LAS VEGAS
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Las Vegas attracts various people that are coming here for so many different reasons. The major group are the 20 and 30 something’s that are looking for full party nights and endless drinking with no restrictions, which isn’t the worst you can do here.
Second, there are tourists from all over the world that want to experience the kind of adult Disneyland. In particular, people from Europe are setting great importance in visiting the Casino attractions and theme hotels. And finally, there are the gamblers, who are trying their luck at the poker and roulette tables. Not to forget the couples that get married here (although numbers are decreasing), and finally the huge amount of business people attending frequent trade shows in the city. Nevertheless, most of them barely see anything else than the famous Strip, which is a pity because Las Vegas offers great sport activities like golfing and hiking and attractions that are putting you back in time. Las Vegas is holding the nickname Sin City due to its tolerance for various forms of adult entertainment. The largest city in the state of Nevada is located in the midst of the southern Nevada desert and was founded in 1905. For many years it was a small settlement and stopover on the pioneer trails to the West and later became a popular railroad town. |
However, within less than twenty years of the founding several events made Las Vegas to the city it is today. With the construction of the Hoover Dam in 1928 thousands of workers came to the area. Just three years later the state of Nevada legalized gambling and today’s downtown Las Vegas became with its first casinos the entertainment center for the workers.
In 1941 the first luxurious resort opened its doors, the El Rancho Vegas. It was located along today’s Strip. With the opening of the Flamingo Hotel in 1946 the ongoing building boom along the Strip started. With the boom that was mainly unabated, organized crime came into the city. Most of the original large casinos were managed or at least funded under mob figures - and as people say it still is the case. In the 1960’s, business corporations began to purchase casino-hotels as well. The constant stream of tourist dollars from the hotels and casinos was also augmented by a new source of federal money.
Over the years the entertainment center moved away from the downtown area along Fremont Street. The Mirage opening in 1989 at the southern Strip finally dropped the tourist numbers in Downtown. To avoid this area to suffer from the new hot spots, the city started to develop a new attraction bringing back tourists. Over the years the idea of the Fremont Street Experience began to grow, a multimedia concept composed of a barrel vault canopy running along the old casinos. Today, daily changing shows are projected at the inner side of the canopy surrounded by the lights of the retro signs giving visitor’s the old Las Vegas feeling back. Although the Strip is still pulling the majority of visitors the Fremont Experience performs well.
Approaching Las Vegas you easily can guess where the Strip aka the Las Vegas Boulevard runs along. All other buildings compared to the massive hotel complexes with thousands of rooms appear very small. A bit off the Strip you will find residential areas of the unincorporated neighborhoods, like Henderson, Enterprise, Winchester and in the north the city’s business center.
No matter what you are doing in Las Vegas it is a fun place!
In 1941 the first luxurious resort opened its doors, the El Rancho Vegas. It was located along today’s Strip. With the opening of the Flamingo Hotel in 1946 the ongoing building boom along the Strip started. With the boom that was mainly unabated, organized crime came into the city. Most of the original large casinos were managed or at least funded under mob figures - and as people say it still is the case. In the 1960’s, business corporations began to purchase casino-hotels as well. The constant stream of tourist dollars from the hotels and casinos was also augmented by a new source of federal money.
Over the years the entertainment center moved away from the downtown area along Fremont Street. The Mirage opening in 1989 at the southern Strip finally dropped the tourist numbers in Downtown. To avoid this area to suffer from the new hot spots, the city started to develop a new attraction bringing back tourists. Over the years the idea of the Fremont Street Experience began to grow, a multimedia concept composed of a barrel vault canopy running along the old casinos. Today, daily changing shows are projected at the inner side of the canopy surrounded by the lights of the retro signs giving visitor’s the old Las Vegas feeling back. Although the Strip is still pulling the majority of visitors the Fremont Experience performs well.
Approaching Las Vegas you easily can guess where the Strip aka the Las Vegas Boulevard runs along. All other buildings compared to the massive hotel complexes with thousands of rooms appear very small. A bit off the Strip you will find residential areas of the unincorporated neighborhoods, like Henderson, Enterprise, Winchester and in the north the city’s business center.
