Heading to Vegas in October for SEMA with a couple of mates (all 21), looking for any tips or must do things while in Vegas.
Las Vegas Tips and Hints
Coldestpants on 10/05/2018 - 12:06
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Im hearing that alot haha
those really friendly young girls, talking to old blokes are probably hookers. They are everywhere in vegas.
Penn and Teller do a great show - check it out if you can
Yep, highly recommended. Saw them last year. David Copperfield's show is also good, but it's quite heavy on soppy narrative while Penn and Teller's show has more tricks and is generally better in my opinion.
I took the sunset tour of the Grand Canyon, which leaves Las Vegas in the morning and gets home around midnight. Worth seeing, as it stops at Hoover Dam.
Go to Gordon Ramsay's burger restaurant on the strip and indulge in the $30 lobster burger. It's the best burger you will ever eat. Worth the wait.
Also, marijuana is legal in Nevada since July 2017. There are many dispensaries around the city, and foreigners can buy without restrictions. Bring your passport.
Saw David Copperfield about 2.5 years ago. Woeful show and expensive imo.
We will hopefully be seeing Penn and Tellers show so good to hear that its better.
Not to interested in the whole day trip to Grand Canyon as we have heard mixed reviews, might look at doing a quicker helicopter trip. What would you pick the Grand Canyon or Hoover?
Will have to try the lobster burger for sure! Any other food recommendations?
I've heard that is it like Amsterdam? Also what is the cost like?
Obviously minds differ on this (and I did Vegas a lot older than 21) but I didn't really enjoy the strip. On the other hand Grand Canyon is incredible and unmissable. We did a plane flyover, landed near one of the lookouts and got to walk around. It was so much better than I expected.
Pretty exxy and if I was going at 21 with mates not sure if I'd do that or just drink
what happens if you smoke weed over there, and when you come back into Australia the dogs sniff you? Is that a one way ticket to strip search town?
Smell is prohibited to leave, under the local law of what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
Zooty zoot zoot!
Also Blue Man group and a few Cirque du Soleil shows.
Penn & Teller are great - Penn often plays the double bass before the show so check out the musicians playing at the front and see if it's Penn.
If you are going to the clubs, check online before and buy a pass which includes credit for the bar.
We paid $100 for Tiesto which included $100 bar credit and then $125 for Calvin Harris which included $100 credit.
You'll spend the credit pretty easily, maybe $12 a beer, spirits around $15-20, and it gets you VIP access, probably saved over an hours queue each night.
Free drinks if you are gambling, even just sitting on the machines, drinks are pretty expensive in the bars if not gambling.
Loads of cheap deals for shows and tours, activities on groupon or other wesbites etc. Just search around.
Remember wherever you book to stay you'll have to pay a resort fee, usually about $30 extra per night and you pay when you arrive/check out.
Use uber, especially from the airport (cost me $18 and friends paid $40 for a taxi)
We are definitely hitting the clubs! Any recommendations on clubs?
Cheers for the pass tip we didn't even thought of that.
Uber will be getting a work out im sure :)
Any info on pool parties?
we just picked the clubs based on who we wanted to see, Omnia was the best we vistied to be honest, calvin harris played there but the venue is fantastic, make sure you go to the "balcony" section which is outside and looks up and down the strip.
Pool parties again i'd just pick which DJ's you want to see, i didnt do any this time but cosmopolitan was excellent the previous time (3 years or so ago).
Try out the buffets to, Wynn is probably the best, the prices change between breakfast lunch and dinner, best tip is to arrive at the end of the lunch session (5 mins before dinner starts) to pay lunch prices but get the dinner experience. Not sure if the food changes massively but it's fantastic.
what happens in vegas stays in vegas
except STDs.. they follow you forever
I was there last year! Had a heap of fun. The taxi's are a complete ripoff, always use Uber or Lyft.
Spend one evening walking the entire length of the strip. There's so much to see. If you like seafood, go to Hot 'n Juicy Crawfish - here's the man vs food video where I found out about it!.
Spend another evening heading down to the old strip, maybe do the zipline above the strip - that was fun! While you're there, go to the Heart Attack Grill and have at least a double-bypass burger - but aim big, and if you don't finish what you eat, the nurses will put you on the rack for a paddlin' ;)
Hire a mustang and drive it out to Hoover Dam - it's a fun drive, Hoover Dam is amazing and flooring the mustang down the Las Vegas strip will put a grin on your face for days.
If you have breathing problems and are triggered by cigarette smoke, be aware that every hotel/casino allows smoking in them. I have asthma and it was instantly a problem for me - so stock up on relievers before you go (as a doctors visit will be expensive).
Most importantly - have fun! I'm hanging to go back there one day.
And keep your ID on you at the bars, or they may kick you out. But they let you take your drink with you, its not to do with any RSA type law.
So if you don't have your ID, when they ask, simply take your mates to the next bar (since they can take their drinks too it's hardly a big deal)
Beware touristy gun ranges, there are laws that make it a bad idea for foreigners to visit them and/or fire weapons. Also, buy a SIM card before you go from simsdirect or someone; burner phones/sims are expensive unless you drive out to a peripheral shop or luck out and find one in a vending machine at the airport.
Beware going out of town to clubs and girly bars, they can't solicit (no pros) within 100km of the Strip or something, taxi drivers say the dodgy end of town employs 10/10 promo staff to deposit you in a limo with lower paid chaperones whose job it is to get you to the city limits and then a lower paid one to get you the rest of the 100km to a bar where they can introduce you to a friend and ramp up the tips/steal your chips/integrity and who knows what else.
