5 Days in Vegas - what to do?

blue-army

Booked a trip of 5 days in Vegas for the start of August. (It's a group of 7 J1 students.)

We're staying at the MGM Grand for the first 3 nights - have yet to decide a plan for the other 2 days.

At the moment we're considering renting a car, but other than the obvious, what would people recommend doing?

Is LA or the Grand Canyon worth the drive?

rossie1977

la is not worth the drive for a day no. grand canyon is most certainly worth the trip but i would find other ways there instead of driving...its 5-6 hours one way from vegas to the southrim visitor center.

if it was me i would just relax and explore the mgm grand the first day. its a huge complex sitting on 124 acres with the pool area alone taking up 7 acres.

spend a day touring the strip (on foot) with downtown ie Fremont Street Experience worth a few hours at night. if you are going to rent a car mount charleston, red rock canyon, valley of fire and lake mead/hoover dam are all easy day trips.

InTheTrees

We're going to be there next weekend for a family do with my GF.

Five days is a Looong time in vegas. Is that actually five nights? Meaning six days? I can last three or four max.

Personally I'd rent a car, drive to LA, then up the coast to SF then back down to LA on the freeway and back to vegas. You could do it in three days.

You'd get to see the pacific, and LA and SF, plus the Big Sur coastline and still have two night/ 3 days in vegas.

Just a thought. On the other hand you may find you love vegas!

CaliforniaDream

It's a 4hr drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon from Vegas. You can go to the west rim in about 2-2 1/2hrs.
I've done the drive there and back in one day so many times that I don't think anything of it. If you don't plan on coming back to Vegas then I say go for it.

There's endless things you can do in Vegas. Let me know budget, expectations and personal tastes and I can suggest somethings.

Witchie

Go to the Grand Canyon - by helicopter
Go to a shooting range and have a wicked time with some big ass guns.
Go to Fremont Street.
Go to the top of the Stratosphere and if you are brave do one or all of the rides up there.
Go to the Mob Experience in the Tropicana
Go enjoy. Vegas is great fun but you need to explore. Those are a few of the things I enjoyed most on my last trip.

Stone Deaf 4evr

Go see the cirque du soliel show in the mgm, it's class.

Firewalkwithme

Buy the 99 cent foot long hot dog in Slot's O' Fun and try eat it all without throwing up.

InTheTrees

Cartoon_Head wrote: »

Buy the 99 cent foot long hot dog in Slot's O' Fun and try eat it all without throwing up.

You mean try looking at it without throwing up?

:eek:

InTheTrees

Witchie wrote: »

Go to the Grand Canyon - by helicopter
Go to a shooting range and have a wicked time with some big ass guns.
Go to Fremont Street.
Go to the top of the Stratosphere and if you are brave do one or all of the rides up there.
Go to the Mob Experience in the Tropicana
Go enjoy. Vegas is great fun but you need to explore. Those are a few of the things I enjoyed most on my last trip.

I went on the roller coaster on top of the stratosphere, before they closed it. Pure terror. Imagine hurtling around the outside of the top of the stratosphere with only a leather strap holding you in place. A thousand foot drop. My palms sweat just thinking about it now...

Shooting machine guns is really fun. You can go shooting all over the US, but the public arent allowed full auto, but in Vegas you can shoot real fully automatic machine guns. It can cost as much as $20/sec though...

The light show on Fremont Street (the old downtown area) is/was pretty cool. You have to get downtown though and its not as popular there now that the Strip has stolen the limelight.

You have to go to the Grand Canyon one way or another.

ceadaoin.

Stone Deaf 4evr wrote: »

Go see the cirque du soliel show in the mgm, it's class.

I haven't been to that but The Beatles cirque du soleil at The Mirage is amazing. So see that one too!

fermanagh_man

Visit old Vegas , it's a 15min bus journey from main strip

Firewalkwithme

InTheTrees wrote: »

You mean try looking at it without throwing up?

