Early stages of planning a Vegas holiday, pointers for a n00b required!

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..the time has come to consider a proper break, not been on a holiday since my school days(!) - Las Vegas is the top of my hit list at the moment with an aim to include two Cirque du Soleil shows (got to make the most of them while I'm there as Vegas hogs 4 resident shows!).

Not 100% sure on dates really, but I'd be considering September/October for 6/7 nights or something similar, I think :o

Just had a swift look on expedia.co.uk for mid-Sept and it coughed up £910.50 for flights (not direct) with 6 nights at New York New York. Or £1098.70 for a direct flight with Virgin (would much prefer a direct flight as I'm a n00b traveller!) and the same hotel.


Is this a fair ball-park figure to be looking at? I would ideally like a direct flight and to stay in a reasonably decent, on-strip hotel (not as flash as the stunning Bellagio though;))!



So basically, I'm a complete n00b to sorting a holiday out and would welcome any pointers! :o
 
Check the hotels you're planning on staying at in LV - they often have special deals with show tickets.
When gambling set yourself limits and stick to them. Start with $x, don't gamble anymore, quit when you've made $ profit - don't keep playing if you're winning 'cos you could lose it!
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I've never found Expedia deals that cheap. It's not bad for flights so start by checking the flight only prices on there. Then check the hotels seperately and look through the ones in your price range. Use http://www.tripadvisor.com/ to see what other people have said about them.

Always try calling the hotel to check their rates before you book anything. I went to the US recently and did pretty much the above. Called the hotel and not only did they match Expedia's rates, they also gave me Expedia's special offer of one night free. So I didn't have to pay the Expedia booking fee, and I didn't have to pay unti I checked out. So if you think you might need to cancel/change the hotel, this makes it much easier.
 
Ah something I know about ( 4 visits to Vegas )

Do not book hotels with expedia , generally direct with hotel is cheapest

if you download www.travelaxe.com it checks price via all the agencies and sometimes direct with hotel

use www.travlejungle.co.uk for flights but also check direct with airline

I am there in late sept/early Oct and have paid about what you have been quoted flying with American Airlines and staying at the Bellagio


The only direct flights to Vegas are BMI , Virgin , Travelocity and Airtours , none of which I would fancy because they all have very poor legroom ( in standard economy )

American are generally the best though make sure the service uses 777's not 767's , via LA is a good route

On the hotel side , Vegas hotels double in price Fri and Sat nights so this can be worth factoring in , also some do not allow Sat checkin

As for the hotels my recommendations would be

High End

Bellagio
Venetian
Wynn

Med-high

Mirage
Paris

Med

NYNY
TI
MGM
Bally's
Alladin


Not recommended

Luxor - too far out
Mandalay - as above
Excalibur - bit tacky and full of kids
Circus Circus - the dump to end all dumps - avoid at all costs
Imperial Palace - seen better days but passable if on a tight budget
Stratosphere - naff , miles away and in a rough part of town


any more questions feel free to ask :)
 
we went when i was about 13, it was amazing, especially all the hotels, but we only spent 5 days there. we went all around south west america (LA, yosemite) i think the total was about 2-3 grand. we booked direct with the hotel. a load of them had special offers all *** same price.

nick
 
I had a few nights at the Imperial Palace and although its not great, the location is one of the best on the strip and I paid $29 a night. Can't argue at that price. And it has a car museum!
 
Rotty said:
Luxor - too far out
Mandalay - as above
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I wouldnt say that they are to far out especially if the monorail is up and running. Also to add to your high end hotels dont forget The Hotel at Mandalay just a hotel full of suites, i saw a mock room sat in Mandalay when i was there last year looked very nice with two big lcd/plasma tvs. :)
 
Luxor is amazing and not really that far out - it's easily my fave hotel in Vegas.......you at least have to pop in for a look even if you don't stay. The MGM is the biggest let-down of them all - it may be huge but it's very dull, the rooms in particular are just Comfort Inn standard. The rollercoaster at "New York, New York" is an absolute must.

I love Vegas, but only in small doses - anything more than a couple of days and it makes me want to chew my own arms off......it's too much :) Personally I would stay somewhere else and just visit Vegas for a couple of days along the way......I wouldn't want to be stuck there for an entire trip. It would mean a lot of driving tho. We did San Fran - Vegas - Grand Canyon in about 10 days I think.
 
We're off to the Bellagio in August and I cant wait - although I've never been before and it wasnt my first choice, my wife will be 30 and it was her choice. On her 30th I'm taking her on a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon and white water rafting in the afternoon - If you can afford it, visit the Canyon mate.
 
