Vegas

Associate
Joined
2 Jul 2019
Posts
2,406
There's a bus from the airport into town/strip. On the way back to pick up a car i had to sit next to some rather large rather smelly lady though. Can't remember cost, was cheap. Also involved some J walking across 6 lanes.

Grand Canyon, south is very commercialised i'm led to believe, so i went north side. Took a hike for maybe 10miles then back due to time restrictions. But that was enough to lose all the people and see some cool birds and things.
I rented a car from the airport however.
Getting a walk in i'd recommend if at all possible, viewing platforms are cool and all, but you know..

There's Valley of Fire state park right next to Vegas, so not going there is dumb if you have a car imo.
Zion national park was my favourite out of all the local parks, search Angels Landing. It's pretty scary when you think about it, but it's very awesome and worth it. Among other amazingly cool stuff. Standing from a viewing platform looking at a whole, versus being alone on a cliff face walking into tight caverns where the majority don't go...
Oh, and there's Coral Pink Sand Dunes also. Fun if you like sand.

Though if not into all that nature hiking or scrambling stuff, a plane flyover would be very cool. See if you can get to Canyonlands fly over also.

There's a party like hostel just off the strip. Maybe 3 mile walk away. Dirt cheap, and everyone there is merely there to party. Area is a bit iffy, but inside the hostel complex is fine. -if you can perhaps stay in US for longer.

Don't ever recall seeing a monorail. But i went on one of the funky rides at the top of one of the towers. That was fun and scary. Worth a punt.

Can't recommend any buffet places. But, if you can get on a travellers forum and ask around you should hopefully get some insider knowledge. One local guy picked me and took me to out of town place, i seem to recall him mentioning it was the best in Vegas, but sadly can't help you there besides the forum thing. I do remember him being funny about me paying my way, and they had broccoli available. -It was breakfast time.
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Oct 2012
Posts
25,023
Location
Godalming
There's a bus from the airport into town/strip. On the way back to pick up a car i had to sit next to some rather large rather smelly lady though. Can't remember cost, was cheap.


Loads of shuttles from Mccarran to all the hotels, most of the hotels share them too so you can get one for free if you ask.


The bus is called the Deuce and is a massive double decker thing with proper fat-yank seats and air conditioning. Tuns every 15 mins in both directions and a 24h pass was $10 or something silly the last two times we were there.
 
Caporegime
Joined
21 Jun 2006
Posts
38,372
There's a bus from the airport into town/strip. On the way back to pick up a car i had to sit next to some rather large rather smelly lady though. Can't remember cost, was cheap. Also involved some J walking across 6 lanes.

Grand Canyon, south is very commercialised i'm led to believe, so i went north side. Took a hike for maybe 10miles then back due to time restrictions. But that was enough to lose all the people and see some cool birds and things.
I rented a car from the airport however.
Getting a walk in i'd recommend if at all possible, viewing platforms are cool and all, but you know..

There's Valley of Fire state park right next to Vegas, so not going there is dumb if you have a car imo.
Zion national park was my favourite out of all the local parks, search Angels Landing. It's pretty scary when you think about it, but it's very awesome and worth it. Among other amazingly cool stuff. Standing from a viewing platform looking at a whole, versus being alone on a cliff face walking into tight caverns where the majority don't go...
Oh, and there's Coral Pink Sand Dunes also. Fun if you like sand.

Though if not into all that nature hiking or scrambling stuff, a plane flyover would be very cool. See if you can get to Canyonlands fly over also.

There's a party like hostel just off the strip. Maybe 3 mile walk away. Dirt cheap, and everyone there is merely there to party. Area is a bit iffy, but inside the hostel complex is fine. -if you can perhaps stay in US for longer.

Don't ever recall seeing a monorail. But i went on one of the funky rides at the top of one of the towers. That was fun and scary. Worth a punt.

Can't recommend any buffet places. But, if you can get on a travellers forum and ask around you should hopefully get some insider knowledge. One local guy picked me and took me to out of town place, i seem to recall him mentioning it was the best in Vegas, but sadly can't help you there besides the forum thing. I do remember him being funny about me paying my way, and they had broccoli available. -It was breakfast time.

why would you take a bus when an uber is like $10? gets you door to door with all your luggage
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Nov 2010
Posts
5,709
as above, uber from the airport.

i found the monorial useful on occasions.

if you were in MGM for example and wanted for some reason to go to circus circus, you could get on at the MGM and take it to the SLS station and then the walk is short to Circus Circus.

all in all i would recommend walking and going through some of the casinos on the way.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2003
Posts
14,056
My main tip for Vegas shows is if you really want to see a show and want really want a decent seat, buy in advance (P&T is great BTW, there was a free shuttle between the Rio and the strip when we went but its rammed when P&T kicks out).

