Touring all the hotels is an activity in itself and can take a couple of days. Yes, you can visit them all and dine in their restaurants, but you can't use the pools if you're not staying there.

Visit http://www.vegas.com to get an idea of shows and prices, but don't book through that site as it is expensive. Shows can run from $30 - 300 with everything in between. Elton John starts at $100, Love starts at $75.

You can always visit the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire. You can go indoor skydiving and fire a machine gun, all at a price.

Use the Search facility to find the topic on buffets and restaurants rather than me repeat it here.

HTH

luci

John 4 Vegas has some awesome trip reports on his personal site at John's Las Vegas Trip Reports

He fits more into a single trip than most people do in a dozen trips.

I hope it's OK to post this link, if not I will PM it to you.

Regarding Buffets in the hotels, the prices range from $5 to $18 pp for breakfast, $6 to $22 pp for lunch and $8 to $35 for dinner. Generally, the posher the hotel/casino, the more expensive and fancy the buffet. There are lots of other really good dining options to choose from if you don't like buffets.

You can get an American Casino Guide book that has coupons in it for several shows and buffets among other things. Hereis a list of the coupons.

thanks for your advice. by buffet, is that like a - pay your money, take what you want kind of thing?

how much is that casino coupons book thingy?

cheers

Yes, buffets are pay once eat as much as you like. Soft drinks are included in the price, but you need to tip your server. $1 per person is the recommended minimum. Have a search for tipping threads on this forum for further information.

Depending on the buffet, there will most likely be several different cooking stations with different types of food. As an example, the Coasts buffets (off strip locations only) have Seafood, Chinese, Mongolian, American, Mexican, Italian and a dessert station. There is also a separate soup and salad bar. Others have more choices, and some have less. There are lots of different buffets.

As for the American Casino Guide, I got mine from amazon for around £8. Make sure you get the correct year when you order. the 2008 book will be published in November this year.

cheers for that.

does anyone think that i would be better staying in a cheaper hotel and just visiting the 5 star ones, or is it worth the extra money to stay in the bellagio for example?

when we went,we stayed in the imperial palace.it is a budget one,but you couldn't fault its location!! had no complaints with it,to be honest, although it does get mixed reviews.
i would definately stay there again,because we only slept there & for that purpose,it was fine.
when we go in feb,we are gonna have 2 nights,at the bellagio just for the experience,but because we are taking our 7 year old grandaughter,with us,she has chosen to stay the rest of the nights,at the excalibur.
i would look to stay,at the imperial palace,for its location alone,then maybe treat yourself,to your last couple of nights,somewhere nice.
you will love vegas
tracy

We nearly always stay in cheaper places. We do hotel hop to get the best offers (% different hotels next visit), but that might not be so easy on your first visit. What tracey suggests is a good compromise. Just make sure that you do the posh one last so you don't get disappointed when you move.

The more expensive hotels are beautiful, but you pay for the privilege of staying in them, with higher prices for drinks and other services.

Yes I would go with Tracy's suggestion.

We go back in 9 weeks and will be staying 3 nights at the Imperial Palace, 1 night at the Bellagio for the experience and 3 nights at Planet Hollywood.

luci

Within Vegas itself, you should:

See the Bellagio fountains (once from the sidewalk, once from the Eiffel tower)

See the various animals - lions, white tigers etc

See the Mirage volcano erupt

See the Treasure Island Pirates show

See the Strip at night (deuce bus, helicopter, or top of the Strat tower if funds permit)