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Original poster

If you’ve been to Vegas would you share your thoughts and opinions please?

104 replies

TeapotCollection · 18/10/2021 13:26

We’re thinking about going in 2 or 3 years but I can’t decide whether I actually want to go or not. I realise of course that I have to make my own mind up but I’d really appreciate some input from people who have been

OP posts:
jay55 · 18/10/2021 15:15

Pre pandemic I went regularly.

I love it, best people watching, always something to do if awake odd hours due to jetlag.
Loads of shows and places to eat at all price points and free sights and cheesy stuff.

There is a lot of seedy stuff too, prostitution and beggars and wasted people and it can be weird to get used to people smoking indoors again (though on the strip the extraction systems are amazing, downtown not so much).

fruitsaladyummyummy · 18/10/2021 15:15

We love it! We've been in November/December 3 times and I would go back tomorrow. However we love drinking and gambling. Wouldn't go with kids under 21 though. Depends what kind of holiday you're looking for. Our (pre children) summer holiday of choice would be Ibiza.

ContadoraExplorer · 18/10/2021 15:21

People can still smoke on Casino floors (at least could a couple of years ago). They have decent ventilation so didn't always notice it whilst down there but our clothes/hair absolutely stank.

People raved about Fremont St but I found it quite depressing - the people in casinos there just looked like gambling addicts, spending their last few bucks to try and hit a bit one again. I didn't like it. I didn't feel very safe there either, really just wanted to go back to our hotel.

We did a few shows and a helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon which was cool. We also did a Michelin Star restaurant but it just didn't feel like others we've been to, some (I assume) really rich guy came in with some of his entourage, barely any of them ate any of the food that go put down yet the waiters were all over them and we got left quite a while in between courses etc. Just wasn't the same experience as we've had in similar quality restaurants.

It might be different going in a young crowd but we had tagged on a few days there in a pretty big trip and it was more than enough for me, wouldn't look to go back any time soon.

goldshade · 18/10/2021 15:24

Hated it.
Felt like I needed a dettol bath (grandmas saying) to kill the grime.

CrumpleHornedSnowcack · 18/10/2021 15:32

We went for a week for DH's 40th & absolutely loved it. I do think it's a love it or hate it place.

I would try & stay somewhere middle of the strip for easy access to everything & definitely recommend a helicopter trip landing in the Grand Canyon.

For us personally, it was like Disney Land for grown up's & we had a massive amount of fun despite not being big gamblers

Defender90 · 18/10/2021 15:37

We spent 4 days there at the start of one road trip and at the end of another, LOVE Vegas, would go back in a heartbeat.

We didn't do much gambling, the pools are fab (we stayed at Bellagio and Mandalay Bay) you can spend hours wandering the strip people watching at the bars or cafes, the hotels are huge and again just wandering through them takes up a lot of time, explore Downtown 'old' Vegas - loads of things and shows to see, hire a car and go to the Grand Canyon etc. We were there 2017 & 2019 so quite recent.

earsup · 18/10/2021 15:40

You might as well lock yourself into a UK casino for a week and order burger king....not for me...!!

RusholmeRuffian · 18/10/2021 15:42

I like Vegas but not for a week, a couple of nights in the middle of a road trip would be ideal.

wasthataburp · 18/10/2021 15:43

I've been 4 times each time for 10-14 nights. Hire a car and see local places.
If you like really nice restaurants and shopping and 5* hotels then you will love it

MsSquiz · 18/10/2021 15:47

DH and I really like Vegas. Both times we've visited, it's been for no longer than 4 days and we've been elsewhere first (Yosemite & then driven down and a friend's wedding in North Carolina & flows to Vegas)

You have to take Vegas for what it is, loud, OTT and in your face! There are lovely restaurants there, we love people watching with a drink in the bars and casinos. We've done many Cirque du Soleil shows, a Grand Canyon helicopter trip for my 30th, the hop on/hop off bus trip, visited downtown and the mob museum. We've also had chill out days by the pool and a couple of chilled out nights in with room service and films.

I could probably do a week there, as long as it included chill out days and nights, but I totally understand why some people are done after a few days

Chanel05 · 18/10/2021 15:48

It's expensive.

I love it.

I got married there.

HeronLanyon · 18/10/2021 15:48

It seems to be a place people either love or hate - few in the middle ground.
I hated it but would never in a million years have loved it. Stayed two nights linked with travel to Grand Canyon. Could not leave quickly enough. 15 years ago.
Also went as a child in the 70s before it was quite as crazy as it is now and remember nothing about it instead memories are of desert around and driving and general desert Americana.
Always think most know before they go whether it’s going to be fun for them ir not.

floweroverload · 18/10/2021 15:58

I went with DH, in-laws and kids (aged 2 &4)
We had a great time exploring the themed casinos, ate out for lunch and dinner, enjoyed the breakfast buffets (kids loved that they could choose choc icecream for breakfast). MIL and I went to cirque de soleil. Went to various pools at hotels in the day.
It's surprisingly easy to make it a holiday for what you want. We didn't do any gambling at all.

floweroverload · 18/10/2021 16:00

Forgot to say, like PP we did a lot of people watching.
DH has been a few times with work and had a completely different experience; bars, clubs etc

shoelaces1 · 18/10/2021 16:06

You might as well lock yourself into a UK casino for a week and order burger king....not for me...!!