Curio said:
Luxor is amazing and not really that far out - it's easily my fave hotel in Vegas.......you at least have to pop in for a look even if you don't stay. The MGM is the biggest let-down of them all - it may be huge but it's very dull,.
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Agree re the MGM , really does nothing for me just a huge expanse of nothing interesting

The Luxor is too far out for my liking , around a mile from the centre strip though it isn't' far from MGM / NYNY

TBH I didn't think much of the Luxor , the building is good but the stuff in it is nothing special , the King Tut's tomb attraction is really dire , having said that I like the Tequila bar in the Luxor

cymatty said:
I wouldn't say that they are to far out especially if the monorail is up and running. Also to add to your high end hotels don't forget The Hotel at Mandalay just a hotel full of suites, i saw a mock room sat in Mandalay when i was there last year looked very nice with two big lcd/plasma tvs. :)
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I didn't include "the hotel" as this was just a list of ones I would recommend , I missed it out ( along with Palms, Rio , Hard Rock ) solely on location

re the monorail , if you are referring to the one that runs mandalay-luxor-excalibur then it is handy in as far as it goes , the new big monorail is a huge letdown as the stations are a pain to get to , frequently 10-15 mins walk from the strip
 
philstanbridge said:
We're off to the Bellagio in August and I cant wait - although I've never been before and it wasnt my first choice, my wife will be 30 and it was her choice. On her 30th I'm taking her on a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon and white water rafting in the afternoon - If you can afford it, visit the Canyon mate.
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Hopefully this won't be bad news , the helicopter tours ( and rafting ) are generally ( almost always ) not at what is generally accepted as the Grand Canyon ( South/North Rim ) , these are usually based around what is referred to as the West Rim or West Canyon , this is around 100 miles away and not really part of the Grand Canyon . Of course the tour companies do not make this clear

Having said that I know someone who did what sounds like the same trip and he said it was absolutely superb regardless
 
Despite not being 21, I enjoyed Vegas both times i went, i stayed in Circus circus and had no probs with it. I found that we didnt spend very long in our hotel anyway, because there is so much to do.
We last went in March this year, we flew with Virgin airlines, and again had no problems.
The Grand Canyon is amazing, i have been to the west rim, and the south rim. And i would go back any day.
Hope you have fun when you go :)
 
Please dont go on helicopter tours of the Grand Canyon, at busy times one aircraft every 40 seconds flys through it. It is spoiling what is a fantastic place and the National park service seem unable to do anything about it :(.

Jonathan
 
We're going to LA this summer for 4 days as part of a 3 week trip, and we're staying at the Mandalay Bay.

It might be far out, but it looks the best...it was our preferred choice over the Bellagio, not sure why. Probably because of the pool complex it has, which looks pretty good.

We booked with Virgin through a travel agents, and managed to get about 10% + another £300 off, which seems to work out better than going direct with the hotels. Everything got too complicated for us to be bothered to work out things exactly, but it seems we got a good deal, so I think that if you book with travel agents you can always bargain around. Then again, we were spending "a lot", so I don't know what they're like with the more "normal" holidays.

You'll love Vegas though. Completely over the top madness. Just gotta go in with the right attitude, expecting seedyness, OTTness, gambling, blah blah. :cool:
 
Brycheiniog said:
Please dont go on helicopter tours of the Grand Canyon, at busy times one aircraft every 40 seconds flys through it. It is spoiling what is a fantastic place and the National park service seem unable to do anything about it :(.

Jonathan
Click to expand...


Aircraft are now banned from flying below the rim or landing at the bottom
 
Recent Developments have resulted in a huge takeover of hotels in Vegas

MGM Mirage now own


MGM
NYNY
Mandalay Bay
The Hotel
Boardwalk
Treasure Island
Mirage
Bellagio
Circus Circus
Excalibur
Luxor


Not great for the future of Vegas I think


add to that the imminent buy out of Caesers Palace by Harrahs and I can see prices rising very soon
 
Rotty said:
Recent Developments have resulted in a huge takeover of hotels in Vegas

MGM Mirage now own


MGM
NYNY
Mandalay Bay
The Hotel
Boardwalk
Treasure Island
Mirage
Bellagio
Circus Circus
Excalibur
Luxor


Not great for the future of Vegas I think


add to that the imminent buy out of Caesers Palace by Harrahs and I can see prices rising very soon
Click to expand...
Yup, it's crazy :eek:

The cost of those places is insane too - the Mandalay Bay was nearly a billion of your lovely dollars :eek:
 
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