:eek:

Yes, it really is that bad.

They let the homeless guys come in off the street one or two at a time to buy them....

For those of you who may think this is not real, google it and read some of the reviews...

Witchie

InTheTrees wrote: »

I went on the roller coaster on top of the stratosphere, before they closed it. Pure terror. Imagine hurtling around the outside of the top of the stratosphere with only a leather strap holding you in place. A thousand foot drop. My palms sweat just thinking about it now...

Shooting machine guns is really fun. You can go shooting all over the US, but the public arent allowed full auto, but in Vegas you can shoot real fully automatic machine guns. It can cost as much as $20/sec though...

The light show on Fremont Street (the old downtown area) is/was pretty cool. You have to get downtown though and its not as popular there now that the Strip has stolen the limelight.

You have to go to the Grand Canyon one way or another.

I did the big shot, the one that throws you up in the air. Terrifyingly brilliant. Plan to do the claw one and possibly the dip you over the edge one when go back in September.

I am a total pacifist who has a mortal fear of guns. My then boyfriend wanted to go shooting so I was going to watch. I read the "menu" in the car on the way over and saw they had a pink breast cancer research package and decided to give it a go. Wow. You should have seen me with yon pink colt handgun and a big feck off semi automatic. I loved it. Can't wait to do it again.

We flew into canyon on the last day flight so meant we left as sun set. Spectacular. So romantic. Pity my ex wasn't the romantic kind so that is partly why he is now my ex!

For your last 2 nights OP why not stay in Boyds Fremont Hotel. We stayed one night there and it was lovely. Really cheap (think our room was $26 for the night) and we got a free upgrade to a gorgeous suite. I love the atmosphere in the Fremont street area.

Enjoy and wws gonna say am jealous but since only have 7 weeks to wait til im there again im not really!

Stone Deaf 4evr

Dont bother doing a skydive, fair enough the jump itself is thrilling, but theres nothing but desert to look at once the chutes been pulled.

Paul_Hacket

One question - do you gamble? If not 5 days in Vegas is going to feel like a loooong time. I play poker and love going to Vegas however even I start to get the heebie jeebies after about 3 days or so. I'd strongly recommend practising blackjack and craps online before you go, you can have a lot of fun at the table games, especially at the craps table where there is usually a lot of shouting and hoolering. If you learn basic strategy you can generally play a fair amount of craps for very little money. The house percentage is much lower for craps and blackjack than it is for slot machines - which is what most tourists play.

Without gambling you can have a fair amount of fun in Vegas however most people find that the relentless fakeness of everything gets to them after a certain amount of time. Also, nothing can prepare you for the heat of Las Vegas in August so bear that in mind. The Mirage has a great pool, try to get up early to enjoy it, it will be unbearable by noon in August. I'd strongly recommend renting a car as they are dirty cheap and allow you to zip from the strip to downtown and other neighborhoods when you feel like it.

I personally don't recommend the Grand Canyon as a Vegas side trip as it takes too long to get there unless you go by helicopter. I've written on these forums several times about how amazing Zion National Park is. It's 2.5 hours from Vegas, an easy drive and there are some great motels in Springdale, the town near the entrance. If it was me I'd drive to Zion from Vegas, stay in Springdale and do an early morning hike when the temperature is relatively cool. If you have more time you can drive an hour and a half further to Bryce Canyon which is simply spectacular and very easy to hike into. It's also at a high elevation so will be a lot cooler weather wise than other parts of Nevada/Utah. Google it and you'll see what i'm talking about.

