Basics

If you are new to the site and just thinking about a trip to Vegas, here’s some basic info to get you started and some suggestions for where to stay and what to do.

Travel from London

Flights

I usually go on a direct flight from London to Vegas and I recommend that as the easiest way to get from London to Las Vegas.

The flight time is around 10 hours and direct flights are available from Heathrow operated by Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow and Gatwick operated by British Airways.

International flights fly in to Harry Reid International airport (formerly McCarran International airport), which is located at the southern end of the strip.

Virgin Holidays and British Airways holidays also do deals including flights and accommodation, which are often better value than booking separately.

Other airlines may be cheaper and you’ll find the various US airlines will do more reasonably priced flights from London with a change in a US city.

See Flights from London to Vegas for more details.

Airport to hotel

The easiest way to get to your hotel from the airport is by taxi, there is a taxi rank just outside the terminal. It’s around a 15-20 minute drive to hotels on the southern strip, depending on traffic. There is a fixed rate enforced for the trip from the airport to the Strip hotels. This is done by zone as follows:

Zone 1 – $19 (Delano, Excalibur, Virgin Las Vegas, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, OYO, and Tropicana.)

Zone 2 – $23 (Aria, Horseshoe, Bellagio, New York New York, Paris, Park MGM, Planet Hollywood and The Cosmopolitan.)

Zone 3 – $27 (Caesars Palace, Circus Circus, Encore, Flamingo, Harrah’s, Resorts World, Rio, Sahara, STRAT, The LINQ, The Mirage, The Palazzo, The Venetian, Treasure Island, and the Wynn.)

You may also find that Uber or Lyft may be cheaper that the regular taxi’s, depending on the time of day.

If you have a hire car to pick up you take a shuttle bus to the rental car centre near the airport where all major rental companies are based.

Hotels

There are over 150,000 hotel rooms in Vegas! To date I’ve stayed in 12 of the hotels.

My main tip is to stay in a hotel on the southern part of the strip. To be honest it doesn’t matter too much where you stay in this area, as you can easily visit the hotels nearby for restaurants, bars, shopping, shows and gambling and then just sleep in the hotel where you are staying. The only thing to look out for is the pool, as you will only be able to use the pool at your own hotel (unless you are going to a dayclub or pool party).

Vegas hotels charge different room rates depending on the day of the week with Sunday to Thursday being the cheapest and Friday and Saturday nights being the most expensive.

Here’s a list of the main hotels in the southern end of the strip, running from south to north:

Hotel recommendations

Budget

Horseshoe Las Vegas (formerly Ballys Las Vegas)
I’ve stayed here twice, both when it was still Ballys. It’s great value for money. It has large recently-renovated rooms and is in a great location. Book the Jubilee Tower for the best strip views.

Luxor Las Vegas
I have stayed here twice. It’s an Egyptian-themed hotel in an pyramid shaped building. I prefer the rooms in the main pyramid, even if they are a bit smaller than the tower rooms.

Mid-range

Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino Las Vegas
I have stayed here twice. It has nice, large, Hollywood-themed rooms filled with memorabilia. The downside is that it has a smaller casino area, but you do have the Miracle Mile shops and restaurants on your doorstep and it’s centrally located.

New York – New York Las Vegas Hotel & Casino
I have stayed here once, it has really nice theming with a central casino and plenty of bars and restaurants in and around the casino area.

Luxury

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
My current favourite hotel, where I’ve stayed six times. Try and get one of the terrace one bedroom suites, especially if you can get one with a Bellagio fountain view!

Aria
I’ve stayed here for two nights on one of my trips. It’s a bit more upmarket than the Cosmopolitan and has a fantastic pool area. Rooms have great views of the strip or the mountains.

Getting around

If you are happy with walking, for a US city, Vegas is surprising easy to get around on foot. There are many pedestrian crossings get across the strip and the side streets. These are either ground level road crossings or pedestrian bridges accessed via outdoor escalators or lifts. Many of the bridges have easy access to the hotels too. It makes it very easy to move from one hotel to another.

Taxi’s and buses are plentiful and easy to use to get around and you can also use Uber and Lyft. When using taxis you always need to pick up at a taxi rank at a hotel or other public place, it’s illegal to hail taxi’s on the street.

Another option, especially if you book a package deal, is to include a hire car. This is useful if you plan to do some trips out in addition to visiting the casinos in Vegas. But if you mainly plan to stay around the strip, you really don’t need a car. A lot of hotels now charge for parking, so that’s another expense to add on to your trip costs.

