Vegas, What to see and do!

Thanks to all of you for your great suggestions.

We've visited some of the places suggested. We stopped the other day at Valley of Fire but campground was full so we just came on to Vegas for that extra night. We were coming from Zion and Bryce so we weren't so disappointed in missing VOF. We are going to visit the Shelby/Cobra museum this morning. My DH will really love that.

Enjoyed going down to the strip last night. We ended up having dinner at Bellagios. It was pretty good but we ate too much!

The smoke was terrible and my nose is on fire this morning! Even my DH (who is a smoker} complained. We played seesaw with the slots but they ultimately won. LOL

Thanks again for all the good info.

I seem to remember there were two Hoover Dam tours. We did the long one in '08 and I think it was like an hour total. We went down inside the dam and saw the belly of the beast. VERY interesting, I highly recommend it if you get the chance. There is some walking in tight corridors and steep stairs, so a medical issue might be worth considering before you pay the price, which I believe was around $90 per person at the time.

You need to make a reservation but the Zappos tour is really interesting. www.zappos.com

I'll second a visit to the Valley of Fire State Park. They have 2 campgrounds, one with some water & electric sites. Either driving or hiking, you will see some beautiful formations. Some photos from my 2011 Visit.

If you get to downtown (Fremont Street) the Mob Museum is interesting. Grab a shrimp cocktail at the Golden Gate Casino.

Have fun and safe travels.

Oh my goodness, what great information. We're only here for a couple of days so decisions, decisions!
Thanks Cheteckie for idea of Cobra Shelby tour. He loves those cars. Maybe I can surprise him with this one!

Thank you all so much!

Uppercrust wrote:
I heard the pirate show is no more. I can't wait to get back there fun place to visit.

We were just there 2 weeks ago. I was excited for my daughter to see them sinking the pirate ship. But, the show is no more. Closed in 2013 (I think).

Lots of good advice, but I will say- unfortunately everything that we did was a lot of walking. The parking lots are generally behind the casinos and the casinos are quite large.

The Hoover Dam isn't at a super speedy pace and there is time to rest as the guide talks to you. Depending on what you want to do there, it could be a fair amount of walking.

You've tons of tips here already on what to see and do - be sure to walk the strip at dark it's quite "wow" the first time you see it all lit up. If you have a car, it is very easy to park at any of the casinos to visit their "theme" to save you walking quite as much We've been going to Vegas since 1996 and stayed for many years easter time at the Oasis from 1999 to pre 2010. We started at the time they were trying to turn Vegas from Sin City into a more family attraction and loved it. Alas the fixture on "family" didn't last very long, I guess they found less $$$'s in that???? MGM had the lion habitat that was wonderful, as well some previews of upcoming movies. The outlet mall was worthwhile back in the late 90's, but not such an attraction we feel today it was back then. Freemont Street was wonderful back then, and whilst there's still the old vegas Casino's like Binions etc, when we were there last month hubby and I said, it's not our cup of tea any more and don't feel we want to go to Freemont ever again. Things change over time and as we get chronologically more challenged! We've seen so many of the old Casinos demise and replaced with the newer bigger ones, but I dunno, it feels like it's lost some of its lustre in the process - well it has for us.

If you are driving, Hoover Dam is definitely worth a drive to and a walk around - we've never felt the need to take the over priced tour personally but YMMV as they say. With regards to the strip, it is definitely worth pacing yourself to visit inside of the many casinos and attractions. You will end up walking miles and miles and aching if not used to it if you don't. These casinos are HUGE! Also the Casinos tend to have a theme, so do plenty of research on the big ones and decide those which you think you'd enjoy viewing.

FWIW: Personally we felt the Mandalay Shark exhibit too expensive for what it was so only visited once. We love the Tropicana and the shows for real "old vegas" style entertainment and just the general atmosphere. Excalibur is themed to medieval styles, Luxor used to look neat outside lit up at night as a pyramid. Bellagio complimentary water feature every 20 mins set to a different musical theme, as are the beautiful plants inside worth seeing. We used to love Mirage when Siegfried and Roy were there, and the white tigers exhibit but sadly that's all changed - The colourful volcano eruptions I'm not sure if they still occur. The Old Treasure Island complimentary Pirate Show used to be fun, but that's now all changed to TI. The old Aladdin and it's shops and buffet used to be great but has gone like many others have, as have any of the "good value" buffets we feel. We now tend to enjoy Sam's Town, Arizona Charlies, Henderson and love the Mardi Gras feel of the Rio (all off the strip) moreso we are finding. The Silverton nowadays has a huge Bass Pro Shop attached to it and is more than worth seeing for the huge fish tank displays again just off the strip. We also found in the past their buffet good value and have enjoyed some magic shows here affordably in past years.

You should definitely check out the Venetian, Palooza, Paris, New York, New York if time permits, and you may enjoy The Flamingo for it's free gardens and "old" history vegas = we do.

Depending on your budget and interests you may chose to take in some of the shows, that Vegas is knows for, but those like Celine Dion, Shania Twain etc require quite a deep pocket, but no moreso than someone that gambles every night I guess.

Best thing we ever did was the Sunset Flight with Maverick Helicopters to the Grand Canyon back around 2003. We set down and had a picnic in the Canyon by the river. Truly worth every penny and we had a pilot that didn't mind demonstrating to us how fast we really were going by bringing the copter down nearer the ground. WOW. We treated our friends who'd never even flown before and they still say to this day the best vacation memory of their lives.

Vegas is a fun place to visit and offers so much to so many different tastes, but it can be exhausting and is worth planning and pacing yourself to that which interests you and meets your budget. Death Valley Pahrump, Valley of Fire, Lake Mead .......... ENJOY.

I heard the pirate show is no more. I can't wait to get back there fun place to visit.

We used to go there often, even had a timeshare there (we did manage to sell it at a small loss.) I can't gamble. I worked in statistical processing for a while, and all I could see were the ways to loose money.

But, Go see the free shows at Caesar's Place, TI isn't as good as it was, the Volcano is still neat and there are others. Walk the Venetian, Bellagio, there are circus acts at Circus Circus and the others usually have something.
If someone invites you to a free anything, it is a sales promotion for timeshares. Keep your hands in your pockets until they give up the free tickets to Viva Las Vegas and a buffet somewhere.

Go to at least one of the big shows. I think that they are all Crique Du Soliel now, Search the web for deals before you go.

Matt

We used to buy several hundred pounds of rare books at the used book stores and freight them home.