Things I Wish I Knew Before Travelling to Las Vegas

Las Vegas is one of the most popular cities in the whole of the USA, located in the State of Nevada. Just a single strip of land in the middle of the desert it, has so much to offer, it could literally take you weeks to explore Vegas in full. We came to Vegas in summer 2024, in the peak heat of the summer, and stayed at the Venetian Hotel. Here are some things I wish I knew before visiting Vegas!

1. Cutting through the hotels / casinos isn’t exactly a short cut, it just protects you from the heat. We found ourselves at The Fabulous Las Vegas sign and decided to walk through the hotels to get back to the Bellagio where we had a lunch reservation. We walked through Mandalay Bay, the Luxor and the Excalibur and it took over 20 minutes to even get that far! We had a reservation at the Bellagio for lunch and ended up heading to the nearest exit and getting a taxi! Once you get inside the hotels you are always diverted through the casinos, down endless corridors, via shopping areas etc and it takes MUCH longer than you think. It is worth doing as each hotel is like an individual mini city and they are all well worth taking the time to explore, just not when you have a deadline!

   
   

2. Vegas is expensive! Now let’s get one thing straight. I know we are in Vegas, I know it is touristy, I know it is luxury, I know it is gimmicky, I know the prices are expected to be high as you are in the middle of the desert. However, as someone who has been to and stayed in Beverly Hills, in the Rainbow Tower in Oahu, Hawaii, been all over New York etc., Vegas was ridiculously expensive. As an example we spent just shy of 40 dollars in Starbucks for 2 drinks and 1 piece of food. This would usually cost us under £15 in our local Starbucks, and that being for 2 drinks and 2 pieces of food. It was ridiculous. A normal meal in a fairly standard restaurant cost around $90-100 for two and don’t forget the tax and the tip!

   
   

3. You may be better off eating at a fancy restaurant and spending that little bit more to get nice food and a proper meal, than to spend a similar amount of money on fast food / burgers etc that won’t fill you up for very long, and the atmosphere will be like that of a busy shopping centre food court.

   
   

4. There are minimal transportation options in Vegas. We tried to stick to a sensible budget on our travels and use public transport where we could, however we decided to get a taxi from the airport to the strip, mainly due to having to carry our heavy suitcases and also due to the heat! We did notice however that when visiting the Las Vegas sign, which is right next to the airport, that there was a bus stop. The strip is also served by a bus (the Deuce) which runs up and down the strip with bus stops at all of the major hotels. This is a quick and easy way of getting around.

   
   

5. You can’t hail a taxi from the street. There are taxi’s everywhere but it is actually against the law for a taxi to stop in the street. You can find taxi’s at any hotel pick up point / taxi rank along the strip. They all accept card or cash and are competitively priced.

   
   

6. Unlike Nashville, open drinks are allowed on the streets. There are even walk up bars when you can refill your glasses along the strip and keep walking.

   
   

7. Be prepared for resort fees… and of course it’s Vegas, so they can be pretty pricey! We paid $150 per night per room for our resort fees, so a total of $450 for our 3 night stay, taken from my credit card. Now you do of course get this refunded back onto your card at the end of your stay, provided there is no damage or charges against your room, however it can take a while for the money to be released. We found this out! We moved from Vegas to San Francisco (where we stayed for a further 3 nights), however even when we reached our last stop in Seattle, 4 days later, the monies had still not been put back onto our credit card.

   
   

8. You will walk miles! An average day in Vegas can see you walking anything up to 14 miles! A hotel that you can see, even if looks to be close by, can be up to a 20 minute walk away. Vegas is huge, the hotels are sprawling and even crossing the road involves escalators and bridges or crossing 8 lanes of traffic!

   
   

9. It is hot! Obvious I know, but whilst visiting in August the mercury hit 42 degrees of intense dry heat!

   
   

10. Don’t try and do everything on your first visit. The strip is 4 miles long and you will never get around to doing everything in just a few days. There are theme park rides, a big wheel, towers with viewpoints, zip lines, shopping malls, concerts, restaurants, gondola rides, the Vegas sign, the Bellagio fountain, Caesars version of the Trevi fountain, a mini Eiffel Tower and a small Statue of Liberty, helicopter rides, casinos galore and much much more! Plus of course there are trips from Vegas out to the Grand Canyon which you can do in a day or with an overnight stay.. I guess that just means that Vegas is somewhere you have to re-visit!

Vegas really is a dirty, noisy, gaudy, over the top, total assault on your senses but my advice to you is to enjoy every minute, take it all in, gamble (G had a budget each day of about $10 and used the 25 cent machines!), chose a fancy restaurant why not - it’s celebrity chef central in Vegas! Enjoy the numerous shopping opportunities, maybe take in a show or see someone who has a residency in town, visit the sign and get that Insta pic and most of all, embrace the madness!

So whatever you do in Vegas, ENJOY!!

Tracey and Georgia xx

** check out our other blogs on Vegas and beyond, or watch our vlog of our 3 day stay in Vegas on You Tube at Georgia Louise Travels