Las Vegas for 4 nights without kids

[HarrogateMum]

Hello all. I am 40 this year and we are going to Vegas with my bro and sister in law in July, and with my sis and bro in law flying in from Aus to meet us too. My parents have agreed to have the kids for 5 nights which means 4nights in Vegas and a night flight back. My Aussie bro in law is a big gambler so he is sorted but for the rest of us, what do you think we should pack into the 3.5 days that we have in resort? I don't want to do the helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon as too nervous (I know...) so any must sees/must go to shows/must eat at restaurants?

I really want a lovely meal one night to celebrate the fact that we are all there together, rest of the time happy to eat burgers!

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

oh...no-one has any tips! Ah well, will just have to spend my time sinking cocktails and playing one-armed bandits!

To be honest, with Vegas take it as it comes. You've said no to the canyon so stick it out in the City. Most of the time we just wandered in and out of hotels. It is amazing.

A gondola ride in the vanetian is worthwhile.

Shopping at the centre under Caesars is good and there are often shows in there too.

The fountains at the bellagio are a must see.

Pirates show outside one of the hotels (name escapes me) is worth a look too.

We were there 10 days and didn't have enough time.

Take each day as it comes.

A lot will depend on jetlag too. I am terrible with Jetlag to America so I was in bed most nights by 8.30!

Amazing city though. We love it and would love to go back. Some brilliant memories.

ah thanks for your thoughts ladies!

Ruby - staying at Mandarin Oriental, wanted non-gaming to be able to get away from it! DH loves steak so will definitely look that up!

Thanks gregs for your input!

Definitely go to the Duelling Pianos show at Times Square bar in NewYork New York. Guaranteed brilliant night.

Shopping at Fashion Show Mall on the strip, Caesars Palace and Plenet Hollywood

The pirate show mentioned by gregssausageroll is at Treasure Island and is quite entertaning

DP and I have just got back from a trip to Vegas. It was certainly an eye opener! We loved it but it is pretty full on. Second what was said above about wandering around the hotels. There are some bonkers ones.

We stayed at the Luxor which was great and ridiculous value. It also seems to have a small gaming area compared to a number of other hotels we saw. On the first day we did an open top bus tour with the Big Bus Tour Company which was great as we got our bearings and were able to decide which bits we wanted to go back to. Bear in mind it will be very very hot in July!!

Some of the hotels at the north end of the strip are pretty tired looking (Stratosphere, Circus Circus, Harrahs and The Imperial Palace particularly spring to mind). If I were to go back I would stay at The Venetian (if I could afford it!) or would happily go back to the Luxor. There are some great rates to be had on hotels- we booked through Virgin Holidays and got a great deal (disclaimer- I do work for the Virgin Group but am not on commission here! :-) )

We did a day trip to the Grand Canyon by road. Its a long day (4.5 hours drive each way to the South Rim, less to the West Rim) but I cannot recommend it highly enough. We went with the Pink Jeep Tour Company who were excellent. There were only 10 of us and they have permits to take you right into the park and up to the rim. Many tour companies don't have these permits and drop you off at the edge of the park and you will need to get around using the park bus service. Would definitely recommend you go- its cheaper (and less scary!) by road.

Even if you don't fancy the long slog to the Grand Canyon, there are plenty of interesting places nearer (Red Rocks, Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam and Valley of Fire for example- all of these are within an hour of Vegas) and after a few days of Vegas madness it is a nice contrast to get out into the desert. Check out pinkjeeptours.com/las-vegas/ for various excursion options in the area. Death Valley is amazing- we stayed there for a couple of days once we left Vegas.

You will be spoilt for choice for restaurants. If you fancy splashing out, check out the ones in the Bellagio. We had a really good meal at Sugar House in Paris and ate on the patio with views over the Bellagio and its amazing fountains.

Have fun, and take your camera and your sense of humour!

We like the brunch breakfast at Paris. Be warned, it can have a long queue at times.

Just back from vegas and its great. Like you we stayed at a non gambling hotel so we could get away from it.

Have a look at the shows on www.lasvegas.com before you go and book before you go to get a good seat. We went to the Beatles cirque de soleil show in the mirage and the penn and tellar show at rio but that was our choice.

Recommend rainforest cafe in MGM for breakfast. CSI exhibition was fun but not what I thought it would be. You will enjoy walking through the hotels and that took us a couple of days on its own.

The public bus is $7 for a 24 hour pass and runs the length of the strip to each of the north and south outlet shopping malls which are worth a visit.

Worst thing for me was the smoking inside which takes a bit of getting used to.

Have fun

Another vote for duelling pianos at Bar on Times Square. We stayed at MGM Grand and they have quite a few upmarket restaurants. Check out their website and you can view the different menus. Would you go on any helicopter rides at all? There is a fantastic one which is just a ten minute night flight over Vegas but it's really beautiful. They pick you up at your hotel then take you to the heliport where you have some bubbly before you're flight; it's really good fun.