No matter what you are doing in Las Vegas it is a fun place!
Las Vegas ‘no-go’s’ valuable information!
Stay on the beaten paths!
I do not recommend that pretty often but for Las Vegas you definitely should follow this advice!
If you are staying on the main Strip area around the famous hotels like Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Venetian you should be safe. As soon you are leaving into the side alleys and streets or to the Fremont Experience in ‘old’ Las Vegas be on the qui vive all the time as crime can happen anywhere in the city.
In particular the streets around the main Strip and in the north between Encore and Stratosphere are known as drug dealing and gang areas. The best advice is to take a taxi or drive to hotels in this area and not to walk through this part during night.
Coming to walking the Strip I recommend staying at the side of City Center, Bellagio, and Caesars since the opposite has a lot of hustlers and salesmen approaching you disrespectfully and aggressively no matter the daytime.
Parking garages
Be cautious in the parking garages, in particular at the hotels around Fremont Experience and beside the Strip. Although the hotels are spending a fortune in security cameras and guards there are still some creepy guys running around in the more secluded corners. So try to park close to the elevators and be alerted especially during night.
Old Las Vegas/ Downtown
Going to the fun and exciting Fremont Street Experience, be very cautious and stick to the boulevard and the loads of people. Especially during night Downtown Las Vegas can be a very scary place. No matter during what time you are coming here leave your valuables at home or in the hotel and watch out for pickpockets since Las Vegas and in particular this area is a hot spot for them.
Gambling
The time where you are inserting coins into slot machines is almost over in Las Vegas. Nowadays you are playing with preloaded credit cards you have to buy in advance. Usually the minimum is $10. Nevertheless there are some slot machines left in the casinos usually hidden in the back.
If you want to have some fun at the slots just for experiencing the feeling of having gambled in Las Vegas, look for the 1 cent slots or if you want to risk more the dime (10 cents) or $1 slots. But you have to know that slots have the worst odds in Las Vegas since the house advantage is about 10%. So if you lose you have been warned.
The casinos are filled with them because they are taking the most money out of your pocket. Table games (e.g. blackjack, craps, baccarat) will give you a much better chance of winning, but you usually have a table limit of $50. Nevertheless playing at slots is fun. That being said, here is some advice for you:
Have a preset spending limit each day and be sure to stop when you hit it. You can always play again the next day or trip to Las Vegas. However, never stop on a winning streak. If you are winning high in Las Vegas ask the casino if they can hold the money for you in their safe or if they can write you a check you can cash later. This protects you from running around with too much cash.
Tipping in Casinos
The great advantage playing slots is that you get free drinks and do not have to spend a fortune at the bar. But you have to know that as soon the waitress returns with your order you have to tip her with at least $1 per drink. Otherwise she starts avoiding you during her round.
Stay on the beaten paths!
I do not recommend that pretty often but for Las Vegas you definitely should follow this advice!
If you are staying on the main Strip area around the famous hotels like Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Venetian you should be safe. As soon you are leaving into the side alleys and streets or to the Fremont Experience in ‘old’ Las Vegas be on the qui vive all the time as crime can happen anywhere in the city.
In particular the streets around the main Strip and in the north between Encore and Stratosphere are known as drug dealing and gang areas. The best advice is to take a taxi or drive to hotels in this area and not to walk through this part during night.
Coming to walking the Strip I recommend staying at the side of City Center, Bellagio, and Caesars since the opposite has a lot of hustlers and salesmen approaching you disrespectfully and aggressively no matter the daytime.
Parking garages
Be cautious in the parking garages, in particular at the hotels around Fremont Experience and beside the Strip. Although the hotels are spending a fortune in security cameras and guards there are still some creepy guys running around in the more secluded corners. So try to park close to the elevators and be alerted especially during night.
