Our trip to Las Vegas was a total of 5 days and 4 nights, arriving on a Tuesday and leaving on a Saturday. We decided to go to Vegas for Halloween which fell on a Thursday. This was our first trip to Las Vegas & my favourite thing to do when I travel anywhere is sight seeing so that was how I planned most our trip. I also planned this trip more on a “budget.” A LOT of people say that you need to bring $2K-$3K when you go to Vegas & I kept our trip under $1k/each! We mainly went to go sight seeing and pretty much ate our way through Vegas. The food was incredible and we didn’t even go to any Michelin star restaurants!
Because we went in October, things went a lot smoother for us throughout our trip because it’s considered “off season.” It was still busy, especially at night & more towards the weekend (for the obvious reasons), but overall the temperature was in the 60’s for all of our trip and the streets weren’t over crowded.
Vegas wasn’t what I expected in so many ways. I expected a LOT more people than we saw (even for off-season). Everything was also a lot closer together than I anticipated because everyone made everything seem so distant. Don’t get me wrong: it’s still a lot to walk but it just wasn’t as intense as I thought it was going to be. Vegas is also REALLY clean, which I did NOT expect. I kind of expected it to be a lot like NYC where there are crowds of people (just more drunk) and trash everywhere, but it was definitely the opposite of that! We absolutely loved our trip and had the best experience!
This post is NOT sponsored in anyway. Everything we did and went to was paid for by us. All opinions are always my own.
TIPS
- Personally, I like to have a tentative plan for every trip & I think for places like Vegas, it’s important to have an idea of where you are going & don’t plan too much in one day. For this trip, we did 2-4/day so it gave us enough time to actually enjoy what we are doing and it also gave us enough time to get around while enjoying sights on the way. So I would recommend writing down or making a list of every where you want to go and then break that down by day by what’s closest to each other.
- My opnion/first impression: I was under the impression that everything was really far away from each other in Vegas although everything is next to each other. When we got here, everything looked a lot closer together to me. It’s still a lot of walking, but I think the strip is smaller than what I expected, which is actually a good thing walking and sightseeing-wise.
- LOOK OUT FOR RESORT FEE’S. When booking and doing anything at a hotel. Las Vegas hotels have a LOT of Resort fees. Mainly keep that in mind when you are looking for a room. The nightly rate you are given is just part of the price.
- Bring comfortable shoes. Don’t be a hero. I ALWAYS wear heels so TRUST ME when I say bring at least one pair of sandals, boots, or sneakers to walk in. Especially if you plan on doing a lot. I saved my heels for night.
- EVERYTHING is better at night. Las Vegas is called the City of Lights for a reason.
- Stick to one buffet a day. Buffets are designed to make you feel more full so you eat less. When we had brunch at all 3 buffets, we were full all day. If you want to go buffet hopping then I recommend doing it in the day and then go to the restaurants at night.
- Don’t forget gratuity. 15-25% on all of your meals really adds up!
- If possible, have a day where you don’t plan anything. Write places that you’d like to go see or eat just in case. We really felt like we could enjoy our time at places and take our time with everything we did because if we didn’t make it to everything that was planned for the day we could just do it on that “spare” day. Also, if the weather is bad or if you find something else to do while you’re there then its nice to have that “spare time.” & if things do go according to plan then you have a list of other things you can do.
- The later you do things, the more people are out. It is Vegas after all.
- Everything is better at night. All of the lights & signs are absolutely breath taking.
- Don’t be afraid to be a tourist. It is a tourist town & locals can go and see everything all the time, you can’t. Take your photos and go to the tourist spots if that’s what you want to do.
TICKETS
We bought our tickets around 6 months before the trip with the Southwest Take Me Away option/pricing. They are EXTREMELY cheap tickets but they are non-refundable tickets. You can still bring your carry on and personal item, you can still check in on the mobile app, the only difference I saw between these tickets and regular tickets is the price. But if you are looking at going to Vegas on a budget then I do recommend checking out the Southwest Take Me Away prices. My favourite airline is JetBlue but Southwest is a very close second! There are airlines like Spirit and Frontier that have really cheap tickets, but they add on costs for your carry on and for your seat. My tickets to VEGAS with Southwest were cheaper than my tickets to Portland through Spirit. YUP. No exaggeration. & the trip to Vegas was longer. But anyways, our tickets were non-stop from Austin (AUS) to Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS) departing on a Tuesday and arriving back home on a Saturday for $254/each.