Wompa1

I don't gamble and I once spent 10 days in Vegas and loved every minute of it. The only down side of the experience was the smoking in the hotels, bars and casinos. I've been there 3 times now. Here's what I'd suggest:

-Do visit the Grand Canyon and on your way, stop at the Hoover Dam. If you're worried about time, go by helicopter. I went to the Great Barrier Reef and felt let down. I was blown away by the Grand Canyon. I've since gone back to see the other 'rim'
-Visit the Titanic and Bodies exhibitions in the Luxor
-Check out the Mirage and Bellagio attractions. (Volcano and Fountains)
-Once and once only, go to a buffet...it's so damn unhealthy, I'd only do it once
-If you want something so over the top and American, check out the Heart Attack Grill...it's so f'kin absurd!
-You could check out a show, Blue Man Group, Cirque De Soleil...or whatever
-Walk the strip, top to bottom. Luxor to Circus Circus
-Something I wanted to do was rent a Ferrari or go to the race track and drive one..still haven't. Maybe next time.
-Visit Freemont Street...honestly, I'm not huge on it but then every time I've gone there, there's been some huge event on.
-Gamble at least once, Throw 40 on black at the Cosmopolitan
-Eat at some great restaurants around the strip
-You could go to one of the many Spa's like at the Aria
-If you like Golf, there's a renowned Golf Course just off the strip
-Walk down to get your picture with the Welcome to Las Vegas sign (You don't need to have someone take your picture but they will offer for 5 dollars or so)

Atomiccow

Go to the strip gun club
The Hoover dam is a 40min drive which I'd definitely recommend as it's another new state (Arizona)
Don't drive to the Grand Canyon unless your willing to spend the night down there, get a helicopter instead
Other than that you'd easily spend 2 days just touring the hotels in Vegas alone

junospider

Freemont street is a must.unbelievable.you have to see the grand canyon when youre there.enjoy it ,its unique.

InTheTrees

We just got home to Seattle from Las Vegas yesterday. My wife has cousins there.

Here's Fremont Street last Sunday. It was about 36degs. We didnt stay for the light show though.

InTheTrees

We stayed at Bally's. It was good. Not expensive because its one of the older ones and connected to Paris and right on the strip. We (well my wife did, I didnt have the nerve) used the $20 trick at check in and got a room on the side facing the strip and I think because of the angle of the building it has some of the best views. Better than bellagio or luxor where we've stayed in the past.

fernandohierro

Hi everyone,

Gonna do the helicopter tour to grand canyon. Cause its gonna be the only time I'll be there I want to land in the canyon too.

Prices I'm seeing on line for this kind of tour seems to start at 329 dollars. This sound about right?

Any recommendations for a show to catch while there?

Thanks

Wompa1

fernandohierro wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Gonna do the helicopter tour to grand canyon. Cause its gonna be the only time I'll be there I want to land in the canyon too.

Prices I'm seeing on line for this kind of tour seems to start at 329 dollars. This sound about right?

Any recommendations for a show to catch while there?

Thanks

Penn and Teller are pretty iconic. I read that Piff the Magic Dragon from that English tv show is playing in The Cosmopolitan, he seemed pretty funny. Cirque De Soleil is pretty unique...or you could just take a look for comedians who are rolling into town for the week. Or possibly boxing or UFC. I went to a boxing match in the MGM Grand..that was interesting!

The Titanic and Bodies exhibitions in the Luxor are cool. There's an Ice Bar in Mandalay Bay if that interests you.

fernandohierro

Wompa1 wrote: »

Penn and Teller are pretty iconic. I read that Piff the Magic Dragon from that English tv show is playing in The Cosmopolitan, he seemed pretty funny. Cirque De Soleil is pretty unique...or you could just take a look for comedians who are rolling into town for the week. Or possibly boxing or UFC. I went to a boxing match in the MGM Grand..that was interesting!

The Titanic and Bodies exhibitions in the Luxor are cool. There's an Ice Bar in Mandalay Bay if that interests you.

Thanks for the tips. I've been before n seen the titanic and bodies exhibition. Titanic is brilliant, i wasn't really into the bodies exhibition though.

Going with the girlfriend this time so I don't think she would be up for a boxing/ufc event!

I think I might check out the ice bar though!