What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas, Unless You are a Travel Blogger

What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas, Unless You are a Travel Blogger

 

On our rating scale of a place not for me, a place to see (go at least 1 time and stay), a place to be (go again and again), and a place for me (our absolute favorites), Las Vegas is a place to be. We have visited Las Vegas over the course of our lives every few years. Las Vegas is a travel destination where we always enjoy ourselves. We find ourselves traveling to Las Vegas for a specific purpose many times. Typically, we go to Las Vegas to catch a particular show or we go there for a conference. This time, we are visiting Las Vegas to attend a show and to visit the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam. There is a lot to do in the Las Vegas area. We highly recommend Las Vegas as a place to go a few times, if you travel often.

 

When you make the decision to go to Las Vegas, do not pay full price for a hotel stay. Las Vegas is a place where there are always deals. Each time we have traveled to Las Vegas as a couple, we have either traveled on points through our hotel rewards program, or using one of our timeshare weeks. Both saved us a great deal of money. We have an upcoming blog that will compare our hotel reward programs, timeshares, and vacation club memberships. We have spent a few years now researching these types of programs and have found that each serve similar purposes but provide different benefits. A good combination of these programs tailored to meet your travel needs can save you a substantial amount of money. Stay tuned for our upcoming blog on this.

 

On a previous trip, we stayed at a Marriott just a block off the strip across the street from the Bellagio. On this trip we stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacations at the far end of the strip across from the SLS Casino. We had great stays at both resorts. This time for just the cost of the exchange fee through our timeshare (less than $200), we stayed in Las Vegas for 1 week. You really can not beat that rate for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath suite. Our airfare was very inexpensive also. We could have traveled on airline points but chose to save the points for a future trip, since the airfare for the 2 of us was less that $800 roundtrip total. Las Vegas is a fun-filled inexpensive vacation for us. We love the excitement, the quality, and the cost of our Las Vegas vacations.

 

Our trips to Las Vegas are filled with walking up and down the strip visiting all of the casinos. There is so much to see. The architecture of and displays inside the casinos are amazing. The must sees are the Bellagio (inside and out. There is a water show outside the Bellagio. There is a display that changes every few months inside the hotel just off the lobby. It is absolutely breath-taking. This time, the theme was Japan and it was gorgeous. The Venetian is a must see. There are actual gondola rides in the hotel, so, nice! You have to walk the Las Vegas strip and look at the hotels.

 

In addition to visiting the hotels, you must take in a show or two and eat at the buffets. We went to two shows this trip. We saw Jennifer Lopez's show and Boys to Men's show. We enjoyed the Boys to Men show immensely and highly recommend it. In regard to food, we have found that the hotels with the best buffets are the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace. The buffets are about $40 or so per person. Unless you are accustomed to eating a lot, you will only have enough of an appetite to eat one time per day at a buffet. The food at both of the aforementioned buffets is very good. For a break from the endless buffets, we recommend Jose Andres Bazaar Meat. The food is absolutely delicious. It is expensive but it is very good, this restaurant is located in the SLS Casino, attached to the W Hotel. Food is definitely part of the culture of Las Vegas.

 

In addition to the restaurants that are excellent at the SLS Casino, there is a monorail station. If you stay on the far end of the Las Vegas strip or just want to go from end to end on the strip, we recommend the monorail. We spent $26 total for two 24 hour passes. We definitely got our money’s worth, no traffic, no cab or Uber fee each way and a nice view of the city. Check out alternative transportation modes such as the monorail. We also rented a car to go to the Grand Canyon and were able to rent directly from Enterprise at SLS/W Hotel.

 

We took the time this trip to actually be tourists and see some of the sites not far from Las Vegas. We went to the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam.  Please note that if you have not been to Las Vegas a few times already, there is more than enough to do on the strip itself. The restaurants serve delicious food, the hotels/casinos are spectacular in and of themselves         . You can see everything from water shows to Flamingos. You can walk around the strip and just marvel at the beauty of hotel after hotel not to mention the constant shows and other entertainment like the High Roller which is the tallest observation wheel in the world. The High Roller is larger than the London Eye which is also an amazing observation wheel. We have been on both and the High Roller is taller but the views from the London Eye are second to none. If you are someone who has already enjoyed the sites of Las Vegas and want to venture out, I strongly recommend the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon.

 

Both the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam were well worth the time. I will not spend much time discussing these sites as they are well known and well discussed sites. I will say that it was amazing to see both a man-made wonder and God-made wonder on the same trip. The Hoover Dam is less than an hour from Las Vegas and is a man-made wonder. It is worth the drive just to see this engineering feat and marvel at what man can accomplish when we work together. The West Rim (not the trail) of the Grand Canyon is a little more than two hours outside of Las Vegas. The West Rim is home to the Skywalk which is a glass bridge shaped in a semi-circle, 4,000 feet up above the canyon, I am afraid of heights and still took the walk around the Skywalk at Eagle Point (see the picture above). It is spectacular! The West Rim of the canyon is controlled by the Hualapai Tribe. You will be asked to park your car and buy a ticket. You will be shuttled by bus to three amazing stops, Hualapai Ranch, Eagle Point (Skywalk, 4000 feet high), and Guano Point (7,000 feet high). All of the stops are great. Obviously, Eagle Point and Guano Point are the reasons to go to the West Rim. We also took a helicopter ride around a small part of the Grand Canyon and that is so worth the money. You see the most amazing views!

 

As I end this blog on a trip back from New York City (one of our absolute favorite locations – rated a place for me), I want to note that Las Vegas continues to be a place that never disappoints. Las Vegas remains a place to be. My husband and I have an amazing time every single visit. We have a few friends there now and enjoy spending time with them. There are so many spectacular things to see and do in Las Vegas, Add it to your travel list as a must see.