Spec me a vegas trip :D

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cmsbfent

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Hey

I've noticed over the last couple of years that a few on here are fairly regular visitors to Vegas, so I thought where best to ask than on here :)

Basically, its gonna be next September/October time for a 30th. Whats the best way to do it as far as flights and hotels go?

Is it better (well, cheaper) to do them seperately, or is there a good place to get a holiday type deal? It'll be a 5-7 day trip, with the possiblility of landing somewhere else and driving a chunk of american muscle the rest of the way

Are the rumours true that you can find cheap hotels in Vegas due to them figuring that you will spank a shed load of cash in their casino's? - which will most probably be true

Thanks for any advice
 
So far, flying to san fran and hiring a 'Premimum convertible car' for the 7 days is coming in at £700 each. Around 600 miles later, vegas arrives. Anyone know what that routes like?

Not sure if the car will be needed for the whole time though. Hmmmm

Come on gurus, where are you?

:D
 
Some of the guys who have posted in the poker threads have been to Vegas. Rotty I think?
Hopefully someone will come along with advice.
 
For a 5-7 day trip don't bother with car hire and driving from SF, you will want 5 days in Vegas as a first trip. We took three weeks this summer driving from SF-LA-Vegas, sightseeing along the way. Just fly straight to Vegas, take a bag full of cash and shop/party/eat/drink until you drop!

My advice is get a cheap but clean room- you wont be spending a lot of time in it. We splurged and got a suite at the Encore but it was a big fat waste of cash as I was in it less than 8 hours a night.

There are some good deals to be had on flights+hotel combos but they are usually in naff hotels like Circus Circus and Three Queens. Get a flight and then go for something like the MGM Grand or that area of the strip- they often do deals on their website.

SF-Vegas can be done but there is so much to see along the route you will want to stop. If flight+car hire is a must, fly to LAX and drive from there, much closer and through a desert so you wont want to stop!
 
This reminds me that I've still not bothered to write my trip up, as people asked and I promised, which included Vegas, SF and a convertible. I must get myself into gear and start it.
 
Book 1 hotel early as a fall back then keep looking around as rates vary all the time, make sure all bookings are cancellable, best deals usually 1-3 months in advance

some may offer comps / better rates subject to play but most will just advise to get players club card and they will review at checkout

Flights to SFO and LAX are almost always cheaper than LAS, packages rarely represent the best value
 
Thanks for the replies

I've had a look on the bookit website and the prices seem good up until the last moment when they add a 'Mandatory airport or government taxes & fees' of around $450 per person. Is that normal?

So as a ball park figure, direct flights and a half decent hotel for seven nights, are we talking more or less than a grand?

Starting to agree with the idea of not taking the drive. Could get in the way of, well, being in vegas ; )

Are all hotels pretty much the same? Apart from the ones with the crazy suites available at $2000 per night. Dont think we would get the full use out of them some how.

Besides, my last 'weekender' was to Poland where we stayed a night in Rzeszow. It was in an ex soviet olympic training hotel and cost £4 a night. We aint snobs :)

Thanks
 
Less than a grand, easily. Go during the week and you'll pay £40ish a night for a great hotel. You can do Vegas on a budget really well. The best and cheapest hotel I stayed in on my trip was in Las Vegas.
 
we just did 9 nights in nice hotels and PE flights ( PE on inbound only ) for just under a grand each so you should do it easily

spending money is another matter entirely :eek:
 
Premium Economy, slightly bigger seats/more leg room/ bigger baggage allowance etc

I don't sleep on flights so am real grumpy on overnight long haul, plus we need extra baggabe allowance after my my missus has been shopping
 
I went to Vegas a few years back to watch Ricky 'give me a hit man' Hatton get smashed around a boxing ring.

I booked through Expedia as it seemed to be the best value for a flights, car, and hotel room package, get a quote and see if it is any good. All the hotels will be more or less the same and will be clean and relatively large as well as having decent beds, showers etc. As someone said you wont be spending a huge amount of time in your room so maybe just find something on the strip which is relatively cheap... I stayed in Hooters (for comedy value) which was certainly at the cheaper end of the spectrum but was more than adequate... Alternatively, if you fancy spending a bit more then why not treat yourself to something luxurios? You generally get really good value for money anyway and certainly get what you pay for so it really comes down to how much you want to spend.

In terms of flights some days are cheaper to fly than others, perhaps someone who does more flying than I do can advise. Generally though if you look round and book far enough in advance I think you'll be able to get a good price on flight tickets.

One thing I would advise is to get yourself a car... Preferably a nice one! The rental company we went with did us a Shelby Mustang (obviously we had to pay more) but it was certainly very good value IMO. If you want something more exotic you should look round a bit but there are a few rental companies that can sort you out... You will have to pay a more but you'll probably find it worth it if driving is your thing.

As for things to do other than casinos... There is the gun store/range that is an absolute must to visit. Here, you can shoot automatic weapons, hand guns and pump action shot guns for around $20 per clip or so. I went with the AK47 and Smith and Wesson 29 (Dirty Harry gun lol)... I'm not much of a gun nut but its certainly worth doing once. Other than that a road trip to Los Angeles is a good call but if you're only going for 5 days maybe a bit ambitious. The Grand Canyon is close by too which is a pretty staggering sight to behold. As for shows they of course run all year round... If you a like boxing/MMA then it may be worth trying to tie your trip in with a UFC event or boxing bout.

*Edit* You can certainly get by without a car in Vegas, the bus service is very good and lets face it if you fancy spending most of your time in casnios or drunk (or both!) you wont get good value from it.
 
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It's a myth that the Grand Canyon is close by - it really isnt. By road its a 5 hour drive and more than 300 miles. It's like saying Edinburgh is close by to London.

You can do a day trip though but you'll need to fly.
 
[TW]Fox;17576841 said:
It's a myth that the Grand Canyon is close by - it really isnt. By road its a 5 hour drive and more than 300 miles. It's like saying Edinburgh is close by to London.

You can do a day trip though but you'll need to fly.
Click to expand...

unless you get scammed into believing the West Rim is the Grand Canyon

The amount of people you meet who say "we flew to the GC by helicopter and landed in the bottom of it", often don't have the heart to tell them the truth
 
[TW]Fox;17576841 said:
It's a myth that the Grand Canyon is close by - it really isnt. By road its a 5 hour drive and more than 300 miles. It's like saying Edinburgh is close by to London.

You can do a day trip though but you'll need to fly.
Click to expand...

Fair point, I visted the grand canyon when I was 11 on a trip with my parents so my memory is a little hazy. That said I do remember spending a lot of the day on a bus filled with Italian tourists (nightmare) as well as stopping off at the hoover dam. Could well be that I only saw the West rim... was still pretty staggering anyway.
 
pre1twa said:
Fair point, I visted the grand canyon when I was 11 on a trip with my parents so my memory is a little hazy. That said I do remember spending a lot of the day on a bus filled with Italian tourists (nightmare) as well as stopping off at the hoover dam. Could well be that I only saw the West rim... was still pretty staggering anyway.
Click to expand...

if you spent about 12hrs total on the bus it could have been the proper Canyon, if it was 4-6 hrs then it would be the West Canyon (rim)
 
[TW]Fox;17576861 said:
I'm SO glad you told me about that. On further research the West Rim really is a massive, massive con.
Click to expand...

if you search Grand Canyon West Rim all you find is stuff from tour companies, no real info as it doesn't really exist :p
 
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