HOTEL
We stayed at the Excalibur Hotel & Casino, I heard and read a LOT of mixed reviews on this hotel. The Excalibur is one of the cheapest hotels on the strip & is a MGM hotel. It’s also a CASTLE. Everything inside is castle themed, everyone was extremely friendly and helpful, and we really liked staying here. It’s more toward the end of the strip but everything was still easy to get to. There’s also two Starbucks at this hotel. Which I was really happy about in the mornings. My brother recommended this hotel & when we come back to Vegas, we will probably stay here again. Compared to all of the other Las Vegas hotels, no it’s not AS nice, BUT it’s still a nice hotel especially for the price. We booked a Royal Tower King for 4 nights and paid $397.58 INCLUDING RESORT FEE’S. If you’re trying to do Vegas on a budget, I recommend the Excalibur.
Side note: most of the hotels in Vegas have a luggage service where you can drop off your luggage before you check in AND after you check out. So, you dont have to worry about taking your luggage with you if you fly in/out at a different time then your check in/out time. One thing we really liked about the Excalibur, is that we came in at 9:00 AM and check in isn’t until 3:00 PM, but they have a check in early option for $20. Which we opted in to shower and rest for a little bit!
TRANSPORATION
Walk & Lyft. Everything we we’re doing is on the strip. All of our Lyft’s were under $10. Most of them were $5-$7 depending on where we were going and if we wanted to walk. One of the things I really liked in Vegas was that the hotels have a Rideshare area to be picked up and dropped off at which makes finding your driver SO MUCH easier.
We used the ride share option for the first couple of the days but towards the weekend we just paid extra to have our own Lyft because they added a lot of extra time. If you’re going to do the ride share option, I recommend leaving early to give yourself additional time. For one of our rides, we were in the Lyft for at least 30 minutes for a 8 minute ride.
Travel Journal & Planning
I planned our entire trip in my Erin Condren PeitiePlanner Travel Journal & took it with me so I had everything with me for the trip. The video below (now a public video, was unlisted) shows how I planned our trip to Vegas in my Travel Journal (which is also the same way I plan for every trip).
Halloween in Vegas
There is a lot of concerts and events going on in Vegas for Halloween. We went to Freemont Street for Rock of Horror. It’s free, a lot of people dress up & there’s a lot of entertainment! In general, less people dress up than you think especially in the day. We didn’t see a lot of costumes during the day & no one really dressed up on The Strip. So I would recommend saving your costumes for your events.
Travel Vlog
ITINERARY
Day One
After we got off the plane we checked in early to our hotel. We rested for a little bit before going out for the day.
The Bellagio
Before lunch we walked around the Bellagio to see all of the stores and went through the Botanical Garden.
Lunch: Lago at the Bellagio
Our lunch was INCREDIBLE & the view is amazing even though there wasn’t a Bellagio Fountain Show. We didn’t know that the shows started at 3 PM and our reservation was at 1:00 PM. (In all honesty, I thought the fountain didn’t stop running.) I highly recommend eating here, just make sure to check the Fountain Show times if you want an unclose view during your meal. We ordered Calamari for an appetizer then I had the Lasagna Verde and my boyfriend had the Fusillioro.
We took a Lyft to lunch because we had a reservation, but we decided to walk back to our hotel to look around.
Tipsy Robot at Planet Hollywood
THE COOLEST BAR EVER. You order your drink on a tablet and a robot makes it for you! I ordered the Darth Vader and my boy friend ordered the Pineapple Planet. Yes, you read that right. The drinks are a little pricey – I think $17 or $19 each but that’s also how much most of the drinks are at other bars/restaurants AND these were actually strong (and really GOOD). It’s definitely more of a fun experience.
The Strip
City Lights Helicopter Tour
My favourite part of the trip & what I was most excited for. I have never been in a helicopter before and this tour was AMAZING! Ours was through Sundance Helicopter. It was about a 15 minute tour and the view was breathtaking.
Dinner: Mon Ami Gabi at the Paris Hotel
One of the best places we ate at! We both ordered the Filet Mignon with Pommes Puree and it was DELICIOUS. We both ranked it in our Top 3 steaks. The view is also incredible. We sat outside and we had the best seat to see the Bellagio Fountain!
