but I have read info online that the area is not to good??  I will def have a look at prices on black Friday and see if there are any sales on!  
Do the hotels get cheaper closer to the time? or is it worth booking well in advance??

Walking distance to an RTA?

If that condo is Palms Place, then it's nice enough, but you're not going to want to walk anywhere, imo.

First trip, just stay on the strip, and enjoy having Vegas on the doorstep, without having to piss about.

After half a dozen trips, I split my stays between strip/dt, and the last 3/4 I've spent entirely there.

For yourself I couldn't recommend staying on the strip strongly enough, but if there is a group, you have to decide amongst yourselves, obviously

With room pricings, it's hard to tell, and most bookings you can cancel at no cost anyway. I generally end up with 3/4 rooms booked through the year, and then cancel the ones I don't want before I go.

[Ransom]

'Walking distance' in Vegas isn't really like 'walking distance' anywhere else IMO.

Venetian to Planet Hollywood for example is very much walking distance, but you won't want to actually do it more than once. Especially in the dry 40 degree heat.

From behind the Rio to the Strip is going to be meandering around the streets, under the freeway and through the back of Treasure Island or something. But then the middle of the strip in my head is Venetian because I'm a nit and I stay in Circus Circus and similar fine establishments.

[redsimon]

Would definitely stay strip if its your first time, if you want to split it between strip / DT the D downtown is refurbished very nice rooms and when I booked last Summer (2016) was no resort fee so value for money.

[tonytats]

Thanks for the input, think there will be 4 of us going, they are keen on a condo which appears to be next to/behind the Rio.... walking distance by all accounts, but I have read info online that the area is not to good??  I will def have a look at prices on black Friday and see if there are any sales on! 
Do the hotels get cheaper closer to the time? or is it worth booking well in advance??

They all do Black Friday deals !
Get on their site n give your e mail address
Perfect time to book
Pm me your e mail I can forward golden nugget offers
You may have to pay 1 night on your card if you book ,if you cancel it's refunded , cc fee foreign currency charge only downside
Possibly your mates think they are balling out of control with a crib / condo like mike tysons ? I doubt you would get one that good ! Get a suite between the 4 of you ,gamble where u stay using players card they may comp some / all of it !! Cheaper hotels / downtown comp more ,aria - rio comps are poor unless you really are a baller !
Walking distance lol you will learn I last tried that in 1994 !
It's not far we said !! 30 mins later we were sweating like fk stumbling about at the side of a busy road as paths run out n it still didn't look too far away !!
Hobos n allkys walk but not by choice !
Friends went to bullets n burgers n said it was good !!
And brits - you can spot the brits they are the ones walking in bizarre places !

[Longines]

BA Black Friday - Vegas £498 return, leaving 5th or 7th Dec for a week.

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/low-price-finder/public/en_gb?eId=113021&oneway=false&cabin=M&destination=LAS&origin=LHR&numNights=7&region=NOA&clickpage=resp-flights-and-holidays--deals--black-friday-flights&kmtag=c&ban=||DT|6x1|CTA21||GBP|498498||||||L2|LAS|LONLAS|||||

[vegaslover]

First time going stay on the strip ainec. Ignore everything that says walking distance in Vegas until you been there yourself. Everything looks close when in reality it's not and you end up dripping in sweat and dehydrated walking to places. Other thing is walking everywhere takes up so much time.

[Simon Galloway]

Just in case the message wasn't landing...first time stay centre strip ainec.

As a first timer, there's a lot you all don't realise about Vegas yet...stay centre strip and next time you'll have more of an idea about what suits.

Short reply due to phone, but lots of poor advice about baller suites and penthouse condos have already been debunked itt.