THORPEM

My sister has been traveling around Canada and the USA for a while and shes flying back from LA on the 10th June.
Shes in Vegas from the 29th May for 5 days and has asked me to go across, meet her in vegas and then fly back
Anyone been ? is it worth while ?
Where the best cheap place to organise flights, and would it be reasonable to fly into Vegas and out of LA, or would it be more reasonable to get a return from LA and organise getting to vegas when I get there ?
After 5 days in Vegas, then what? where's good to go bearing in mind we/she needs to be back in LA for the 10th.

Loads of questions I know, but I guessed someone on here would have some good knowledge they could share

merkin

You could do a lot worse than spending a week driving down the californian coast - most scenic highway in the world, truly beautiful. From Vegas drive to San Fran, then take 3/4 days to drive down to LA. Bit of a long way round, but worth it IMO

eddie h

Had the honeymoon in san fran/las vegas 3 years ago.

We stopped at the luxor, very nice. try to pick an hotel in the middle of the strip it will save alot of walking.

had evening meals next door at the excalibur, nice italian in there with reasonable prices.

Shows outside the casinos at night every 30mins to 1 hour these can get very busy.

Very hot during the day, hot at night.

Freemont street experience was a waste of time imho.

helicopter ride into and landing at the bottom of grand canyon expensive but worth it. My first dollar in the slot machine nearly paid for that little jaunt.try to get a late afternoon trip, excellent flight down strip just as its turning dark.

Hoover dam tour worth it.very very very fecking hot.

But in the style of vegas its probably all been knocked down and rebuilt since then.



onto san fran.

weather supposed to be cool there, we arrived during a record heat wave that was killing pensioners.

alcatraz worth it get your tickets as soon as you get there, they sell out during busy periods.

chinatown tour interesting.

city by night tour quite good, go for this on the 1st night it will give you a rough idea where everything is.

shopping can be expensive, macy's especially.

forget about having a car here there's nowhere at all to park, use tram and taxi's.

well worth the visit.

THORPEM

Cheers Guys. Think I'll definitely be taking a look !

Anyone else ?

ScoobySu

go go go !!!

We went in 2000 - had an excellent time staying at Excaliber. When we go back I want to stay at New York New York, Venetian or Paris. The other half wants to stay in Paris or Mandalay Bay - something about the waitresses' costumes!

I would agree with Eddie H though that if you can find a hotel nearer to the centre of the strip it will save you a lot of walking!

I had heard that Virgin do direct flights now from Gatwick, but I'm not sure if they're still running. If not you can get connecting flights - we flew BHX to Newark then onto Vegas with Continental.

Let us know how you get on!

workshy_fopp

Agree with all the above. Did San fran to Vegas via pacific coast last year. Vegas tip, drinks are expensive i.e. $7 for a Jack n coke, but free at the tables, so if you drink like a brit, its cheaper to gamble $100 an evening and have some fun.
Red Rock Canyon (20 miles from Vegas) is well worth a look, Death Valley is superb. Hearst Castle on the coast is amazing.
No point getting a convertible, you just want the roof up and the A/C on full.

JoeyDeacon

Try and get a direct flight if you can (Virgin definitely do them) and I totally agree that going to freemont street (downtown) is a complete waste of time and feels VERY p!key compared to the strip. We went downtown, paid a $20 dollar taxi fare each way and only stayed for an hour before leaving.

We stayed in the Luxor and it is very nice but the hotel is right at the end of the strip so expect to do some walking. If I had my choice of hotel to stay in it would have to be the Belagio but the MGM grand is also very nice. I think as long as you pick one of the big hotels along the strip you can't really go wrong. Don't stay at the Stratosphere or the Las Vegas Hilton as you will be miles away from anything.

Oh and they have a much more liberal approach to prostitution so you will rapidly get annoyed with the gangs of people handing out brochures of prostitutes everytime you go past.

I also found it to be surprisingly expensive

stuckhere

Fly to L.A. if you want the drive to Vegas stop off at Calico a little ghost town on the way.
Or fly direct to Vegas if you want to spend more time in and around Vegas.
Accomodation in Vegas the cheap way is Circus Circus or the other end of the scale is the Bellagio - mega bucks!
Hoover dam is a must totally breath taking piece of engineering, take the longest tour available you get to walk inside the dam and peer out of a grill half way down the front elevation of the dam and you get a hard hat as a souvenir!
If you can stretch to the cost get a plane or helicopter to the Grand Canyon (driving is 3-4hrs) again awesome site spend a night in a log cabin at Bright Angel Lodge on the south rim and watch the sun set and rise.
Back in Vegas you can have a meal atop the Stratosphere a revolving restaurant and then ride a vertical bungee uhh maybe not on a full stomach!Plenty of watering holes, clubs etc some good rollercoasters oh and don't forget to gamble theres a couple of places to place bets lol funny nobody has mentioned that!!
I've done this trip twice now but went from L.A. -> Vegas -> Lake Tahoe -> San Fran -> Big Sur -> Santa Barbara -> L.A.
Alot of driving but worth it San Fran is beautiful so much to offer but its a drive and a half from Vegas but you get to go through Area 51 or close by anyway!
San Diegos nice to abit to far south probably, its a nicer version of L.A. in my opinion.
Anyway enough of my rambling hope thats of some help.

[Edited by stuckhere - 5/14/2003 2:10:14 AM]

Makalu

You gotta go - so worth it.

Flight is a long haul but heck! This is Vegas! The coast road down from San Fran to LA is possibly the coolest road in the world to 'cruise' - awesome. Vegas is adult DisneyLand - take plenty of cash and enjoy. (I recommend the Deja Vu Club (wink wink))

I have stayed at several Vegas hotels - last one was the Mandalay Bay which I highly recommend - you must try the bar on the 33rd floor - thats where all the strippers go for a drink after work!!!

The rides at the top of the Stratosphere are incredible. Helicopters over the Grand Canyon.... Hoover Dam (Dam Hot), Death Valley, you gotta try them all!

Enjoy!

(PS. if you are stuck for something to do for an afternoon I recommend going to a shooting club and trying your hand with 'Dirty Harry' Magnums, Uzi's, AK47's, WWII Thompsons, MP40's etc etc - they are gun crazy over there and they are seriously good fun!)

Mak.

Alexi

Hi

I was there a couple of years ago, stayed at the Paris, got a great deal on the internet, return flight from LA + accom in the Paris, well worth checking out.

The Paris is very central on the strip, and the rooms were fab. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Hope that helps, sorry I can't be of more help, but do go, bring loads of money too

PS, dont go out without your passport, they wouldn't let us into a nightclub without it, and we were all nearly 30 lol,

Daryl

Just come back from San Francisco and it was great, Alcatraz is a must visit, take a ride on the trams, drive over the Golden Gate Bridge etc. As already mentioned, the drive south on Highway 1 is awesome, we went down to Monterey /Carmel/ Big Sur - I would recommend the 17 Mile Drive around Pebble Beach, loads of wildlife (sealions/sea otters/whales etc.)

As for Vegas, we stayed at the Belagio and to be honest it's a bit too posh! When in Vegas, you want a bit of tackiness , so I would recommend the Venetian or Caesar's Palace, which are next door to the Belagio in the middle of the strip and are cheaper.

The drive from Vegas to LA took about 4-5 hours, quite interesting through the desert, however you can get a cheap internal flight and it only takes an hour. In LA we stayed in Santa Monica, which is very nice, but not as good as SF IMO.