Some of the hotels have short connecting monorail systems (referred to as Trams). For example there is a tram between Mandalay Bay and Excalibur (via Luxor) and also between the Bellagio and Park MGM (via the ARIA).

There is also a monorail system (website) which runs behind the hotels on the east side of the southern strip, from the MGM Grand in the south to the Sahara in the north. Although this sounds convenient, it’s usually a very long walk to get to the stations at the back of the hotels and it’s also quite expensive. You’ll nearly always find it more convenient to walk or get a bus instead.

Areas to visit

Vegas splits into two main areas, the strip and downtown. Downtown is where a lot of the older hotels are located and is worth visiting, if you get time, especially for the Fremont Street Experience.

Las Vegas Boulevard, otherwise know as “the Strip”, is the main road through the city. Most of the newer hotels are located alongside the strip.

Vegas is home to some of the biggest hotels in the world and visitors spend most of their time visiting the casinos, attractions, shows, restaurants and bars in these hotels. It doesn’t matter which hotel you are staying in, you are always welcome to use most of the facilities of any of them.

Weather

The weather in Vegas is seasonal, despite it being in the middle of a desert. I’ve visited at many different times of the year and experienced everything from 40°C heat in the summer and freezing cold nights in the winter.

In the summer (April-October) expect temperatures between 30-40°C during the day, down to around 20°C at night. In the winter (November-March) between 15-20°C during the day and down to 0-10°C at night.

In the summer you’ll find the everywhere indoor overly air-conditioned and over-heated in the winter! So you’ll need to be prepared for big changes in temperature when going from inside to outside at any time of the year.

Gambling

Gambling is not the only thing you can do in Vegas, but you are going to find it everywhere. Even if it’s just a few dollars everyone should give it a go while they are there.

Casino games mainly consist of table games (roulette, blackjack, craps etc), poker and slot machines. You’ll also find automated versions of popular table games such as roulette and blackjack.

For first timers I suggest having a go at the slots and unless you’ve got money to burn, head for the 1¢ machines, of which there are plenty in most casinos.

Whilst gambling you will find that nearly all hotels provide free drinks. However you will be expected to tip the waitress that serves you.

See Gambling for more about gambling in Vegas.

Shows

Vegas is famous for the shows available at many of the casino hotels. These vary from world famous headliners, major US acts, magicians, impersonators and several Cirque du Soleil shows.

You’ll also find shows featuring the winners of America’s Got Talent, as a headlining show in Vegas has been the show’s prize since season 3.

I’ve seen a lot of shows in Vegas, from headliners Cher, Elton John and Lionel Richie, to Vegas variety shows, impersonators and just about every Cirque du Soleil shows available (seven at last count!)

Most shows you can book when you are there but it’s worth checking before you go who is on while you are there. If you want to see a major headliner or a Cirque du Soleil show I would recommend booking before you go. Many shows are only on certain nights of the week but they often have two shows per night.

Eating

There is a very wide choice of restaurants wherever you are in Vegas. Each casino hotel has a choice of restaurants open to anyone. There are any other restaurants and more casual places to eat all along the strip and in the shopping malls. You can get just about anything you fancy at any time!

Vegas hotels are also famous for their buffets. Most big hotels have a buffet which serves food throughout the day. These are really good value and you pay a fixed price for eat as much as you like. It’s all self service and food is cooked throughout the day and changes depending on the time of day. They vary from cheap and cheerful to quite high-end cuisine.

Shopping

All the hotels have some basic shops, but some have whole shopping malls attached. The most notable are The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, The Grand Canal Shoppes (website) at The Venetian and the Miracle Mile (website) at Planet Hollywood.

There is also Fashion Show mall (website), which is an enormous, self-contained, shopping mall on the strip with all the major US chain stores.

Off of the strip there are two outlet malls also worth a visit, Las Vegas North Premium Outlets (website) and Las Vegas South Premium Outlets (website).

Thrill seeking

There are several roller coasters and rides to try while you are there. The Roller Coaster (website) at New York – New York is the biggest and runs on top of the hotel building itself and Circus Circus has a full indoor theme park, The Adventuredome (website).

The ultimate thrills can be found at the top of the Stratosphere tower (website), check out Insanity – The Ride (website), X-Scream (website) and Big Shot (website).

Day trips

Outside of the city there are several places worth a day trip:

Useful links