The Chandelier Bar: Inside The Chandelier (Level 1.5)
After dinner we got drinks at the Instagram famous, Chandelier Bar. This bar has 3 levels: bottom, inside, and top of the chandelier (also known as level 1, 1.5, & 2). Every level has a different menu and various specialty drinks. There is an off menu secret drink called the “Verbena” that actually alters your taste buds (I ordered it on out last day when we went back to wait for out plane, more on that on the last day section). We went to Level 1.5 on our first night and I ordered the “Kiss & Tell” and my boyfriend ordered the “Glitch In The Matrix.” Both of which we’re REALLY good!
Day Two
Lunch: Eiffel Tower Restaurant
I absolutely loved and recommend this restaurant! This is definitely a must do. The service, view, and food is amazing. Our lunch was a little later today so we were able to see the Bellagio Fountain show. We ordered the Chef’s Selection Of Cheeses and ordered: Blue D’Auvergne, Nancy’s Camembert, and the Midnight Moon. For our main entree we both had the Eiffel Tower Classic ‘M’ Burger with a Painkiller. For desert, we ordered the Creme Brûlée & that’s a must because it was the BEST Creme Brûlée that I have ever had. They also brought us a Chocolate Mousse (also delicious) because we told them we we’re celebrating my birthday!
The Flamingo Hotel
After lunch, we were headed to The Linq for ziplining and the High Roller and we walked through the Flamingo Hotel to cut through. We saw the Flamingo’s and picked up a stuffed Flamingo for our dog, Mera (I always bring her something after we abandon her to travel).
The Linq
So I debated on ziplining at Fremont Street or The LINQ. One of the top things I wanted to do was go on the High Roller because it’s the largest Observation Wheel in the world. So when I bought our tickets for the High Roller, I saw that they had a Happy Half Hour AND they had a combo deal where you could zip line at the LINQ as well. So did that combo. Tickets for the High Roller are generally $25, the Happy Half Hour tickets are $40, and the FLY LINQ tickets are generally $25. When I went to purchase the tickets they had an offer to also add FLY LINQ ZIPLINE for $12. So our tickets were called the “Happy Half Hour Day & FLY LINQ Seated” & we’re only $44/each. One of the best parts of that deal was that the Happy Half Hour INCLUDES an open bar that’s in your cabin & you can order as many drinks as you want and even take one to go because you can walk around Vegas with your drinks! My boyfriend and I both had about 5 drinks/each and took our last one to go so we REALLY got our money’s worth.
Our experience was REALLY great. If you are going to do FLY LINQ and the High Roller then I recommend do the zip line first because FLY LINQ is at the start of the LINQ Promenade and then you zip line to the end of the High Roller, essentially. Once you zip lined to the end then you can just walk straight through to go to High Roller! You’re immediately in the lobby. We we’re REALLY lucky because we didn’t have to wait and because we purchased our tickets online we just walked through both. The best part is that because we went at a not-so-busy time (around 3/4PM on Wednesday), we had the entire cabin and bar to ourself! When we got off, there was a line of 15 people who we’re going to do the same thing and the bartender told us that the max is 25 people in the cabin. So I would definitely recommend going in the day! But both experiences we’re a lot of fun.
After that we walked back to our hotel to change for dinner and rest for a little bit.
The Volcano at The Mirage
We took a Lyft to The Venetian to look around. The Venetian is also across the street from the Mirage where we watched the Volcano Erupt. The Volcano area is REALLY hot and was REALLY crowded so we preferred to watch it from across the street. We we’re also eating dinner at The Wynn which was on the same side as The Venetian so it made it easier on us walking-wise.
The Volcano Time’s: The volcano erupts at 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. & at 10:00 PM on Friday and Saturday.
The Wynn
The Wynn is absolutely stunning. All of their clubs, restaurants, waterfalls and luxury shopping are incredible. We walked through the Wynn Esplanade to dinner and went through the The Wedding Salon garden displays by the casino.
Dinner: Mizumi
Mizumi was phenomenal. They have a robatayaki bar, teppanyaki room, 90 foot waterfall and THE best sushi. The King Crab Hand Roll is the best sushi I have ever had. Our waitress told us only regulars know to order the King Crab Hand Roll because it’s delicious & it absolutely was. If you go to Mizumi you HAVE TO ORDER IT. But anyways, we started with the Chilled Shigoku Oysters and Edamame with Black Truffle Salt. I had the King Crab Hand Roll & my boyfriend had the King Crab Hand Roll, Shrimp Tempura Cut Roll with a Peach Tea Moscow Mule. For desert we ordered the Lemon Yuzu. Everything was delicious. I HIHGLY recommend this place if you want sushi in Vegas!
