Viva Las Vegas
Every hotel (apart from Trump Tower) has its own in-house casino and the food is plentiful and varied. Whatever you want to eat you can normally get in your hotel or you can visit any hotel to have a sumptuous meal, perhaps the French restaurant at the Eiffel Hotel.
There are world famous acts and shows to go and see, plus of course who could go to Vegas and not visit the Grand Canyon.
We bought an Explorer V Pass before we arrived, which meant we could go and see a show, have a meal and see two other attractions, which was amazing value for money. We saw the Bodies Exhibition in the Luxor Hotel and the Variety Show in the V Theatre, which consisted of magic, trapeze acts, gymnasts -they were top class performers! We also saw the Mentalist, with his mind games and tricks.
Our trip to the Grand Canyon was by a light aircraft, which is an experience in itself; we didn’t want to spend all day travelling by coach so we chose to fly as this is only a forty minute journey. We then boarded a coach and made our way to a couple of breathtaking spots by the south rim.
During the summer months of June, July and August, its actually rainy season, which can make the airplane journey quite bumpy, but people seem to like that experience! Also as this is the most popular months to visit, the coach journey can turn into a two hour queue just to get into Grand Canyon National Park, so if you go in these months you may want to alter your method of transport to avoid the queues. I would definitely recommend a helicopter ride through the canyon as to be in the canyon looking up would be extremely impressive.
The Las Vegas strip is always busy with plenty of people walking around. The hotels are so impressive; they are massive hotels and anyone can wander around in them. The fountains outside the Bellagio are the central point of the strip and there are always crowds outside waiting for the water fountain display. You can then take a walk inside the hotel as the reception area is an attraction in itself. We also went for a Gondola Ride through the inside waterway in the Venetian hotel, we were serenaded in our private Gondola, which was an experience!
You can stay at the north end of the strip to keep the hotel costs down and catch the Deuce bus down into the south end where most of the action is. This takes about 25 minutes with all the stops en route. The Deuce runs up and down the strip and you can get on and off as often as you like with an all-day ticket.
The Planet Hollywood Resort is the heart of the strip, opposite the Bellagio and houses its own shopping mall with designer stores, casino, the V Theatre and plenty of choices to eat. If you want to stay in the heart of the action, then this is the area to be in.
The weather in May was perfect, there was no rain and the temperatures were nice and hot and although it was busy, it was not as busy as the summer months.