Should I rent a car/jeep in vegas next month?

goz83

I can't decide. Please help. Travelling to vegas for 5 nights from Oct 7th and wondering if a car would be a good idea, or not. Far as I know, our hotel (TI) offer free parking and would be nice to cruise around the place, but something is telling me to leave it.

Only definite plans we (friend and I) have is chopper tour to canyon. The cirqu de soleil and some light gambling followed by some heavy drinking. A car should cost around €200-€300 all in for the 5 days for standard class. We're both 30 and never been to Vegas. Pros and Cons of having a car there? If you are for a car, would you recommend a car, or small(ish) jeep? If not, why not? Thanks

InTheTrees

You really wont need it for the full five days, its a small place, but definitely driving around for a day would be fun.

Why not just rent one for a day? There's some specialist car rental places, maybe use the $300 to get something interesting for one day?

Just a thought.

Rabbo

The vast vast majority of what you'll be doing will be on the Strip and it would be quite easy to walk it at this time of year. For anything else, cab rides should cover you.

Why not do something sensible with your €300 and put it all on red

drunkmonkey

Plenty of places right on the strip, no need to have it booked before you go, amazing selection of cars, mustangs and the likes are cheap enough to rent.
Wanted to drive the celestial highway at night but never got to, there's a few canyons you can drive out to and some ghost towns.
The bus service is fairly good in Vegas for getting around. Monorail is a bit of joke.

I'd spend the €300 on a meal in Vic & Anthony's best stakes in Vegas and the fish cake is out of this world http://www.goldennugget.com/dining/vics.asp

goz83

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Plenty of places right on the strip, no need to have it booked before you go, amazing selection of cars, mustangs and the likes are cheap enough to rent.
Wanted to drive the celestial highway at night but never got to, there's a few canyons you can drive out to and some ghost towns.
The bus service is fairly good in Vegas for getting around. Monorail is a bit of joke.

I'd spend the €300 on a meal in Vic & Anthony's best stakes in Vegas and the fish cake is out of this world http://www.goldennugget.com/dining/vics.asp

Ghost Towns eh?

Maybe I should wait til I get there so. I was thinking it would be handy coming from the airport and was balancing up potential cab fares too. Would be nice to rent a mustang though

InTheTrees

goz83 wrote: »

Ghost Towns eh?

Maybe I should wait til I get there so. I was thinking it would be handy coming from the airport and was balancing up potential cab fares too. Would be nice to rent a mustang though

The airport is so close to the strip that you could walk it. Except they put the entrance around the far side. But the cab fare to your hotel is not very much.

There's also numerous free and pay shuttles that are really easy and cheap.

InTheTrees

goz83 wrote: »

Ghost Towns eh?
Would be nice to rent a mustang though

The concierge at your hotel will be all over helping you out getting a car. They'd probably bring it to your hotel for you.

Cheaper to rent from an "off airport" location too.

(Remember to tip generously.)

InTheTrees

http://exoticcars.enterprise.com/collection/

The Backwards Man

Unless you are doing a lot of driving away from Vegas I wouldn't bother. Traffic on the Strip is woeful at the best of times, taxis, limos, shuttles and the hookermobiles all jockeying for position for the lanes they want, deafening harleys at every intersection, Texan rednecks boozing on the back of pick-ups and hollering at California cuties baring their breasts from Daddy's Mercedes.

It's no place to be driving man, there's so many distractions you'd be up someone's arse before you could say Car Hire Excess Insurance.

goz83

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Unless you are doing a lot of driving away from Vegas I wouldn't bother. Traffic on the Strip is woeful at the best of times, taxis, limos, shuttles and the hookermobiles all jockeying for position for the lanes they want, deafening harleys at every intersection, Texan rednecks boozing on the back of pick-ups and hollering at California cuties baring their breasts from Daddy's Mercedes.

It's no place to be driving man, there's so many distractions you'd be up someone's arse before you could say Car Hire Excess Insurance.

Maybe up one of those cali girls in the mercs

I will have to rent for a day or two though, just for the hell of it. Driving the dusty desert road in an American muscle car is what i'm thinking.

tricky D

If I was in your position, I'd consider renting for a day trip to Death Valley. A bit of a drive though at about 150 miles each way.

goz83

tricky D wrote: »

If I was in your position, I'd consider renting for a day trip to Death Valley. A bit of a drive though at about 150 miles each way.

That's only an hour each way in the right car

ProudDUB

Not if you don't want to run afoul of the nice chaps in Highway Patrol it isn't. :P Nothing can soften your cough quicker on holiday than seeing flashing blue lights in your rear view mirror. Tourists heading out into the desert, thinking that they can do whatever they want in their souped up rental cars, are a nice source of revenue for them, especially on the California side of the border.

Anyhoo, back to the OP's original question, there is no need at all to rent a car for the time that you will be Las Vegas. It is a very small & compact city. Everything that you want to see and do will be within walking distance or short cab ride away. Traffic on the Strip can be murder. You really don't want to be sitting in it just to go a few blocks, and then have to figure out where to stash the car when you get there.

