Did we go to Las Vegas with the intention of gambling? No. Was our visit motivated to indulge in the city’s renowned drinking and dining scene? Negative. If the idea of steering clear of the bustling strip and seeking out a more adventurous experience sounds up your alley, then this itinerary might be for you. Our primary reason for visiting Las Vegas was to rock climb in Red Rocks and to visit the Grand Canyon. We kind of just did Las Vegas in-between and just at night. This itinerary provides everything we did in Vegas, on the strip, close to the strip, and the Hoover Dam. Future posts will include more details for Red Rocks, Goldstrike Hot Springs, and Grand Canyon.
Our itinerary at large: Bookmarks with Google Maps
Saturday: Picked Up Car Rental, Court Cafe, Area 15, Nightmare Cafe
Sunday: Red Rocks, Wander Strip, Cirque du Soleil: KA
Monday: Red Rocks, Wander Strip
Tuesday: Hoover Dam, Drive to Grand Canyon South Rim
Wednesday: Grand Canyon
Thursday: Grand Canyon
Friday: Drive back to Las Vegas Goldstrike Hot Springs, Monster Museum
Before deciding if Las Vegas is the right fit for you, there are a few important considerations to keep in mind. Firstly, be prepared for the fact that Vegas isn’t a budget-friendly destination; it can be quite expensive. On the strip, prices for drinks can be minimally $20 if you are lucky. Similar to New York City’s Manhattan, venturing away from the city’s central hub often leads to more reasonable prices for drinks and food. However, this comes with a trade-off, as you may find yourself on the outskirts of the city.
The hotels and casinos in Las Vegas are colossal, and it’s not uncommon to get lost within them. In fact, one might think that getting guests lost is intentional, encouraging them to stay within the casino rather than exploring beyond. Fun fact, you can actually use google maps to help navigate your way through the hotels. That’s how big they are, they show up on google maps.
How to Get Around: Drive, Monorail
Our chosen mode of transportation for the trip was a rented car, a premed decision needed to drive to the Grand Canyon for the latter part of our journey. Bonus, the car came in clutch for our excursions to Red Rocks, providing space for all our climbing gear.
Despite bookmarking places for free parking, we discovered that many were not truly free, and we didn’t want to pay parking fees. We discovered the Sahara Casino had hassle-free parking and was located at the top of the strip. While we did drive through the strip once, we chose to avoid doing it again by continuing to park at Sahara.
In a way we did end up paying for parking, but in a different way than you would expect. What I really want to talk about is the Monorail that goes from Sahara to MGM. At $5.50 for a single ride, or unlimited rides if you bought day passes for a bit more, this is the way to go. It was always easy to find our way back to Sahara because it’s the last stop on the monorail. It stops at all of the major casinos on one side of the strip. I think the best unexpected view from the monorail was of the Sphere and is totally worth taking the ride at least once.
However, the Monorail system did have a couple of minor drawbacks. Finding the stations could be a bit challenging, as they are located behind the far back of each casino. Despite this, riding the monorail was worth it for a convenient way of traveling up and down the strip.
Restaurant Recommendations: Please keep in mind, we are not the people who normally eat fancy or pay top dollar for food. We are more likely to find a dive, anyplace that serves a damn good burger, we like food that is saucy, love anything with an egg on it, and hands down always a breakfast place (hence the egg). In Las Vegas we did do one high end dinner meal, but found it so under whelming I’m not going to even write about it.
Court Cafe LV: A southern comfort brunch cuisine from a scratch kitchen (everything is made fresh when ordered). I knew it was a brunch spot, but was pleasantly surprised about southern comfort. Just visiting New Orleans a few months ago this definitely hit the spot. The main reason I picked this place was for Roe since they had Fruity Pebbles french toast on the menu. We got that, a side of fried catfish (totes worth it), peach cobbler waffle, and a side of eggs. This was delicious, highly recommend going and make a reservation.
Nightmare Cafe: If you are a horror fan you need to go here period. They had the best display and atmosphere that incorporated horror and a great wall of vhs tapes on display. The theme was evident all around from the look, to the menu, and drinks served. We even opted out of a high end restaurant to come here instead and found it worth wild. It is a bit far from the strip, we ended up walking here from Sahara Casino, but street parking is available around it. This place is so fun and the food is amazing. I even took pictures of the menu because everything was to theme. The menu from food to cocktails and beers came with a horror movie name to match the style of food or drinks. Beers came in coffin flights and cocktails had their own unique style cup. This is a place work stopping out of your way for.
Back to the 80’s Cafe: Is a warp hole to the 80’s for sure. This is also off the strip, but it was close to our Airbnb that we had close to the airport. The food here was solid and you can spend the whole night walking around the cafe picking up different moments from the 80’s. Every where you looked and even if you looked twice you found something different you didn’t notice before. Drinks are cheap, but weren’t anything special. So I would come here for the atmosphere and the food.
