Originally Posted by
ihoharv
I go to LV usually twice a year and can normally take it for about three days in a row before it all get to be too much...
If time permits get a car (pretty cheap in Vegas) and head to Death Valley for some of the most interesting & spectacular scenery on earth. About a 2-hr drive - consider making a night stop of it. Check out
http://lasvegas.about.com/cs/daytrips/a/DeathValley.htm
Back in LV, don't be tempted to go too cheap on the accomodations. The contrast between the old (eg. Excalibur) & new (eg. Bellagio/Mandalay Bay) is huge as you'll discover when you wander between them all.
Lots of good food - finally - in the city and do splurge on some high-end fare, as well as a big ticket show. There's always something interesting to see.
Enjoy!
Agree entirely. More than two nights will do your head in if you're not careful. You'll be distracted by the lights for a while, but the sight of 400lb slot jockeys in their Disneyland Dragsters pumping away their welfare/social security in 25cent increments gets a little sickening.
I concur with Death Valley also- I always thought it a little odd that not many people think of heading West from Vegas. IIRC, it's a lot less than 2hrs by car to reach, but you should allow plenty of time for the drive through the park.
Last time I was there (May 05) the IMAX at Luxor had a film about Red Flag which would probably look quite pretty stuck up on a 6 storey screen.
The Stratosphere Tower is good- especially at night. Strap yourself onto The Big Shot for the best views.
I don't know what kind of helicopter mbga9pgf was in, but I hope he wasn't navigating. The Rockies are 450 miles or so to the East.
A great trip I did with a Doris once was a 20min nighttime ride up the Strip and back in a Jetranger. She'd never been in a helicopter before and certainly expressed her gratitude appropriately. The place he mentioned to get a few rounds down is called (rather imaginitively) The Gun Store. For around $25 you'll get 50rds of 9mm and the SMG of your choice. 5.56 and 7.62 are a little pricier- good for an outing with the boys to decide who's getting the next round in, probably a bad idea with the missus.
If you're the adventurous types, there are a number of skydiving places- including one indoor place with a wind tunnel if you're a bit of a Jessie about that kind of thing.
I can also heartily recommend an air tour of the Grand Canyon. Most take at least 3 hours. If you're switched on you'll arrange for a dawn flight on your first morning there (you'll probably be awake with jetlag anyway so you won't mind the 0400 wakeup). The changing colours of the rock are phenominal as the sun rises and there won't be time for any thermal activity to build up, so wifey can hang onto her pancakes with no trouble. You'll also be back at the hotel in time for lunch.
Also, check out the low cost airlines like Southwest, America West, Frontier, Jet Blue etc. and see if it's possible to slope off somewhere else for a day or two. A round trip to somewhere like San Fran (about an hour away by 737) will set you back about $100 if you're quick about it and wifey WILL love the place. (Don't bother with LA- unless you know your way around, it'll seem absolutely kack.) If you do this at the weekend you can actually save money because hotels in other cities charge less on the weekends- Vegas can see hotel prices triple on the weekends.
Pack light and clear your credit card balance- she'll be going shopping. Word of advice though- it does get cold at night in the winter months.
Regarding Accom- my favourite was always Aladdin- 4 Star, centre strip, opposite Bellagio Fountains, but they're doing a refurb on it at the moment and a Planet Hollywood monstrosity is supposed to come out of it. If you're sharp you can get 5 Star luxury for what I paid for a 2 Star toilet in Aberystwyth this summer (and yet they wonder why there is a crisis in the British tourism industry). Although it's the newest there, I haven't heard many good things about the Wynn. Bellagio and The Venetian (at least visit) are a class apart, but I've stayed in Mandalay Bay and that certainly had its moment for a quiet night in.
Of course, Hooters has just opened up a hotel there too.
Try
www.vegas.com