For everything else Tix for tonight booth on the strip. The main thing to remember that Vegas theatres are purpose built and there isn't really any bad seats, just further away. They are also no that big so even being at the back is fine but like I said if there is something you really want to see, book in advance and grab a seat at the front.

One thing that is completely unappreciated about Vegas is the surrounding landscapes, its breathtaking. Get a car for the day, drive to the Hoover Dam, spend until lunchtime there, then drive round Lake Mead (small fee) up to the valley of fire (small fee) and take in the views. Red Rock Canyon is also well worth the 30 min drive out of Vegas and the small fee to go round. Both parks were well maintained when we went and have visitor centres with clean loos.

I also echo the comments about the Wynn buffet, well with the money.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
13 Oct 2008
Posts
4,755
Location
SE London Born and Bred
Thanks for all the replies guys.

I have decided to pre-purchase a ticket for P&T - no set seat but it was £40 using a voucher code at Expedia and the direct places wanted about £70.

I have also booked a south rim GC tour. I uhm'd and ah'd about whether to fly to make it shorter but they all seemed to be to the West Rim, so opted for a highly rated coach one - yes it means leaving the hotel at 6am and not getting back until about 9pm, but it was £60! Booked it for the penultimate day, so next day I can have an easy morning before heading to the airport to go home.
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Mar 2011
Posts
5,417
We got an Uber from the airport - there's a parking garage just across the road from arrivals connected by a skybridge and it has a huge section dedicated for Uber/Lyft drivers to pick people up from. Was dead easy. 38 degrees at 9pm when we arrived through which was a bit of a shocker, so good to have a plan as you'll quickly get frustrated if you don't know where to go in the heat etc.

Vegas actually kind of surprised me when I went there - I was expecting it to be pretty scummy/nasty but it wasn't that bad at all. It's tacky and over the top as you'd expect but all the well trafficked areas felt clean and safe enough to me. I'm not in any rush to ever go back - it's very superficial; worth seeing but unlike some destinations I wouldn't expect it to offer anything new/different on a followup visit.

Agree about the monorail above - it's not what I expected. Rather than one monorail connecting popular places it's actually 3 or 4 very short disconnected sections, with the stations at the ends of each not being adjacent to each other - so for example to travel from the south end of the strip as far north as it'll take you you'd hop on it at Mandalay, which would take you only as far as Excalibur (2 hotels over), then you'd have to walk across to the other side of the strip and through the entire inside of the MGM Grand to get on the next metro, which would take you as far as the Linq I think (about another 2 hotels over). Then traipse the whole way across the other side of the strip and through another hotel to get to the next one which goes from Four Seasons/Bellagio to Caears (or maybe it goes further to Treasure Island or Mirage)... Buying a ticket each time as well... It can come in handy if you happen to need to make one of those trips and are tired of walking around, but I wouldn't rely on it. And if you want to go to Fremont street you'll have to bus/uber anyway.

We did a helicopter thing with Maverick - I guess to the West Rim although at the time we hadn't really read-up on the differences, I can see in pictures that the views from the South Rim are more expansive but seeing the canyon from above (and the strip on the way back) by helicopter was cool and at the end of the day (and not to play it down as it is spectacular) it's a bunch of rocky red terrain - once you've seen one bit of it you've kind of seen it all

Have you thought about stopping by the Hoover Dam? That was really interesting and perhaps you could do it on the way to the Canyon
 
Caporegime
Joined
30 Jul 2013
Posts
28,822
We did a helicopter thing with Maverick - I guess to the West Rim although at the time we hadn't really read-up on the differences, I can see in pictures that the views from the South Rim are more expansive but seeing the canyon from above (and the strip on the way back) by helicopter was cool and at the end of the day (and not to play it down as it is spectacular) it's a bunch of rocky red terrain - once you've seen one bit of it you've kind of seen it all

Have you thought about stopping by the Hoover Dam? That was really interesting and perhaps you could do it on the way to the Canyon

I agree, it is a bit: "These rocks are much better than those rocks" :D
 
Back
Top Bottom