Day Three
Halloween
The Buffett at Aria
The Buffet at Aria was recommended by Hannah from @hancanplan & it was definitely the best bang for our buck. They have an all day pass Monday through Friday for $64.99 which we did. We probably won’t do that again, but we we’re really tired &it just made things easier. Also, considering all of our other meals were $100+ this was definitely the best pricing option! The Aria has assorted Crab Legs from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. which is what we were most excited for. They also had Oysters Rockefeller that I LOVED!
Fremont Street Experience
For Halloween, we walked around Freemont Street. Freemont Street is Downtown Last Vegas, it’s also called Old Vegas. Our Lyft driver told us that this is where most of the locals go when they go out. There are a lot of casinos, bars, places to eat & there’s a shark tank at the Golden Nugget. (Note: If you go in the summer months, you actually slide through the shark tank!) On Halloween, they have live entertainment, people in costumes EVERY where, a costume contest, and you can also zip line at Slotzilla. I also definitely recommend coming here at night to see all of the neon signs!
Gambling
We went to the casino at our hotel and played a couple of slots just for fun (while in Vegas, right?). My favourite was the Flintstones Slot Machine!
The Las Vegas Sign
We FINALLY made it to the sign! Everybody takes pictures during the day and I LOVE neon signs so we went at night to see it and take a photo of the sign! There was also NO LINE. There were maybe 10 people there? If that. So I recommend going at night!
Day Four
Caesar’s Palace & The Forum Shops
We walked around Caesar’s Palace and The Forum Shops before brunch. Caesar’s is absolutely beautiful and they really stick to the Ancient Rome theme. This is one of the hotels that you absolutely have to look around at!
Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar’s Palace
THE BEST BUFFET. If you look up at the best buffet’s in Vegas on any travel blog or website they all rank the Bacchanal either first or it’s somewhere towards the top of the list. The Bacchanal was hands down our favourite buffet. EVERYTHING was delicious. It’s one of the pricier buffets but absolutely worth it.
The Venetian
We reserved our gondola ride time spot and then walked around the The Venetian and The Grand Canal Shoppes. The Venetian was definitely my favourite hotel. We went to The Venetian two nights before to see the Volcano arrive, but didn’t walk inside. The Venetian is one of the hotels that’s absolutely beautiful in the day and at night (a lot of the places on the strip don’t look too hot in the day LOL). But everything was absolutely breath taking & I highly recommend walking around The Venetian both day and night on your trip!
The Venetian Gondola Ride
This was one of the top things that I wanted to do on the trip & it definitely was one of my favourite parts of the trip! The Gondola Ride is $29/person if you share the Gondola (up to 4) or $120-ish for just a couple (not-shared). If you go when no one else is there then you can get the Gondola to your self for the $29/person price! Either way, it’s a great experience and one that we absolutely loved.
Bouchon Bakery
I wanted to grab a coffee after our gondola ride and the Bouchon Bakery is right in front of The Venetian. The best part of the Bouchon Bakery is that they have extra large Macaroons! The coffee and macaroons were both really good.
Holstein’s
Our last meal in Vegas was Holstein’s at The Cosmopolitan. Holstein’s is known for their burgers and extraordinary shakes! This is the Vegas version of NYC’s Black Tap although Black Tap is also in Vegas now at the Venetian! But while in Vegas, we wanted to go to places that are from or only in Vegas! So we went to Holstein’s.
Day Five
Wicked Spoon
One of the top rated buffet’s was the Wicked Spoon in the Cosmopolitan. I recommend making a reservation we waited around 45 minutes to pay and wait to be seated.
The Chandelier Bar: Top Floor/Level 2
After brunch, we were waiting to go to the airport. So we stopped by The Chandelier Bar for a couple of drinks. I tried the “secret” drink the Verbena app & it was really good! Our waitress told us that it used to have to be ordered on the 1.5 floor but they no longer have that rule so you can order it on any level. When you receive this drink there are actually instructions: you take a sip, then swish the flower on both sides of your mouth and swallow it. Then wait 5-10 minutes and finish your drink. This drink alters your taste buds so it turns into more of a margarita taste. The Chandelier Bar was definitely my favourite bar in Vegas because the drinks we’re GOOD and strong.
