Loving Las Vegas!
We had chosen the LINQ hotel more for location than anything, being very central on the strip and easy to get to one end or the other. I also liked the fact that it isn’t a ‘themed’ hotel. Travelling along the Strip in the taxi from the airport seeing these huge buildings, landmarks from around the world, for the first time was amazing!
Arriving at the LINQ we checked in very quickly and allocated our room, which turned out to be a smoking room but as non-smokers it didn’t prove to be an issue. The rooms are a good size, very comfortable bed and a decent sized bathroom with walk in shower. Plenty of storage space and a full guide to the hotel and local facilities via the in-room TV.
We went straight out to explore and headed a little way up the Strip towards the Venetian. We had arrived late afternoon and the flight from New York was 6 hours so we were pretty tired that first evening so didn’t go far. With lots of eateries along the Strip you could choose anything from a fast food restaurant to a full sit down evening meal. It took some getting used to seeing people walking around with alcoholic drinks on the Strip, but the hotels and casinos encourage it as you are more likely to explore if you can wander in and out of places without worrying that you have to finish your drink before moving on.
The next day we were up and out early for a buffet breakfast at the Flamingo next door to the LINQ, we decided to take advantage of the Buffet of Buffets pass which gave you a 24 hour pass to the buffet restaurants at all of the Caesars hotels (except Caesars Palace where there was a supplement to pay) which worked out to be great value for money! The choice of food was unbelievable, from fruit , pancakes, cooked options, pastries, Asian and Mexican choices too..... I LOVE pancakes and waffles so took full advantage!! Set up for the day we went straight to the High Roller, Las Vegas’ answer to the London Eye which gave us amazing views over the whole of Las Vegas. It was a beautifully sunny day and you could see for miles, watching planes taking off and landing at McCarran airport just a mile or so away! It's just a 30 minute rotation but it gives great views and different perspectives because it's constantly moving. We wandered along the Strip, checking out the fabulous hotels along the way. Walking inside the Venetian and feeling like you are wandering the streets of Venice was a surreal experience. It really felt like we were outside, even though we weren't. The attention to detail that has gone into these hotels is unreal! The Strip is around 4 miles long so it's great if you love to walk. If not there are plenty of options including the monorail, local buses and taxis/Uber too.
We enjoyed an early dinner in the Flavors buffet in Harrahs which again had a huge choice of food and cuisines, with a fabulous dessert station, before joining the Hop On Hop Off Night Bus Tour to see all of the lights along the Strip and then experience Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas. Only we could go to the middle of the desert during a freak cold snap and sit on an open top bus in -2c temperatures! It was definitely an experience and loved seeing the Volcano show at the Mirage, the fountains at the Bellagio and the thousands of other lights along the way! Fremont Street was an interesting place to say the least great if you are looking for old school casinos and some unusual entertainment! We walked through the Golden Nugget hotel, saw the famous nugget and heard about how it found it's way to Las Vegas. We then made our way along Fremont Street with it's interesting street performers before watching the amazing musical light show that Fremont Street is famed for. There’s also an awesome zip line here but we weren’t there long enough to try it out, thankfully! Once back at the hotel we decided that it was time to check out the casino! We found a couple of slot machines and settled in for a couple of hours of gaming. A great tip that we found was whilst playing in the casino your drinks are free as long as you order through a waitress and tip them a dollar or 2 each time. This saves a fortune on the $14+ a drink we would have been paying at the bar for our JD and cokes! We even won a bit on the slots!
Next day we planned to use the Monorail to get to the Stratosphere, with the Observation Deck being our focus for the morning. Being only a short walk from the monorail stop to the Stratosphere is was easy to get to from our hotel. We were not disappointed at all once we stepped out of the lift at the top. I could have spent the entire day up there! 84 floors above the ground, we could see far further than the previous day on the High Roller with a bar and comfy sofas to sit and just enjoy the views. The mountains in the distance that surround Las Vegas were just not what I expected. We watched the brave souls who went on the ‘rides’ at the top of Stratosphere, very entertaining for non-riders! We then caught the Monorail and went all the way to the other end of the Strip and jumped off at Paris/Bally’s so that we could walk through Paris, a great hotel with lots of Parisian touches for an authentic French experience. I particularly loved the area where the casino area was with parasols over the slot machines and tables and the ceiling coloured dark blue with little stars twinkling above. Our final stop of the day was at Miracle Mile Mall for a bit of last minute shopping. With everything from designer boutiques to trinket souvenir shops it had a bit of everything to satisfy all shoppers right in the middle of the Strip. Being opposite the Bellagio as you come out of the mall it was hard not to be impressed with the view across to the iconic hotel with it's dancing fountains in front. After freshening up we spent our final evening in Sin City by trying the different casinos along the Strip looking for a slot machine that might just see us win the big one! Unfortunately we didn't, but it just means we have to go back to try again!!!