Las Vegas budget

[PickleJelly]

Hi all,

I am off to Las Vegas at the end of August for 5 days with 2 friends. I am just trying to work out a realistic sum for spending money, I don't really have a budget that I have to stick to but I don't want to spend huge amounts. I have searched for previous threads and the last one seems to be from a few years ago. Has anyone been recently and would you be willing to advise on how much you spent?
Our flights, accomodation and transfers are all paid for, so this would just be for food, drinks and entertainment.
We haven't booked anything yet and we are fairly open to ideas of things to do, although we are hoping to hire a car and drive to the Grand Canyon.
It would be nice to do a show (maybe circ?), go to a nicer restaurant (Gordon's Beef Wellington looks great).
We aren't really gamblers but I am sure we will have a bit of a go. We also don't fancy going to a club but will make the most of bars.

Thank you 😊

Also, looking for recommendations on must do activities!

You will be charged resort fees we were over $500 which we put on a credit card, how much were you thinking of taking ?

It will be sooooo hot. Where are you staying? Park yourself on a pool lounger and drink all the frozen cocktails. A you helicopter out to Grand Canyon?

We didn't gamble really a few slot machines..we did the grandcanyon it was breathtaking! We did a couple of shows , it is really expensive to eat although a few nights we ate up by the Linq promenade they had nice reasonable places to eat.

We took a coach trip to grand canyon. We saw Penn and teller and a comedian who's name i can't remember he wasn't that funny tbf. I went to vegas because Dh wanted i was dreading it but I loved it, its absolutely bonkers!

@Coffeeishot thanks for the reply. Sorry, I should have said I have budgeted separately for the resort fees - it advises online that this will $45 per night plus tax .

Separate from the resort fees, I was thinking of budgeting for around $1250 - $1500 for the 5 days. But just wondering if that's enough. When I googled it, different websites were saying $600-$1000 per day!!

@boulevardofbrokendreamss thanks for the Reply. We are staying at New York, New York. I know, it's going to be so hot isn't it! 🤯 I am going to take really light clothing, so hopefully we will cope.
I would love to do the helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon!

I think we spent about $200 approx on food a day for 5/6 days .I am sure we spent about $3k all in some we put on a credit card and we had dollars.

@Coffeeishot How was Penn and Teller? One of the friends I am going with has mentioned that she is keen to see the show!

We were a couple though. The hotels are absolutely massive you can spend all day in one just wandering about and yoh can go into.the others ceasars palace is like a small village!

They are great, DH is a huge fan but I also enjoyed them.

And use uber not Taxis they have lyft as well but we weren't sure how it worked so use uber download the app once you are there, and the buses are easy to use too.

I mean you can use Taxis if you like but uber you know what you are paying for but don't book in advance just book when you are ready to go out.

On average, a main course meal costed about $25 at mid-range restaurants, cocktails around $20 and a glass of wine slightly less. I only had one alcoholic drink a day and probably spent around $100 a day on food and drink. That was mid-range. We didn’t go anywhere fancy and breakfast was included in our hotel.
In the hotel, for housekeeping, a common tip is $2 to $5 per night so I’d probably leave $20 for a 5-night stay.
A gondola ride is about $40 per person.
The Bellagio conservatory and fountains are free. Casinos are free to enter and we didn’t gamble, we just went inside a couple to watch.
The Freemont Street Experience is free, and most events and nightly concerts within it are also free.
We did Cirque du Soleil but booked tickets online beforehand.
I definitely recommend the Eiffel Tower viewing deck, but book tickets online in advance as it’s popular.

We found drinking in the casinos if you’re gambling better value than bars which were really expensive. If you’re playing even a relatively small amount on the slots you can order drinks from the waitresses and pay tips, $5 to start with then $2 a drink seemed fine.

I enjoyed the neon museum, and I preferred Fremont St to the strip, live music, bit less flashy/fake.

We didn’t bother with any of the high end restaurants, but there’s tonnes of Gordon Ramsey places, we liked the food court place in the Cosmo.

I would agree with the rough numbers above but it is really variable. Some very ordinary looking restaurants can be extortionate so worth looking into places to go online ahead of time to find reasonable restaurants. As a rule of thumb anything in a hotel is likely to be expensive. We went to Bubba Gump for example which was reasonable if not super exciting.

There was a great Deep Dish pizza place we went to that was fab and really not expensive. I’ll see if I can find it for you.

We didn't, really drink much alcohol a wine with dinner and I had maybe another if we were sitting in the hotel bar.

A thousand quid quite honestly.

source: my sister went for ten days, she also didn’t spend any of it in casinos or gambling. It’s just a really expensive place.

edited because just realised you’re only going for 5

"I know, it's going to be so hot isn't it!"

Yes, outdoors it is, but indoors it can be really cold - they do like their air-conditioning!

It was Giordano’s at the Horseshoe. Really recommend it. We shared one deep dish and some sides and salads between 4 and didn’t finish everything!

Yes, that’s more than enough.

Thanks all, it's really helpful. Great tip @Changingplace about drinking in the casinos. It's obviously going to be so hot when we go so I won't be drinking loads of alcohol, but will definitely want to enjoy a couple!

Oh and agree that drinks are super expensive!

If you play slots you get free drinks - just tip the waitress a couple of dollars. Also don't worry about the heat, as it's dry heat, which is much more bearable, plus everywhere indoors is air conditioned.

@kersh33 I just googled the pizza place! It looks incredible, thanks for the tip 😊

Casinos are air-conditioned so you won't be roasting but smoking is permitted un them so it really wafts it reminded me of the UK in the 90s ! Oh and weed is everywhere im sure i was second hand stoned the whole week 😳