A car would definitely be handy for a couple of road trips outside Vegas. The Hoover Dam is a good one to do, as is seeing the Grand Canyon close up. Don't get a jeep unless it has a proper roof and air conditioning. Even in October, Vegas will be very hot.

InTheTrees

Hoover Dam is a good choice. I think the OP said they were heli touring the GC though.

+1 on avoiding a jeep. Especially the under powered 4 cylinder ones they use for rentals.

CaliforniaDream

Where are you staying and what are your general plans?
I live in Vegas and public transport is a joke. I'd walk everywhere on the strip because it's quicker.

Traffic on the strip sucks though. If you do rent, then take Koval (East of the strip) or Frank Sinatra (West) to get from one place to the next. Easy roads that run parallel to the strip and will keep you away from tourists and major traffic.

Having a car can be handy for seeing off-strip and if you're going to the outlets it's nice to throw everything into the boot if you shop a lot.
Parking is free everywhere except Fremont St. If you go there you can get it validated at most casinos though so I wouldn't worry about that.

If you want to drive you can head to Red Rock Canyon, Mt. Charelston, Lake Mead, Lake Las Vegas, Death Valley, Primm, Laughlin, Hoover Dam, Pahrump - most under 45mins to get to.

If you don't like to walk anywhere taxis will add up. Average fare is about $10 plus tip. To/from the airport is $15-$20 depending where you are.

If you do get a car I can tell you some good restaurants to eat off the strip.

goz83

CaliforniaDream wrote: »

Where are you staying and what are your general plans?
I live in Vegas and public transport is a joke. I'd walk everywhere on the strip because it's quicker.

Traffic on the strip sucks though. If you do rent, then take Koval (East of the strip) or Frank Sinatra (West) to get from one place to the next. Easy roads that run parallel to the strip and will keep you away from tourists and major traffic.

Having a car can be handy for seeing off-strip and if you're going to the outlets it's nice to throw everything into the boot if you shop a lot.
Parking is free everywhere except Fremont St. If you go there you can get it validated at most casinos though so I wouldn't worry about that.

If you want to drive you can head to Red Rock Canyon, Mt. Charelston, Lake Mead, Lake Las Vegas, Death Valley, Primm, Laughlin, Hoover Dam, Pahrump - most under 45mins to get to.

If you don't like to walk anywhere taxis will add up. Average fare is about $10 plus tip. To/from the airport is $15-$20 depending where you are.

If you do get a car I can tell you some good restaurants to eat off the strip.

Staying at TI 2nd week of October. I reckon I will rent a car for 2 days maybe for a bit of shopping and leaving the strip for a few hours one of the days. Thanks for the advice on parallel roads, I was thinking that would be a good idea alright if traffic was bad. Also thanks for the possible visitor spots, they might come in handy. Any other advice is welcome......also if you have a recommendation for a decent gun range, which won't charge through the roof and expect me to shoot all my ammo in 10 seconds or less, that would be good.

CaliforniaDream

goz83 wrote: »

Staying at TI 2nd week of October. I reckon I will rent a car for 2 days maybe for a bit of shopping and leaving the strip for a few hours one of the days. Thanks for the advice on parallel roads, I was thinking that would be a good idea alright if traffic was bad. Also thanks for the possible visitor spots, they might come in handy. Any other advice is welcome......also if you have a recommendation for a decent gun range, which won't charge through the roof and expect me to shoot all my ammo in 10 seconds or less, that would be good.

TI is walking distance (imo) to most places. I'd recommend heading down to Fremont St when you have the car. It's a great place to have a night out. Check out Insert Coins or else grab some beer from the shops and sit outside watching the free bands and the street 'entertainment'. Great fun down there.

Tbh, the gun stores are all the same pricing. They all know you're a tourist and unless you have your own gun and bullets it'll cost you a couple of hundred.
When you have the car go to the Gun Store on Tropicana/McLeod.
They're decent enough in there and the amount of time depends on how many guns/rounds you choose. There's a long wait sometimes so be prepared.

Vegas is pretty small off the strip so I'd recommend driving to one of the places I mentioned.

InTheTrees

I burned through quite a few hundreds at the Gun Store a few years ago. Its alarming how fast your cash goes but also fun as hell.
We were there again a few months ago and I noticed quite a few competitors have opened up.

Hyzepher

get your bullets at walmart before you go in

goz83

Hyzepher wrote: »

get your bullets at walmart before you go in

I'd be shooting em out of my arse i'm afraid. I know they ae half the price at walmart, but I don't see any place letting me bring my own ammo to fire their guns.

MadsL

goz83 wrote: »

I'd be shooting em out of my arse i'm afraid. I know they ae half the price at walmart, but I don't see any place letting me bring my own ammo to fire their guns.

Even ,my local range out of Vegas won't let you use your own ammo. Safety reasons.

If you heading out of Vegas towards Hoover Dam...fantastic burgers and tempting machine guns and .50 cal.

http://bulletsandburgers.com

goz83

MadsL wrote: »

If you heading out of Vegas towards Hoover Dam

http://bulletsandburgers.com

That's the plan