Viva Las Vegas

Never one to have her feet on the ground for long, Jennie has just returned from a whirlwind 4 night trip to Las Vegas.  Her big tip? Take comfy shoes!  Here’s what else she had to say:

Las Vegas is an amazing, crazy city in the middle of the desert – the view from the observation deck at the top of the Stratosphere Hotel shows everything is very low rise with mountains in the distance and the airport literally on your doorstep. And then there’s the strip with its huge, impressive full of life hotels.

Las Vegas is an incredible city.  It is the city that never sleeps.  Wake up at 3am and can’t sleep?  No worries, you can go to one of the many bars, casinos or clubs: they are always open!

The hotels are tourist attractions within themselves.  My first day was spent exploring. We hopped on the monorail down to MGM Grand and had a go at the slot machines – I won $80.  Woo hoo! We had a go on the roulette table too – I wasn’t so lucky there.  We then went to the New York New York hotel, which has a roller coaster winding through the outside buildings which we went on.  It offers amazing views before plummeting and turn upside down.  The inside of the hotel is like a film set of all the New York inspired films with lots of different backdrops as well as New York inspired restaurants and bars – the Coyote Ugly bar is located here too.  In the evening, we headed to Napoleon’s Bar in the Paris Hotel which is a famous duelling piano bar where the pianists play all your requests… and we did test them!

On Friday, we ventured to one of the famous Vegas pool parties which was an amazing experience.  We enjoyed the Bare Pool in the Mirage Hotel, where we had our own ‘bungalow’ with sunbeds and our own pool.  That evening we headed to a fabulous Mexican restaurant located in the Linq Promenade and had a great table outside soaking up the Vegas atmosphere.

On Saturday, we all headed to Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas, home to the original famous casinos and hotels such as Binion’s Horseshoe and Golden Nugget.  The Fremont Street Experience is a covered mall and attraction located in the same area which incorporates most of these hotels and casinos.  It is buzzing with activity: showgirls, dancers, DJs, live music and the famous Slotzilla Zipline – which I braved!  We visited the fascinating Mob Museum and learnt about rise of the Mafia and connections with Las Vegas and after lunch, headed to the Stratosphere Hotel and the famous observation tower which is taller than the Eiffel Tower – the views are incredible.  We had fun in the casinos that evening then headed to a lovely steak restaurant.  The food was incredible and the portions were huge!

Sunday was our last day before flying home that evening.  There were still so many hotels and highlight to visit so we went to Treasure Island to see the Pirate Ships.  We also went on the gondolas at the Venetian and visited St Mark’s Square for an amazing ice cream. Onto the MGM Grand for one of their famous buffet lunches: – you can literally have anything from cereals, fruit, pizza, roasts, fajitas, salad…… the list is endless and that’s before mentioning the huge array of desserts.  Our last visit was to the Bellagio to burn off lunch: we visited the secret garden and watched the famous fountain show.  We made time for a quick drink at the bar before jumping in a taxi back to the airport.

We really packed it in but what a fabulous few days.  My feet still hurt but I’m aching to go back and see what we didn’t manage to fit in!

I would love to chat to you about Las Vegas so do get in touch.

June 2023