Our Honeymoon in Las Vegas!
Climate: Being in the desert means Vegas is hot all year round with September being one of the ideal months to visit as you can split your trip into a mix of relaxing days by the pool, sightseeing, shopping and visiting the many themed hotels without being too far away from an air conditioned bar, restaurant or casino!
Hotels: We stayed for 6 nights in the beautiful Caesar’s Palace in the centre of Las Vegas Boulevard, more affectionately known as “The Strip”. Our room was in the Augustus tower with a view of the pool area and The Strip, perfect! Most of the hotels in Las Vegas are huge so we chose to book a room in the tower closest to the main reception area of the hotel – huge timesaver when you’re running late to get to a dinner reservation or show – usually me!
Local Transport: Getting around in Vegas is relatively easy, taxis are plentiful and cheap as are local buses. Of course you can walk but things aren’t always as they seem in Vegas and I’m convinced some of the hotels were moving further and further away as we walked towards them! We were in a taxi in no time when we arrived at the airport and the driver even took us to a local supermarket en-route to the hotel to stock up on drinks and snacks as they are a lot more expensive to buy in the hotels or on The Strip. Most hotels have taxi ranks outside the foyer with Marshalls who will wave the next available taxi over to you and tell the driver where you are heading. We never waited any longer than 5 minutes and the Marshalls do expect a small tip which we were more than happy to pay for the convenience.
Shows: Contrary to popular belief, Vegas isn’t all casinos, bright lights and gambling, yes it’s a big part of it but as are the outstanding shows, out of this world hotels and Michelin star restaurants. We saw some amazing shows including The Rat Pack, “O” by Cirque du Soleil, Absinthe, Blue Man Group and “Carrot Top” – the best comedian we have ever seen – highly recommended! We also loved the Rat Pack show – small intimate venue at The Tuscany Resort, fantastic singing from Frank, Sammy and Dean and of course littered with their humour that they are well known for! Absinthe is set in a tent outside of Caesar’s Palace and is very similar to Cirque du Soleil shows but with lots of humour and audience participation thrown in – not for the faint hearted!
Relaxing: We spent a couple of days by the gorgeous pools at Caesar’s Palace, you can get sunbeds for free if you are staying there but on a first come, first served basis so we did pay for a day bed on one of the days just to make sure we had one full day by the pool. You can visit the pools in any other hotel you are not staying in but will need to pay for reservations. The second day we spent at the pool, we managed to get sunbeds late in the day with no problems. I would highly recommend planning at least one pool day into your trip as it can be exhausting trying to fit everything in.
Eating Out: We had so many gorgeous meals in Vegas including Vanderpump in Paris, Hugo’s Cellar on Fremont Street – more about this later! Lago in Bellagio overlooking the famous fountains – the waiter allowed us to go outside onto the terrace to watch the fountains after our meal when most of the other guests had left – a lovely touch! And last but not least, Hell’s Kitchen! Now I’m a massive Gordon Ramsay fan so I may be slightly biased but my Husband loved it too, of course we both had the infamous Beef Wellington – to die for!
Unique Entertainment: A must do night out in Vegas which can be completely free of charge is The Fremont Street Experience in Downtown/Old Las Vegas. The street is lined by hotels and bars and is covered by a canopy which has light and music displays going on throughout every day late into the evenings. They also have bands and singers and street bars where you can buy drinks and snacks, you can dance and sing or just watch those flying down the zipwire beneath the canopy – something for everyone! We had the best meal at Hugo’s Cellar inside the 4 Queens Hotel, an old traditional restaurant where the food and service were fantastic, we would definitely visit again!
Excursions: You can of course visit The Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, do a helicopter ride over the Vegas Strip or simply visit the many themed hotels such as The Venetian for a Gondola Ride, try the rollercoaster at New York New York or admire the view from The Stratosphere – we went at sunset and it was gorgeous! So much to do and so little time – but absolutely take a walk along to the “Welcome to Las Vegas!” sign, jump on the monorail to Mandalay Bay and it’s about a 40 minute walk from there, free of charge except if you tip someone to take your bucket list photo!
Costs: Like any other city, meals can be as cheap or as expensive as you choose. Yes we did eat at a lot of the more expensive restaurants but also had plenty of cheaper snacks from the likes of McDonald’s, Hash House a Go Go and Bacchanal Buffet to name a few, it simply depends on what you like and how much you choose to spend. Bear in mind that 22% tax is not included until the final bill in restaurants and they will usually expect a tip on top of that, shops also don’t add the 22% tax on until you pay at the checkout. Most of the hotels charge a resort fee too however this tends to include bottled water, newspapers and other extras depending on the hotel.
We did spend a small amount of time and money in the casinos and didn’t win any! If the casinos weren’t there it wouldn’t have made any difference to our trip as there was so much else to do! If this sounds like your ideal trip, get in touch and I can arrange it all including restaurant and excursion recommendations and suggest an itinerary for you. Viva Las Vegas!!