Beware the food, unless you really like junk. The Mexican of course is excellent, so by far the best. Burgers are pretty real everywhere, but salad is always covered in sugary syrup as is breakfast unless you tell them to hold it all. I just eat Mexican when I'm there. There's an In & Out burger bar in the strip if you want the ultimate junk hit.
Coffee is crap everywhere in the strip, except for a couple of Sambalatte cafes- there is one that can be walked in <30m from the strip, downtown at the Plaza Casino.
What sort of ID did you take, will a normal Australian drivers license work?
What sort of laws? we were really looking at going to a range and shooting haha
Beware touristy gun ranges, there are laws that make it a bad idea for foreigners to visit them and/or fire weapons.
Not sure if something has changed recently, but I had absolutely no issue visiting a gun range about 9 years ago. Walk in, sign some papers, quick saftey lesson and you are off. Fired a hand gun, shotgun, etc. There was also people firing full autos.
Seafood is a must! I never knew that there was such a variety of food in Vegas, who doesn't want a double-bypass ……………..or the paddlin ;)
Looking at hiring a mustang for the day/going to the speed way and doing a track day. How much did the day hire cost you?
If you are an RAC/NRMA member, your member card should have the American "AAA" logo on the back. Most hotels have an AAA club discount rate you can use, just bring your card (though I was never asked to show it).
Also; be really friendly to the person on the hotel desk. We scored a free surprise upgrade from the cheapest AAA rate dogbox room to a $1000/n suite (TWO bathrooms!) just by being normal nice human beings excited to be there and exchanging pleasant small talk.
We spent big $ at a couple of gun ranges. Firing a minigun is the fastest possible way to burn through bulk cash but I have no regerts at all.
If you have a motorbike license you can hire a Harley from the dealership and cruise out to the canyon for a day or just take an hour to do a few laps of the strip. I regret not doing that. But for the love of god make sure that your travel insurance includes motorbike riding. TID does.
Hey Glider, what hotel did you stay in? I booked the Bellagio but have read that it's not good to actually stay in and is more of a place to visit kinda attraction.
Get the turkey in caesars palace, most amazing turkey I have ever eaten. Nothing in Australia compares.
See the hoover dam and the grand canyon while you're there, too.
Been few times, had a great time.
Deffo go to the old town, well worth it, cheap gambling and still free drinks.
We had group of 8, so wasnt much more to catch limos everywhere rather than 2 cabs.
Cheapest place in world for helicopter rides, recommend hoover dam and canyon flight, if u go out arvo, u can fly back along strip at night.
If u ordering girls to room, be careful what you want, my mate ordered a blond, and ended up with a nigerian girl with dyed blond hair. He wasnt too happy but we laughed next day when heard lolBest value meals are at Ellis island casino and brewery,bbq chicken and ribs and $10 steaks when you sign up for a players card for free.2 blocks behind Bally’s casino on the strip,beers are cheap and good aswell.You can get sick of the buffets pretty quickly and Vegas is getting expensive at most good restaurants on the strip..Make sure you go to downtown late afternoon or early evening for the best experience.
Best value meals are at Ellis island casino and brewery,bbq chicken and ribs and $10 steaks when you sign up for a players card for free.2 blocks behind Bally’s casino on the strip,beers are cheap and good aswell.You can get sick of the buffets pretty quickly and Vegas is getting expensive at most good restaurants on the strip..Make sure you go to Downtown,Fremont st, late afternoon or early evening for the best experience.
Downtown has a lot to offer if you like the idea of not being beholden to the strip/think you're Vince Vaughn in Swingers.
The Mob Museum is great.
Drive out to Hoover Dam.
Shoot some guns (I didn't get to this personally).There's an immense amount of things to do. What are you into?
Accommodation is much cheaper mid week
$20 on check-in…
Sounds weird but for me anyway, it has ALWAYS worked.Which hotels did it work at? I heard it doesn't really work at MGM hotels anymore.
Bacchanal Buffet - Caesars Palace. Some say it's better than the Wynn's.
Rollin' Smokes BBQ - Hole in the wall place but sooooo good and cheap. Get the burnt ends!
Lyft > Uber. Almost all major hotels, airports and the convention centre has ride share pickup areas.
Everyone seems to hit the outlet malls (South or North). Sneaker stores where the 2nd pair is 50% off outlet prices are pretty good :)
Everything looks close by but is actually quite far to walk. When in doubt, Uber/Lyft it.
Tacos El Gordos has really cheap and good Tacos.
Lindo Michoacan for great Mexican food. Noisy atmosphere with the mariachi band roaming around restaurant.
Crystals at The Cosmopolitan for some cocktails.
Heaps of gun ranges if you are into that. But the tourist ranges are expensive. Look for a local range that allow you to shoot as well, heaps cheaper. Unless you want to fire something like the 50 cal rifle or some experience package (like vintage German guns, Sniper packages etc)
If you stay in a hotel with breakfast included and they offer omelettes cooked to order, ask if they can use real or "cracked" eggs, else it's premix and not as great.
If you swipe your credit card in a taxi, don't be compelled to tip 20% which is their default option. You can select your own amount.
Australian driving license as ID is OK.
Don't be a scrooge, tip the lady that brings you complimentary drinks at the gambling tables.
Shake Shack > Five guys > In n Out. Or just try all of them in Vegas and decide :)
Hydrate hydrate hydrate. It's a still a desert.
the house wins