Essential Vegas Tips

1) Come with plenty of cash/travellers cheques, or a credit card that offers a good rate with low or no charges. ATM’s will cost between $5 and $20 to use (plus an unfavourable rate and $400 max). The cash desk can do bigger withdrawals, but charge as much as $80 to get your hands on a $1,000 cash advance from your card.

2) Stay on the strip. Hotels away from the main strip can be a lot cheaper, but many players say they have spent more than they saved on hotels in the taxis.  Most of the people that visit Vegas spend the vast majority of their time on the strip.

If you are staying for a long time or coming with lots of friends then you may find it’s cheaper and more fun to rent a house and car for a few weeks, but try and avoid saving yourself $20 a day staying in old town when you will end up spending twice that on cabs each day when you come to the strip.

3) Budget sensibly and try to stick to it. Las Vegas is one of those places where it is very easy to spend a lot of money, but you can have a huge amount of fun without actually having to spend all that much. Drinks can vary in price to free for those playing even low limit cash games to $20 and up in swisher venues.

4) Make use of the discount vouchers and VIP passes that you are often given by hotels when you arrive (usually given with your key cards at check in). You will find one or two gems in these most of the time.

5) Avoid the gaming tables unless that is what you are here for. Obviously most people aren’t going to come to Las Vegas and not play a single hand of blackjack or spin of roulette, but if money doesn’t grow on a tree in your back yard then you may want to consider giving yourself a very modest budget to throw away on these games. Table games are always a bad gamble and they are a very expensive way to have a bit of fun.

6) Go to Premium Outlets and get some shopping done. Almost everyone leaves Vegas broke, but if you get down to this shopping area you will find lots of incredible bargains that you can pick up, so that on your way home you may have an empty wallet, but at least you have lots of nice new stuff.