I don't understand this.

One thing that surprised me was the quality of the restaurants & the variety of cuisines. I'd go back for the food alone.

Original poster
TeapotCollection · 18/10/2021 16:18

We wouldn’t really do clubs, can’t stand shopping! Absolutely love people watching and lazing by a nice pool, would definitely do a show or 2, would definitely have a gamble albeit a small one

I wouldn’t go on a helicopter unfortunately, way too scared. Really don’t like the smell of cigarette smoke either

This isn’t sounding like a good idea is it. My husband really wants to go though

We do fully accept that if we go it’ll cost us a lot of money, hence the forward planning. It’d probably be early 2024 or even 5

OP posts:
userchange987 · 18/10/2021 16:31

We absolutely loved it. Wasn't expecting to. We've been to a lot of places in America but we just loved the unabashed, unapologetic attitude of Vegas. It's just unadulterated fun. I thought it would be a one time and done place but we'd go back. We did a lot of exploring the surrounding areas as well as the food and casinos etc, recommend Valley of Fire.

userchange987 · 18/10/2021 16:34

Just to add it's not a very expensive holiday, my husband and I went in 2019 for £2000 including spending money for 5 days. That was with car hire and flying virgin too. We stayed off strip but found loads of deals for the same price on strip but we wanted this particular hotel for a reason. The trick is to go off peak, we went in March, weather was still lovely, although you'd need to go slightly later for pools to be open, maybe April.

Gherkingreen · 18/10/2021 16:44

When we lived in the US we flew in and stayed overnight before driving to the Grand Canyon via the Hoover Dam.
I wouldn't visit Vegas again by choice, ever. It felt contrived, fake and sad.
The casino, which we had to walk through to get in/out of the hotel, smelt of febreze, cigarettes and despair.
The Grand Canyon was absolutely incredible but I guess it depends what you're into.

Tal45 · 18/10/2021 16:45

I enjoyed it - didn't drink, gamble or shop. Just walking up the strip (be warned it's very long!!) was fascinating as all the hotels are so over the top with things to see. I would combine it with a trip out to the grand canyon (I did a day tour from LV) and something else as well (I went to LA and San Francisco) because it's not really somewhere you want to spend two weeks (well not me anyway). And prostitution was rife when I was there, men giving out cards advertising women etc so it's definitely not somewhere I'd take kids.

Seriously79 · 18/10/2021 16:50

I went about 15 years ago and loved it! The flight was hard, it was the first time I'd flown that far. But other then that, I thought it was great. Big, loud always something to do.

I'd love to go back.

simitra · 18/10/2021 16:51

I spent a year as a visiting professor at Uni of Nevada which is just outside Vegas. Loved it!

Id already spent time in Vegas on academic conferences. First off I thought I was going to hate it because it was so glitzy. However I soon got used to the pace. And I dont even gamble!

There is another side to Vegas than the "marriage chapels with Elvis" and the huge casinos. There are some great bargain shopping malls, although they tend to be on the outskirts of the city and you need your own transport or a cab to get to them,. Even if you dont gamble looking around the huge themed hotels and people watching can be fun. Las Vegas is alsoa very safe city as it is heavily policed. The casinos pay a premium to maintain the local security so visitors feel welcome. Also you dont have to stay in one of the big glitzy hotels. There are many smaller ones (and cheaper) just off the strip.

There are some great trips out of Vegas, such as the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. You can use it as a base for many day trips.

However dont judge the USA by Vegas. It is no more representative of US culture than London is of British culture.

Verite1 · 18/10/2021 16:55

Having read your update OP, it really doesn’t seem like it would be worth it for you.

Thefartingsofaofdenmarkstreet · 18/10/2021 16:56

I feel like everyone who can should go to Vegas at least once in their life, it has to be seen to be believed!

I didn't love it (some people become obsessed and go back again and again) but I did enjoy it and would definitely go back.

ChrissyPlummer · 18/10/2021 16:59

@EatSleepRantRepeat

Sorry remembered one more thing - prostitution is very open in Vegas because Brothels are legal in Nevada. Its the only place we've holidayed where people would hand escort calling cards to my husband in the street in front of me, and we saw a lot of hookers going in and out of the hotels late night/early morning. It may not bother some people but its another reason that would put me off going with kids.
Brothels are only legal in Nevada in places that have populations below 700,000. So, ironically they are illegal in Reno and Vegas. Tolerated certainly. I went in 2017 and there were loads of men handing cards out and adverts on billboards and the side of trucks.
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