Old Las Vegas/ Downtown
Going to the fun and exciting Fremont Street Experience, be very cautious and stick to the boulevard and the loads of people. Especially during night Downtown Las Vegas can be a very scary place. No matter during what time you are coming here leave your valuables at home or in the hotel and watch out for pickpockets since Las Vegas and in particular this area is a hot spot for them.
Gambling
The time where you are inserting coins into slot machines is almost over in Las Vegas. Nowadays you are playing with preloaded credit cards you have to buy in advance. Usually the minimum is $10. Nevertheless there are some slot machines left in the casinos usually hidden in the back.
If you want to have some fun at the slots just for experiencing the feeling of having gambled in Las Vegas, look for the 1 cent slots or if you want to risk more the dime (10 cents) or $1 slots. But you have to know that slots have the worst odds in Las Vegas since the house advantage is about 10%. So if you lose you have been warned.
The casinos are filled with them because they are taking the most money out of your pocket. Table games (e.g. blackjack, craps, baccarat) will give you a much better chance of winning, but you usually have a table limit of $50. Nevertheless playing at slots is fun. That being said, here is some advice for you:
- If a machine has recently paid out it doesn’t mean that there is no chance of winning within the next hour again. This slot could be a "loose" machine and may payout big again.
- If you do not win after 6 trials don't keep playing. Go on to another slot.
- Casinos will rarely put two ‘loose’ machines next to each other, so if a machine is winning don't play the one on either side of you.
- A good machine to pick is one that recently paid off well. If you see someone winning big, wait for him or her to leave.
Have a preset spending limit each day and be sure to stop when you hit it. You can always play again the next day or trip to Las Vegas. However, never stop on a winning streak. If you are winning high in Las Vegas ask the casino if they can hold the money for you in their safe or if they can write you a check you can cash later. This protects you from running around with too much cash.
Tipping in Casinos
The great advantage playing slots is that you get free drinks and do not have to spend a fortune at the bar. But you have to know that as soon the waitress returns with your order you have to tip her with at least $1 per drink. Otherwise she starts avoiding you during her round.
How to combine Las Vegas with your US trip:
From California: The easiest and fastest way driving to Las Vegas is from L.A. over Interstate 15. It takes you about 4.5 hours that are quite boring but you are passing Calico, another ghost town from the Gold rush, and a huge outlet center at the border of California and Nevada.
As soon you are planning going from San Francisco to Las Vegas without having a road trip along Big Sur or through Yosemite and Death Valley in mind: take the plane. That saves you a bunch of time.
Leaving from San Diego I definitely would take the plane since the ride is quite boring.
From Arizona, Grand Canyon: Driving from Grand Canyon Village to Las Vegas (or the other way round) you spend at least 5 hours on the HWY. Be prepared passing a very unspectacular and very straight road that doesn’t seem to end if you are taking HWY 40. Having a little bit more diversion I recommend driving a short section of Route 66 going off at Seligman coming from Grand Canyon or Kingman coming from Las Vegas. At least you are passing some small and sometimes abandoned towns and later can say you drove the Route 66. No matter the road you are passing the Hoover Dam having a nice view over the area and Colorado River.
From California: The easiest and fastest way driving to Las Vegas is from L.A. over Interstate 15. It takes you about 4.5 hours that are quite boring but you are passing Calico, another ghost town from the Gold rush, and a huge outlet center at the border of California and Nevada.
As soon you are planning going from San Francisco to Las Vegas without having a road trip along Big Sur or through Yosemite and Death Valley in mind: take the plane. That saves you a bunch of time.
Leaving from San Diego I definitely would take the plane since the ride is quite boring.
From Arizona, Grand Canyon: Driving from Grand Canyon Village to Las Vegas (or the other way round) you spend at least 5 hours on the HWY. Be prepared passing a very unspectacular and very straight road that doesn’t seem to end if you are taking HWY 40. Having a little bit more diversion I recommend driving a short section of Route 66 going off at Seligman coming from Grand Canyon or Kingman coming from Las Vegas. At least you are passing some small and sometimes abandoned towns and later can say you drove the Route 66. No matter the road you are passing the Hoover Dam having a nice view over the area and Colorado River.