Las Vegas guide and MSE thread 2014

blindman

John259 wrote: »

Agreed - driving from LAX to Las Vegas directly after a long-haul flight isn't a good idea - but maybe you planned to do the LA sightseeing at the start?

If you do drive from LAX to Las Vegas, then I'd advise heading north and then west, (i.e. going via Santa Clarita and Palmdale, north of the San Bernardino Mountains). That will avoid the worst of the LA freeways that you'd encounter if you went east and then north (i.e. keeping south of the mountains and going via the city of Ontario, etc). Both of those possible routes join at Victorville, then it's I-15 all the way to Las Vegas.

Really:eek:

Classic;)

vegasvisitor

John259 wrote: »

There's no such restriction for renting normal cars. However, I've read that some RV (motorhome) rental companies have that policy.

You might like to consider Motel 6. I've used them in small-to-medium sized towns throughout large parts of the USA for twenty years and always found them excellent - but they are a bit basic for some people's tastes (think Aldi or Lidl, not Waitrose!). However, in a big city I'd strongly advise reading the reviews for individual locations (for example on Google Maps). At the next price point upwards, try Super 8. Then after that you're into Days Inn, Holiday Inn Express, La Quinta, etc. A lot depends on the area - the further out from the city centre the better value for money (and IMHO the more pleasant and safer the area, but that's just my opinion). Since Los Angeles is huge, you might want to think about possibly staying in various places on different nights.

We flew to LA for Vegas in 2012. We stayed at Doubletree Culver City for about £50 or so through hotwire I think it was. There's 3 hotels in that area, so quite reliable what you would get. It's right beside a mall and easy to get to from the airport. Also right on the Interstate for travelling around. We stayed 2 nights, and went to the mall the first evening so we weren't out driving in the dark.

As for Vegas, why not consider off strip on the weekend, and on the strip through the week. Should be cheaper. Pebbles will probably confirm that Tuscany could be a sensible option compared with Silver Sevens if you don't mind being off strip.

vegasvisitor

blindman wrote: »

Really:eek:

Classic;)

Not sure what day you arrive, but Fridays will always be the worst to drive from LA to Vegas and Sundays will be the worst from LV to LA.

It's about 4 or 5 hours in good traffic. Bit boring, can stop at Barstow for toilets, food and even some outlets.

nvh

lol - at this rate, I think we can do a CPH (Copenhagen) meet

We have now booked! Lots to plan and little time

Positioning flights (£50 each) and 2 nights in the Hilton (£50 per night) connected to terminal at CPH (30mins train to centre @ £3.50'ish each), followed by a separate booking consisting of a flight from CPH to San Diego, and return flights from Vegas to Manchester have cost us less than doing the route (or any derivative ie. to LAX, LAS, SFO, PHX etc etc) from the UK for the time of year and we get a small euro-break to boot

We could've travelled to SFO or LAX for a similar price, but always wanted to venture to San Diego and never had chance...

Any San Diego / Palm Springs tips are most welcome

photome

cpfcstar wrote: »

- Staying on Labor Day weekend in LV... are we likely to find any cheap deals at good hotels?

We're looking at staying at Silver Sevens for some week nights, but we want to stay at a 3/4* hotel on the holiday weekend.
- Is Priceline/Hotwire/Groupon a good place for getting a good deal at the Stratosphere or Luxor?

If anyone has any insider info or email deals, please could you be so kind as PM me.

I've been playing myvegas for around 2 weeks but found it hard to earn more than 1k of gold in a day. What do you achieve per day?

Also we need to find a cheap as chips hotel for sightseeing around Los Angeles (4ni), does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks in advance!

May not be what you are looking for but that weekend the Boyd properties downtown Main street station, California and the Fremont have a summer fun promotion they are $70 for the fri and sat about $50 for the sunday with a $10 a night food credit.

We are staying at the Cal that weekend.

For LA we have stayed twice at Best Western Pasadena Royale its a small motel .great value but is a fair way out but good for six flags and Santa Anita.

We have stayed at Raddisson Buena park for Knotts Berry also great value

photome

nvh wrote: »

lol - at this rate, I think we can do a CPH (Copenhagen) meet

We have now booked! Lots to plan and little time

Positioning flights (£50 each) and 2 nights in the Hilton (£50 per night) connected to terminal at CPH (30mins train to centre @ £3.50'ish each), followed by a separate booking consisting of a flight from CPH to San Diego, and return flights from Vegas to Manchester have cost us less than doing the route (or any derivative ie. to LAX, LAS, SFO, PHX etc etc) from the UK for the time of year and we get a small euro-break to boot



We could've travelled to SFO or LAX for a similar price, but always wanted to venture to San Diego and never had chance...

Any San Diego / Palm Springs tips are most welcome

you missed out the important bit....how much were the flights

nvh

photome wrote: »

you missed out the important bit....how much were the flights

woops - came in @ £575 for those flights... not mega savings admittedly, but given the good flight times (flight leaves CPH @ 10:50am, and return leaves Vegas @ 5:30pm) and a carrier with which we can use our oneworld status, it's a good price

Everything I looked at that was departing from the UK was around £850+ (and awful flight times!)

ferf1223

one thing on LA hotels - watch parking charges if you will have the car then (I'm not sure if you will or not)...when we looked many hotels charged $25/night or so for parking and this was something we factored into our Priceline research. We got lucky in getting our 2nd choice hotel which happened to have tons of free parking as there was a strip mall across from it (hotel was second choice as first choice, while charging for parking, was a lot nicer).

Cinny91

Hi Everyone! Been reading this thread avidly for the last month and we're finally flying on Friday for a weeks stay, never been to America before let alone somewhere as crazy as Vegas so we're really excited!

We're flying from Manchester with Thomas Cook, has anyone had any experience with them? My OH works with them so with a F&F discount we upgraded to Premium (which I think just means bigger butt space and "free" food?!) for the same cost as standard. But I'm a nervous flyer and I'm trying to get as much information on them before we fly to try and calm me

marsman802

nvh wrote: »

woops - came in @ £575 for those flights... not mega savings admittedly, but given the good flight times (flight leaves CPH @ 10:50am, and return leaves Vegas @ 5:30pm) and a carrier with which we can use our oneworld status, it's a good price

Everything I looked at that was departing from the UK was around £850+ (and awful flight times!)

I've done the same to get my oneworld avios.
But I'm going via Dublin instead. Fly to Dublin in the morning and back to LHR at lunchtime before going to Vegas on the direct 4pm flight on BA.

Came in at £550 all in. It really is ridiculous........the same flights without the positioning and the last leg to Dublin are currently £950rtn.

I wonder how I'll feel doing this with kids one day but this is just me doing this journey so no issue here.