The city of the casino’s, the hangovers, the fake Elvis Presley’s and so on. I did not like this city. Or at least not in the daytime. Way too hot, way too crowded, way too fake. But in the evening, when the sun started to set in the desert… I kind of liked the neon lights everywhere :D. Plus the heath didn’t kill me anymore.
We stayed in the Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, but kind of in the dodgy old part of the hotel. The location of the hotel was perfect, right on the strip, close to the Bellagio, the Mirage, Ceasar’s Palace, … But our room was so depressive. We had a view over The Strip (yay), but when we were in our room, we could hear the cleaning lady cleaning the bathroom of the room next to ours. That’s just not okay. In the middle of the night, when people came back from their casino adventures, we could hear every word they were saying. Okay, they weren’t exactly mouses when they entered the corridor, but still. Never again. The problem was that we stayed in Vegas on a weekend. It’s hard to find some good deals when you stay here over the weekend. So when you’re planning your trip, make sure you end up in Vegas on a weeknight and I’m sure there are some very good deals to find to sleep in a gigantic hotel room with a Jacuzzi.
We started our tour by walking out our hotel room via the parking lot. Not the best idea we had, because the easiest way and the best way to see the hotels and stuff is above the parking lots. You can easily walk from hotel to hotel without being outside too much ;-). Yes, they thought of everything. The casino’s didn’t make us rich though :-(. But maybe we just didn’t stay long enough, who knows. The most epic hotel we visited was The Venetian, where you could even have a gondola tour on the water under a fake cloudy sky. I mean… yeah. I really do not get it, the thing that is “Las Vegas” :-). In the Mirage hotel you can find a small jungle inside the lobby, which was rather nice. Weird, but nice. For those who are interested, there are also a lot of shows that you can see. From Mariah Carey to Celine Dion and who knows more. But there are also some ‘free spectacles’ in front of a few hotels. There’s the Volcano Show in front of The Mirage. Every night at 8 and 9 PM (and on weekends also at 10 PM) there’s an eruption from the volcano in front of the hotel. It takes more or less 15 minutes to erupt and I kind of liked it. Make sure you stand on the left side of the barriers for the best view of the Volcano. In front of The Bellagio there’s also a Fountain Show. Every half hour (starting from 3 PM – 8 PM) and every 15 minutes (from 8 PM – 12 PM). On Saturdays and Sundays the show even starts a bit earlier. Bruno Mars’ voice led us through the dancing fountains. Quite spectacular as well. According to their website, it’s the most ambitious, choreographically complex water feature ever conceived ;-).
We ate at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Gordon Ramsay Burger. We didn’t make a reservation, but we were early enough (I think around 5 PM) and had to wait half an hour to get seated. You can also walk to the front desk, ask for a reservation the same evening and come back when they tell you to (half an hour, an hour, …). We ate some of the best burgers here in the USA and the fries with truffle were exquisite (but weird). I really recommend going here!
We only stayed here one night. For me that was more than enough. The boyfriend could’ve stayed one night longer, but when you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it. Because of the heath we didn’t walk down the entire strip. I wanted to see The Big Appel Coaster but it was too far away (or at least too hot to walk the extra steps). After Las Vegas it was time for the Death Valley… and we were already melting.
Around the world in a lifetime 