Babystacks Cafe: What can I say, I love brunch and Roe found this spot last time he was in Vegas. He was like, this is where we need to go for pancakes. They serve traditional American breakfast with an island twist and a pancake list that is endless. It was so hard to just pick one style of pancakes to order. This has revisit written all over it. They do rotate seasonal flavors Orange Creamsicle and S’mores and sides of eggs. I mean it was really hard to settle over those two choices. In my head I had like eight running, guava, red velvet, lemon ricotta to just name a few.
Sorry Not Sorry Creamery: was a perfect hit on our way back from Red Rocks. I’m all about ice cream and sometimes I look for weird and unique flavors. This spot hits that mark. They have standard flavors that stay around all year and rotate their seasonal flavors. And I’m so happy ice cream places have been on the trend for making a flight of ice cream. So if you can’t decide, just get them all!
Popcorn Girls: If there was one spot, Roe needed to go to, this was it. All he could do was talk about popcorn girls and bringing back a suitcase full of it. They have sweet, salty flavors, with everything else in between. Such a great idea, so many varieties to choose from, and the popcorn travels well. I wasn’t kidding when I said we packed out suitcase full of it. When we got home, I enjoyed every single piece of popcorn.
Area 15: is located off the strip, and using a rideshare service is highly recommended due to limited parking. On a Saturday afternoon, we opted to drive and luckily found parking, but the space is small and limited. Weekdays are more likely to offer parking availability. The main draw of Area 15 is its interactive immersive entertainment, but our experience left us slightly disappointed. While the vibe was authentic and the surroundings were visually appealing with vibrant lights, it felt like a space where nearly everything required payment. Conversations with other guests suggested that the level 1 pass might be underwhelming or a smidge boring.
However, a standout attraction that in my opinion is worth the price is Meow Wolf Omega Mart. Without giving away too much, pay attention to every detail, discover a story through touch, and embrace the experience. Take in all the lights, sounds, glows, and ambiance created that is much bigger than it lets on. Reserve tickets in advance for this and plan to be there for hours immersed in this weird Omega Mart.
On the strip attractions with locations by casinos. Now the strip in itself has a lot to view, see, and experience for free but be prepared to walk or have that monorail ticket handy. You can get anywhere from anywhere, but to navigate it with ease is difficult. As I mentioned prior the casinos are huge, but google maps can be used to navigate them. Each casino is pseudo connected through walking bridges above the road or connected to each other. You will not be able to walk up and down the strip to see it all in one night. Here are some highlights around each casino that we took notice of.
New York-New York: Hersey’s Chocolate World, Replica Statue of Liberty, The Big Apple Coaster, Brooklyn Bridge
MGM: Cirque du Soleil: KA, M & M’s Las Vegas, Stranger’s Things Store
Cosmopolitan: Notorious for having hidden and secret bars. The one we visited was Donkey Bar (for any mezcal or tequila fan)
Bellagio: Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, Fountains of Bellagio
Paris: Eiffel Tower Viewing Deck, Arc de Triumph
Caesars Palace: Fountain of the Gods, The Fall of Atlantis
The Venetian: Gondola Rides, Grand Canal Shoppes
Just an Hour Away from LV:
Is a wonder of the industrial world and is breath taking. Unfortanely when we went the elevator into the dam tour was down and wasn’t going to be up in running during our visit. We had to do the $10 self guided tour that gave you access to a walk through narrated exhibits, 260 degree view of the Dam, Colorado River, Lake Mead, and Hoover Bypass Bridge from the Observation Deck, and original exhibit of the region’s dams and power systems 3D model. Sadly we were happy to make the visit but extremely disappointed we couldn’t do the $30 tour. Basically for the $10 you are getting a view from the observation deck and whatever information you take away from reading the exhibits. We definitely will be making our way back here to revisit the dam and do the extended package.
Some additional information to make your trip smooth:
– tickets for the extended package are first come first serve buy on site
– when traveling there you do go through a vehicle checkpoint, inspection
– parking: drive over the dam to parking lots 9 and 10 they are free, but have limited space
Roe being a huge horror fan, when we drove past the road sign monster museum on our way to the Grand Canyon, we bookmarked it for later. On our way back to Las Vegas that’s when we stopped and I’m glad we did. The museum is ran by Tom Devlin a special effects makeup artist who has provided his services in over 100 feature films. As soon as you walk into the museum you can also clearly tell this is a way of life and pure passion for the industry, film, and horror.
The museum is a self guided tour that has mannequins he has designed, movie memorabilia (props, scripts), autographs from anyone who is anyone in horror (it’s quite marvelous how many signatures he has), and the feeling of being on a haunted tour where nothing will actually jump out at you. No, but honestly the room that had all of the Freddy mannequins in it I couldn’t walk in through first. I sent Roe ahead of my. However I did find out from an employee that during halloween they do, do an actually haunted house. I was also told that the layout and what is on display does circulate and change pretty often, so it has revisit value.
There is much more to Las Vegas left to be discovered. I know plenty of people who visit it time and time again. I would go back, but I would continue to pair it with rock climbing or visiting a National Park close to it. The two major take aways I would see another Cirque du Soleil and revisit the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens.
Be on the look out for future posts talking about Red Rocks, Goldstrike Hot Springs and the Grand Canyon part of this trip.
Capsule Customs Travel 